My husband and two teenaged sons just returned from Bali. We are
Americans from the east coast and we met only two Americans all the time that we were there. Because we were travelling with teenagers,
we went to Kuta for several days. Our boys had a great time body
surfing there and cruising down the busy streets. We stayed at the
Bounty Hotel which our guidebook described as a family hotel but
turned out to be a Aussie singles hangout. The facilities and staff
were very pleasing so the singles part didn't bother us a bit.
We all loved Ubud the best.The monkey forest is a must see. We got
to see a village cremation which was worth the whole trip in my opinion. These cremations are advertised around town- ask at your
hotel aboutwhere you can get information. We also got to see a cockfight which is not usually one of my interests but from a cultural
point of view was well worth the time and effort. For rafting, we chose Sobek . We were very impressed with their outfit and professionalism. We have rafted in many places but they were by
far the best we have ever experienced. We stayed at the Ubud Village
Hotel which had beautiful gardens and excellent service.
We stayed in Lovina for several days at the Nirwana Cottages. The
pool and gardens were very nice but the bungalows were shabby and
the service wasn't very good. The beach is littered and the hawkers
made us want to stay at the pool. The restaurants were very good
however and as is true everywhere in Bali, very reasonably priced.
We found the beach in Sanur (we used radisson's private beach) to be
ok if you like tiny grains of coral instead of sand. It was hard to walk on the beach-very similar to walking in soft snow.
We especially disliked the hawkers in Bali at tourist stops, beaches
and on the streets . They were pleasant people but very persistent
at times and often a real nuisance. We finally began to say "I bought
one from Ketut",which seemed to enable some hawkers to back off.
FYI, first borns in Bali are named Wayan or Petuk. Secondborns are
Made and thirdborns are Nyoman. The fourth born is Ketut. These names
apply to boys or girls. We were appalled by the number of scrawney
and mangy dogsthere are in bali. They are considered a low form of life like rats and are left to fend for themselves. As my husband said, the dogs themselves seem to have very low self-esteem!