Blogs from Bali, Indonesia, Asia - page 2

I thought I would update this whilst the trip is still fresh in my mind.... Most Australians we have met since being in Perth have suggested we go to Bali, since the flight prices are so cheap. So we decided spontaneously one evening to book flights for April, although we didn't actually book our accomodation until a few days before we left (something's never change!). Having heard all sorts of weird and wonderful stories about Bali, we weren't quite sure what to expect. Some people we have met loved it, others didn't but all recommended we must "experience Bali" before leaving Perth. After speaking to a friend, she was able to recommend which area we should stay in, as well as telling us the places to avoid staying. After quite a traumatic landing into Bali airport ... read more

We had Gede arranged as driver for our transport to Legian for $25. A bit worried about whether his car would be OK, but it did fit our luggage in snuggly. Really good having him as we talked about stuff all the way for the hour long trip and he was good at speaking English and had a great personality as well. He told us about how he had a dream to go working on cruise ships like his younger brother but he had an accident (i.e. had a baby, got married and dream ended !). His brother has just returned from Costa Cruises in Europe after being away from family for 8 months and he earns a lot more than they get in Bali and supports his family. Gede has some land near rice patties ... read more

Alarm set for a wake up call at 6.45 as Luke and I were off on a white water rafting adventure on the Ayung River. Our guide was a guy called Salenko which sounded more like a Lithuanian Basketball player than a Balinese Rafting Guide. Our bus picked us up and we travelled around 30 minutes to get to the place where the rafting starts. We were given our helmets and life jackets and an oar to paddle with and the guy said to Luke off you go down those steps. We were about to venture down the side of a cliff face about 100 metre drop to the river floor. These were no ropes or handrails and most of the steps were pretty big by normal standards. However they were made with concrete and were ... read more

Bali 1 29/12 We had a nice lie in today, and got up to check out of our hotel at 12 o clock. We didn't exactly have much packing to do after only 1 night. The hotel called us a taxi to take us to our next hotel...well, guest house! The taxi driver refused to use his meter as it was 'too busy' and charged us a whopping 150,000 rupiah for the trip. I think he needed extra money for a new hat, which was literally a peak and just a couple of strips of material left holding it together! The driver didn't know where the guest house was, he had to keep stopping to ask people if they knew of the road and phoned the guest house to ask for directions. We finally arrived at ... read more

The new Mataram Airport at Lombok gave a hot welcome us. By luck we found a new hotel ( Central Inn) which is really centrally located in Sengigi. We enjoyed the place for few days and visited Mataram Town, Kuta Beach and A’an Beach on the South of the island. We spent another day on Coco Beach on the way to Gili Islands pier. We passed to Gili Islands for only two nights to refresh our memories and continue to Bali Island by speed boat. The boat company took us from Padangbai Pier and in one hour we were at our spectacular hotel in Ubud on Monkey Forest Road. Ubud is a lovely town full of art. We enjoyed the dinners at Ibu Rai , historic restaurant of sixties and had a visit to Tegallalang town ... read more