Hi Everyone,
Only read this if you especially like detail and length when you read JBR's or if you'd just like to remember what it was like on your first trip.
We went to Bali with 2 of our friends on the 30th of November through to the 10th of December, it was our friends second trips to bali each, my boyfriends eighth trip but, it was my first time- I was a newbie. And a big must is use the toilets on the plane, the ones at Denpasar airport are flooded and well just plain gross, if you must go use the handicap toilet but, take your own tissues or do as I did and hold on until you get to your hotel room.
Exchange rate on arrival was around 7,100rp to the Aussie dollar but, dropped to about 6,800rp by the end of our holiday.
My boyfriend had decided that we would be catching bemo's around bali for our entire trip, even though I had told him taxi's are so much easier. And we ended up getting ripped off pretty bad for our trip from the airport to our hotels, the bemo driver charged us 80,000rp. Initially he asked for 100,000rp but, the rest of my group said 80,000rp would be fine, I was pretty ticked as I had been reading up on prices from the airport to Legian (taxi ~25,000rp) on the BTF but, I think everyone else just wanted to get to the hotel instead of standing out in the humid air. On the way to the hotels it started raining so we had to close the window to prevent ourselves from getting wet but, the taxi driver didn't have air-conditioning which made it pretty hot for my friend ‘H' who was stuck in the middle seat.
We arrived at our Hotel -Puri Raja in Legian at around 3pm after dropping our friends off just down the road at the Melasti Beach Resort. We tipped the guy who brought up our bags 10,000rp as it was all we had. We went for a bit of a walk around the streets, checked out our friends hotel room and then went to Poco Loco for dinner on Jl Padma Utara in Legian, it cost us 510,000rp for four of us which included one entrée, 4 mains, heaps of bintang and cocktails and 2 desserts. It was a great place to eat especially on our first night, the atmosphere is great with people singing, getting drunk (there was a birthday party upstairs) and a lady (we think) walking around with shot glasses in her belt like a Mexican cowboy ready to pour. The place was really busy for a Tuesday night, when we got there at 6pm we were the first there but, by 8pm the place was full and people arriving had to wait for tables. And yes the toilets are still A+ except for a few ants nests.
The next day we went to the Rainbow restaurant on Jl. Padma Utara for Lunch which cost us 150,000rp for mains, bintang and drinks, really empty, has good pizza. The boys said the toilets were okay. We did heaps of shopping and bought 16 bintang stubby holders for 175,000rp, 5 gucci watches for 190,000rp with 5 extra batteries, 5 oakley sunglasses 160,000rp, 2 caps with bintang and volcom on the front for 35,000rp, 8 girls singlets for 165,000rp, 4 mens singlets for 80,000rp. I know some of the prices we payed may seem laughable but, as inexperiencd barterers we felt we did rather well. The men's bintang singlets can be bought in the supermarkets for 18,900rp each. We then went to Bali Too for Dinner, the people were great and the food was good and we were the only people there. Dinner cost us 320,000rp and that was for 4 mains, 4 desserts, lots of bintang and cocktails. My friend said the toilets were okay there too.
The next day we thought we'd check out the famous Matahari in Kuta on Jl Kartika Plaza. We walked along the beach from our hotel to get there which took about 15-20 minutes. We were going to go to the Sakura DVD shop but, it wasn't open yet and that was at 9:15am. Watch out for the people around the Art markets just down from Kuta square, they will follow you for around 100m, don't take any cards, don't smile or say hello as that's like their invitation, during our trip I think we passed these people around 10 times each. So we walked up to Matahari which was sought of freaky as we went in as soon as it opened (10am I think) and all the staff are waiting downstairs to greet you with a little wooden item. The only good stuff we found was the perfume/make-up section, the body shop where some items are half price compared to Australia but, don't expect to save much in regards to body butter. The women's section is so girly I couldn't buy anything, the mens section was a little better. The shoes and bags were nice but, I guess we were just a little disappointed. I looked for quilt covers but, could only find sheet sets. My friends did however buy simcards across from the supermarket for 40,000rp and they already had 20,000rp of credit on them. We bought some food/snacks from the supermarket which didn't really get eaten as we were always to full after our meals. We had lunch at Double D and bought 4 pizzas which were 45,000rp each and they were huge, I think all up it cost us around 220,000rp including soft drinks and bintang. From there we walked up to Jl Legian and then went down Poppies lane 1 and then Poppies lane 2 where we found some good eateries to return to later. I especially was looking for shop number 28 down Poppies lane 2 where people have had blankets made by Wayan but, couldn't find it. I also checked the shop on the first bend which sells quilts for cheap but, couldn't find that either. We then walked down Jl Legian all the way to the hotels basically. We checked out lots of surf shops and I bought a Billabong wallet for only 90,000rp. At the markets we bought 3 pairs of mens shorts for 100,000rp, 5 pairs of sandals for 140,000, 2 pairs of oakley's (minute style) for 50,000rp and 5 billabong and quicksilver shirts for 150,000rp. We then walked down to Poppies lane 1 again for dinner at Poppies Restaurant which was delicious, it cost us 410,000rp for 4 mains, cocktails, bintang and 4 desserts. If you have kebabs make sure you don't mistake the chillis for capsicum, only eat the green stuff. It was quite busy by the time we left but, not busy enough to need a reservation, however over the holidays I would recommend reserving a table to prevent disappointment (ph. 751059). We noticed as we walked home that night everyone along the markets in Poppies Lane 1 were offering really good prices, if we weren't all shopped out we would have got some really cheap clothing. We stopped off at Fat Yogi's for a few really cheap drinks and my friends decided we should come back to try the wood style oven pizza. We also met a man on our travels home that claimed he was only buying shirts at 9000rp, which shocked us as our lowest price for a shirt so far was 20,000rp. Oh well.
The next morning my boyfriend and I got a taxi down to the Sakura DVD shop which I think is on Jl Kartika Plaza and bought 65 dvds, the deal was if you buy 50 (at a cost of 10,000rp each) you get 15 free and then put them in the proper DVD folders that hold the inserts and the disc. These normally cost 60,000rp each, but the guy knocked them down to 50,000rp each as we had bought a reasonable amount of DVDs, its a lot easier to get them back to Oz. Now that I'm home I think we should have bought another as we now have all the friends series and all our x-box games stuck in plastic bags. The only place I have found similar storage folders is on ebay for 3 to 4 times the bali price. But, Target have some but, they're a different style (no removable plastic sheets) for $30. We also got a simcard from the phone shop in matahari on the ground floor for 50,000rp which had 25,000rp of credit on it. We headed back to Legian and met up with our friends for Lunch, we found a place called Tropic still on Jl Padma Utara but around the corner, it was empty except for a man on the second floor but most places in Bali were when we went so we ventured in. What a bad idea, the service was terrible, it took us an hour to get our meal after ordering, so we had to order a lot of drinks. The boys had Indonesian meals which they recommend but us girls had chicken which was full of bones and lacked flavour. We're not sure if it was because we were in there making noise or not but, by the time we left there were four other tables occupied by 2pm. The cost was 140,000rp (cheap as chips) which included 4 mains, heaps of bintang and soft drink. We spent the rest of the day relaxing and swimming and headed into Seminyak in search of food, we found a cute place called Lemon Grass on Jl Raya Seminyak which served Thai food. It cost us 300,000rp for 4 mains, bintang and cocktails, it was really spicy. Even ‘H' who loves especially spicy food needed extra drinks.
On Saturday we split up with us girls going on a day of shopping and the boys a day of drinking. They stayed in Legian while we caught a taxi and asked to be dropped off at Kuta square. The driver was heading the right way until he turned down Jl Imam Bonjol we checked our map and it looked like he was taking us to the Matahari on the Jl. Bypass Nugurah Raii, so we jumped out on Jalan Six and started to walk back towards the Matahari on Kuta square. Traffic was moving so slow due to a ceremony but, it was still deadly trying to cross Jl Imam Bonjol. On our travels to Kuta square we came across the Le Bake shop which was cheap but, was so empty, they had about 10 desserts and that was it. Once we crossed the Jl Imam Bonjol we checked out the Galeal Supermarkets which was pretty empty but, at least it was cool. We then walked along Jl. Pantai Kuta and checked out heaps of surf shops along the way, we took some photos of the ceremony but, it was way too hot to stand and watch. We turned down Kuta square and kept walking down Jl Kartika Plaza until we reached the new huge Department store called Discovery Kartika Plaza, it has a huge shoe shop, surf shops, clothing, Manchester, etc. I would have bought heaps of shoes but, they had nothing in my size, I'm a 42 and they only went to 40. We had a drink at starbucks which costs around 35,000rp each but, it was so yummy and so cold. We then went back down Kartika Plaza and stopped at Chi-chi's grill and cantina for Lunch, it was only 75,000rp for the two of us to have mains and drinks, see its cheaper without the boys and their bintang. The toilets were useable but, you have to walk through the kitchen to get there. We then started our trek home stopping at Matahari to buy Revlon items (less than half price) and underwear and then up Jl Legian checking out surf shops where ripcurl board shorts are only 165,000rp, mens ripcurl thongs are 75,000rp and dunkin donuts are yummy and cheap. We got back to Melasti Beach Resort to find 2 very sunburnt drunk boys, I was surprised they hadn't drowned yet. The boys went to Lunch at The Legend where the beer is cheap, so for 2 mains and bintang it was 120,000rp and they bought massage oil which you can't bring back to Australia called Tea Tree Oil or something. There was also going to be a performance by the boy-girls later that night. At the Melasti they have a deal during happy hour where if you buy 3 ‘arak' cocktails they only cost you 50,000rp all up. The boys bought us 3 cocktails to share between us 2 which we drank but, were then given another 3 to share. I was feeling rather sick after the last 3 as the man at the bar came over and shoved another serving of arak into the cocktails, if I ever smell arak again I think I'll vomit. So, I had to stay at the hotel while they went to T.J.'s for dinner. I think I was sick due to a combination of minor sun stroke, dehydration and drinking the cocktails to fast, I think the addition of milk made it worse. They highly enjoyed the Mexican food at T.J.'s, however ‘L' fell asleep in the bathroom, he had been drinking since about 9am. But, all up dinner cost 250,000rp for 3 mains, cocktails and bintang, apparently the margaritas are very good and cheap (42,000rp) as quoted from ‘H'. And the toilets are said to be good.
Everyone was okay the next day and there were no hangovers, we spent the morning walking around up Jl Raya Seminyak getting very sunburnt. We had lunch at the Bush Telegraph pub were the waiter was very friendly and we learnt that the pub is Australian owned, which was pretty easy to guess when you see the giant croc on the floor. It's nice sitting outside but, across the road is a restaurant which pumps out heaps of smoke so we moved inside which was probably worse as there were no fans or air-conditioning but, the food was good and they had a pool table. For 4 mains and drinks (No bintang as the boys were detoxing) the cost was 330,000rp. We then walked back down into Legian to the markets, the ones behind the fence where we bought 2 table runners (2m long) for 75,000rp, 2 caps for 40,000rp, 7 billabong singlets for 200,000rp and 4 short shorts (if you know what I mean) which have roxy and volcom written on the back for 100,000rp. We went to Goshas for dinner which had great service, food and was rather quick. The man will remember everyone's name for the night which of course makes you feel special. The cost all up was 340,000rp for 4 mains and drinks. Toilet was good. On the way back to the hotel we checked out Legian Music Centre (on Jl Legian) which has a great range of DVDs, CDs, Xbox games, etc and the covers look really good too. We grabbed another 20 DVDs and got 5 free while our friends bought 40 and got 12 free. We also bought a few more CDs (10,000rp) and Xbox games (25,000rp). They're on Jl Legian in Kuta
The next day was my Birthday and I turned 22 my boyfriend claimed his present to me was us having a holiday in Bali but, I think that's cheating. We went to Waterbom Park for the day and got a discount on our entry fee with a voucher we received with our Bali flight tickets so for 2 adults it only cost us 270,000rp. We all tried every ride except only the boys went on Smashdown, I think the name put me and ‘H' off. We were there from 9:30am until around 3:30pm and didn't get burnt, very surprising. Make sure you get there early so you get a hut, lunch is pretty cheap for a theme park at around 220,000rp for 4 mains and drinks. Don't forget to check out the photo board just before the exit on the way out, they take some pretty good photos, I think they're about 20,000rp each. We got dropped off at Bali Gong on our way home to buy our Friends DVDs which we had already negotiated the week before and had previously been there buying xbox games. We bought every season except for seasons 7 and 10, he charged us 7,500rp per disk so it was around 300,000rp for 8 seasons. We then went to the DVD shop across from Puri Raja and bought seasons 7 and 10 but, the discs were 10,000rp each there. We went back to Puri Raja for some drinks before tea in the pool bar as the boys had finished their detoxing. We went to Glory for dinner which was cheap but really hot due to no air-conditioning as its all open, the fan in the corner hit all of us except ‘L' as he was right under it. As it's right on the pathway it's a lot easier for the hawkers to annoy you about cds, etc. That night we organized a driver to take us to Ubud and the surrounding area.
Our driver Ketut Suparta (Ketutsuparta@hotmail.com or phone 08123986249) picked us up at 9:15am, he was late 15 mins but, we weren't that fussed as we hadn't given him much notice. He had an esky in his car and stopped off to get us a bag of ice (7,000rp) to keep our drinks cool. If you do decide to use this driver be ready for the swearing, it's quite constant but, we weren't sure if that's the norm or perhaps he thinks the younger generation are used to it. It is safe to leave your belongings in his car, he will either sit in there or he will lock it up if he needs to come with you. He's very friendly and will talk your ear off, especially to the person sitting in front with him, which was my poor ‘L' for the whole trip. Our first stop was Goa Lawah (the Bat cave) which took us 2 hours to get there. The hawkers are really annoying there and are right outside your door when you get out of the van, don't take the necklaces off of them as they will annoy you to go to their shop once you get out of the temple. I didn't take a necklace and didn't get annoyed, the boys did and they were hounded something horrid, ‘L' was made to give his back as he wouldn't go to the shop and she tried to make him pay for it after she had initially told him it was a gift. The temple is not that interesting, pretty hot in a sarong and the bats really stink. Do not use the toilets at the bat cave they are deadly and you have to pay, make sure you go before you leave and don't drink on the way there. We then traveled to the old palace of justice where we got hounded to buy sarongs right at our van door. The museum was interesting but, we didn't go to the temple over the road which is on the right when your standing in front of the entrance, as that would have taken to much effort. So we went to the markets across the road which are pretty compact but, if you want sarongs buy them there. We then went to Lunch at Café Lotus which was gorgeous and has a huge temple in the background. It's on Jl Raya Ubud just down from the Ubud markets. It cost us around 350,000 for 4 mains, 4 desserts and drinks. It has the best toilet out of all the restaurants we went to. We then went to the Ubud markets for about an hour, they have everything and it's all really cheap, much better prices than Legian. They have quilts but, I couldn't be bothered lugging them back to Legian. We then set off for Monkey Forest which ‘H' really didn't want to go in to but, she went in and I think she did quite well for someone that's really doesn't like monkeys. It normally costs 10,000rp each but, Ketut managed to get us in for 5,000rp each, not sure how. The monkeys were so cute but, not really hungry as they had already been fed, apparently the best time to go is in the morning. We then went to Celuk to look for gold jewellery but, they only had basic chains and earrings but, heaps of silver if that's what your into, we looked at 4 shops and found nothing of interest. Apparently the place to go is Denpasar where they have a road with only gold jewellery on it for good prices, they are closed between 4 to 6pm so we weren't able to visit. Ketut took us to Sammy and Suzi's bar for a few drinks before tea and watched the sun set. To find them go to the end of Jl Padma and they are to the left under a tree straight out the front of the Legian Beach Hotel, as soon as you sit down you'll be harassed by hawkers to buy their wallets, watches, sunglasses and semi-permanent tattoos. My friends all got one, the boys were ripped off and payed 60,000rp each plus a bintang for the tattoo artists, ‘H' only payed 20,000rp for hers. We then set off to dinner at around 7pm, Ketut took us to a place called Indo-National on Jl Sahadewa, it's Australian owned and run by Kerry and Milton, it was packed out. Dinner for 5 was 280,000rp and Ketut ate dinner with us also which was a bit of a surprise. The food at Indo-National is great with huge servings and the staff are really friendly and instead of a cold towel on arrival you get a frozen one. The toilets are good, there's only one but, its clean. Ketut dropped us off at Melasti around 8:30pm, so he drove us around for 11 hours and 15 minutes, we had negotiated 250,000rp for the whole day which I would assume is 8 or possibly 10 hours so we gave him 300,000rp for the full day instead and payed for his dinner.
The next day ‘H' and I went to the Melasti beauty spa where ‘H' got a manicure for 83,000rp including tax and I got my hair braided for 125,000rp including tax, mine was more expensive because it's long and it took around 2 hours to do with 3 to 4 people working on it at the one time. By the time we were finished it was time for Lunch, we went to Indo-National again as everyone liked it so much the night before, it cost us 220,000rp for 4 mains and drinks. We walked around Legian again that afternoon where we tried to buy 9 bags from a store just across from Indo-National. There are 3 bag stores in a row, the first 2 join into one that's the one I will be talking about. We had to barter down from 1.25 million rp and we didn't think we'd get him past 750,000rp until his mum said something and he dropped his price. He was so aggressive and intimidating, glad we had our boyfriends close by. We had nearly got him to our final asking price of 530,000rp but he wouldn't go any lower than 555,000rp so we did the old we're walking out thing but he didn't come after us. So we kept on shopping and bought lots of earrings and necklaces for 7,000rp each (I'd say we got a little ripped off). I bought some white sandals for 30,000rp (couldn't be bothered bargaining over one pair) and some black thongs with sequence, beads and a one inch heel for 25,000rp, I had been looking for these for ages as it was a request from home so I wasn't going to walk away from this price. Then checked out some bead shops one guy wouldn't go below 8,000rp each, he had great stuff and was on the inside right corner of Jl Pura Bagus Taruna when coming from the beach side. So we checked out the guy across the road still on the first corner who sold his for 7,000rp each, got 4 off of him and then went to the second shop down and he had lots of pretty earrings and necklaces and got 4 off of him as well for 25,000rp all up. I found a fixed price wood shop along Jl Melasti (I think) where I bought 2 cat jigsaws, a cat statue, wooden calendar and book shelf stoppers all for 105,000rp, it is fixed price but, they will allow you to barter, start at about half the marked price and try and finish at about ¾ of the set price. We stopped off at Gloencehs shop which sells DVDs, CDs, and games, etc which is on the first corner on the right side of the road when coming from Puri Raja Hotel, it's got a good assortment but, xbox games are 30,000rp instead of 25,000rp. The shop next door is good for DVDs etc also. All up we bought 32 xbox games and found 7 didn't work (make sure they all have gold bottoms on the disc. All up not including the friends series we bought around 100 DVDs all of them work except ‘Walking Tall', we found the ones with more than one movie on the disc are low in quality ie. Mad Max series and Rocky 1 & 2. Bought another watch off the same guy, when your looking at the front of Bali Gong he's just to the left, this time he charged me 30,000rp for one Gucci watch with 2 extra batteries. We got a taxi to drop us off at Poppies lane 2 as we were going to go to Kori's for dinner but, the prices were huge so we went to Fat Yogi's instead over at Poppies Lane 1. Entrée's and the main course were badly timed, the mains were brought out as everyone was still eating their entrée. The famous wood oven pizza didn't live up to its name and when me and ‘H' asked for no anchovies I got 6 and she got 2, it really can ruin your pizza when you have to sit there spitting food out in front of people. They do play movies but, when we went it was really old and rather boring, my cocktail was way too strong and just tasted gross even with half a lemonade shoved into it. I guess this is what happens when the manager sits there all night at the bar messaging people. For 3 entrees, 4 mains, bintang, cocktails and soft drink it was 320,000rp.
We set off early as this was our second last day and we hadn't got much done in the way of shopping for presents. I tried to buy bags from the scary man again but, he chucked a mental. I had 7 bags and he was asking for 750,000rp as soon as I started bartering he got all feisty and wouldn't drop his price until his father yelled something out from the back, he then dropped his price but, when I asked for something lower he kicked me and my friends out of his shop and stood there barring the door until we were down the road a fair way. He was mental, I would recommend trying to barter with his mum or dad or the young girl in the other half of the shop. We stopped off at the Billabong surf shop where I bought an overnight bag for 180,000rp and my boyfriend got a bottle top opener key ring for 40,000rp, it's very handy. They also have womens Billabong thongs for 60,000rp. Kept walking and found a nice bag shop just down from Mr Mean man but, on the right side of the road, where we bought 4 bags between us girls for 230,000rp. We figured out that large dior is 70,000rp, large Gucci is 60,000rp and small Gucci and Louis Vuitton is 50,000rp each. Found a bag shop along Jl. Melasti where I bought a large Louis Vuitton and small Dior for 120,000rp. We found a lady in the markets behind the fence on Jl Melasti who sold us mens shorts for 30,000rp, mens and womens singlets for 25,000rp, mens shirts for 30,000rp and skirts for 25,000rp. We kept walking down Jl Melasti until I spotted another bag shop which is on the right side of the road just before the corner onto Jl Legian and across the road from FILA where I bought a large Gucci and a small Louis Vuitton for 110,000rp total. We had Lunch at a place called La Porchetta (bad idea) first off the towels were sticky but, the service was really good. I had Hawaiian salad which still makes me feel ill at the thought of it while my friends had pizza. I was feeling sick about ¼ of the way through my salad, everyone else was doing okay though, the toilets were okay too. All up for 4 mains, bintangs and soft drink it was about 180.000rp. I felt sick as but, we had to push on, we split up and ‘H' & ‘L' went towards Matahari shopping on the way down. ‘My L' and I did the same but, didn't go all they way to Matahari we instead stopped at Edward Forrer on Jl Legian where I bought 4 pairs of high heels for 450,000rp, they ranged from 90,000rp to 140,000rp per pair. It was very heavy to carry on the way back. Plus we stopped and bought 2 sitting elephants at a wood shop along Jl Melasti or Garlic lane I can't remember but they are about 15cm high, quite heavy and made out of dark wood, they cost me 150,000rp for two. Once we got back we unpacked and headed back out onto the streets, we caught a taxi down to one of the surfshops where I bought a bikini top for 110,000rp, kept walking down to the ‘Station' which is on Jl Legian or just across from the White Rose hotel where I bought 2 mooks jackets for 325,000 and 285,000rp each. We then started our trek back to the hotel where I stopped and bought 3 more table runners at 2m long for 30,000rp each from a shop on Jl. Melasti or Garlic lane I can't remember. But, I did go to the only wood shop on Jl Melasti and bought a jewellery box for 40,000rp, chess sets for 40,000rp each and 2 buddhas for 65,000rp for both. She also had a really cute 'see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil' monkey statue but wouldn't go below 100,000rp and I was tired so I didn't get it, maybe next time. We all met back at Puri Raja for a swim before our meal. For dinner that night we went back to Poco Loco and ordered 4 entrée's to start which was rather stupid as we were having trouble eating them due to being full and still feeling ill from Lunch. I think most of us managed to eat our entrée's and at least half of our mains except ‘H' who was getting worse as time went buy and my ‘L' who found his to be gross due to too many beans. So for 4 entrée's, 4 mains and soft drink it was 360,000rp.
The next day or our final day my ‘L' and I went to the beach where I got my nails painted, I payed 20,000 for both feet and hands and then payed a 10,000 tip as it was our last day, but normally I think it would be a lot less to get it done. We then payed our bill at the front desk and went back down to The Station for 1 pair of mens boardies, 1 pair of womens board shorts, 3 womens shirts, 1 pair of mens cargo shorts all for 1,070,000rp. Which is about 60% of the price it would have been in Oz. We went straight back to the hotel after that as we were still feeling ill, we were checked out by 12:15pm and had to hang around until 3:30pm when Ketut was picking us up to take us to the airport. All four of us had bali belly over the night pretty bad but, ‘H' had it worse than all of us. I'm blaming La Porchetta, don't eat there. Ketut told us it would be 40,000rp, I payed him 50,000rp. I think 40,000rp is a bit much but, its easier than getting two taxis which is what we would have needed for that much luggage. We were all underweight, which means I could have done more shopping. The only problem with our flight home was a lady seated right behind me who was freaking out and wanted to get off the plane because she was sick, we were delayed 15 minutes but still reached Perth on time. But, once in Perth we had to wait for an official to come and question the lady about her symptoms (sounded like Bali belly). Oh well. Back in Oz and everything got through customs ok, the allowance of 2.25L of alcohol is good and cheap especially when your boyfriend goes nuts.
We used the light blue (once), the aqua, and the dark blue taxi's, which all turned their metres on without having to be asked. We were told not to use the Wahana taxi towards the end of our trip but, hadn't crossed one in our travels anyway which was lucky, they have a silver bottom and dark blue top. When on our own our friend ‘L' used a dark blue taxi who wouldn't turn his metre on, he was asking for 20,000rp for kuta to legian when ‘L' said ‘no and he would get out if the man didn't turn the metre on' the driver dropped it to 10,000rp, so he stayed. That was the only semi-annoyance we had with the taxis. They were all air-conditioned which was a blessing.
Well I had the best time, next time however I would spend more time in the pool and go on heaps more tours (to different areas though) like the volcano etc.
Note: 1. Bottles of water are only 1,500rp, just buy at circle K shops and when you get back to your hotel fill them with water from the 6L water bottles that you can buy in the supermarkets for 12,000rp.
2. All restaurant prices include our tips, which is why they're always rounded off to the nearest 10 or 5 thousand denomination.
3. I probably wouldn't follow my market prices as we got ripped off most of the time.
4. McDonalds have a delivery service but, no we didn't use it.
5. Put a bright ribbon on your suitcase, it makes it so much easier to identify when you get off the plane.
Hope everyone's still awake!
Court.