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 - A great guide for BaliI was in Bali last winter and should have gotten this then. I am going again this year and will find some of these wonderful places to see and things to do. We stayed in home stays and ate in warungs. Everything was very reasonable. This guide is really a good thing to have. Rating:  - just get the Indonesia bookI bought this along with the Lonely Planet Indonesia book...and well, this book didn't have much additional information than what was covered in the Indonesia book. Some sections were actually taken verbatim. Compared to other Lonely Planet books, I actually found the general Indonesia book to be quite detailed, so I think you should be fine without this supplement. Rating:  - be skeptical.We spent three weeks in Bali using this book as a guide. For overviews of different parts of the island, we found it very helpful, and we relied on the maps to sort of get our bearings. However, I suspect we could have gotten those things from any travel guide. The Lonely Planet book in specific was recommended to us by our travel agent, and because of the witty and intelligent writing, we thought it would be well-researched and trustworthy. Not so! We were very disappointed with a lot of places reviewed well by the authors of this book. We stayed in the hotel marked "our pick" in Seminyak and it was much more expensive, we couldn't get hot water, and we got eaten alive by mosquitos. It recommends an "art market" in Ubud that is probably worse for rabid hawkers than Jalan Legian in Kuta. It hugely understates the presence and tenacity of hawkers and touts. The authors seem unaware of Bali Belly, traveler's sickness, Montezuma's Revenge, whatever you want to call it, and there's no advice on avoiding that. It neglects to mention anything that I could find about women being barred from temples during "that time of the month" or where sarongs and sashes are required and how they're supposed to be worn. I don't think this book works as a stand alone guide. It paints a picture of Bali as the nicest place on earth, full of charming this and breathtaking that. We followed its advice and found a version of the island overrun by tourists, rife with scam artists, with culture and history pushed aside by Bintang t-shirts and anything else that could generate a quick buck. We also found amazing places and wonderful people, but only once when we put down this misleading book and started trusting our instincts. Rating: - Great book, well worth the money!We purchased this book before our first trip to Bali. We have visited many memorable places that we would not have found out about if it wasn't for the book. The list of hotels and background information also helped us get situated very quickly. I highly recommend it for people who are traveling there for the first time, or want to rediscover more of this beautiful island. Rating: - Good buy but not essentialHad the lonely SE asia book but had to buy this one because Bali is not covered in enough detail in the big bible. Found it to be useful and wouldn't want to have gone without it but at the same time I didn't find it absolutely essential. There are so many hotels, restaurants, sightseeing tours, spa places that you can easliy figure out online or when you're there. Conclusion: found this book good to give me good ideas of where to go/what places are like and the rest - well, you can figure out when you're there ;) page 1 of 2
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