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BY HER own admission, Sandra is intimately acquainted with the ways of the Kuta cowboy.
They exude fun, are exotic-looking and charming - traits which some female tourists find alluring.
But Sandra, who did not want her real name published, has seen their darker side.
She claims they can be heartless, deceiving and abusive.
The Singaporean woman is today a jobless single mother of a four-year-old girl - the result of a brief fling with a Kuta cowboy.
Said the attractive, fair-skinned woman with shoulder-length hair: "You'll fall in love with the magic of the island but when it all ends, you're left with nothing."
Sandra, 37, had called The New Paper on Sunday after reading about the controversy surrounding the Bali cowboys.
Bali's police have prepared charges of immigration and work permit violations against a Singapore-based film director over a documentary that portrayed beach boys on the island as gigolos.
The film, Cowboys In Paradise, drew criticism from officials and tourism operators, even prompting raids in the Kuta Beach area and the arrest of 28 young men suspected of being gigolos.
Sandra wanted to share her experience to warn other women who may be drawn to the Kuta cowboys.
Sandra said she had been frequenting Bali since 1996. She would earn a commission from hooking up tourist groups with shops in Kuta.
She would stay at guest houses in Kuta for between a few months and a year.
One of her favourite haunts was a surf club along Jalan Legian, Kuta's main nightlife and restaurant vein.
It was there, in early 2004, that she first laid eyes on a Balinese man she would identify only as Wayan. He worked at the club as a bouncer.
Sandra, who speaks fluent Bahasa Indonesia, said: "He's 1.8m-tall, has dark skin and short, partially curly hair, and is big built. If he doesn't smile, I would say he looks quite scary and fierce."
Sandra said she would go to the club with friends - a mix of locals and foreigners.
Her encounters with Wayan were limited to small talk but one night, he offered to take her home on his motorcycle.
That night, they ended up having sex in her room.
Sandra said: "I know how it is with these Bali cowboys and I treated the incident as a one-night stand. But he kept visiting me and we would chat about all kinds of things."
One day, he admitted he had a British girlfriend who has been sending him money every month.
Sandra said: "I was okay with it because I didn't treat this as a serious relationship. I knew I could get out of it if I wanted to."
But the couple continued to have a sexual relationship.
In December that year, Wayan's British girlfriend visited Bali and Wayan introduced her to Sandra.
Sandra said: "I told her about my relationship with Wayan. She freaked out at first and dumped him."
Before she left Bali, the woman told Sandra that Wayan was married.
But Sandra said she didn't believe it because Wayan had shown her his Balinese identity card which stated he was single.
Wayan was angry with Sandra for "cutting his earnings" and the pair broke up after an argument.
But after some time, they resumed their sexual relationship, which Sandra said was mutually exclusive. She even met his family.
Photographs of Sandra with members of Wayan's family were shown to The New Paper on Sunday. The dates of Sandra's visits to Bali on her passport also corresponded with her story.
In April 2005, she decided to buy a house in Jimbaran, a 15-minute drive from Kuta.
She said: "I was tired of paying rent. The Balinese life suited me and I thought why not move here permanently?"
With $100,000 of her savings, Sandra bought two plots of land about the size of three five-room flats and built a house there.
As it is compulsory for foreigners to have a local guarantor to buy property in Indonesia, she got Wayan to be her guarantor.
In June 2005, Sandra discovered she was pregnant.
"I knew I could raise this child on my own. I didn't expect Wayan to marry me because of the child."
But Sandra's nightmare began when she was in her first trimester. That was when she found out her lover was married.
"One day, a woman called me and said that she was Wayan's wife and they had two kids. I told her, 'If that is so, pass the phone to him'. She just kept quiet and hung up."
Sandra said she contacted Wayan and arranged a meeting with him and his wife.
"It ended up being a shouting match. Wayan's wife threatened to report me to the authorities. She even asked me to go for an abortion but I said no."
Sandra said she wanted to leave Bali.
But she couldn't as her house was still being built. Worse, she found out that if she sold it, Wayan, as her guarantor, would get 10 per cent of the profits.
So Sandra decided to raise her child there on her own.
When the house was completed in December, Sandra moved in alone.
She gave birth to the baby girl overseas, but declined to say where. She would only identify her daughter as Aisha.
Twelve days after giving birth, Sandra brought her daughter back to Bali and continued living and working there.
She declined to reveal how much she earned a month, but with the income and her savings, it was just enough to get by.
Sandra said: "I allowed Wayan to have contact with Aisha because he would often come over uninvited. After all, he is the father."
In September last year, she decided to leave Bali.
"I felt that Bali wasn't the place to raise my child. I wanted to start a new life."
When she met Wayan to sign the release form to sell the house, they got into an argument. "He said the price was too low."
She claimed that he even told her to leave their daughter in Bali, and to send them money.
During the argument, Sandra claimed Wayan kicked her in front of her daughter.
She said she suffered some bruises.
She said Wayan eventually signed the form but not before forcing her to pay him his share of the profits upfront.
This amounted to $4,000.
Two months later, Sandra and Aisha returned to Singapore.
They are now living with friends. She said her parents have died and she's estranged from her siblings.
Sandra is now unemployed and intends to leave Singapore again soon - but not for Bali.
"My daughter gives me the reason to live. I'm thankful that I have her."
But Sandra said she has not talked to her daughter about Wayan since moving back to Singapore.
Her experience with the Kuta cowboy has left her bitter and disillusioned.
She said: "In Asian culture, when a child is one month old, the father will usually offer his child a gift to signify his gratitude. In Aisha's case, up to this day, her father has not even bought her a can of milk."
The New Paper on Sunday's attempts to contact Wayan, who is believed to still be in Bali, were unsuccessful.
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