Bali’s Low

I returned from a trip to Bali the day after Susan Spano’s (“Bali Low,” Oct. 11) article was published. Like Spano, I stayed in Sanur, traveled to Ubud, and relished the insanely low cost of vacation life in Bali.

Readers should be aware, however, of the high incidence of corruption and crooked behavior that my group encountered. In a span of less than a week, we were the target of more attempts at graft than I’ve experienced in all my travels in Latin America put together.

Particularly crooked were virtually all money-changers, who blatantly miscounted or diverted currency, and taxi drivers, who attempted to jack up fares, make unwanted detours, or tamper with their meters. I suspect that Spano was a victim of the latter: the $5 she paid is double the regulated taxi fare from the Denpasar airport to Sanur.

On the bright side, I highly recommend the Village restaurant, located across the street from the Gazebo Cottages in Sanur. We dined there nearly every day and enjoyed the outstanding food and service, not to mention that the most expensive item on the menu was about $5.

ERIK STALEY

Lake Forest