Here is my Just Got Back contribution to the forum All prices are in Australian dollars unless stated as Rupee.
Don't hesitate to e-mail me if you have further questions.
keongwai@iinet.net.au
6th –17th April 1999 in Kuta
There were ten of us.
The Garuda flight was OK . At the Airport a porter took my bag off the carousel I watched him do it . Then he stood around calling my name. I casually walked up there and took it, and said no thanks. I really wanted to tell him where to go. A friend of ours came in on a different flight and he used the Porters. Everytime he paid the porter they said it wasn't enough so in the end he gave them all his money. Then they all went away.
We stayed at the Flora Beach Hotel. It wasn't that close to the beach that doesn't matter. The beaches are not that great compared to Scarborough or Cottesloe in W.A.
As soon as we got settled in, we all went for a walk . As soon as we got out little kids were trying to put arm bands on us, drop that shit or don't let them. Put some sunnies on and just walk, no eye contact and just ignore the hawkers. ( hawkers – people walking around selling stuff, or platting services ). A simple shake of the head as in NO helps to. But if they find out where you are from then they can get to you like, " hi mate " or "Konichiwa". I got that a lot cause I looked Japanese. But I couldn't understand them or ignored them so they had a harder time trying to make contact. That's the trick, they could offer a ridiculous swap or an extremely ridiculous price to get your attention. Then you're sucked in. Also try not to yell out your friends name around these stalls or hawkers as sometimes incertain areas they then know your name and will call you when they see you.
Eventually you get the idea of how to ignore them , or they eventually know your face, or a bit of both.
But they can tell if you are new there, they have good memories for faces. So you will get hassled heaps the first few days. Also if you buy one thing this attracts the other hawkers like flies.
The stalls are OK, but you are gonna still have to barter. Wait till you get an idea of what other people have paid, that helps a lot.
We ate our first meal at the Taj Indian Restaurant for about $3.15. ( curry dish, rice and drink ).
This was close to the beach. Also went to the Nagarsari, slightly pricey for an Indonesian food, but nice place. This place had like coffee tables and cushions.
The Flora Beach Hotel was a nice place. The staff could speak sufficient English, some were better but the beds were always made in the morning, laundry service if you wanted to use it was OK. ( jocks, shirt and shorts) about $1.20. Not ironed though, The rooms were good, had a TV, with CNN, Aus TV station and MTV. Swim up bar and pool were highlights. Also have adaptors for different electrical sockets. This hotel is a 3 star so don't expect the Hard Rock. The service though is good and rooms are sufficient. Bar fridge and each room has a balcony looking over the pool. Lets face it you can stay at higher star places, but then your room service and drinks will be more expensive. Our costs for those things were only 80 cents more expensive that outside. And $2 for cocktails
This is an excellent place for young people to go in a group. Gotta bring your own beach towel and the hotel bathroom towel are small. Come to think of it our room was similar in size to those at the Hard Rock, but not as flash. They have security walking around and security boxes, The staff were always friendly and didn't rip us off. But I reckon, a friend of ours played pool with one of the guys for 10 000Rp. And he lost by one ball. Here in Australia we pay about $2 a game anyway. And if he did win he wouldn't have taken the staff member's money anyway. The people in this hotel make $30 and month. Or 12500Rp a day. I tipped a maitenace worker 5000Rp and he was wrapped. The staff at the Hard Rock make $60 a month in comparison.
There is also a supermarket close so you can buy water and 1,5 coke for about $1.20. Supermarket at Mataharis also. It cost us a about $22 to get in to Waterborn Park. It was great worth visiting if you want to get away from the Hawkers and hang with other tourists. I was lucky enough to get my photo taken as I exited the "Macaroni Tube" ride. They have five water slides there, spa, pool, water polo. y favourite was the "river raft" which involves a tube and upon finishing the descent you can stay in the water and float around the whole park. It is 5000Rp to hire the safety deposit boxes and 1000Rp to lock them each time.
Mataharis is a fixed price shop its OK if you want cheap clothes. The quality is average but you can find some interesting things. But you really win out when you see all the boutiques there are. Like every surf brand has its own label. Then there is other Italian fashion label stores. Sorry but just weren't interested in them. But you know your Versache and Calvin Kleins.
I was after the surf gear on average you pay about $33 for shorts or boardies.
Mini's Seafood Restaurant near Sari Club. I had mudcrab $6 and stuff like lobster was 179 000 Rp .
And they serve non seafood stuff aswell, but if you love seafood then this was the place to go. We made the night fun by making it Hawaiian shirt night.
We had a couple of tours, the Barong & Kris dance were entertaining and culturally enriching. The Kintanami Volcano was quite beautiful. Just don't sit next to the window at the Restarant as the hawkers will wave their goods infront of your face when you look out of the window. One guy even sat on a stone monument with his wood carving. So I ignored him and ate my Buffet lunch ( which was good ) until he went. If you want to barter this was ideal, as you could point out what you wanted and then sign out your price. Then make counter offers thru the glass window, and they can't yell at you. Then all you have to do is look up every now and then, from your lunch to see if they accept or have gone any lower. I tried to get a chessboard, and I used a friends to match up the sizes. When I turned around I noticed he switched them and the one I was gonna get was smaller so I didn't buy anything. But chessboards are about 90 000Rp – 100 000Rp. These hawkers are aggressive though. But prices are very low. Waterfall at GitGit was pretty cool ( take lens cleaning tissue). Lovinna beach had an excellent restaurant. There you will find little kids trying to sell shells. They are cute kids when you talk them past their sell routine . My friend Peta talked to the littlee kids about school and their piercings. Then she showed them her tongue stud. The reaction was priceless and you find out that kids are the same everywhere in the world.
Hardrock Café was an experience, I loved it. Paid about $27 for lemonade, ribs and fudge sundae but it was a real cool atmosphere. Also went back again, for a second time. Also if you get a chance stay the whole day in a Cabana there. It costs visitors about 50 000 Rp to get in but, guests can sneak you in.
A cabana cost about $22 and has a bar fridge. And is a relaxing way to spend a whole day. Especially if you take your duty free 1.75L bourbon. And Get coke from Mataharis. We also gave the empty bottle to a staff member who was absolutely stoked. We kept on ordering ice for the Cabana's. And we wanted staff member George as he was in a Mtv, show about him and other Asian youngsters and how they live. So we would give him heaps every time he came over. There was also a reggae band playing there in the afternoon.
Also if you get a chance in the Hard Rock Hotel Foyer is a Bar in the centre is a stage where the band can play our friend who was staying there couldn't get enough of the cover band that played there called Siluet. They played great covers and we ended dancing on top of the Bar during the song YMCA with the other bar staff. Even if you take a photo with them they give a Solid Gold disco pose. I'm pretty sure they do, I was pretty wasted that night.
Went to the Macaroni Club, shit music, large servings, but food pretty ordinary. Paid 30 000Rp for a so called jug. Got about 8 drinks from this so called jug , our glasses were Tall shooter glasses. I thought it was an expensive place.
Tubes was good for a cheap night out. Food was Ok and at a good price. They also showed the movie "Happy ever after" you know the one with Drew Barrymore. My friends ate their dinner and I was still waiting, and I waited somemore. So I gave my drink money to a friend and walked out. My dinner arrived half an hour later. The service for them, after they found out I had left was better. Still a nice place.
Nusa Dua was OK for water sports and friends found the prices to be good, for jet skiing, Banana boat riding. I did the Parasailing and noticed how shallow the water really was. Like about a metre of water above coral. But we all got seasick and the water was not too nice. Rubbish floating in the water when we were snorkeling, I think it was pretty crap. We took one of the guys from our hotel "Simon" and he had a big grin on his face. He had never been on a boat before. And we paid for his bannaboat ride.
White water Rafting we did with "Ayung River Rafting" Totally professional. Try to get the guide Red who speaks excellent English and also Japanese. Very friendly fellow. Or try and get Roy, a big guy also with excellent English, who tells corny jokes. All you have to do is listen to his instructions and
you'll notice he does most of the work. He can make the raft spin down rapids and stuff. A friend of mine dislocated his toe when he reached the bottom of the stair climb. So he had to go back up with a dislocated toe. He got taken to hospital, which for him was a concerning experience. The girl that took him to hospital was the daughter of the owner, who had studied in Adelaide. She had the most fluent English. Our guide pointed out to us that the other company" Sobek " had rafts with no side ropes to hold on to. Lunch was included and you could buy a photo of your raft with you in action. 15000Rp.
Internet places are everywhere and the best deal I got that was close to my hotel was 10mins for 7500.
Rate of exchange was around AUD5460 – AUD5550. Also get a small calculator and carry it around with you. It's excellent not just for money changers but for shopping. You can work out exactly how much an item is worth in Australian dollars.
ATM in Mataharis Kuta were OK, My card had the Cirrus logo. The BII ATM I used only gave out
50 000RP notes. Money changers are OK if they do that thing for a living. Some will even give you a receipt so they are cool. Like the one near the shoe shop on the outside of Mataharis-Kuta.
The light blue taxis are OK. Make sure the meter is on and for some strange reason every time I was in one the ride cost abit above 6000Rp. It is faster to walk. As you see all the streets are mostly one way in Kuta. And at night when all the hawkers have gone home and all the stalls have packed up, like you are coming home from the Sari Club. The streets are deserted its easy to get home. Was it called an Arak Attack or Jungle Juice, ? well try it when you are at the Sari Club. Good value.
Some Balinese men are very sleazy, most are friendly in that old fashioned "Austen Powers" sort of way. The girls in our group did get hassled by the Balinese men though. I think one got groped abit, another got asked for sexual favours. All of them got comments shouted at them though. Comments like "sexy body" "beautiful lady" and "oh baby" and stuff. So I tried as much as possible to walk besides them, 1. For reassurance 2. To be a male presence. 3. This also reduces the chances of hawkers walking beside them, annoying them.
I saw groups of Japanese girls getting sleazed upon too..
The Balinese men pay the same sort of attention to Balinese women too. So political correctness there ain't. Most of the isolated incidents happened at night, so its something to watch out for, not to be scared of. Just keep on walking, be confident and show them your not phased. Just think of them as a joke.
I talked to our tour guide once, about crime. He said the Hindu religion believes in reincarnation. If you are bad you come back as a dog. Only if you are good do you came back as a person. The staff at our hotel thought it was funny when we were ringing back home and asking
" how are the dogs doing ?"
Also you get some locals offering Marijuana, or Mushrooms. These people only sit in one spot and do not move. Some will show you what is in their hand. Do not accept this, for any reason. Just ignore them . I got offered this stuff so many times I lost count after the first day.
Prices.
Laser key chain 70 000Rp
Nike Imitation sandals $5
White shirts 16 000 Rp
Fake Perfume 3 for 50 000Rp.
Sunglasses 20 000Rp
Watches 50 000Rp
Imitation belts 20 000Rp
Chessboards 90 000 RP
Imitation boardshorts $2-$4
Playstation Games
Ie. Tomb Raider III 10 000
Shane Warnes 15 000
Metal Gear 20 000
Music Cds
Korn life is Peachy 60 000
The Livingend 80 000
Faith No More greatest hits 80 000
Hawaian Shirts 25 000
It was an excellent time and I can't wait to get my photos developed. In a couple of weeks we are having a Bali photo party. Now if anybody can tell me were I can get the ingredients for that jungle juice here in Perth, then it would be a real party.
Hope you enjoyed it.
Wai.