The sheer quantity of arts and crafts available for purchase in Bali is overwhelming. There's something for all budgets, from tourist trinkets to fine art and antiques. It's a shopper's paradise of fabrics, clothing, wood and stone carvings, paintings, and doodads of varying quality. You get what you pay for generally -- but with a bit of haggling, can get a lot more for what you pay. Shop around; the same item gets cheaper the more you look at it, and it's really the same stuff everywhere. Ask the price, offer half, smile, and go from there. Even at inflated prices, you'll still come out ahead of the game.

Tips On Shopping--Many of the big names in sporting goods crank out merchandise manufactured in Indonesia, translating to lower prices if you know where to look. There's a Nike shop in Kuta Square, and Athletes Foot locations on Jalan Melasti in Legian and in the Galleria shopping center.

The real name of the buying game in Bali, in terms of quality for value, is to commission something. This can be anything from a wood carving to a garment. The latter doesn't take as long, but in either case, you must bring plenty of drawings or photos so that the creator will have a good blueprint to go by.

Hours -- Shopping malls are generally open from 10am to 8pm Monday through Saturday, with some stores keeping shorter Sunday hours. The malls sometimes remain open until 10pm on holidays. Smaller shops are open from around 10am to 5pm Monday through Saturday, but are almost always closed on Sundays. Hours will vary from shop to shop. Arab Street is closed on Sundays.

Prices -- Almost all of the stores in shopping malls have fixed prices. Sometimes these stores will have seasonal sales, especially in July, when they have the monthlong Great Singapore Sale, during which prices are marked down, sometimes up to 50% or 75%. In the smaller shops and at street vendors, prices are never marked, and vendors will quote you higher prices than the going rate, in anticipation of the bargaining ritual. These are the places to find good prices, if you negotiate well.

Bargaining -- In Singapore, many shopkeepers cling to the old tradition of not fixing prices on their merchandise, instead making every item's purchase a little performance piece by insisting their customers bargain for it. For Westerners who are unaccustomed to this tradition, bargaining can be embarrassing and frustrating at first -- after all, Westerners are accustomed to accepting fixed prices without an argument, and if you don't know the protocol, you can't be sure what to do. All it takes is a little practice, though, and soon you'll be bargaining with the best of 'em. I've seen many travelers go into their first market like lambs to the slaughter, only to loosen up after a few encounters and begin to enjoy the process for the sport it really is.