Bali Bound! Any tips?

[Crymson]

Who's been to bali? I'm heading over there in a few weeks. Hopeing to do some surfing, partying, hiking, biking, etc.. Any recommendations?

[bubbley]

Never do a hooker in bali

[Crymson]

Obviously.

[blueToy]

My first few day were at Kuta . It's like Mexico for the Aussies , so the locals have seen thousands and thousands of kids who just want to get wasted and stumble home after a week .

It was a long time ago , but I do remember taking a bus up to Ubud and checking out some kind of Temple . It was great , just DON"T feed the monkeys . DON't even try or bring anything they think they can eat . I watch some dude pulling out some small bananas and he tried feeding them one and put the rest back into his backpack . HA .... they just ripped the whole pack out of his hands before he even knew what hit him and proceded to rip the thing apart .

About a hour later I saw some girl trying to feed them some peanuts . Funny thing was they tried playing coy at first , like they weren't interested in the nuts . They got close , and then attacked . She didn't fare as well , as she ended up getting scratched pretty good .

I also spent a few days in some little village on a cliff that overlooked a volcano . For the life of me I can't remember what it was called , but it had a awesome views and was a nice place to get away from the masses .

A few other things ... tons of places to hike . Tropical and was pretty hot . Usual downpour almost daily . Mostly friendly folks . VERY anti drugs , and the police subsidize their income by catching tourists and milking them good . Be very cautious and smart about it if you get offered by a local , if you're into that kind of thing . Very busy around Kuta . Tons of tourists . Very good thiefs ( pickpockets , purse/pack snatchers , etc .) .

Never did surf , nor bike , but it would be a good place to do just about anything .
Have a blast .

[Crymson]

Thanks man. We're staying in Kuta for a few days, then who knows. We've only got 6 days and then we have to go back to Jakarta for work, so we may not leave.

Good note on the monkeys, that's some spooky shit.

[FiveFreshFish]

Put your sunglasses away. The monkeys are known to steal them right off your face.

[Hi-Psi]

Ok first thing with Bali, when you arrive at the airport there will e some guys waiting with your bags by their side. They'll pick up your bags and carry them for you without even asking and then ask for money, lots of money. They'll take you to the money exchange which gives you a shitty rate and since you more than likely don't know what the money is worth, they'll ask for the bigger bills as a tip.

Then you'll go to he taxi stand and they'll try to get you to pay anywhere from 75,000-150,000 rupiah to get into town, make sure you don't pay more than 50,000, I even got into town for as low as 30,000 rupiah.

Basically everyone will try to screw you in Bali (not much different than most of Asia) but just use common sense and make sure you ask around for the right price for stuff. Make sure to bargain all prices down at market stalls and stuff, there won't be much negotiation in the brand name stores though.

Make sure to see the countryside out of Kuta as Kuta is a big touristy area. If you get 4+ people then you can rent a van/driver yourself and save quite a bit over just booking with some agency.

I'd personally bring some hard liqour with you as the liqour in the stores is still pretty expensive.

Make sure to check out Ocean Beach Club and SkyGarden as they're both Canadian owned and probably my favorite clubs in Kuta. Bounty is a good place for cheap drinks earlier in the night and the girls there are some of the easiest I've seen in Asia lol

As for drugs, they say they are super strict but most drugs are very easy to get, especially opium and mushrooms. The weed is shit so I wouldn't even bother, most guys will try to rip you off on weed anyway. E is pretty common there too and mitsubishi is one of the brands that was best known there. I personally never did any of the drugs but I was travelling with a friend that was always looking for something. I'd just be careful anyway, it wouldn't be fun to get robbed or thrown in jail.

For learning how to surf I'd check out Billabong scuba, it's a little more pricey but they were awesome and all the instructors were great. You can also go and just get a freelance guy at the beach and save a little cash, we did that for our first lessons.

Some people will mention the great surfing at "Dreamland" but if you're not a good surfer then I wouldn't suggest it as the waves are huge and there are a lot of big rocks. The locals will say that there are tons of hot girls there and that they're all nude but that's a joke, it was pretty dead when we were there and although it's nice, it's a tourist trap as all the prices are jacked way up and it'll cost you almost 90,000 rupiah each way to get there.

If you want to check out the blog I wrote about Bali and the rest of my Asian trip check out www.travbuddy.com/CalgaryJay

Bali is covered in the first week of my trip in "My Asian Adventure" blog. Some funny stories and a few more tips as well as pictures.

[kaishen]

haha jay, read your blog on the ladyboy. laughed at the part when u mentioned sucky sucky. haha. encountered a lady boy when i met one of the beyonders here in Singapore and he was checking her out, it was until he approach her to take a picture that we realise that she was a sh-im. haha

Read abt ur post in Singapore and seemed like its pretty boring. I just cant wait to get out of here.


crymson>>never been to Bali, so cant help much.sorry. just be careful with your items because as a white guy, you stand out from the crowd and could be a live target for anyone.

[Hi-Psi]

Thanks for checking out my blog, Bali was definitely an interesting time!

I forgot to mention, be careful of pickpockets! Especially the woman carrying their kids around at night.

Oh and have fun and if you don't sleep with an Aussie chick, you have no game! lol

[Crymson]

BEST TRIP EVER!

I didn't understand what you were talking about at first, i didn't see a single beggar.... UNTIL i left the club at about 5 am and ther streets were flooding with moms carrying kinds and 5 year olds simply walking up to you with their hands out. Really creepy, and given how all of the indonesian's we'd met there, were honest and hard working, it seemed rather rude and out of place.

Everything else was fantastic, Legian Street after midnight is one of the craziest places i'd ever seen.

Bali ftw folks. But be warned -- sounds racist, sure -- but don't talke to the locals at the clubs. Assume they're prostitutes. Also, make good friends with the staff at the hotel. We did, and had a blast because of it.

[GTi-RS]

What is the best place in Calgary to book a flight to Jakarta?


I used Expedia, Travelocity and smaller carriers for Europe but never for Asia.

[Crymson]

I book through work, so i'm not sure what the "best" would be. Jakarta's a big place, all the big asian airlines fly there, it just depends on how you want to be routed. Singapore airlines will obviously fly you through singapor, Cathay will stop in hongkong, and i'm sure there are routes through Tokyo as well.

I would think those websites would work, i generally check them before phoning my travel desk to pick a route.

[Hi-Psi]

Originally posted by GTi-RS
What is the best place in Calgary to book a flight to Jakarta?


I used Expedia, Travelocity and smaller carriers for Europe but never for Asia.

Why Jakarta? It's a shit hole and there isn't much to see there anyway. Honestly one of the cities I disliked the most on Asia, sooo many better places in Indonesia!

[Crymson]

They exectuted 3 of the guys responsible for the 2002 bombings today.