Bali

[Tech Tonics]

Anyone been to Bali? We are going in august for 3 weeks. Family of 4, kids will be nearly 15 and 12 and have travelled a fair amount.

Anyone have any experiences?


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[mcski]

Spend as little time as possible in or around kuta. Go over to Lombok for a few days. Gilis used to be awesome but that was 30 years ago so that's all I got

[alpinevibes]

Some time on Bali is doable, but Kuta is a shitshow. Bukit has some cool spots; Ubud is busy but worth seeing for a day. We mountain biked with this guy and it was a really cool day seeing the landscape of the islands, riding through rice fields and villages, would recommend and doable with teenagers: http://www.bali-rides.com/

We spent about 10 days between Lombok and Gili Air; really liked both. Gili Air has a decent balance between tourism and some mellowness - a split between Gili T (party) and Gili Meno (quiet!).

I know from talking to others like mcski that Gili's are wayyy different from 20-30yrs ago, but they're still pretty nice and much better than most of Bali.

[DJSapp]

Had a co-worker do a couple trips to Bali. Here's what I know:

1. Get your shots now.
2. One or more of you will get really sick for a week after you return.

[S_jenks]

Was in Bali for a month back in 2011, and you could see two different worlds developing on that island.

The southern half of the island is a tourist mess at times, since all the air traffic flies in/out of there and a bunch of sandy beaches/temples/attractions are in the area. Fun place to spend a day or so after getting in, but it is being overrun by the modern world rapidly. Rapid growth in Denpasar, and the southern beaches are just ok.

The Northern half is slowly developing, but there are swaths of it left relatively unspoiled. The Mt. Batar area can be quite touristy, but it's easy to get off the beaten path. Lots of rice farming and occasional dutch colonial villages to stay in.

about other things:

Temples. Temples are fucking everywhere there and it's insane. It's just one visible example of how devoted they are to their culture. Every morning/day/evening they are making offerings and building incense. In the streets, in their shops, in their taxis, on their boats, etc.

Tourists. Back in 2011 Bali was only slowly making it's way into the American conversations, and as such we only met a handful of North Americans there. It was the Brits, French, Aussies, and Chinese that made up the bulk of it. Now with the word out about this destination in the US, there inevitably will be more people.

Food. My fuck the food. It's a goddamn orgy every time you eat the local cuisine. Spices, herbs, curries, and all sorts of strange peppers to experience in. They are a people very connected with to their land, and that island is one giant garden.

My suggestions:
- Take a boat to Penida island and rent mopeds to get around. Very unspoiled area, amazing snorkling, and some cool hideaways. Plus there are little/no cars there so mopeds are the only way around.
- Ubud is meh, overrun by tourism insudtry. However there are many cheaper/more authentic areas to stay/explore closer to Mount Agung and Mount Batur.
- Northwestern part of island is much drier, and more Muslim. Cool area to explore and fantastic coral reefs. Good views of Mount Raung.
- Hike Mount Batur for a day. Super easy and bring lots of water. Fantastic views. of the crater, and hardly anyone went up there. Can hire a guide that will cook you lunch using the geothermal heat.
- The Northeastern corner is more rocky and less vegetative. Good scuba diving in those areas, and some of the quietest time we spent.
- Buy spices to take home. Tour a plantation (they grow way more than coffee)
- Be kind. Be humble. Don't be afraid to ask questions in a polite manner, they love talking to you about their beliefs.

Good luck and have fun out there.

[dan_pdx]

I spent about 3 days on the north shore in 2016 around May, which turned out to be off season. S_jenks pretty much nailed it, I don't have much to add to what he said.

The island is beautiful, and Balinese architecture and arts like woodcarving are highly developed. There is amazing architectural salvage in the cities -- we saw some very cool stores in Ubud. That's assuming you feel OK with buying, say, antique carved wooden doors made from old-growth teak. The craftsmanship is amazing and prices with shipping are within reach (1 or 2 pairs of new skis for a pair of doors, say), but it's the island's cultural legacy...

If you're at all prone to car sickness, consider bringing some anti-nausea medicine. The roads are pretty rough and twisty; I never get car sick, but I did in Bali. Might be better if you rent a car vs. hiring a driver, but personally I wouldn't have been comfortable driving there - outside of Kuta, the roads are not too crowded, but there are pinch points etc. to think about.

I agree with everyone above that said to get out of Kuta. If you need to stay near the airport on the night of arrival, or the night before you leave, fine, but I wouldn't want to spend any more time than that.

Snorkeling and hiking would be the top activities for me. Note there was significant coral bleaching when we were there, so you might look into it before planning a trip around it. (NBD, just the demise of marine ecosystems worldwide.)

_______________
Edited to add: we stayed at this place on the north shore and it was fantastic. http://thevillastejakula.com

[XXX-er]

I spent 3 weeks in Bali a couple years ago and the info so far is about right but i can add

if you are flying from the excited states all in one 40hr go its a long fucking way/day , I assume you will fly 9hrs to korea or japan and then 7 hrs to bali, so if you never sleep on airplanes you WILL on that 2nd flight but its still cheaper/easier than getting a hotel & overnighting in Korea or Japan. Book a hotel in Kuta cuz thats where the airport is, a good place to sleep off some serious jetlag, take a look around Kuta and GTFO cuz it will be full of my people waving selfie sticks

When it comes to getting around the roads are fucking crazy, there are families of 4 on a scooter, 10 yr old kids on a scooter, there are NO rules so I gave the driving a pass. To get around there were 2 of us it would have been cheapest to take a bus for 12$ each but we just rented a cab for the day, the most we paid was 55$CAN for 8 hrs of sight seeing/going from A to B or whatever so IME/IMO pay as you go and leave the driving to a local.

The cabbies are all really nice they all want to talk they all want to learn better english so they can talk to more tourists/ make more money, they will give you tourist info/back ground take you to a location and sit outside their car smoking and talking to other cabbies while they wait for you

most of Indonesia is muslim but most Balinese are Hindus, very nice people. The average Balinese women spends 2 hrs a day preparing and sending offerings to the gods so you will see little baskettes with incense and food everywhere. I have seen a kid in the middle of nowhere open a bag of chips put one on a leaf and make the sign. They don't put infants on the ground because they think the spirits will come up and get them so for the first 7 months of a childs life they are carried by some member of the extended family so infants never cry

MONEY, a construction worker will make 6 bucks a day, a foreign born manager type might make 30$ a day, I was told there is a 2 tier pricing system in which locals pay less so they are happy and live well, and its good for the tourist cuz even tho you pay more its still fucking cheap and IME everything was fucking cheap. Bargaining for the tourist stuff is great sport and entirely appropo, they will make the deal and give you "the morning price" or whatever time of day it is.

You can't buy property unless you hold an indonesian passport i was told, so tourists can't come and fuck up paradise

Duno how you roll when it comes to travel (high end low end ?) but i tend to go on the lower end, not dirt bag but in the pricing where you are spending mostly cash, there are bank machines everywhere but they only took my normaly bulletproof Canadian bank card for ONE transaction and then i was using my visa for cash advances or borrowing money from my GF cuz her AMEX seemed to work fine so IME take lots of cards/lots of different types of card

Ubud is a good place to go, a bike tour down from the volcano is fun, all the bikes I rented on Bali were lower end and usually needed maintenace just try to pick one with working brakes

the Gili islands are good place to go there are 3 of them ( mild to wild ) good place to learn to dive, we went over the volcano by cab, down to the north side and took a fast boat out of Amed to Gili

edit: for accomadations we only booked the first night in Kuta and a couple days in Uluwatu, after that it was very easy to just book airbnb or booking.com ( same listings will be on both ) as needed, we liked using booking.com cuz in case there was a problem you haven't paid anything

if you like to drink wine learn to drink something else for that month cuz wine is expensive and the only wine they make localy is pretty bad

[dunfree]

I've been to Bali several times, but I haven't been in years. I don't think there's a damn thing on that island that's actually undiscovered by tourists. It's had tons of tourists - millions - for years. It offered an inspiration of how culture can persist in the face of tourist hordes, but it isn't "authentic" imo - compare the videos of the 1930s, the Covarrubias art too today. What was, from a bloated gringo perspective nice, was it offered you a chance to pick & choose the tourist amenitys you wanted. Cheap "backpacker" crap in Kuta. cheap luxo beach crap in seminyak. Package resorts on the south coast beachs, or increasingly other beachs. Luxury instagramable homes or boutique hotels a bunch of places. Pseudo-luxury hippy yoga shit in Ubud. Decent, cheap, gourmet food a bunch of places. Really cheap "local food". August was one of the peak tourist months, expect crowded waves. Other than your usual humble brag, I'm not sure what the point of this thread is. What do you want to do on Bali for 3 weeks? In 2019, I'd fly somewhere else. In Indonesia there are other places with better outdoors. The culture that made Bali Bali is on hard times, if not dead. The modern culture nobody here gives a fuck about.

[Tech Tonics]

Other than your usual humble brag.

You were saying?

Could you be a little more sanctimonious?

“The point of the thread” was to ask where people have had good or bad experiences. Things they did that they liked, or didn’t. Humans oftentimes share experiences. It’s a thing.

It’s a shame you came off like such a dick, as it seems like you’d have some great feedback.

But, I’m super impressed by your worldliness.

[Tech Tonics]

Oh, and thanks everyone else for taking the time to respond. Excellent info!

[XXX-er]

you can find all kinds of tourist info my post was hopefully more the survival info

to recover from the jet lag day after arriving find a beer vendor on the beach in Kuta where you can sit in his plastic chair to drink many Bintangs,

you will notice a jet full of tourists taking off for asia every 15 min ... many tourists in bali eh

[Soups]

Search function worked!

Nice thread, will peruse.

Just booked a trip on a whim. Heading there solo style for 2.5 weeks in mid-august.