Bali

[Don_Simon]

My two pennies on Bali... really didnt like. There's no reason to go there over other Asian countries. Better beaches in Thailand, richer culture in Laos, the list goes on. Ubud seemed like a manufactured culture hub, the beaches on the Gili islands were nothing to write home about and Jakarta is a complete hole.[ 

The one thing I couldn't get my head round was the sheer amount of litter. It was disgusting. Indonesia is probably the only country I've ever been to where I have no desire to return. 

Apart from that, we all had a blast!

[Stevo985]

42 minutes ago, Don_Simon said:

My two pennies on Bali... really didnt like. There's no reason to go there over other Asian countries. Better beaches in Thailand, richer culture in Laos, the list goes on. Ubud seemed like a manufactured culture hub, the beaches on the Gili islands were nothing to write home about and Jakarta is a complete hole.[ 

The one thing I couldn't get my head round was the sheer amount of litter. It was disgusting. Indonesia is probably the only country I've ever been to where I have no desire to return. 

Apart from that, we all had a blast!

Well now I can't wait!  

[Don_Simon]

10 minutes ago, Stevo985 said:

Well now I can't wait!  

****, sorry! I thought you'd been! You'll find your own piece of Bali brilliance bro. I just didn't find mine. 

Nusa Lembongen is a nice island to check out, south of Lombok.

You'll have a blast I'm sure!

[Stevo985]

11 minutes ago, Don_Simon said:

****, sorry! I thought you'd been! You'll find your own piece of Bali brilliance bro. I just didn't find mine. 

Nusa Lembongen is a nice island to check out, south of Lombok.

You'll have a blast I'm sure!

I''m only joking mate, I value your opinion.

7 weeks until I go so I shall report back when I've been  

[Don_Simon]

1 minute ago, Stevo985 said:

I''m only joking mate, I value your opinion.

7 weeks until I go so I shall report back when I've been  

Please do. 

One thing I should have said at the start of my venting session.... the food is incredible. Have as much street food as possible! The markets are the best place to eat in my opinion. Cheap as chips too!

 

 

[Xela]

9 hours ago, Don_Simon said:

 Jakarta is a complete hole

Its not Paris or Rome, but I liked Jakarta!

Yes, its big and dirty and the traffic is a nightmare but people are really friendly, there are some cracking bars and clubs and on the plus side (for me) was a lack of tourists! This was in 2009

Good memories of that place

[Stevo985]

2 weeks and 4 days to go.

Not that I'm counting.

 

 

[tonyh29]

On 12/06/2018 at 13:57, Stevo985 said:

2 weeks and 4 days to go.

Not that I'm counting.

 

 

hopefully the hurricane will have passed by then and they've had a chance to restore water to the island and fix most of the hotels 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Stevo985]

Flying tomorrow annnnnndddddd...

 

... the volcano on Bali has erupted and the airport has been closed.

FFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-

 

I THINK they've reopened it for now. Fingers crossed it doesn't get worse

[tonyh29]

ohhh so close with my natural disaster prediction

[Stevo985]

I got here. And it’s lovely  

Doing a tour on Monday. It will include the Monkey forest. 

Anyone done that? We’re a little reluctant as I don’t fancy getting bitten and having a treatment of rabies injections. But it’s included on every tour so thinking it’s  something to see. 

We’re having a private tour so we’ll probably just tell the guide we don’t want to do it. Or go there and take some photos outside and not go in. 

[tonyh29]

46 minutes ago, Stevo985 said:

I don’t fancy getting bitten and having a treatment of rabies injections.

 there have been no known rabies cases contracted from Ubud monkeys  (  it's dogs more likely to spread it over there )

that said if you got bitten by a monkey (or anything)  I'd probably consider a immunoglobulin  jab

just don't buy bananas to feed them with or tease them and you'll be fine

[Stevo985]

On 05/07/2018 at 18:11, tonyh29 said:

 there have been no known rabies cases contracted from Ubud monkeys  (  it's dogs more likely to spread it over there )

that said if you got bitten by a monkey (or anything)  I'd probably consider a immunoglobulin  jab

just don't buy bananas to feed them with or tease them and you'll be fine

Cheers. 

Went there today and like you said it was absolutely fine. The only people who had any run ins with monkeys were people who tried to interact with them or had bags and stuff with them. 

If you just calmly walk around like we did it’s absolutely fine. 

Was a great place. Never seen monkeys that close that weren’t in captivity so it was a cool experience. 

[Stevo985]

On 04/04/2018 at 02:53, Xela said:

I found KL a bit disappointing - Singapore a much better bet if you have a few days in the general vicinity. 

 

On 04/04/2018 at 04:12, tonyh29 said:

Pretonas Towers are worth going up , have to book it in advance as it sells out quite quickly , can mooch around the area nearby it afterwards bit of a park and some shops

After than that take a train out to the monkey caves \temple  , then check into a bar and get drunk as that’s about it for KL 

singapore does offer you much more as a stopover 

Yeah pretty much!

been here for 24 hours and there isn’t much to do. Been up the towers which was really cool and looked around the area there. Shopping mall and park etc. 

But that’s it apart from food and drink. It’s hot as balls so can’t really be arsed to walk around. Already back at the pool chilling. 

[Stevo985]

So my thoughts on Bali.

 

I think it depends massively on where you stay. We stayed in Nusa Dua which was beautiful. It's a bit more resorty than the other places we saw. Our hotel was in a government maintained complex of hotels (which I wasn't expecting) so it was a bit more upmarket, and less authentic, than other places. but it meant the beaches were beautiful, the hotels were really nice it was really safe. But it also meant it was hard to get to see the "real" Bali. There was a nearby town but it wasn't great. Nowhere I'd like to visit for dinner or anything.

Outside of that we visited Kuta which, to be totally honest, was a shithole. I'm really glad we didn't stay there. The beach was awful and even the nice hotels were spoilt by the massive main road running through the whole place, and we wandered up to Semanyak too which wasn't much better. So I'm glad we stayed at the quieter Nusa Dua.

Spent a day touring around Ubud. Really enjoyed that. Did the standard things, saw coffee plantations and rice terraces and the monkey forest as well as a couple of temples.

 

Overall I really liked the place, but it probably is a place that you should do for a few days as part of a larger itinerary. I didn't mind lounging by the pool and the beach for a lot of the 10 days, but it is a long way to travel just for a holiday like that.

I don't regret it at all, but I'd say it was similar to Thailand which I did back in 2014, but nowhere near as good.

 

Kuala Lumpur was a bit shit really. The towers were cool, but nothing really much else to do. I'm glad I didn't invest much cash into going there. It really only cost us the £40 flight from bali.

[Xela]

Bali has always been one of those places I thought about going but never ended up at... always ended up somewhere else to relax, like Phuket, Koh Samui, Borneo etc  I'll probably never get there now.

Agree about KL - OK for a night or two but not a patch on Singapore, Bangkok or HK when discussing big Asian metropolises. 

 

[Demitri_C]

On 16/07/2018 at 09:31, Stevo985 said:

So my thoughts on Bali.

 

I think it depends massively on where you stay. We stayed in Nusa Dua which was beautiful. It's a bit more resorty than the other places we saw. Our hotel was in a government maintained complex of hotels (which I wasn't expecting) so it was a bit more upmarket, and less authentic, than other places. but it meant the beaches were beautiful, the hotels were really nice it was really safe. But it also meant it was hard to get to see the "real" Bali. There was a nearby town but it wasn't great. Nowhere I'd like to visit for dinner or anything.

Outside of that we visited Kuta which, to be totally honest, was a shithole. I'm really glad we didn't stay there. The beach was awful and even the nice hotels were spoilt by the massive main road running through the whole place, and we wandered up to Semanyak too which wasn't much better. So I'm glad we stayed at the quieter Nusa Dua.

Spent a day touring around Ubud. Really enjoyed that. Did the standard things, saw coffee plantations and rice terraces and the monkey forest as well as a couple of temples.

 

Overall I really liked the place, but it probably is a place that you should do for a few days as part of a larger itinerary. I didn't mind lounging by the pool and the beach for a lot of the 10 days, but it is a long way to travel just for a holiday like that.

I don't regret it at all, but I'd say it was similar to Thailand which I did back in 2014, but nowhere near as good.

 

Kuala Lumpur was a bit shit really. The towers were cool, but nothing really much else to do. I'm glad I didn't invest much cash into going there. It really only cost us the £40 flight from bali.

Loved Thailand was debating Vak I but a lot of people that I know that have been have summarised it very similarly to you.

No rush for me. I think I'd rather do Barbados than bali/singapore for a honeymoon

[chicovilla]

Flying to Hong Kong tomorrow, then onto Bali next Wednesday. 

Will stay 4 nights in Ubud, will hire a scooter to travel round the surrounding area, and up to the lakes and mountains in the North.

Moving onto Nusa Lembongan ( small island of the coast of Bali) for 2 nights.

Seminyak for 2 nights

Then wife flies back to Hong Kong leaving me with 2 more nights to fill. Any suggestions? Looked into the Komodo option but from what i've seen its min 2 people.

 

[tonyh29]

On 07/03/2019 at 09:15, chicovilla said:

Flying to Hong Kong tomorrow, then onto Bali next Wednesday. 

Will stay 4 nights in Ubud, will hire a scooter to travel round the surrounding area, and up to the lakes and mountains in the North.

Moving onto Nusa Lembongan ( small island of the coast of Bali) for 2 nights.

Seminyak for 2 nights

Then wife flies back to Hong Kong leaving me with 2 more nights to fill. Any suggestions? Looked into the Komodo option but from what i've seen its min 2 people.

 

This web Site let me request 1 adult and gave a price so I think you can go solo

the min 2 is probably to go on the small boats , which is what i did with my mate when we went  , there were bigger 30 + berth type boats out there as well so I’d imagine you could get on one of them 

 

2 days might be a bit rushed though , Komodo island is a good few hours journey ew by bait ....you usually spend a night on the boat in the bay  and a night on the main island where the airport is on the way back 

[chicovilla]

I really enjoyed Bali. Spent 4 nights in Ubud, 2 nights in Lembongan and 4 nights near Seminyak.

Lembongan is stunning. A really chilled little island off the coast of Bali, easy to reach by fast ferry from Bali. Had a great time touring the island by scooter - It is very easy to get around, you can get from one side to the other in less than 30 mins. Some nice beaches and good snorkelling/diving off its coast. Looked popular with surfers aswell. Very laid back vibe.

Ubud was my base for the first 4 nights - lots of temples and a nice Ridge walk, in the town. Had a scooter for my stay  there to travel up North to Mount Batur and travelled through some incredible scenery with bright green rice Terraces. 

Seminyak was my base for the last part of my stay, again with a scooter to travel South and inland to Gianyar and Sideman.

In hindsight It would have been better to spend 4 nights in Lembongan, and I would probably skip Seminyak, and stay nearer Gianyar and Sideman on the East. Although Seminyak was ok, I preferred the East and Central parts of Bali. 

Another thing is try and avoid the Monsoon! Nearly everyday there was a big storm for a few hours, which was great fun riding the scooter through roads that soon became rivers! 

Some photos from my trip on my Flickr here -