In Reply to: everyone pleeeeze! posted by colourdin on Monday, 24. October 2005 at 11:06 Bali Time:
The first trip to Bali is a real culture shock. It is so different to western society. (but that is the great part about it) The people are fantastic.
A couple of Tips..
Dont drink or clean your teeth with water from the taps. Use bottled water for everything. You can get large 6 litre containers at any of the supermarkets or circle K. This is the one of the first things we do when we arrive is a quick shop to pick up those bits and pieces.
Dont take take to much stuff with you. You will find that you probably live in bathers and sarongs and singlet tops and shorts. Take some comfortable shoes for walking around. Anything else you need you can buy there really really cheap. Leave plenty of room for shopping but you can buy cheap bags to bring home all the extras.
You will be approached around the major shopping areas with offers of a chance to win a prize. These are promotional things to get you to go and see time share places.
Try somewhere differnet to eat every night.
Tip well. In most cases a tip of 10,000 - 20,000 rp is a huge bonus for people who are paid very little. It is only a couple of dollars Aussie and will make very little diffence to your holiday but can make a big diffence to the locals income.
Get out and see some of the country away from Kuta. Kuta is the tourist area and not the real bali.
I could go on and on and on... but
Most of all really enjoy it and I know you will love it as much as we do.