Just got back from 2 great weeks in Bali. BTF was really useful in preparing for the trip so thanks to all contributors. Here's my own contribution...hope it's interesting/helpful to others.
General stuff:
We were traveling as a family of 4 from UK, comprising me (Paul) and wife Caroline (forty-something parents), teenage daughter (aged 17) and teenage son (15). Caroline and I visited Bali once before, back in pre-history...well 1982 to be specific (pre-kids, pre-marriage, pre-mortgage), and had a great time motorbiking round the island. Noticed a few changes of course...Kuta and Ubud were villages then, and traffic was way less.
We wanted the kids to have a real sense of the true spirit of Bali, but without ramming gamelans down their throat at every opportunity. We decided to split the time between Kuta and Ubud, and we did lots of activities, as well as some time just relaxing. We got the balance just about right I think, but we did have to some fine tuning as we went along (esp on accommodation in Ubud - see below).
Biggest pleasure in Bali:
The people...oh my god the people...they are just fantastic. Even in Kuta people were really really friendly, but out in Ubud and the country areas it was just unbelievable how genuine and sweet and kind the people are. Despite the fact that many of them are not that well off, and despite the fact we were obviously (relatively) a lot more affluent and visiting as tourists. It was a real joy. I've travelled a lot and have never experienced the like elsewhere. I smiled back at everyone who smiled at me, and I even got in the first smile on many occasions - always with a good return!
And when we left at the airport, we were serenaded onto our plane by a group of what I suppose were airport workers singing songs like 'Bye bye love' and waving everyone goodbye. Anywhere but Bali I'd have found this really cheesey, but somehow it all just worked, and we got on the plane with a tear in our eye.
Arriving in Bali:
We were really lucky that our flight arrived in the evening (7.10pm), and the airport was pretty empty apart from us. Visa on Arrival was an absolute breeze, baggage reclaim was more efficient than the UK, and within 25 minutes of touchdown we were in a taxi on the way to the hotel. Really nice and steamy! Wound the windows down (sod the air conditioning) to experience that great first hit of Asia, the sights, the sounds, the smells.
SIM cards:
We took UK mobiles over with us, and got kitted out at Matahari in Kuta. Ground floor mobile phone desk. Lovely lady checked our phones for us, and charged us 100,000R for local SIM cards, of which 70,000R was credit for calls. This was fine for 2 weeks keeping in touch on Bali.
Money:
Took lots of cash. Best place to change cash in Kuta was Matahari (again!). 10 feet from the mobile phone desk is an in house money changer. Good rates, very professional, no hassle, no rip-offs.
A money changer in Ubud did try the old zeroes trick on me (I was due 1,256,000 and she gave me 1,025,600). It does happen, so watch out for it. I was really pleased to spot it and she was extremely embarrassed and flustered. Heh heh.
We used ATMs lots, and had no problems. Loads of ATMs around in Kuta and Ubud - basically where there are tourists there are ATMs. There were very few, or even none, in some of the less touristy areas, so be careful.
We found we needed loads more cash than we would do in the UK, where we tend to use plastic for most purchases over £10 or so. Initially this caught us out a few times, until we got used to it.
Kuta accommodation (Hard Rock):
We'd researched hotels beforehand and decided to stay in the Hard Rock. In retrospect this proved to be an excellent choice for us, and I'd strongly recommend it to anyone with teenage kids looking to break them into Bali gradually. Lots of good points, and one really bad point. Good points: the rooms were spacious, very well decorated and immaculately clean; the staff were very friendly; the breakfasts (included in room price) were great; the pool is absolutely fantastic; and there are several channels of music TV available - very useful for an occasional chill-out from the heat of the mid-day sun. The bar is impressive, with a high central stage for the live band who play each night - generally at the moment it's Siluet (from Java) - they play covers, extremely well.
The really really bad point about the Hard Rock is that the price of everything other than the room charges is outrageous. I was incensed to be charged 15,000R at the Hard Rock Deli for a bottle of water which costs 1,500R at the MiniMart 100 yards away. Also, internet use is 1,000R per minute with minimum charge of 15,000R, compared with Kuta average of 250R per minute. We'd had no intention of using the hotel as anything other than somewhere to sleep, so it was easy to avoid this hassle, and although we stayed there for 6 nights in total we never ate there once, and the only bar drinks we had were to use up our welcome drink tokens.
Kuta eating:
Ate a different place almost every night and never had a bad meal. Lots of good places.
Cheap and cheerful (typically under 200,000R for 4):
Tree House in Poppies 1
Bali Asi in Poppies 1
Seaside View Cottages on Jl Pantai
Bit more upmarket (typically 400-500,000R)
Koris on Poppies 2: really good food, bit more of a gourmet style place, more limited food selection than I'd expected, but very nice
Poppies on Poppies 1: really excellent. Our fave place. Nice food, nice ambience, nice people.
We also went to Jimbaran Bay one evening. I was really sceptical about this, but in the end I'm a convert - I thought it was a great scene, and the food was really good and not too badly priced at all. We went to Segara Café, and I'd recommend it.
Ubud accommodation (Bali Spirit, Ubud Village, Cendana):
Before arriving in Bali we'd booked into Bali Spirit Hotel for 4 nights, and Ulun Ubud for 2. Both of these are (like Tjampuhan and some other forum favourites) a bit out of the centre, and have terraced gardens with rooms cascading down the side. Bali Spirit was absolutely beautiful. However (a) we'd booked late, into something they called a River Villa - all they had available...it was not very nice...the kids' accommodation was very small for our large teenagers (b) we realised we wanted somewhere with much easier access to the shops and restaurants of central Ubud. Although it had a free shuttle, it's a pain in the ass to be tied to a shuttle timetable, and it was also a bit hit and miss - we only used it twice and once it was full so some people were left stranded.
So, after just one night we transferred to Ubud Village. This was great. Very nice place - nothing like as scenic as Bali Spirit, but the rooms we were in were much nicer, and it is really dead central - 2 minutes walk to shops and restaurants. Worth considering these issues if you stay in Ubud.
Ulun Ubud was even further out of the centre, so we cancelled that as well, and moved over to the Cendana (also on Monkey Forest Road, 20 yards up from Ubud Village) when Ubud Village was full for a couple of nights. We paid $80 for standard rooms at Ubud Village, and $95 for deluxe rooms at Cendana. Cendana was really good - beautiful settings, and fine rooms.
Ubud eating:
...was excellent. The restaurants we found were generally much nicer than in Kuta, and at all the ones listed below we paid between 300,000-500,000 for food and drink for 4 (including reasonably generous tips). Ones we ate at:
Ary's Warung: a real gourmet place. But we're not real gourmets, and we were a bit concerned re kids when they told us it would be 20 minutes for the food to be prepared. But it was uniformly good and we all enjoyed it. However, overall this was a bit too 'foody' for us.
Wayans on Monkey Forest Road: this was great. Really nice setting. Really nice food. Beautiful gardens.
Lotus Lane on Monkey Forest Road: again, a fabulous place. Good pizzas. Went back twice (our ultimate seal of approval).
Bebek Bengil 1 (Dirty Ducks) on Padang Tegal: this was the most stunning scenery for a restaurant...statues, foliage, loads of candles, and it even has its own paddy fields! Food was also very good.
Tips and gifts:
We tipped everywhere. Seems churlish not to, when even 10,000R means so much to the locals, and they're all just so nice and helpful. Generally in restaurants and taxis we left the standard 10-15%. In the UK I don't tip if service is bad - in Bali this never happened.
Following good advice from this forum we took along a load of small presents for Balinese children. This produced many emotional moments. They made a great additional thank-you to (for instance) drivers or hotel workers who we got chatting to and told us about their children. As well as a financial tip we often gave them a little prezzie for their kids, and everybody (me as well!) got very emotional. Best ones seemed to be little cuddly toys, crayons and writing/drawing books, and bubble mixtures. We had some really nice feedback from some of these little gifts.
Activities:
Best activity we undertook was cycling with Bali Budaya. This was great - got picked up from the hotel in Ubud, taken up to top of Kintamani for breakfast, then cycled down (downhill all the way) through beautiful villages full of beautiful people. The locals are obviously accustomed to having groups of westerners appear at various times of day, but rather than being stand-off-ish it just seemed like it was a big social event for them. All the kids along the way rushed out shouting 'allo!' in that special Balinese way, but so too did all the older people! It was just amazing. Even people breaking their backs in the padi fields along the way would pause from their labours and wave! Cycling through was also a good way of avoiding the dogs (one of my few Bali negatives - see below). As well as the cycling, Bali Budaya pack in a visit to a fruit/herb farm, a fine lunch, a visit to a local family compound, and a trip to the Ubud monkey forest. Our guide, Darma, was great - really articulate. He taught us more about Bali and its culture in a day than we learned in the rest of the holiday.
Rafting: had lots of offers for cut price rides with other firms, but decided to go with Sobek at a small discount only from their list price (we got it for $50 per person). I'm told they don't discount more, because they don't need to (fair enough). Went on the Ayung River. Fantastic scenery, although since it was dry season I suspect the rapids were not as extreme as they can get at other times of year. Great equipment, great guides who made everything a lot of fun, and a great lunch to finish things off.
Elephant rides: we got a bit ripped off here I think. Following advice from our driver (see Drivers section below!) we were told we got a special price to go to another park other than Taro, at $50 per person. In retrospect I don't think this was such a good deal. Nonetheless, although it may sound a bit naff I'd really recommend an elephant ride, esp if kids are involved. I've just been checking the photos and they look great, and it's a real fun thing to have done.
Surfing: as we were staying at Hard Rock we got a discount for their in-house operator (Bali Learn to Surf) - this worked out at approx $28 per day for a 2 hour beginner session. It was really good, and my son (and MY WIFE!!!) loved it. Good instructors who took a real interest to the extent that when we went back later in the week just to hire boards the instructors still gave wife and son coaching when they came down to the sea to teach other lessons.
Monkey forests: are great...you've got to visit one. Ubud has it's own, and it's fine, but the best one for me is Sangeh. Mainly because it's less crowded, and just really serene. The atmosphere was mystical...weird and wonderful statues, loads of towering vertical trees, converging down an avenue to a central temple, and lots of monkeys (well it is monkey forest...duh!!!). Just be aware that the monkeys here are far more assertive than in Ubud, and will climb all over you. This is fine if you're OK with it! A guide is useful to keep you straight. Ours said: 'if they jump on you, just let them...they'll be fine. But don't try and stroke them or touch them'. Us: 'Why not?' Him: 'Because they will bite you'. Oh, OK then...point taken. Instructions followed...no bites...lot of fun all round.
Dogs:
Balinese dogs are complete bastards. I hate dogs anyway, but these mangy little sods are just unspeakably awful and should all be shot. Unfortunately every house in Bali seems to have at least 3 of them. The reason I feel so strongly about this is I went for a long walk in the country when were in Ubud, and had a very bad experience walking through a small village, where it seemed like I was running an endless gauntlet as the dogs from each family compound in turn came out howling, barking and growling and gave me a load of hassle. Their barking would in turn set the next lot off, and so it went on, for a pretty awful half hour. I had to pick up a big stick to give myself some feeling of control - the stick helped a lot, as did my fantasising about an imaginery yet-to-be-invented device called a DoggieZapp where you can press a button and temporarily disable all dogs within 50 metres in a moderate but satisfying amount of pain until you're well out of hassle range.
Drivers:
I'd pre-booked 3 days driving with a driver recommended on this forum. I was a bit disappointed. He was a nice guy, but was quite clearly (and perhaps not too surprisingly) out for all he could get. Initially I took his recommendations for 'special prices' at face value, but after the elephant park incident (noted above) I got a bit more suspicious, and after a couple of similar incidents I eventually cancelled the third day with him.
Also, I rang another 'named driver' from this forum and he was nice as pie, and said he'd pick me up the next day, but the person who turned up was not him but one of his underlings who was a really nice guy but spoke virtually no English.
So, I'd just advise a bit of caution. Several people on this forum have spoken about how well they've got on with their drivers to the extent that they are all 'friends'. Hmmmmmmm.... Well, that's fine, but I'd just say exercise a bit of caution and pragmatism, and however close / friendly you feel to a driver, don't go along with all their recommendations on trust alone - make sure you think it's actually good value!
There is no need to panic about pre-booking a driver in Bali. Everywhere you go in tourist areas you will be assailed with cried of 'Transport? Transport?'. We took drivers a couple of times on a pretty random basis following a conversation to establish that they seemed like good people, and they always were. You can generally get a driver for the day like this for 250,000R. Big name drivers from the forum might charge more than this e.g. 300,000R-350,000R.
Temples:
I love Balinese temples. And there are so many of them! Some notes on a few:
Pura Tanah Lot (sea temple): is very pretty, but the rock it stands on is like something out of Disneyland - I'd read it was largely artificial, and it looks it. Don't know whether this is good advice or not but I deliberately avoided the peak time of sunset and it was nicely quiet.
Pura Goa Lawah (bat cave): interesting place, but was very busy when we there, and is a bit out of the way.
Pura Bratan (lake temple); very nice. Worth a visit.
Pura Tirta Empul (holy springs, near Tampaksiring): my favourite. Fascinating springs, causing a bubbling black underwater volcano in the bathing tanks, beautiful architecture, great jungle setting. I was also lucky to arrive as a big ceremony was taking place - awesome stuff.
Pura Besakih (mother temple): yes, despite advice from this forum and elsewhere I braved Besakih! It was indeed a bit of a heavy atmosphere - especially when having already paid for entry you have to pay again to hire a sarong (don't pay more than 5,000R for sarong and sash together), and then you're surrounded by very unsmiling (for Bali) guides and told you have to hire one of them or you can't go in to the temple proper. Probably bulllsh*t, but under pressure, how do you know this? I asked how much, they told me 100,000R. I told them 'bullsh*t'. They said '...but it's OK...we're allowed to negotiate'!!! Eventually got someone for 25,000R - my driver later told me I'd done well, and that 25-30,000R was a 'good rate'. He said some tourists were told 300,000 and paid it!!! It's 1 kilometre uphill from the guide hiring place to the temple itself, so I paid a further 5,000R for a ride up for me and my guide on a motorbike - well worth it. So, overall it was indeed a bit hassly, but I found the effort worthwhile. It's certainly a pretty amazing place - over 100 temples, half way up Bali's highest mountain, with views way out to sea. Got some great photos. But be prepared for the hassle, and personally I was glad I'd gone without the kids.
Rice terraces:
I also love Balinese rice terrace architecture. Three recommendations:
Just outside Ubud, towards the northern end of the village of Tellalagang, is a stupendous rice terrace display, in a fairly narrow valle
Pupuan, off to the northwest of Talaban, has some fantastic 'big' rice terrace scenery. Huge great gorges of the stuff.
The Sidemen road, to the east of Bangli, also has 'big' scenery, with Mount Agung in the background. Very lovely and very green, but many of the terraces were growing items other than rice, if you want to be pedantic about it.
Well, guess that's about it....
Bali...yeah baby!!!!!!!!