Bali - Trip Report

[chiang mai]

We've just come back from our first trip to Bali, here's our trip report:

The short version of this report can be summed up in one word, wow, we were really impressed, Bali seems to have all the good things from SE Asia without any of the bad, although given that we were only there for five days I accept we only scratched the surface.

The people were wonderful, very polite, easy to talk to and very welcoming, we felt very safe plus security in the hotels was very strong. Interesting to see that despite no obvious police presence, people were very well behaved, there's thousands of motorbikes on the roads and every rider was wearing a crash helmet and everyone seemed to obey the traffic signals, refreshing! I even saw a bunch of block walls with overlapping joints and I thought, these people have really got it together by comparison!

The scenery is stunning in parts, long sandy (surfing) beaches stretching off into the distance in Legian whilst the views of the volcano and rice terraces north of Ubud were quite dramatic, overall it's a beautiful place.

Restaurants abound everywhere in Bali, decent food at sensible prices is available in most places with lots of good quality or better western food to be had. The climate was delightful, not a hint of humidity at this time of the year and no real need to turn on the air con, I suspect those things change throughout the year. The currency takes some getting used to, paying a million of anything for dinner is unnerving at first.

Architecturally Bali's old buildings and temples remain mostly intact, outside of the capital Densapar there's little evidence of large swathes of new modern buildings and even the roads seem unchanged over time, the latter can make for some serious congestion outside of town during commuting hours. Some of the rural temples are stunning if not quite magical.

Balinese culture seems remarkably intact and I suppose this is a function of not being influenced by the land borders of near neighbours. Since most of the tourists to Bali have traditionally come from Australia, that aspect has meant that standards have been maintained at quite a high level. Having lived on Phuket for a number of years we tried to make the comparison between the two places and found the two location almost exact opposites in every respect, there's just no comparison other than they are both islands!

Finally, everywhere we went the locals all took my wife to be Balinese and were constantly trying to speak to her in their local language, when she replied in English that she is Thai they were all surprised. I suppose that this is a result of the Balinese not seeing enough natives of SE Asian countries to be able to distinguish the different characteristics.

The only negative points I can think of in the whole trip had to do with buying the plane tickets at a travel agent near Thapae Gate that tries to impersonate an Air Asia office plus the poor performance of the airline, I'll never fly with them again.

Would we go back, absolutely we will, I could easily live there I think.

[soihok]

Thanks for that.

I've never been to Bali, but it sounds worth a visit

[craigt3365]

Great trip report. We loved Bali also. Just avoid Kuta! Next time, if interested, head over to the neighboring islands. Quite a bit to do and see over there also.

[chiang mai]

Great trip report. We loved Bali also. Just avoid Kuta! Next time, if interested, head over to the neighboring islands. Quite a bit to do and see over there also.

I recall what you wrote previously about locals making comments to/about your wife and I remembered that several times when walking through parts of Legian in the early evening, local construction workers sat at the road side clearly had a similar mindset about mine although their English and my wife's Balineese were thankfully non-existent.

[craigt3365]

Correct! You many remember my other comment that, IMHO, Bali is the most romantic place I've ever been. But I haven't been to Fiji, Tahiti or other places like that...unfortunately!!!!

[Jessi]

Thanks for the trip report chaing mai, sounds like a place I would like to visit.

Did you have a bad experance with Air Asia?

[chiang mai]

Thanks for the trip report chaing mai, sounds like a place I would like to visit.

Did you have a bad experance with Air Asia?

Yes, there were a couple of significant issues:

The first had to do with seating, I bought two tickets for four flights, Chiang Mai/Bangkok and Bangkok/Densapar return, the tickets were in the names of my wife and myself. Not on any of those flights were we seated next to each other and despite checking in together we were treated as two separate travellers. When I raised the issue with ground staff I was told that I should have paid extra to get adjacent seats, my response to that was that when I pay THB 30K for two plane tickets in the names of Mr and Mrs I expect to be seated next to my travelling companion. Unfortunately I bought those tickets through a local agent although we thought we were buying them directly from an Air Asia office (Air Asia signs outside, inside, logo's, staff uniforms that looked the same etc) and the agent never thought to ask the question about seating.

The second problem was that Air Asia cancelled one of our flights three days before our travel date so I promptly set about making alternate flight arangements - AA didn't have a sensible alternate flight so I booked two seats on Thai. When I went back to AA to get a refund for the cancelled flight I was told I needed to produce a bank book from a local bank so that the refund could be paid directly into that account and that would take six weeks. I thought all of that was unecessary and unduly onerus.

Finally, I had a pretty poor opinion of AA after we returned so I decided to unsubscribe from the AA advertising emails that I'd been signed up for somewhere along the line. Surprise surpise, "there were problems unsubcribing you" the message said every time I tried to part company with them, now they are a frequent aspect of my spam folder almost weekly.

[PoodMaiDai]

Yes, avoid Kuta like the plague. The rest of the island is amazing.

[sucher]

3 month ago i travelled all over Bali.Even the 4 Days i stayed in Kuta were great.Just different to the rest of the Island.Lots of Niteclubs side by side.I like to have that once in a while too.Then back to the Rice Terraces

[NomadicDave]

Thanks for the trip report. I'm definitely going to spend some time there.

[KED]

I love both Indonesia and Thailand, but I live in Thailand because I have a Thai partner.

All my Thai friends don't understand why I prefer Bali over Phuket or Koh Samui, but there is just something magical for me there. Once I get away from the Kuta tourist area, I just feel more relaxed and free to explore without being hassled. I find the Balinese culture very interesting and the peoples to be very sincere.

Of course, no place is perfect and there is a large influx of Javanese people who are there simply to make money off of farang (bule in Indonesian) and these people can be overbearing with their incessant call for "transport" "massage" "girl, girl" - but when I am in these areas - I just wear an Ipod with earplugs and ignore them.

Also, in the Kuta / Legian / Seminyak area there is a huge number of Australian tourists especially during the Australian cold months and during holidays. I don't mind them as individuals but the large number distorts the natural balance of things (like Russians in Pattaya).

But I find so much about Bali to be enjoyable - I think the beaches are less developed than other popular areas and not covered every inch by rentable beach chairs and umbrellas - I prefer to just relax with a beach towel and don't need to be pampered. Also, the vendors stay 50 meters away from the beach in a tree-shaded area, so if you want a drink or massage - you can move up to that area, and if you want to be alone to relax, you can experience that also.

I enjoy Ubud very much and the views along the rice terraces are amazing.

In your review, you mentioned that Indonesians cannot differentiate between Thai and Indonesians - but I assure you that every Indonesian friend that visits Thailand is first spoken to in Thai - it is just the natural assumption.

[londoedan]

Of course, no place is perfect and there is a large influx of Javanese people who are there simply to make money off of farang (bule in Indonesian) and these people can be overbearing with their incessant call for "transport" "massage" "girl, girl" - but when I am in these areas - I just wear an Ipod with earplugs and ignore them.

I also find it difficult to pick beteween the two places and countries.

Not sure I agree with the above comment though - my opinion is that the native Balinese are just as adept as other Indonesians, at exploiting the commercial opportunities of Bali.