Flashpacking, quite by Accident!

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I've talked about flashpacking in previous blogs, meaning that you travel around with a backpack pretending to be a proper backpacker, but you actually sneakily stay in pretty nice places, not roughing it at all. In my heart, I'm a backpacker and not a flashpacker. I really dislike big commercial hotels, instead preferring smaller locally owned places. With little kids in tow, it's sometimes easier to give in to flashpacker-dom, and other times it just happens because of a dumb (and expensive) mistake. I'm going to tell you about two back-to-back flashpacker experiences we had recently.

Flashpacking in Tulamben

Tulamben is a teeny town on the east coast of Bali that seems to survive mostly on the dive industry. This is mostly thanks to the USAT Liberty, a US cargo ship that was sunk by the Japanese during WWII and now lies just offshore.



We visited Tulamben on our wedding trip 12 years ago and it was a very sleepy little place. Rooms were dirt cheap and diving was the cheapest we'd ever come across. We were hoping to get a good deal at the resort most highly recommended in our guide book, located directly in front of the wreck. I was a bit shocked at room prices given that it's not yet high season and we are pretty much in the boondocks, but I have to admit that the rooms were really nice and spacious and they said they'd give us an extra mattress on the floor for free if we did some diving with them. However, convinced we could find a better deal elsewhere, we went comparison shopping at resorts nearby. One was much more expensive, two others said they only accepted two people in a room (no extra beds for kids), and another said it was fully booked with a Chinese tour group for the next five nights! We did find a cute little place which would have been a great deal for just Scott and I, but it didn't have a pool (which we decided was necessary for the kids as there's no beach to speak of in Tulamben) and it was located on the busy main road, about 3.5 seconds from imminent death if the kids ever decided to make a bolt for it. Tail between our legs, we headed back to the original resort. At almost $50 a night, we were flashpacking, but it seemed the best bet all things considered.



After check in, we went to the restaurant for lunch. It was a bit of a shocker. While our bungalow was modern and immaculately clean, the restaurant certainly was not. We've traveled so much in the third world that it takes quite a lot to phase me but this restaurant managed it. As we approached, we couldn't tell if it was a restaurant or a building site as it was covered in makeshift bamboo scaffolding. The cloth they used to wipe the table was our first real indicator. It was filthy dirty and I could smell the mildew on it, so gross! It was set up canteen-style to cater for large tour groups, and there was a big Chinese group in that day. They were so loud. It reminded me of when I was a teacher and would go by the school canteen on a rainy day - bedlam! I guess we don't have to worry about our 3 and 4 year olds spoiling someone's peaceful dinner around here!



The bummer was that there was nowhere else to go. The closest resort was the one with the Chinese tour group staying, and it was closed for the week to serve only group meals. The other restaurants close by said they only catered for their own guests. We ended up just ordering very simple meals, like veggie pasta, to try to avoid getting sick!



Scott and I had been hoping to do a couple of dives each on the wreck but it unfortunately didn't happen as we both had colds. Instead, we snorkelled the wreck several times. Kyla saw her first turtle, which was exciting, and lots of fairly large fish at close quarters. When we asked her later that first afternoon if she wanted to go again, she informed us quite solemnly that she "can only go 'scuba diving' once a day." Jake still refused to look under the water. He stated that he wanted the sunken ship to be a sunken car instead. Then, and only then, would he look!



By day three in Tulamben, we realized that our colds were not getting better fast enough. It was time to cut our losses and head back to Sanur. Unfortunately the cute little place we'd stayed before for $37/night was fully booked so I hastily booked at another place. With no wifi in the room, I just had to make a quick decision before the kids needed me! As soon as I hit the "book now" button, I realized that I'd made a mistake. I'd thought I was booking two nights for $43/night, but instead I'd just booked one night for $87/night. Yikes! It doesn't sound like much by US standards, but it's a lot of wasted money for here. I was bummed, but we actually ended up booking a further two nights there as it's such a hassle to move rooms and we had several errands to do in Sanur. Looks like we'd be flashpacking again, but this time quite by accident.



That night Jake woke up crying in the night with a fever. Damn that restaurant! We gave him some water and some baby paracetamol and he thankfully went back to sleep. It was definitely time to move on!



The next morning, Jake still had a fever. We got a taxi directly back to Sanur, unfortunately missing out on visiting Tirta Ganga (the water palace), which was right on the way.

Flashpacking in Sanur

We pulled into our fancy hotel in Sanur and got another blow on check-in. It didn't even include breakfast, which is almost unheard of in Bali. There was a silver lining to this though. Since arriving in Bali, we'd had free breakfasts of veggie omelette and toast every single day for 14 days straight. I swore I was going to turn into an omelette! At least I was now able to justify buying fruit and muesli for breakfast.



We had a huge room with the Disney channel in English, which was actually very useful as now Kyla was sick too! We did some shopping errands, but mostly just hung out at the pool or in the room. On our last day, the hotel informed us that, as we'd booked twice to stay with them (because I'd screwed up the booking and done it in two different transactions), we were being given a free massage each. Walking into the spa, I really did feel like I was on a two week holiday. Flashpacking at its best!



One other silver lining of flashpacking at the Parigata Hotel was that we finally ended up seeing a traditional Balinese legong dance show. We'd been meaning to, but they are all a bit late for us as they tend to start at 7:30 or 8pm, meaning a super late bedtime for the kids. As we checked into the hotel, they were setting up the stage over the pool. Jake took a long, feverish nap that afternoon, so at the last minute, we decided to try it. It turned out to be really fun, with Kyla surprising us all by accepting an offer to go up on stage and dance with them at the end!



We did enjoy our time "flashpacking" at Parigata hotel for a few nights, but when we come back through Sanur, I've made sure to book a room at our old place this time, way in advance. It will be nice to save the $50/night, and maybe I'll skip the free omelette and use the savings to get a yummy fruit and muesli breakfast, but doubt it. I'm still a cheapskate at heart!



*** Scroll down for some cool pictures of Kyla on stage with the Legong dancers! ***

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Comments

[Sheila woolley]

Wpnderful
Sorry it was all so expensive but certainly some new experiences, especially for Kyla. Well done little girl on the ' scuba diving' and the dancing. xx