Posted by DD on Monday, 1. February 1999 at 17:52 Bali Time:
I have to write this before I go off to the psychiatrist. Ever since we got back, I've been having flashbacks of Bali, instead of concentrating on getting kids to school, corporate meetings, paying the mortgage, etc., etc. With a bit of luck, professional help will erase all my Bali memories so I can concentrate on the real world.
A few more stories.....
WHITE WATER RAFTING:
If there was nothing else we were going to do in Bali, we just had to go white water rafting. We had always wanted to go before, but something more important always seemed to get in the way - like looking at shoe shops. This time, the odds were working in my favour - a 3:1 majority for going. Mrs was the only one preferring to take the shoe shop option, but at last she was coming around.
So we made the commitment, booking a tour through Bali Adventure Tours for an afternoon raft down the Ayung River.
Now, I should explain that there are a number of companies offering white water rafting packages, but really only two to whom I would trust my life - Bali Adventure Tours and Sobek. A number of local and seemingly cowboy companies offer cheaper rafting on rivers other than the Ayung, but I fear that these would involve 3 hour bus rides to rivers similar to Niagara Falls - you know, "free transfers, free equipment, free lunches, free body bags!"
From reports I heard, Sobek were very good, but they are very expensive. Approximately $A105 per head for about one and a half to two hours rafting.(We did find a Travel Agent who had a Sobek brochure advertising "Jangan Lewatkan Penawaran Super Khusus dari Sobek Hanya Rp. 250,000". Now this to me said "Sobek Rafting Rp 250,000". But when we enquired, it was only available to local Balinese at this price. Now is this racial discrimination or what?) Anyway, we chose Bali Adventure Tours because they offer afternoon rafting as well as moring rafting, but at a much lower price (about $A200 for the 4 of us). We made the booking but fortunately did not pay any deposit. The morning before we were due to go rafting, we ran into Dave from our hotel. Now Dave is a long story by himself, so I won't waste time here, but he told us of his experiences the day before with Bali Adventure Tours. Dave is not a small lad - in fact he is large - very large, actually. And he went with his small sister and a couple of others. They were taken in the B.A.T. minibus for considerably longer than the one hour trip advertised, then had to walk down several hundred (he said about 500) steps to the Ayung River Start Point. However, when they finally made it, the found that because of the monsoonal rains, the river had risen too high and that it was too dangerous to go rafting. Apparently, large logs were floating down this raging river. So what else was there to do but walk back up the 500 steps to the minibus and travel another 2 hours back to the hotel. Dave said he only found the last 480 steps really difficult.
The moral of the story is - think about the season you are travelling in, because the monsoons can change a Category 2 river into a Category 4 tidal wave in a very short time. He did get his money refunded, but his day was totally ruined.
We considered his story and cancelled our trip - maybe next time.
TOURS GENERALLY:
Perhaps the greatest anomoly of Bali is that shopping and food is so cheap, and organised tours are so expensive. Most organised tour groups offer day trips for between $A50 and $A80 per person. If there are a number of you travelling together, why would you take a tour when you can hire a minibus and driver/guide for $A40-$A50 per day?
The Quicksilver day trip to the reef is supposed to be very good, but it is also relatively expensive. Rafting, elephant rides and camel rides are all fixed price and you do not have any real alternatives.
You can bargain to some extent with the guys on the beach offering parasailing, jetski rides, etc. These are probably better value. Go-karting is great fun and good value.
JOHN'S E-MAIL
John sent me an e-mail asking some questions, and rather than reply directly to him, an open forum reply may be better.
1. Sheraton Nusa Dua
I do not now much about the Sheraton Nusa Dua Hotel. I guess you are referring to the Indah Resort and not the Laguna Resort. They are adjacent Sheraton Hotels at Nusa Dua. I've have never heard of a Sheraton that was a dump, so I guess you should be OK. We stay at the Grand Hyatt because we love the pools and its proximity to the Galleria Shopping Centre where you can eat and drink at mortal prices.
2. Things I think are worth doing:
Rafting (maybe one day)
Waterbom Park
Bali Bird Park
Kintamani and Mt Batur - visiting, climbing, whatever
The Royal Pools at Tirtagangga
Ubud (inc. monkey forest)
Countryside generally
La Lucciola
Meeting the people
Milano's (no-only joking)
3. Bicycling around Bali:
I haven't tried this, but I think there are better ways of achieving the same result, such as having unprotected sex, parachuting without a parachute, calling Mike Tyson a poofter to his face, or even drinking Arak.
4. Distances:
You can do the Kuta/Mt Batur/Kuta trip easily in a day, but you may want to stay at Lovina for a night in order to spend more time in this part of the island.
That's it for now.