On 09/08/2015 at 10:55 AM, Flanno said:

One downside for Bali is the many thousands of drunken Aussies. One upside for Bali is many thousands less than Thailand of whining Poms.

Ahhh, the "other nationality whining about other nationality whining irony completely lost on them" post. 

 

Outstanding.

the Chinese have replaced the ozzies as the number 1 tourist arrivals now

I spent in Bali several months not long ago and would NEVER go back.

 

Overpriced shit hole, dirty and ugly beaches, a lot of locals who are mafia or dicks.

 

Vietnam and Thailand are much better.

Bali and Phuket were once exotic places, no longer. Both have been ruined by mass market tourism and any criticism of one can usually be applied to the other. Both have taxi mafias, corruption and scams. Thailand has the jet ski scam and Bali has the money changers just for starters.

 

Using numbeo.com Bali comes out at around 75% of Phuket’s cost of living. 

 

Bali has a big volcano which is currently causing major disruption to the tourism industry and some very good deals are available on accommodation with discounts of up to 80% on offer. 

 

Thailand is more geared towards people wanting to retire there in terms of visas and the healthcare is of a higher standard.

 

These days a roving retirement is quite possible with the low cost of airfares and ability to source accommodation in advance using the internet. With a bit of planning costs can be kept down and a lot of the negatives avoided. Phuket is insanely expensive over Christmas and new year but cheap in June if you don’t mind a few showers. The Philippines is horrendous during the Typhoon season but pleasant for the first half of the year. Cambodia is cheap and has easy visa rules. Malaysia gives most western nationals 3 months on arrival which could be spent on the beach in Langkawi drinking duty free scotch. If you can avoid spending more than about 3 months of the year in one country you are unlikely to flag up as visa runner and can pass as a tourist.

 

A 3 month stamp on arrival in Malaysia followed by a 2 month tourist visa with a 30 day extension in Thailand already has half of the year covered. A bus ride into Cambodia with 30 days on arrival followed by a 3 month business visa takes us to 10 months when we can find a cheap flight to Bali or the Philippines for the remaining 2 months. Most of this could be done without having to fly. Add or subtract countries and vary the time intervals as you wish.

 

Perhaps Krabi vs Lombok would be worth comparing.

 

 

You can go to Australia or go to Bali, same people.

I like Thailand much more than Bali. I spent a wonderful week in Thailand on Crystal Bay beach, see https://worldcams.tv/beaches/thailand-beaches . The country is very beautiful, so many interesting places to visit and I fell in love with the local cuisine. Bali has nothing special.

I am in Bali at the moment and it is my first tme. I understand it is a bad time of year for the sea and beaches but i can report that the beaches around Seminyak and Kuta are filthy. Ok i have only been in Indonesia for about 3 weeks in both Jakarta and Bali  but my impression is that people are more welcoming and helpful than Thais and probably more so than Filipinos in particular the men. It is also noticeable that there are a lot more guys working in the tourist sector (cleaning hotel rooms etc) than in Thailand or Phils. In general hotels seem a good standard and good price and i have not had a room with anything other than a 'great shower' yet!  Bluebird taxis correctly using the meter are cheap  Food appears cheap on the surface but by the time taxes and service are added (between 15 and 20%) it is not such a bargain. The restaurants look good but the quality of the food is hit and miss. Food quality is just a small step up from Phils and like Filipinos they cant seem to resist adding a load of sugar to savoury dishes. From what i have seen of Bali (completely unlike some  Jakarta hotels which can have wall to wall working girls) the bars are geared towards tourist couples but the massage ladies can be very keen and almost insistent on providing extra service. I have found (outside of restaurants where service is included) that  Indonesians are greedy for tips.

 

Finally i thought that Australia was a sporty country but to put it politely most young female tourists don't look like they participate in much sporting activity. Their male partners not so much so and i can't help thinking they must be tempted by the Balinese ladies!

On 13/01/2018 at 5:24 PM, toughlove said:

You can go to Australia or go to Bali, same people.

When did Aus become Hindu?

On 2/8/2018 at 11:24 AM, Gruff said:

Finally i thought that Australia was a sporty country but to put it politely most young female tourists don't look like they participate in much sporting activity. Their male partners not so much so and i can't help thinking they must be tempted by the Balinese ladies!

I spent 5 years in Australia ... obviously people are on both sides, but generally speaking you see in Sydney nightclubs young, well looking, fit six-pack men compete for an overweight, acne covered whale. But the whale is feminist who believes she deserves better so they go home alone :-)

Edited February 11, 20188 yr by Coconut007

On 1/11/2018 at 11:37 PM, Coconut007 said:

I spent in Bali several months not long ago and would NEVER go back.

 

Overpriced shit hole, dirty and ugly beaches, a lot of locals who are mafia or dicks.

 

Vietnam and Thailand are much better.

 

 

it's obvious you have been visiting the wrong places then. In over 20 visits to Bali, I never had problems with "Mafia", and if you encounter "dicks" just walk past them and ignore them. If I had the option (Visa-wise), I would live there since a long time and not in TH. Admittedly the beaches are not great in Bali, but if you came to Bali for the beaches, you came to the wrong place anyway.

The Kuta area of Bali is Australian to the extent that Aussie banks all have ATMs there for their customers. Some hotels have Australian TV channels, bars have Australian larger and serve meat pies with tomato sauce to patrons watching Australian rules football on the big screen TV.

 

Low end party culture at its finest, with drunken behaviour that anyone unfortunate enough to be in a night club area in any Australian city at chucking out time would instantly recognise.

Seminyak was full of Aussies Kuta Chinese