Travel Report

by 

Cameron

1997

Well it's been three days since I have returned to Australia from Bali .... it's taken me this long mainly due to the fact that depression sank in and it took me a while to dig myself out.

I thought I would write this because I found other peoples "Just Back" reports such a help I thought I would return the favour.

My girlfriend and I spent 10 brilliant days in Bali (third time for me but the first for Nicole). 

Our trip over was a bit of a shocker (flew Qantas from Brisbane, Sydney Denpasar) but it was nothing compared to our trip home....but I'll get to that later.

We arrived in Bali at 10.30pm to be greated by quite heavy rain..my first thought was "Crap, bet it rains the whole week" but by the time we arrived at our hotel it had stopped. We stayed at the Bounty Hotel which is right in the middle of Kuta down Poppies Lane II.

Now I have seen a couple reports on this forum saying that it was noisy, full of Australians.....well they were right. BUT the atmosphere of the place was such that a bit of noise at night didn't bother us a bit. Just for the record I'm 31 and Nicole is 26.

I just can't rave enough about the Bounty Hotel, the staff were always smiling, efficient and the rooms were great...we got upgraded when we arrived so you can imagine our glee to find a king size bed. Sigh...... We were situated near the front of the two pools ...the noisy pool for people who haven't stayed there. The plus was that it was a 30 second walk to the pool/bar from our room.

Now for me the opportunity to sit in a pool and drink beers whilst getting some sun is high on my list of pleasurable activities, but being able to eat there as well just added to my enjoyment...my waistline took a beating ....(I can't use the line of I'm festively plump anymore seeing its February.

Nicole had heard that the Hawkers were quite bad and it took me quite a while on our first morning to get her out of the hotel, even the thought of going shopping and spending money (both of which she excels at) wasn't enough of an incentive to entice her out....so we did the next best thing, we went for a swim and had a beer.

Fortified, we ventured out, sunglasses firmly planted on our faces out of our sanctuary into the fire.

As long as you don't rubber neck at everything the majority of them don't hassle you, just walk past wave your hand and say 'no thanks' or 'no mate' usually works. I had one guy follow me (trying to flog a watch off to me) from the entrance of the Bounty, he followed me down Poppies Lane II towards the main drag, I turned left, he turned left we could have been attached with a bungy cord he stayed that close.

Nic and I got down as far as Matahari's (department store) I was so impressed with his ability to take a continual string of "no's and too expensive" that I relented and bought a watch off him. For those who are interested I got Tag watches (silver) for 30 000 rp, Tag with gold for 35 000 rp and Billabong with the velcro band for 35 000 rp) I thought I bargained quite hard but when you think about it what you are haggling over is usually under a dollar.

So you feel like a bit of a scab and usually I gave a bit back, mainly cos I enjoyed myself bargaining with them. Do it with a smile and good humour and you find they remember you (an amzing ability, I am lucky to remember people names 3 seconds after I have been introduced).

By the end of our trip I'd walk down Poppies Lane and get "Hello..Camron, you come in and have another look, I give you good price" (they have a problem with my name..Cameron) but hey...it brought a smile to my face. But I digress.

We resisted buying anything (apart from the watch) on our first day which was a good idea coz it is easy to get screwed on your first day like a couple of people we met in the pool later that afternoon.

Before I get much further I best mention the weather....how lucky were we, the whole time we were there it rained once during the day and that was for about two hours late in the afternoon, the rest of the time it would rain at night but only for a short period of time.

We did the mandatory tours as one does, we didn't stray too far from home (we were after a lazy holiday)I think I am a bit jaded though, we did the Kintamani/Lake Batur thing and I felt that we were being used. 

The Barong Dance we saw first was good but obviously aimed at tourists...so as a result I would have like to have seen a proper dance. We stopped off in Celuk and taken to a silver shop - where you could barter for really expensive jewelry.

We stopped at a public bath and sacred spring (for the life of me I can't remember the name of it) we had to run the gauntlet of hawkers to get there.

Kintamani was an experience, we stopped at a restaurant for lunch, which was overpriced and not that good but there was little choice of where to go, actually we had no choice.

The volcano was smoking and the the view was fantastic and the temp was quite cool which was a nice change.

Once lunch was over it was time to get back to the bus, if you think the hawkers were bad in Kuta, the ones here were amazing, they actually wouldn't let you get past and if you stopped you were swamped by at least a dozen shoving stuff in your face. 

Leaving Kintamani we headed back to Kuta stopping to buy fruit, Ubud for paintings which were wonderful but too expensine for this little black duck and Mas for wood carvings also too expensive but I can understand why.

Watching a couple of them at work was a treat, turning a chunk of wood into a beautiful carving amazes me.

We got back just in time to head off on the Peanuts Pub Crawl (it had to be done) we were told it was a must.

So with 120 others (mainly Aussies, suprise, suprise)we headed off in mini buses, sports cars (most cool sitting on the back driving through Kuta). We finished at Peanuts Nightclub drinking jamjars (they give you shocking hangovers)I woke up with a headache that would have cracked worlds and cured me of ever wanting to drink Arak ever again.

I met a guy who worked in Bagus Pub last time I was there and he remembered me when I walked in one night for dinner and a movie. This name was 'George' and organised a day at Nusa Dua to do some watersports and gave us a really good deal well we thought so.

We got free transport and Parasailing was 60 000 (A $10.00) and jet skiing 70 000 (A12.00)/15 minutes.

Both of which you should do coz they were excellent fun.

After 3 hours there we headed back to the hotel were I proceeded to get burnt beyond belief sitting in the pool.

As you can imagine the next day walking around required a collared shirt and a floppy hat (which I bought) I got my floppy hat for 10 000 rps and three baseball hats for 15 000rp.

The other tour we took was to see Tanah Lot, totally worth the trip especially when you see the sunset. There is a Temple there that when it's high tide gets cut off from the mainland.

Tanah Lot comes with the mandatory Hawkers by the way!

Now for some prices I paid for things......

I went crazy over the Playstation games, they are available everywhere but I bought mine from Matahari's mainly cos they were cheaper and had a bigger range and at 15 000rp I just couldn't say no to 25 of them. Now with these games you need to get a mod chip put in so they can be played.

I got my chip put in the day before yesterday it cost me A$60.00 and the games all work fine. 15 000rp worked out to be A$2.72 so you can see why I bought as many as I did.

T-shirts (white) - between 15 000 - 20 000rp

T-shirts (coloured) I was told coloured was more expensive. I got mine for 25 000rp.

Singets - 10 000rp

Cd's - new releases for 60 000rp

I bought a pair of fake Nike flip flops (sandals) for 50 000 and Nicole once she discovered leather was cheap thought she was in seventh heaven, and there was no stopping her, she got the bit between the teeth, got the scent..etc. I trailed after her into every shop in Kuta I reckon looking for a bargain. 

She paid 35 000 for a little leather backpack, I can't remember the costs of the rest that she bought but she now has enough bags to last her till the end of time. 

Word of warning for Australians anyway. Some some the shops sell these really cool drums BUT the hides that they use are not treated so when you come through customs they cut the tops off so you end up with a drum that doesn't drum.

Our trip Home was a nightmare though and I don't recommend leaving at 12.45am arriving in Darwin at 4.30am having a seven hour layover then flying to Brisbane. Foul, foul foul.

I think that is about it, just let me finish off by saying Bali is a wonderful place and I will definitely be going back soon, it was the best holiday I have had since last time I went. 

If anybody actually finishes this essay and have any questions I am quite happy to help, even ones that seem stupid.

I hope this is a help. 

Regards, 

Cam