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My wife and I visited Bali back in 2000, a year before the murderous Al Quaida terrorists hit the town of Kutah. We vow we will return some day. Nobody deserves the carnage inflicted on this poor community, but least of all the wonderful Balinese people who enchanted us in so many ways during our stay on their beautiful island.

We spent the first two nights in a luxury hotel in Nusa Dua, not very far from the airport. We were treated like King and Queen, but wanted to explore some more of what the island had to offer outside the confines of hotels for the rich westerner.

Against the advice of all our friends we decided to hire a four wheel drive vehicle to explore Bali for ourselves. The best move we ever made. We travelled for a fortnight stopping at various towns across the island and on the coast and speaking as much as we could to local people and sampling their foods.

In spite of incredible poverty by Western standards, we found people to be warm, friendly, inviting and above all scrupulously honest. One man insisted that he and a friend stood behind me while I used a cash machine, in case I was mugged by any tourist who may be watching me! No thought of mugging me themselves, for what would have been maybe a couple of months' wages for them in one easy hit.

If you want to meet the friendliest people in the world - go to Bali!

Learn more about this author, Colin Morley.
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