10 things NOT to do in Bali

1) Sunbathe too long – especially around mid-day. This is the tropics remember, and unless you want to know what it must have been like to be a survivor in Hiroshima, then cover up, use copious quantities of suntan lotion, and, better still, just get out of the sun!

2) Drink cheap Bali booze. It may be cheap but there’s a bigger difference between ethanol and methanol than you might imagine: any cheap spirit containing the latter will almost certainly kill you within two hours after consumption. 

3) Have sex on the beach. Unless you take “precautions”. Hahaha!

4) Drive while under the influence. Or you may end up in the ditch. 

5) Believe anyone who offers you any sort of “financial dealings” in any form whatsoever. Bank scam! 

6) Avoid karma and don’t step on the offerings in the streets; simply walk around them. Although it’s actually not that bad a thing to do, I always feel guilty if I accidentally step on these mini works of art. 

 

7) Get bitten at the monkey forest. Rabies is unlikely but you may get herpes.

Yucks!

 

 

8) Whilst at a Balinese ceremony, do not blind the hapless participants with the bright flash attached to your Nikon or Canon. I hate people who do this! Buy a proper flash that can be pointed upward or better still crank up the ISO, widen the aperture (to f/1.4 say) and shoot without a flash. 

9) If you’re British then whatever you do, make sure you don’t lose your passport! 

10) Don't pay the first price you are offered in a market like the one at Sukawati. As a rule of thumb, the first price offered by the seller is probably about three times the item’s real value.