In Reply to: Do you know a driver that best suits us. posted by Balimagic on Sunday, 28. August 2005 at 15:16 Bali Time:
I know many would not agree with what I am about to say as I am not of the rose coloured glasses set, but here goes ....
I would leave it until you are in Bali and can talk to the driver and see the condition of the van for yourself. That's the only way you can be sure of getting what you're looking for.
I don't for the life of me know why peole think that it's important to book a driver before you arrive in Bali. There are tons of drivers begging for work everywhere and it wouldn't take long to spend a few moments talking to a couple and checking out their vans. Be assertive with them about not being taken here and there and wasting petrol and everyones time for a commission they won't earn, and if a replacement driver and van arrives that you will not take them.
I scoured this forum for months and was very particular about deciding on the "best" driver and thought I had chosen well. Ha. Never again. Seems my husband and I must have very different perceptions about what constitues "good English" and a "great van". My husband speaks Indonesian and a little Balinese and he had trouble conversing with our driver! He gave up in the end saying it was too much like hard work. We ended up dripping more than the airconditioning unit, I think some of our bones swapped locations and we inadvertantly took half the van floor with us each time we got out of the van. Unfortunately we had prebooked this guy for a long return trip so didn't like to do him out of income - but we learnt a very valuable lesson.
I kept longingly looking at all the vans overtaking us with the windows wound up and little white cotton covers over the headrests and the occupants looking cool and relaxed while I was hanging out the window of our van frazzled with hair stuck to my face & sucking in the car fumes as I braced myself for yet another bump.
Next year we'll wait till we're over there and go talk to few drivers and check out their vans FIRST, we're not getting caught out again!