Posted by Gregg on Thursday, 1. October 1998 at 19:28 Bali Time:
I spent 5 days in Bali from 17-21 September after 1 week in Manila and 1 week in Bangkok. After Bali I spent 1 week in Cebu, Phillipines.
Having spent 5 months reading the forum and stacks of travel books, I thought I was prepared. I did not have a reservation because I wanted to hand pick my location in Sanur and commute to the Kuta area for nightlife.
Upon arriving at the airport, I made a hotel reservation at one of the counters in the arrival hall. This turned out to be a mistake because I paid a deposit of 40,000 rp which I later forfeited because I did not like the hotels policy on overnight guests. For those of you who d'ont have a reservation or want to hotel search, I recommend you take a Bali (blue) taxi from the airport to Kuta, or Sanur etc., and then just hop from place to place and keep the meter running until you find a place you like.
I ended up staying at the Laghawa Beach Inn in Sanur for 4 nights. My rate was 400,000 rp net per night. The hotels location was ideal - right in the middle of Sanur. The Beach was directly in back and a big grocery store was 2 blocks away. Also, 20 restaurants were within a short walk. My room/Bungalow was nice with a king bed and very clean. The ceiling/roof was made of bamboo/straw with tile on the outside. The air-conditioner worked fine. There was no refrigerator so I bought a cooler for 45,000 rp at the store and a block of ice daily for 2,000 rp at a small shop. This way I had cold drinks at night and could take beverages if I was going inland. The hotels swimming pool was beautiful. It had clean water and was v