Virgin Bali Trip...

• Trip Rating
• Initial Plan
• Actual Itinerary
• Day 1
• Day 2
• Day 3
• Day 4
• Day 5
• Day 6 (Back home)
• Final Thought & Opinion
• Tip & Warning
  

---

Trip Rating

Came back from an unforgettable vacation in Bali from 17 - 21 Feb 2008. I rated this trip 70%, where:
- 15% because I had a bad night during my stay in Kuta (bad accommodation, blackout, etc)
- 10% not enough time to enjoy myself in Ubud & Kuta, and missed out a good spa.
- 5% missed out the water rafting

-TOP-

---

Initial Plan

Below is our rough planned schedule before leaving to Bali:

-TOP-

---

Actual Itinerary

17 Feb 2008 [Day 1]

7.15 am --Home--
The taxi waited downstairs ready to fetch us to KL Sentral where we would be meeting with my coupled friends.

7.30 am --KL Sentral--
Late as usual, waiting for my friend to come... Suddenly saw 1 of my friend with other 3 newly met friends who were also joining us for our Bali trip. After a while, the long waited couple showed up. Without wasting anymore time, we bought the bus ticket to LCCT.

8.30 am --LCCT--
Reached LCCT. Checked in our luggage, then went to McD for breakfast while waiting for boarding.

9.45 am
Passed thru the custom counter. Suddenly heard my name on the loud speaker for final call. Guess alphabetically my name are on the top of the list. So pai seh...

10.25 am
Ready to take off as scheduled... 3 hours flight. What I did was reading the 360 magazine in the plane n playing around with my newly bought second hand O2 Zinc, costing me RM 1,100.

1.18 pm

Preparing for landing at Ngurai Rai Airport. Manage to take some photos of Bali Islands from our cabin.









1.25 pm --Ngurah Rai Airport, Bali--


Arrived at Ngurai Rai International Airport as scheduled. After getting some information brochures required, we headed to collect our luggage. Luckily the luggage came out in no time.











2.00 pm
Went out thru the main gate. My friends saw a person holding a sign with "PS Lee" on it. So sad I didn't have the chance to see it myself as I was walking at the last row. Met with our supir (driver) named Pak Mul. He spook a very little English, but still determine to communicate with us. Then we were offered a free upgrade from Kia Pregio to Isuzu ELF which can fit max 12 pax. After some discussion, we finally agreed to take the big prize...


2.30 pm
Had our first lunch at a Nasi Padang restaurant not very far away from the airport. The food was average, but the price was slightly expensive than average. After the lunch, we went to Denpasar for street seeing n visiting.


Then headed to Goa Gajah for our first temple visit.


4.30 pm --Goa Gajah--
Reached Goa Gajah. Paid IDR 6,000 per person to see what was Goa Gajah about. There were some local guides at the area if you needed one, but we were trying to self-understand about the place. Nothing really special about this place. Only the stone at the entrance to the cave was carved into an elephant shape, thus named as Elephant Cave. Inside the cave, there were some areas mainly used by the monks for meditation. Not sure whether it is still used today or only for tourist attraction purpose.

After about 30 min, we headed to Ubud to find an accommodation for our first night in Bali.


5.30 pm --Ubud--
Reached the Ubud town, and we made a stop at Bebek Benggil restaurant to book for the famous Smoked Duck which required at least one day advance booking.
Then we headed to Jl Bisma to look for accommodation. Initially we're looking for Ketekung Bungalow, but then we found out this place was at almost the very end of Jl Bisma and far away from the main street. So we decided to look for other accommodation nearer to the main road.
Went thru about 5 homestays/bungalows before we finally made our decision to stay at Hibuscus Cottages. The price given was very reasonable and the place was very clean with a very good room settings n nice view.

My room cost IDR 150K on the upper floor with a nice paddy field view. Other 2 rooms were IDR 130K on the ground level and another 1 room with 2 stories costing IDR 200K also on the upper floor with nice paddy field view.

After settling down with our luggage, we followed our driver and dropped at the main street. It was about 7.30 already and most of us already feel starved. So we simply picked a restaurant opposite the road named Nomad coz the place was quite nice. I ordered a set of food with 9 small side dishes plus plain rice. The food was nice n special. The only disturbing thing I found out was the local music instruments played in almost the same tune continuously throughout our meals...



8.00 pm
We went for a walk along Jl Hanoman and found out most of the shops already closed. Then we headed to another street, Jl Monkey Forest where we can find some shops still open for business. Since it was getting late, we turned back to our cottage for an early rest.



9.15 pm
Reached our cottage and a good soak in the tub refreshed myself a lot. Then we played card among us and one of the members did win quite a lot. Luckily I still won IDR 2K... hehehe...

12.00 am
Went to bed... zzz...

-TOP-

---

18 Feb 2008 [Day 2]

7.45 am
Woke up... A quiet morning with fresh air blowing into our room, totally different from the place I'm staying now in KL (Cheras). Breakfast were supposed to be served before 8.00am as we requested the night before. Maybe there was only 1 chef, plus there were 8 of us... It was alright, at least I got some time to take the photos of our lovely cottages. All our rooms were designed in a total Balinese style...





If anyone wanted to know more about this cottage, you can do so from the following contact details:

Hibiscus Cottages
Address: Bisma Street, 80571 Ubud, Bali, Indonesia.
Phone: +62 361 970475, +62 8133 810 8616(Pak Wayan)
E-mail: hibiscuscottages@hotmail.com

Meanwhile, we managed to make ourself a nice tea & Bali coffee, plus a short visit to the paddy field beside our cottage.





After a while, our long waited breakfast finally served. Hey, it was no disappointment at all. The food was a lot nicer than I expected as you can see below... After the breakfast, we headed to Tegalalang.



9.25 am --Tegalalang--

Reached the famous Tegalalang paddy terrace. The view was magnificent. Many blocks of paddy field neatly arranged on almost every inch of the hillside. All I can see was a hillside with a vivid green grass. How they actually constructed the blocks was amazing...


After taking photos at Tegalalang, and almost being caught by the street sellers to buy their stuffs, we headed to Tampak Siring to see the Holy Spring Water.

10.00 am
We made a stop somewhere not very far away from our destination. According to our driver, there was a nice yellow paddy field view beside the road if the paddy was ripe. Unfortunately, our timing was not right.
I took the opportunity to take some photos of the locals carving timber to make sculpture of the Buddha.



10.15 am --Tampak Siring--
Arrived at the Holy Spring Water Temple at Tampak Siring. Entrance fee was IDR 3,000. Noticed there was a religious ceremony happening at the temple and many men & women were escorting a parade with a Barong into the temple. My gf managed to take the time to photo herself with our Isuzu ELF.

Then we slowly followed the parade from the back slowly into the temple. We can see a crystal clear water flowing from the dragon-shaped outlet. Many fishes swimming in the pond, and also some ducks cooling themselves beside the pond.

After coming out from the temple, we met up with our driver. He asked us to follow the normal exit path which led us to a market place selling local stuffs and souvenirs. This was because earlier on we told our driver we need to get some sarungs before going to Besakih. Besakih is a well known attraction spot where tourists would probably be conned to buy all kind of garments before they're allowed to visit the temple. Our driver said we could get it cheap here and he also advised us to buy above the IDR 25,000 price tag, depending on the material.

Since we arrived considerably earlier than other tourists or maybe it was due to low season, I found out we were the only tourists at the area. Therefore a lot of sellers trying to pull us to buy something from their stalls. Many of us stopped at the very first stall and bought quite a lot of souvenirs from this stall. Then I walked to a corner and found out there were many more stalls a the back side, which totaling up about 30 stalls. When I walked further in, more and more sellers try to grab my arm asking me to have a look on what they have for sale. One thing I noticed about the sellers was most of them will try to mislead you by saying "1 Ringgit (Malaysian Currency), 1 Ringgit". But when you walk to their stalls, instead of selling the item for 1 Ringgit, they would take out another smaller not-so-nice item and said 1 Ringgit was for that item...

At the end, 5 of us managed to get ourself some sarungs at IDR 15,000 each, plus some local made keychains as souvenirs. Then we walked out to the parking lot where our driver was waiting for us. Out of nowhere a few mobile sellers started to approach us and offered us banana. Luckily I remembered I came across a tip in a travel forum where the seller would ask for money if you ate the banana. What a new strategy in business world!

12.30 pm --Kintamani--
Finally reached Kintamani. We were stopped somewhere along the road and were asked to pay for IDR 30,000 for 8 pax together with our transportation. The printed receipts showed only IDR 3,000. Still figuring how did they actually come out with that amount.

Then our driver brought us to one of the buffet restaurant facing the opposite of where Mt. Batur was. Then he said the price here was cheaper (IDR 60,000) but when we looked inside the huge restaurant, it was so empty with just a few visitors and the view wasn't nice at all.
So we suggested to the driver to look for another restaurant where we can have a nice view of Mt. Batur. Luckily this time he made it right and brought us to one of the most visited restaurant at the area, named Grand Puncak Sari Restaurant. This was the same restaurant I saw visited by many travel forumers over the Internet. The price, was only IDR 5,000 more and we paid only IDR 60,000 per person (after discount maybe), plus the unbelievable 21% gov + service taxes. We asked our driver to come and join us. At first he was a bit shy, but then OK because at least my friends managed to chit-chat with him during the meal.


There was a variety of foods to choose from in this restaurant. The place was clean and the settings were also very comfortable. There was 2 stories of dining places where the upper level come with an open dining area where you can feel the fresh high attitude air while enjoying your meal. Although it was a bit windy at that time, but we still insisted to sit at the open area, just wanting to enjoy the view while taking our dinner.



1.50 pm
After the lunch, we stopped at the road side on the way to Besakih Mother Temple. Our driver told us that we can have a view of the Lake Batur from this area. It was nice view afterall.



2.30 pm --Besakih--
After going thru a long hilly & narrow road, we finally arrived at the Besakih area. Suddenly there were few soldier-liked security guards stopping our vehicle and started asking for entrance fee. The price was initially IDR 10,000 per person. But thanks to our driver, we manage to pay only IDR 60,000 for everything, with the condition no ticket would be given...

Then another 5 min drive uphill to a parking area and we were asked to check for ticket, luckily our driver managed to solve the problem with the person-in-charge. As told by others, you need to have at least a sarong before you can enter the temple. 2 of us who didn't have the sarung yet have to buy it from the seller there. They bought at IDR 15,000 each because we told the seller that's the price we bought at Tampak Siring. Luckily they didn't markup the price as been told by many other travel forumers where they were conned to buy not only sarung, but also a hat, a cloth belt, etc before they were allowed to enter the place.

Again our timing wasn't right. Dark clouds started to gather on top of Besakih area. Look like it was going to rain. First I thought I didn't want to continue with our visit up into the temple, coz it already started to rain and we were asked to rent an umbrella at IDR 3,000 each. Then after looking at our schedule and the option we had, all of them required at least 1 hour drive. So thinking we might be wasting our time on traveling and another fee for the entrance, so why not we rent the umbrella and continue with our visit. Some more Besakih is the mother of all temple and also the largest temple in the whole Bali. So we got ourself umbrella and with the help of our driver, we manage to get a tour guide at the price of IDR 20,000 for everyone.

Since it was a cheap tour guide, so we expected not much info to be heard from him. Afterall, I personally think his info wasn't really valuable either.

The main temple was located at the center where only monks were allowed to enter. We were brought to some of the smaller puras (temples) beside the main temple where according to our tour guide, it was the praying area for the 4 different classes of the Balinese society. We just managed to get some photo and continue with our visit to the back of the temple.

Then another 5 min walk to another pura at the back side of the main temple where we had the view of the whole Besakih Temple from the back.

The rain continued throughout our visit... And when it's time to say goodbye to our tour guide, I paid him the fee as agreed and without any shy he said "you can give more if you want". Thinking we can do most of the visit ourself, so I decided not to give anymore than what I already given. Then when we're about to return the umbrella to the owner, she started to ask for IDR 5,000. WTH... Our driver even helped us to argue with the owner and words started to be a little bit aggressive between them. Preventing any further argument, we just paid the money and left. That's one of the act I hate a lot in any traveling...

Finally, we were on our way back to Ubud which was about 1.5 hour drive away.


5.10 pm
We made a stop at a petrol station along the way for toilet break. The toilet was much more cleaner than I expected. Some more they designed the toilet using an almost see-thru glass door. Maybe they're more open minded than most of us do. At the back of the station, I managed to take photos of another nice green paddy field view.


5.45 pm --Ubud--
Reached Ubud town. Since our dinner booking was around 7.00pm, so we decided to ask our driver to take us for a short tour along Jl Hanoman & Jl Monkey Forest. Then we dropped somewhere in the middle of Jl Monkey Forest and stared to window shopping toward where Bebek Benggil was.

There were many shops selling all kinds of handicraft & souvenirs, from the shape of a living creature until something which only existed in your imagination. I love nice paintings, and cute souvenirs. And also not forgetting the nicely kept garden along the road.



6.30 pm
Arrived at Bebek Benggil 30 min earlier than expected. Luckily our dining area was already been reserved. The restaurant was much more bigger than what it seems from the roadside. There were 2 main lobbies located at the front and also at the back of the restaurant. And there was quite a huge paddy field at the back so you can enjoy the view while enjoying your meal. But it came with a additional cost: mosquitoes.

Our dining area was at the middle of the yard. It was a small hut built using wood and roof made up of dried tree leaves. The hut can fit about 8-10 persons at a time and it was a non-chair dining area. The garden at the restaurant was creatively designed in Balinese style with a few small ponds around it. At night, they used oil lamps to light up the area. So the place was quite romantic and comfortable to enjoy your meal.

We ordered 2 sets of smoked duck costing IDR 175,000 each which were meant for 4 persons. But it was 2 whole bebek (duck) and enough for 6 of us. Besides that, the set also came with extra side dish suches as Sate, local style vege, and 2 glasses of local juice.

After trying the smoked bebek, most of us thought that it wasn't as good as we imagined or heard over the Internet. The taste was alright, without the bad taste of normal duck we have in Malaysia. The meat was very soft, and it was tastier to eat together with its sauce.

My friend said the Sate was very nice, if compared to the one we ate at Nomad Restaurant or the one at Kintamani.

Besides the Smoked Duck, we also ordered their famous Crispy Duck which I can't really remember its price (maybe around IDR 50,000). This one was really crispy and is very suitable for person who likes crispy food. My friend also ordered some vegetarian foods which he said nice.

* Click to view the animated photo

7.40 pm
After finishing our dinner, we continued with window shopping along Jl Hanoman. So sad most if not all of the shops at this street had already closed. So we just walked thru quite a dark street until we found a turn to turn back in to Jl Monkey Forest. At lease there were still some shops still open for business. My friend wanted to buy something for his gf, so we helped him a lot by giving opinion and suggestion.

9.00 pm
Reached our cottage. After a fresh shower and a cup of coffee, we chatted with the owner of our accommodation, named Pak Wayan. Found out that he was younger than most of us and run the business after his father. He is a nice person and I believe so do all the people in Bali...

12.00 pm
Sleep... Zzz... zzz...

-TOP-

---

19 Feb 2008 [Day 3]

7.45 am
Another beautiful morning at the cottage, and also another morning waiting for our breakfast to be served. But alright, since we're leaving the place today and going to stay in Kuta in the rest of our trip in Bali. At least I got sometime to pack my things up and ready to move.

8.30 am
Our driver arrived ready to take us to the place we wanna go. But my breakfast was not served yet. While waiting for the breakfast to be served, we settle our accommodation bill. The price quote was exclusive of the 10% government tax as I thought. So my room added to the amount IDR 330,000 for 2 nights stay. After settling the bill, our breakfast finally served and we tried to finish it in a hurry as I just didn't want to be the last person.

Before we left, we managed to take a few photos with the owner, Pak Wayan when he was on the way back from collecting flower for the rooms.





9.10 am
Head to Sukawati art market.

9.40 am --Sukawati--
Reached Sukawati Art Market. According to our schedule, we were supposed to be at this place in the early morning around 8-9 am, because according to my friends, the sellers believe that they had to have a successful first transaction in order to have a good business for the day.

Surprisingly the parking lot infront of the market was quite empty with only about 4 or 5 vans parked including ours.

When we walked thru the main entrance, we can see many of the sellers just sit infront of their stalls and chatting with each other, hardly see any tourists or visitors yet. There were about 3 halls altogether consisting about 20-40 smaller stalls in every hall.

You can find all kind of handicrafts, paintings, art works, sculptures, clothes, etc here. They said this is one of the cheapest place to buy souvenir and local stuff. I agree with that because if compared with Kuta or Ubud, you can get the same thing cheaper here. But you have to bargain. Their initial price might be 3-5 times higher than what you would get at the end.

Tips:
A. try to buy from the stalls at the back as they might be more desperate than the stalls infront.
B. if you want to buy more than one unit, buy at different stalls. Subsequently you would always get a cheaper or the same price from what you got from the first seller.

We walked into the narrow path in the hall, and all the sellers tried very hard selling their goods. Some even beg you to buy from them. I guess they're very desperate to get visitor as the competitors were very strong. So we bought some stuffs from one seller and some from another seller.

At the end, me and my gf managed to buy some Bali t-shifts, some colourful bags, cute little handmade turtles as souvenir, etc. My friends even got themselves many souvenir and local made goods.

After a hard day bargaining, we left to Kuta to find ourself an accommodation.

12.20 pm --Hard Rock Hotel, Kuta--
We made a stop at Hard Rock Hotel in Kuta because one of my friend wanted to stay here for the night. Checked with the receptionist and when my friend were about to confirm for the room, suddenly another receptionist just came to our receptionist saying that they were already fully booked for that day and tomorrow. They left only with the luxurious room for tomorrow. What a disappointment for my friend...

Since we're already there, we made a short visit to the hotel and managed to take some photos in the hotel.



12.30 pm
Headed to Poppies Lane about 10 walk away. The road was narrow which can only fit one vehicle but infact it was a 2-way street! We went to several homestays/guesthouses/bungalows which were recommended by many forumers & articles, but found out most of their condition were far worser from what was said and written. Below are some of the accommodation I've visited and my own opinion:

Mimpi Bungalows

Price : Around IDR 200,000

It was a bungalow-style accommodation with about 5 bungalows to choose from. There was also a small swimming pool in the yard.

Read this accommodation was highly recommended and value for money by some travel recommendation articles. Thus I put this accommodation as my first choice.

But when I checked out 2 of their bungalows, they were a bit old and dull. I could also see some of the walls were wrecked & the paint were worn out. The rooms were dark, and not feeling comfortable even during mid day. The bathroom was also very dark and can't really tell whether it was clean or not.

Maybe it was because the only available bungalows were the old one. The newer and the nicer bungalows were already been taken up, and the articles were written based on these newer units.

New Arena Hotel
Price : Around IDR 200,000

It was situated right beside Mimpi Bungalows, at the end of Gang Sorga. Heard this was a newly built hotel and the place should be much more better than others.

A visited to a room found out the walls at the corridor have the same fate as the one in Mimpi Bungalows. The paint were worn out, and I could still see some algae living on the crack line.

As for the room, it was quite OK even tough the room wasn't really bright. But for my standard, it was acceptable. But for the IDR 200,000 price tag, we decided to look for other places which was closer to the Poppies I Lane. Oh, this hotel also comes with quite a big swimming pool at the another corner.


La Walon Hotel / Bungalows
Price : IDR 180,000 (fan), IDR 220,000 (a/c)

If you look at the outlook of the hotel, it was quite elegant for the area like Poppies I Lane. When we were there, they're still undergoing an upgrading work on the outlook. There was a beautiful and clean swimming pool at the front, together with a huge statue at the side.

When we visited the room, I noticed the room was very normal with nothing much to talk about. But at least it wasn't old and worn out like the one in Mimpi Bungalow nor New Arena Hotel. For the price above, I think the customer pay more on the outlook than the room itself.

Another thing good about this hotel was they have their own backup power supply. One night when we had blackout in the entire Poppies Lane, this was one of the only place with electricity still on. Remember, I heard blackout is quite common in Bali especially during rain season.


Ayu Beach Inn
Price : IDR 150,000 (a/c)

My friends visited this place and also the rooms earlier on when I was checking other places. They said so far this was the best among all the accommodations they've visited. There was a very small pool beside the counter which was probably not being used anymore and another newer pool at the back yard where most of the rooms were.

Feeling tired to look for another places, we've made a decision to stay here. After bargaining for the price n getting the key, we moved into our rooms which were opposite the dining hall. The room looks alright during the day time. The bedsheets were clean as you can see from the photo above. But the bathroom was quite old and dirty. Looks like it needs some upgrade and cleaning. After settling down with our luggage, we moved on with our schedule.

When we came back at night, I found out our room was very dark with only 1 working tungsten light. As for the bathroom, it was even darker. Another light at the hand washing tub wasn't working. I visited my friends' rooms, it was a lot more brighter and more comfortable with a white light. Then when I was about to take a shower, the shower hose just wrecked and leaked. Suddenly there was a blackout at our row of rooms.

After a few while, the person-in-charge came and turned the safety switch back on. I told him to change for a white light and replace the malfunction light and also the shower hose. He said he will get it done. I decided not to waste my time waiting for him to finish the job so I went for a walk a Poppies Lane.

A bad day just didn't end there. The rain started showering when we were just passed by a few shops. Thus I try to look for some DVDs at a shop where the rain started. After selecting 2 DVDs, another blackout just happened. This time it was the whole Poppies I Lane!!!

Nowhere else to go, we headed back to our accommodation. It was so dark without any light at all, even for the alley heading to their main entrance, and also the lobby itself. Then suddenly the person-in-charge talked to us at the counter and offered us ONLY ONE candle. I asked for another one, and that was the last one he had left. My friends asked for mosquitoes coils, and he asked us to buy it from the shop at the street. I felt very disappointed with the way they handle this kind of situation, and were not helpful at all!

That was the worse night I ever had in all my travel experiences in my whole life (at least until now). Mosquitoes were uncountable, room were hot, and the electricity only came back on around 1.30 am. I found out they had helped me to change the shower hose and the malfunction light, but not the white bulb I asked for. The second night, I moved to another place at the other side of the Poppies Lane.

My final thought on this place: Budget, and clean bedsheets. But choose for a room with suitable lighting and clean bathroom. Or else, stay out!

Pesona Beach Inn
Price : IDR 100,000 (fan), not sure (a/c)

Read about some good recommendations from travelers before visiting this place. But unfortunately there was only 1 room left only for 2 persons. Therefore we moved to other places (Ayu Beach Inn & La Walon).

But for my second night in Kuta, I moved in here with my gf because we just cannot accept the room condition in Ayu Beach Inn.

The place was located at the opposite side of the road from Ayu Beach Inn, and about 2-3 min away from La Walon. The room & bathroom were very clean n spacious. There was also a balcony outside our room where you can enjoy your time there if you're free. This place didn't have any swimming pool... hey, I don't need a swimming pool when I'm traveling... The only drawback about this place I would say was the weird smell from their water tap. It smell something like chlorine or waste water when I first opened the tap. But after a while, I would be alright.

There was another homestay right beside this place called Bali Diva Homestay. It was owned by the brother of Pesona Beach Inn owner. Many said this place was newly built and it was cleaner and better than Pesona Beach Inn. Of course the price tag was slightly higher, maybe another IDR 20,000-50,ooo more.
For Inn type, I put this as my first choice before visiting to Bali. But unfortunately it was fully book for the whole week when I was there, missed out the chance to photo with the room. Will check out this place in my next visit to Bali!

2.00 pm
After settling down with our luggage, we were already feeling very hungry. Then we simply made a stop at a cafe along Poppies Lane called Kedin's Cafe. We ordered some Nasi Goreng (fried rice), Mie Goreng (fried noodle), and some pastas. We noticed the food here cost slightly higher than another few restaurants that we passed by earlier on. But since we're already tired of walking, so additional few K should save a lot of our energy.



As for the drink, we ordered a few bottles of soft drink @ IDR 4,000 each and a few glasses of avocado juice @ IDR 8,000 each. I didn't get the avocado juice but according to my friends, the taste was very special n nice.





3.30 pm --Tanjung Benoa--
Arrived at Tanjung Benoa beach which is famous for the water sport activity. You can find all sort of water sport activities such as snorkeling, banana boat, jet ski, parasailing, scuba diving, etc at this area. During our visit, I could see many boats just parked at the shore doing nothing, mainly due to the low season. The beach was very clean but the sand wasn't as white as I thought. The sea water was very clear for a place full with boats parked around it.

We didn't plan for any water sport activity because we're quite tight on our schedule, and some more it was not a very good season to go for snorkeling. So a couple of photos ended up our visit to Tanjung Benoa. Then we headed to another famous beach at Nusa Dua.


4.00 pm --Nusa Dua--
Passed thru the Nusa Dua main entrance which was securely guarded, maybe to avoid unwanted incident at this home to the world class accommodations in Bali. The whole place was well kept and it was like a big garden, with a clean lawn, good road sign, wide road, separate pedestrian pathway, etc. The place was very suitable for couple who like to take a slow walk around in a garden with a peaceful surrounding.

We stopped at the parking lot beside the Grand Hyatt Hotel. We didn't go into the hotel, just directly to the beach near it. If compared to the beach at Tanjung Benoa, I think the sand here was whiter and cleaner. But at some part, the sands were a bit sharp and not comfortable to walk with naked foot. Here I hardly saw any boat or any water sport activity except for surfing, not like in Tanjung Benoa. Guess this place was more for people who like to rest and enjoy the breeze from the sea.

After the visit to the beach, we headed to back our vehicle and managed to take a photo of all of us together with our vehicle which we rented for USD 50 per day including a driver.



5.00 pm --GWK Park--
We made a stop at the junction turning into the GWK cultural park. We didn't enter the park because we still have Blue Point n Uluwatu to go before 6.00pm. Some more there was an entrance fee for this place and not worth if we're just visiting in a hurry.



5.08 pm --Dreamland Entrance--
After a very short drive, our driver made another stop at the entrance to Dreamland. He asked us whether we wanna take any photo at the area. Seeing the huge and beautiful statue, we decided to get down our vehicle and take several photo for memory.

There was a group of Japanese girls at the area and their 3 tour guides could speak fluent Japanese. Besides them, there was also other visitors coming from all part of the world, and most if not all of them didn't enter Dreamland, just for a short photo break at this entrance.



5.30 pm --Blue Point Villa--
The road we passed thru to get here wasn't really a smooth one. It was very narrow and hilly, but at least it was better than the one going to Besakih Temple. My friend suggested this area because he read about the romantic glass church in Blue Point Villa. But we were stopped by the security guard because only hotel guest was allowed to enter the area. We cannot just go in and have a visit at their place, it was prohibited.

Thus what we could do was to watch the sea from a cliff beside the villa and take some photo of it. We thought the place was amazing, but our driver said wait until we see what Uluwatu have to offer.

6.00 pm --Uluwatu--
Arrived at Uluwatu on time as expected. Entrance fee was IDR 3,000 per person, again sarung and a yellow cloth belt were required. At least we could borrow it free of charge from the ticket counter. For us who wore pant or short reaching the knee level, no sarung was needed. But the yellow cloth belt was a necessary. Our driver followed us into the temple because he wanted to protect us from the "friendly" monkey around at the area. To achieve this, he brought along a stick which could easily be found around the place.

There was a Kecap dance performance started at 6.00pm at this area which cost IDR 50,000 per person. We didn't watch it because we only wanted to go for Barong dance which was scheduled in the day after. We walked to the cliff to have a view of the sea. It was magnificent, hard to describe using word. High cliff, blue sea, nice view.

Then we walked to another 2 sides of the cliff to have a different view of the temple. The distance wasn't far away as we were quite excited to witness the amazing view of Uluwatu. The only regret was that we missed the chance to watch sunset at this area. I didn't see any sunlight at all. All the time the sun just hided behind the thick cloud, thanks to the raining season.

Finally we followed the path which led us to a small hut along the cliff. When we were about to reach the hut, there was about 4 monkeys enjoying their food at the middle of the pathway. So our driver tried to scared the monkeys with the stick and we managed to walked thru them. It was another nice view of the temple from the hut. But the cliff was very dangerous if you didn't take extra caution. You might loss your life just in a single step.

When we're about to leave, the same group of monkey tried to block our way. This time it was more than 4 of them. It was like a revenge after spoiling their meal time just now. I tried to scare them away with my stick but they didn't seem to be afraid of me. Toward the end, we found out there was another way out of the hut which was a lot more closer and safer compare to the path we took previously.

When we reached our van, I managed to take a photo with our van together with my name on the dashboard. That was the same sign when our driver picked us up at the airport on the first day.

Then we headed to Jimbaran Bay to taste the seafood by the beach.


7.45 pm --Jimbaran Bay--
Our driver dropped us at a restaurant at Jimbaran Bay named AMC Bumbu Bali. When asked why he chose this restaurant, he said the price was more reasonable here, and the taste was better than others. His many previous tourists gave a good review on this restaurant.


So we got ourself a table n seats right at the seaside. The sea was about 2 meters away. There was many seafood restaurants along the beach with a nice oil lamps lightening all the dining table. According to our driver, there was 24 restaurants altogether. I used to be more, but maybe due to strong competitor, only 24 left. The feel sitting at the seaside was very comfortable especially with the fresh air blowing from the sea. As for the price, I thought it was a bit pricy. You can get a better food with a better price here in Malaysia, but of course without the seaside dining feel.

I ordered a roasted fish (King Fish) at IDR 50,000 / kg. My friends ordered some other type of seafood which I didn't take, as I'm only take fish among all the seafoods. The fish set came with a simple soup, and plain rice. There was also special made Balinese chili paste which I found quite nice. Our driver joined us for the dinner but he was so shy to eat and I remembered he only took a small portion of the fish and no more.



9.00 pm --Kuta--
After finishing our dinner, we headed back to Kuta. I was very disappointed at our Ayu Beach Inn accommodation. For more story on this accommodation, please refer to my accommodation recommendation above earlier this day.

Due to blackout, we went for a walk along the main road and also Kuta square. Here if compared to Ubud, it was more fun and shop open until at least 10.30 pm. In Ubud, most of the shop closed around 8.00 - 9.00 pm. So for anyone who like nightlife a lot, Kuta will be a perfect place to be.



12.00 pm
Went to bed, still without electricity, no fan, no air-cond...

-TOP-

---

20 Feb 2008 [Day 4]

8.00 am
Wake up with a bad sleep. Breakfast was normal. After that, me & my gf decided to checkout from our place. One of my friend also decided to leave the place. We went to Pesona Beach Inn which was across the street n checked ourself in for IDR 100,000 per night. It was the last room available for the day.

My gf thought that the room was a lot more better than our previous room in Ayu Beach Inn, except the weird smell from the water tap in the bathroom.

9.00 am --Barong Dance--
We were already late. The Barong show already started maybe a few minutes ago. We paid IDR 50,000 per person for the entrance fee and found out there was already about 50-80 visitors watching the show, which took up about 80% of the available seats. No choice but to take the back and side seat.


The show started with a storyline where a small teenage girl was kidnapped by the evil and continued to the end where the Barong came out to save the day. The show wasn't really good as there were many time wasting acts like 2 dancers repeatedly dancing for about 10 min, plus other boring acts. Even when the Barong came out, it was just a brief one with a very short act. Many of us thought that the Chinese's culture lion dance is much more interesting to watch. I saw there were few tourists just walked out from the show after 10 min watching it.

When the show finished, I checked with our driver, and he said this was the show in Kuta area, not Batubulan one as we're already getting late. My advice is don't go for the Barong dance in Kuta area, instead check out the one in Batubulan.






11.00 am --Taman Ayun--
Arrived at Taman Ayun in Mengwi. Paid IDR 3,000 per person as the entrance fee. Here at least we received some brochures introducing the places of interest in Bali, with no advertisement. Same with other temple, the garden was cleanly kept and the main temple was only for monks only.

So we can just walk around the temple and take some pictures of it. As told by many travel sites, this temple was very photogenic because of its neatly-arranged pagodas. Some more the fence was quite low that you can see the inside of it, not like Besakih Temple where we could not see much on the inside.





We finished the visit just in about 30 min, including a toilet break. Then we continued our journey to Candi Kuning Fruit Market.





12.30 pm
Our driver asked whether we wanna stop for lunch before proceeding to Candi Kuning. He said there was a buffet restaurant by the hillside with a nice view, plus the supir get to eat for free. We made a stop at the restaurant and thinking we already spent quite a lot for our meal, so we told our driver to look for something local, like a warung (food stall) beside the roadside. Then he drove for another 10 min and dropped us at a stall named Warung Sedap which was just beside the road.

The restaurant wasn't big, but I like their style. I was a non-chair restaurant where we would have to sit on the floor, where at least the floor was clean. And since it was built at the hillside, you can enjoy the hill view while enjoying your meal with a cool mountain temperature.

The price? It was superbly cheap! I think the restaurant was meant for local, not for tourist. Looking at the cheap menu, we ordered quite a lot of food, about 2 sets of meals for everyone. Some of the food we ordered including bakso ayam (chicken ball) & bakso sapi (buffalo ball) with noodle, ayam lalap, mie goreng special, mie rebus special, etc.


There was a nice drink which we ordered 3 glasses. It was called jeruk hangat (hot local orange) costing IDR 7,000 each and the taste was fantastic.

At the end, we paid about IDR 15,000 per person with a stomach full of food n drink.



1.50 pm --Candi Kuning Fruit Market--
Just a short drive and we arrived at this not-so-famous Candi Kuning Fruit Market. Here I could see many colourful tropical fruits being sold freshly to visitors. We as Malaysian have seen many of these fruits so it wasn't surprise us very much. But there was a type of fruit that most of us never seen before. It has a shape of a rugby ball and the colour of the tomato. We wanted to try it, but when the seller said it taste a bit sour, we chose not to try it anymore.

Besides fruits, they also sell a lot of fresh vegetables, flowers, spices, and local made crisps. We bought the crisps @ IDR 10,000 for 5 packs. The taste was good, especially when taking with the chocolate (not sure whether it was really chocolate) strips. Additionally I like it because I believe it didn't come with the artificial colouring, flavoring and no MSG added. I was a bit regret to buy in such a small quantity because beside Candi Kuning, there was no other place I could see it was being sold.



2.30 pm --Bratan Lake, Bedugul--
Another famous tourist destination less than 10 min drive from Candi Kuning Fruit Market, the Bedugul Temple and the Bratan Lake. The entrance fee was IDR 10,000 per person and no sarung or belt was required.



Among all the places we been to, I think this was probably the most comfortable place to be, mainly due to its cool temperature and nice view.



I took quite a lot of photos here together with my gf because I didn't feel hot at all. I could see my friends also had a good time there taking many photos for memories. Unfortunately the sky turned dark and it started to rain after about 30 min we were there. If not because of the rain, we might have stay longer to relax ourself.

* Click to view the animated photo

3.30 pm --Puncak Bagus--
Our driver brought us to a place further north uphill to see a very nice view from the top. This place was called Puncak Bagus and according to our driver, we could see Lake Tamblingan and Lake Buyan from here if the sky was clear. But unfortunately, it was full of fog due to the rain just now. I could only see a little of Lake Buyan from here. But it was a nice experience afterall.



5.10 pm --Tanah Lot--
It was quite a long journey before reaching this famous attraction, Tanah Lot. I managed to get some nap during the journey, so did most of my friends at the back. When we got down from our van, I could see most of them were still in the half-sleep mode.

The entrance fee was IDR 10,000 per person. Before reaching the Tanah Lot temple, there was quite a big market place consisting about 40-60 shops beside the entrance. I read from many travelers that the price at this market place was similar to the one in Sukawati. But our main destination was at the temple. So without wasting any time at the shop, we walked straight to the back toward the sea.

I think it must be due to the rain season where the tide was quite fierce. Compared to the photos taken by many travelers over the Internet, our view was totally different. We could neither walk by the beach, nor to the temple either because the wave might hit anytime. There was even a few safety guard standing by to warn the tourists if they spotted any high wave coming. The sky was also full of clouds, and I can't spot the sun at all. Another disappointing sunset watching.

* Click to view the animated photo

I just took a couple of photos at the site before moving to another spot. There was another nice view of the rock due to the erosion caused by the wave. Besides nice view, there was also many mobile sellers, mainly kids and women walking around the area selling souvenirs and postcard. As for men, they involved in a more high-tech business where we could have our photo taken and printed out on the spot.

After the visit, we walked around the market place and did some shopping there. I bought 1 short for myself and my gf costing IDR 15,000 each, which I think it was surprisingly cheap for its material and design. My friends also managed to get themselves some souvenirs and sandals at a very low price.

8.10 pm ==A Driver's Life in Bali==
Our driver dropped us at a huge licensed money changer office where I managed to changed USD 50 with the rate of 9,100 for every dollar. While waiting for us, my gf managed to have a little chit-chat with our driver in the van.

Pak Mul has 2 daughter and live in Denpasar. He used to be a taxi driver in Bali but due to the strong competitive, he decided to work under his current travel agent company in Kuta. Therefore he had to wake up in the early morning from Denpasar to Kuta to collect the van and headed back again to Ubud to fetch us. Same thing happened after he dropped us at Ubud during our first 2 days where he had to return to Kuta before going back to Denpasar. Initially I thought he could keep the van within the 4 days we had our booking.

Futher more, he told my gf there was about 20 drivers in his company and they take turn to bring tourist for tour. It was alright during peak season, but during low season like in February, sometime they would just have to stay in the office doing nothing. Luckily their salary was fixed. Whether there was any trip or not, they would still get the same pay.

Wondering how much his pay was, my gf managed to ask about it and he said he earns about IDR 300,000 per month for the whole family. Wow... IDR 300,000 is only around RM 110, or equivalent to USD 30! How could he lives with that? No wonder why we never see him eat outside because his hard earned money only enough to keep his family alive. He also admitted that IDR 300,000 was really a little, therefore sometime he really have to rely on this customer to give some tips for a better living. While saying this, he also mentioned that his intention wasn't to hint us to give any tip to him, just a little fact of his life. According to him some more, if there was another bombing in Bali, they would have to stay away from the tourism business for another 6 months!

I would recommend any of you to hire Pak Mul as your driver in Bali if you need one. Mainly not because of what he said, but I notice he is quite a good driver. Being a careful driver , honest (told us that he can eat for free at some restaurant if we eat there), give good suggestion, on time, take care of us when we're at Uluwatu against the 'friendly' monkey, etc. Then of course to help him to get a better life! You can contact him at the number below:

+62 8133 869 5576 (Pak Mul)

8.30 pm --Kuta--
Arrived at the Kuta busy streets. We asked our driver to take us for a short tour at Legian street and other streets around it. The traffic was very bad when we arrived at Legian street. Thus we got down from our van and walked along the street while doing some window shopping. My friends went into a money changer which offered a very competitive rate compared to other money changer side.

After a while, we arrived at the 2002 Bali bombing site - The Ground Zero where a memorial monuments was constructed for the victims who died in the bombing. Many visitors stopped by the place and going thru the list of the dead with full of sympathy. It was a very sad thing to hear because those who dead were mainly tourists who came to Bali for vacation, not the person responsible for any crime or any wrongdoing.

After taking a few shot at the monument, we moved on with the rest of Legian street. We split up into 2 groups based on our interest n shopping need. 4 of us went into a cafe beside the road because we were already hungry while another 4 continued with their shopping in a shopping complex. I ordered a tuna steak mainly because I never tried a fresh tuna before, except the one in the can. The price was IDR 27,500 and the taste was very nice. We also ordered a glass of avocado juice and found out the one in Kedin's cafe was much more better.

Then I made a stop at a DVD shop because I'm a real movie enthusiast. We further split up and left only me and my gf. The shop was closing down when I manged to get 14 DVDs at the price of IDR 100,000.

We passed thru a few streets n junctions, until finally we were lost! We weren't really lost, just that we missed out a turn and ended up quite far end of Legian street. The rain just showering again and I decided just to take a taxi back because most of the shops were already closed and nothing much to see along the street. We paid IDR 20,000 for a 5-10 min drive to our inn.

12.30 pm
Went to bed after a tiring night...

-TOP-

---

21 Feb 2008 [Day 5]

8.30 am
Woke up in the morning and found out the rain was still showering. I tidied up our luggage because we're suppose to leave Bali later today. I left my backpack at the lobby and walked across the street to where my friends were staying.


10.00 am
The rain showed a little sign of stopping. Without further wasting the time we had for our last day in Bali, 4 of us headed out to another end of Legian street for shopping and site seeing.

At the end of Legian street, we turned into a road heading to Jl Kartika Plaza. Once there, we're approached by a smartly uniformed guy offering us a piece of small pamphlet saying it was about their newly opened hotel nearby. Without thinking much, we took the pamphlet and continued with our street seeing. Then the person quickly stopped us and asked us to give him a few minutes to explain what the pamphlet was about. He said it was actually a lucky draw and wanted us to tear it and see what it was inside. Feeling a bit annoying, I just did as what he say. Wow... I got the super big prize! The person quickly congratulate me for getting this big prize and said he never had anybody won it. What my friends got was just a t-shirt as a consolation prize. He continued saying there was a free transportation to take us to the place to collect my price. As the place was nearby, I told him I would prefer to walk there myself. Being more and more annoyed, he insisted to take us with the free transportation. Finally I gave him back the lucky draw pamphlet and asked him to give the chance to other people...

Actually we used to have a lot of these scams in Malaysia until recently the government had begun a big operation to crack the entire organization together with its source. Luckily we were aware about this scam and didn't drop into their trap. I just regret taking the pamphlet and wasted some of my precious time in Bali.

We walked to an art market across the road to find out there was another person with the same wearing offering us another pamphlet. This time I told him I already opened one and walked away. The market place was similar tothe one in Sukawati and Tanah Lot, except more choice was available here and the price tag was slightly higher. We bought several dresses and shorts. Short was IDR 10,000 more expensive than what I got in Tanah Lot, but it was considered very cheap if compared to Malaysia.
After the shopping at the art market, we went to Kuta beach to witness the surfers' paradise beach. Maybe it was still early, I just saw 1 or 2 person surfing the wave. We stayed for about 10min at the windy beach and walked to Matahari shopping complex which was just a few steps away.


We had our lunch at A&W in the complex because of its delicious looking lunch poster. It turned out to be quite disappointing as it didn't come any close to the one in the poster. Then I went into the washroom in the complex and found out even the washroom was nicely decorated.


2.00 pm
We're at Legian street at the junction turning back into Poppies narrow lane to look for a place for spa. Since we're short of rupiah, we went into a money changer offering a very good rate if compared to the other 2 money changers opposite the road.

We went into the shop, which mainly sell sandals, watches, perfumes and other stuffs. We're changing USD 50 at the rate of 9,390 for every dollar. The person pressed his calculated by himself n then re-pressed again infront of me using the same rate and the final value was around IDR 452,000. To double confirm, I took the calculator and recalculate again using the SAME calculate with the SAME rate, but the result was NOT THE SAME (value was IDR 459,000)!! Thinking that he might pressed wrongly, I didn't suspect anything after he said "OK, OK, you're right"...

Then he took out a stack of IDR 20,000 note and starting to count the money by putting into 5 stacks of 5 pieces each, and another IDR 60,000 at the side. Then he grabbed all the money in a single stack and handed over to me. In my heart, that would sum up to be IDR 500,000 + IDR 60,000. So I recounted the money by putting 5 pieces in a stack, and another 5 pieces on top of the previous stack, horizontally n vertically cross over each stack. The suspicious came when he started to touch and rearranged my money stacks while I was still counting the money. Surprisingly the total was only IDR 440,000! Then he acted like I missed out a piece from a stack and out of nowhere, suddenly a brand new IDR 20,000 note just appeared at the stack where the money was short of.

Then I bundled again all the money and counted one by one. This time it was still not enough. So I passed back to him to recount the money. This time he pretended to be very confused, and again he pressed the calculator which always give a different result. After a while, he said "pening, pening..." (confused, confused...). Then he restarted the same counting again by making 4 stacks of 5 pieces note each, plus another IDR 60,000 at a side. Once he's done, he bundled all the money and passed to me. Feeling fed up with counting the money again and again, I passed it to my friend beside me to count the money while I was drawing IDR 1,000 from my wallet as the balance.

My friend counted and counted, it was only 15 pieces of IDR 20,000 note, excluding the IDR 60,000 at the side. 15 x IDR 20,000 = IDR 300,000 only!!! We looked at the person and said it was only IDR 300,000, and the replied "10% commission...". Knowing there was something wrong with this person, we put back the Rupiah and took back our USD 50 and walked away. In my heart, I was worried he might has changed our note into something else as his move was so fast and untraceable.

2.15 pm
Reached another money changer at Poppies Lane not far away from our accommodation. The rate was quite normal at 9,025 for every US dollar. At least this time the person took out IDR 50,000 note, not the IDR 20,000 note.

After getting our money, we went into the SPA right beside the money changer. It wasn't really a good place for spa, but we're already short of time and the price tag was only IDR 120,000 for 2 hours spa package. I did the 2 hours spa package which started with about 30 min oil massage, then steaming, scrubbing, milk applying and finally the soak in the tub with flowers. I didn't enjoy much of the soaking because the time was already reaching 4.45 pm where we're supposed to gather up at 5.00 pm to go to the airport.

4.50 pm
I made a final stop at the DVD shop which I experienced blackout during my first night in Kuta. Managed to roughly picked 7 DVDs for IDR 50,000 and headed back to our accommodation to pick up my backpack. When we reached our van, it was already 10 min past 5pm, and the rest of my friends were already in the van waiting for us.

On the way to airport, one of my friends asked whether we noticed that our Rupiah was used up very quickly. Then we told them about the story we had in the money changer earlier on and they also agreed that they might lost IDR 100,000 each. Everybody was so mad, but nothing much we could do...

5.45 pm
Arrived at Ngurah Rai airport. I paid USD 10 for our airport transfer and another USD 10 as a tips from 4 of us, plus another IDR 20,000 personally. The rest also gave some tips to our driver on their own discreet.


We took several photos at the main gate and checked ourself in. It was just a small airport with only a single restaurant and a small food stall beside the McDonald counter. Even the McDonald counter was only a order counter where the food will be delivered from somewhere else.

I ordered a mie goreng and a piece of bakery from the food stall costing IDR 40,000 and IDR 15,000 respectively.



7.40 pm
Went thru the boarding gate and prepared for take off.

10.40 pm
Touched down at KL LCCT, 30 min ear than scheduled. After a very long wait over our luggage, it was already 11.10 pm. We took the Aerobus @ RM 8.00 straight back to KL Sentral where everybody head to their own final destination.

-TOP-

---

22 Feb 2008 [Day 6]

11.00 am
It was a good long sleep... Woke up in the morning thinking I'm still in Bali. In fact I've finished my long vacation and it's now time for the usual day activity.

There was a backpack full of clothes to be washed. After finishing with the laundry, I took out most of the stuffs we bought in Bali and took some photos of it for memory.
Guess that's the end of my Bali trip...

-TOP-

---

Final Thought & Opinion

This was my first visit to Bali n also Indonesia. Been to Langkawi, Hat Yai, Bangkok & Chiang Mai, and I think Bali is the best place to be!

Sometime I think it is better to travel abroad than to local destination as I might end up spending less than what it will cost in local destination with the same amount of pleasure. Why I said Bali is the best place to be is because in Bali, you have everything! If you like the sun, go to the beach, if you like cool and refreshing place, go to Danau Bratan, or Kintamani area... if you like shopping and a happening nightlife, Kuta will be the place, and for those who like to enjoy a quite stay, Ubud will suit you. So ideally Bali is for everyone.

Another thing I like about Bali is their friendly local people. Most of the Balinese I encountered were very soft spoken and very polite, but still there was a small group of Balinese who wasn't so friendly and very tricky. But overall, they were one of the best local people I met so far.

There's only one small regret over my trip to Bali which we had chosen the wrong time for our trip. February is still in the raining season where historically February has the most rainfall recorded compared to other months. Raining season would mean cloudy sky and it would trouble you a lot especially to your daily schedule and activity. Thick cloud also mean no view of sunrise or sunset. The cloud would even block your view to Mt. Batur. So for first timer, I will suggest you to stay away from the raining season. Good things about February and low season are that the temperature would be cooler and the average price will also drop.
Go after March but stay away from the peak season as everything would be expensive! Not only that, it would be quite hard to find a place to stay and and the end, it might ruins your vacation.

Well, this was my first trip to Bali and certainly not the last one! One day I will surely return to Bali. But till then, I have Seam Reap n Phonm Penh scheduled on this coming July. Hopefully I manage to find something else special and enjoy myself there...

-TOP-

---

Tip & Warning

Do Tips:
- Try to stay outskirt of Kuta center such as Seminyak or Legian as the accommodation will be slightly cheaper.
- Hire a driver with your own itinerary
- Do more shopping at Sukawati Art Market, Tanah Lot, Tampak Siring & Tegalalang area as price will be cheaper compare to what you get in Kuta
- Go to the shop at the back side or a market place as the price might be more competitive
- Shop earlier as first trade of the day is very important sign of good luck for the seller.
- Buy DVD in Kuta (IDR 10,000 each, averagely Buy 5 Free 2) if you need one.
- Visit Kintamani (Mt. Batur View) in the morning
- Leave earlier as it might get dark around 7pm
- Try Lia Cafe at Jimbaran Bay for seafood dinner (suggestion from other travel forumers)
- Try Dirty Duck @ Bebek Benggil (1 day advance booking is required for smoked duck)
- Try bali peanut (Kacang Disco), ayam betutu & sate lilit
- Get a Balinese Spa
- Bring some sunblock if it is not raining season
- Bring your Indonesian friend along
- Bring umbrella for place like Besakih, Kintamani & Bedugul
- Try to speak Indonesian or Malaysian language as everything will be cheaper
- Get local SIM card @ IDR 10,000 if you're planning for a longer stay
- Remember to keep IDR 150,000/person for the airport tax

Don't Tips:
- Go during peak season as price will be sky high
- Swim in the sea at Kuta beach as the wave is too strong, only for surfer
- Buy tour package, unless you're lazy to do your own planning
- Drive yourself as the road conditions are quite bad with a bad road sign and one-way street might further confuse you.
- Eat McDonald as the price is more expensive than average KL price
- Shop at Kuta area as price as 1.5x higher than other market place
- Go for buffet lunch at Pacung
- Use self-timer on camera at Uluwatu, as there will be volunteer (monkey) to help you!
- Go to Monkey Forest (not suitable for Malaysian)
- Get 'Helpful Guide' at Besakih Temple, unless the price is reasonable.
- Trade in USD, try to pay in IDR (Indonesian Rupiah)

Warnings & Tourist Traps:
- Money Changer: Be suspicious when you come across a money changer who offer a much more better rate than the one around him. And always count your money 2-3 times before leaving the counter.
- Banana Lady: You will be approached by many locals offering you banana once you get out of the Holy Spring Water Temple in Tampak Siring. Don't take it or you will have to pay.
- Lucky Draw Scam: Stay away from anyone offering you a pamphlet or anything and telling you it was actually a lucky draw. It was a scam! Don't waste your time listening or even following him to claim your prize with the free transport provided.
- Trading: always double confirm the price before getting the service or buying anything. It will always be another story when you come back.
- Accommodation: Always check your room facilities (fan, light, toilet, tap, etc) properly as it will always waste your time and spoil your mood if things need to be fixed at the later stage. As for price, make sure the price is inclusive or exclusive of any taxes. Taxes may reach 21%!

-TOP-