In Reply to: Just Back 2 weeks ago posted by JanJa on Monday, 5. December 2005 at 12:58 Bali Time:
Thought I would also share my experience in Bali.
I visited Bali for the first time from 25th Nov to 3 Dec accompanied by my sister and my four teenage children.
We took a list of drivers named on the Forum with us but we managed to find ourselves the best driver in Bali - Yannick (pronounced Yani).
Email address: wawi_27@yahoo.com
Ph: 081 338 665 907
Yannick is 31 and is an absolute delight. He drove us around for 3 of our 8 days in his air conditioned van and nothing was too much trouble.
There have been many orphanages mentioned on the Forum and so we left home with suitcases full of books, puzzles, games, dolls and clothes. We told Yannick we wanted to visit an orphanage and he took us to the Hope Children's Home at Untal-Untal Village, one kilometre to the west of Sempidi (18 kilometres North of Kuta). This is the home of 90 children from the very young to the late teens. They warmly welcomed us and sang a few songs before our gifts were distributed. The five older teenage boys sat to the side talking English and Indonesian with my 16 year-old son who learns Indonesian at school. The older teenage girls sat with my 14 year old daughter and all the little ones milled around us while we showed them how to do the puzzles. The recorder was a big hit for one young boy, and the little girls hugged their pre-loved dolls and teddies. We took many pictures and they showed us around their rooms (6+ to a room) and then to the kitchen (a room with two big cauldrons in the corner heating on camping style hot plates. A shelf contained their supplies). The orphanage visit was one of the highlights of our trip, and when we got back into the van Yannick told us about his first trip there and how he had tears in his eyes - thinking how lucky he was and how sad he felt for the children. Fill your suitcases before you leave and visit these beautiful children - we will be sending copies of our pictures back to them and keep writing to them because I know what a kick they would get out of receiving letters and photos.
We developed a terrific friendship with Yannick who learnt to speak English while listening to tourists in his brother's shop. He has started to learn Japanese and tested his learning with my three daughters who are studying Japanese at school.
Yannick was a safe driver, reliable, honest, friendly and a delight to spend time with. We all loved him and would recommend him to Bali travellers.