First of all want to thank everyone for the great reports it was very helpful and saved my girlfriend and I allot of time and heartache.
Well we started in tokyo and arrived in Singapore . What can I say about Singapore very clean and efficient place surprised that it is not as crowded being such a small country . Stayed at the Grand Central on Orchard road great location the hotel was not one of the better ones that I have stayed at but the rate was good.
$60 Singapore ($1.70 Sing = $1.00 U.S.) you do the math. They have food courts everywhere in Singapore and many are open 24hrs . The food is very safe and very cheap. For example a chinese style noodle dish will set you back about $2-4 Sing. I recommend going to Sim Lim Square for any of your electronics/software needs especially software
I purchased many games and office 2000 for about $5-$10 sing each very cheap and yes so far all work great. One of the tourist attractions in sing is the Merlion a big cement lion head dont go it is no big deal. Go check out Boat Quay and Clark Quay very cool many good restaraunts , bars and shops. Shopping on Orchard Rd is good if you wanna bargain go to one of the plazas rather than the malls you can get much better deals there so good luck. Oh yeah one last thing about singapore most Public toilets require that you pay money to use so take change and not many have paper towels so bring a handkerchief.
OK now off to Bali.
We purchased a package thru a great Singapore travel agent I reccomend going thru a sing agent rather than a local one for I found the rates to be much better. We booked R/T airfare on Singapore airlines, 4 nights/5 days at the Intercontinental Jimbaran beach to include 2 tours, Airport transportation and free breakfast each day for $550.00 USD per person.
The Intercontental and Jimbaran beach.
Great location about 15min by Taksi(Taxi) to Kuta. The property is spectacular I think they have 5 pools a bunch of restaraunts and a great view of the beach. I noticed allot of families here and they also have allot of activities for kids. The room is very nice with one of those nifty little telephones located conveniently next to the toilet a separate bath and shower. The prices are on par with those in the states a beer will run you 18000 rupiahs (9000 Rupiahs = $1.00 U.S.D.) a good sit down lunch including beverages was $30 USD.
The prices are sooo much cheaper outside though we tried to eat out as much as possible. The hotel is noce but the prices are steep go right outside the hotel to one of the little kiosks to buy supplies.
Water 1500Rp Cigarettes 6500Rp Beer 4000Rp
Restaraunts Jimbaran
There is a great little restaraunt in front of the Intercontinental called Puri Lobok open everyday from 730AM to 1100 PM we took are own bottle of wine we had 4 courses an appetizer and lots of drinks all of this only cost us 150000 Rupiahs $16.60 USD
for the both of US. Try the avocado with shrimp excellent. Are waiter was Ketut Pohls great guy and please tell him we said hello.
Another place to go for great cheap food is the seafood stalls on Jimbaran beach go at night right around sunset we recommend the INTAN Cafe your host there will be a guy named Made Budi a local Balinese surf rat with very good australian english please dont take offense but I got a kick out of all the balinese that spoke english with an australian accent very entertaining. You get to pick what type of sea food you like and they burn it right there for 1kg of lobster 180000Rp 1kg Prawns 120000Rp beer 9000Rp. If you call them from your hotel they will send a free shuttle to come pick you up at your hotel Phone number is 0812 392-9919.
Kuta
Wow what was my first impression ............. If any of you are familiar with Tijuana, Mexico it was like that but on the beach.
I refer to Kuta as the KutaKrunch Dogs, People, Taksi's, Scooter and more scooters. I am surprised I didnt see one accident while I was there and all the cars are free of dents amazing definitley one place I would never want to drive. Dont get me wrong kuta is a great place for entertainment and shopping . For shopping the sales person would give me a price and would come back with a counter offer of 25%. But just like anywhere else if you are happy with the price just buy it and everyone will be happy. The vendors will constantly be offering there wares to you if you arent interested it is best to just ignore them and keep walking because if you give them any kind of recognition they will follow you for miles the balinese vendors are relentless.
Tours
We were scheduled to go on 2 tours but opted to go on are own. We didnt wanted to be scrunched with 10 other tourists and wanted to go at are own pace. There is a very good list of drivers here at the forum if you are interested e-mail them before you go and advise of your iteniary. We used Wayan Purya very good I suggest that you use a driver that has a good car with air conditioning. Some of the vehicles I saw were on the edge of disrepair. We got stock in a flood in Legian and many of the cars got flooded out and had to be pushed. Go to all the touristy plqaces if you wish I liked Ubud while there we ate at the dirty duck good food , prices and view.
Point of interest
The last thing I want to mention is on male names in Bali .
Why do all the balinese men have names like Wayan , Ketut etc.
Well I was wondering the same thing so I asked my driver. It depends on when you were born .
1st born Wayan
2nd born Made
3rd born Norman
4th born Ketut
Hope this helps I am looking forward to going back the only thing I would change would be to not go during the rainy season which usually starts in Jan and runs to the end of April. Good luck to the all of you and please add any comments to the forum email me if you have any questions you think I can answer.
ciao, haj