Bali/Phuket

[Corona Man]

Some of my thoughts/observations on Bali.

Accommodation in Legian. 4.5 Star (apparently), good location, rooms a little tired to be fair. We were up on the 3rd floor. Safe to say, didn't miss going to the gym much, was up & down the stairs so much, I was getting my workout in. While I am loathe to compare per se Bali to Thailand, it's kind of inevitable. Accommodation wise, in my view, yet get a bit more for your $ in Thailand.

Food & Drink, plentiful, and well sampled. Well priced too. We ate in Restaurant's in the main, as opposed to bars. That said a few bar lunches went down well. Reckon my Bro in law had Nasi Goreng every day between lunch & dinner. Decent coffee joints abound. $2.50 a cappuccino doesn't hurt the pocket.

Tour - We did one. It was ok, but stuff me the traffic in Bali is insane. I am not talking about the lack of road rules, more so the road infrastructure is simply inadequate to handle the amount of vehicles.

Footpaths - Better than Thailand, in Bali, they actually exist!

Beach Sunsets - Enjoyable, $4 beers, sit back & chill..... other than the non stop touts peddling their wears...

Volcano - Other than seeing it in my news feed, you wouldn't have known it was happening in Legian. Reading the posts about flight cancellations, while sitting on the beach, watching a plane come in every 5 minutes made me chuckle.

Weather - Rained once in our 8 days, and that was for about 15 minutes while we were eating. Understand this week in Bali, has been almost non stop rain. We timed that well...Hot when the sun was out, but for much of our time there was some cloud about that cooled things off.

Shopping - Not my go, Mrs C didn't miss though. Sister in Law, stuff me.... she was shopping for cushions....in Bali, why, just why? I managed to pick up a few singlets. An Indiana Pacers one (then Haliburton tears the Achilles 2 days later) and the mandatory Bintang one. Reckon they search your bags when you leave, if you don't have one onboard they send you back to the airport gift shop.

Pi55ed Aussies. Pretty well everywhere. One evening, we were sitting in a restaurant, adjacent to the beach. About 9pm a group of well hydrated Aussies appear from their sunset drinks. Among them a middle aged lady (mid 50's), the kids (also pi55ed) think it's a great idea to get "gran" a moto bike back to the resort. What unfolded from there was entertaining to say the least. First she hands her entire purse to the rider.... he says no hands it back. She then pulls out some cash for the ride, hands it to him. He pockets it. Shen then hangs her handbag (full of god only knows what content) over the riders head. He says no, gives it back to her. Then she starts to line up how to get on the back of the bike. By this stage our fellow dinners have cottoned onto the situation and were all tuned in. Eventually she hitches up her dress (to the waist) showing off her G banger.... and climbs aboard. The rider hands her a helmet, which she struggles with. As the rider pulls away from the curb with his passenger, they receive a standing ovation from the dinners in the restaurant. Probably happens every night in Bali....

Will we go back? - Yes but not in the short term. Probably 3 or 4 years for another look. 8 days for us in Legian or Seminyak about right, but then I would move over to the other side, or to another location nearby - Lombok etc.

[gazzamagoo]

Some of my thoughts/observations on Bali.

Accommodation in Legian. 4.5 Star (apparently), good location, rooms a little tired to be fair. We were up on the 3rd floor. Safe to say, didn't miss going to the gym much, was up & down the stairs so much, I was getting my workout in. While I am loathe to compare per se Bali to Thailand, it's kind of inevitable. Accommodation wise, in my view, yet get a bit more for your $ in Thailand.

Food & Drink, plentiful, and well sampled. Well priced too. We ate in Restaurant's in the main, as opposed to bars. That said a few bar lunches went down well. Reckon my Bro in law had Nasi Goreng every day between lunch & dinner. Decent coffee joints abound. $2.50 a cappuccino doesn't hurt the pocket.

Tour - We did one. It was ok, but stuff me the traffic in Bali is insane. I am not talking about the lack of road rules, more so the road infrastructure is simply inadequate to handle the amount of vehicles.

Footpaths - Better than Thailand, in Bali, they actually exist!

Beach Sunsets - Enjoyable, $4 beers, sit back & chill..... other than the non stop touts peddling their wears...

Volcano - Other than seeing it in my news feed, you wouldn't have known it was happening in Legian. Reading the posts about flight cancellations, while sitting on the beach, watching a plane come in every 5 minutes made me chuckle.

Weather - Rained once in our 8 days, and that was for about 15 minutes while we were eating. Understand this week in Bali, has been almost non stop rain. We timed that well...Hot when the sun was out, but for much of our time there was some cloud about that cooled things off.

Shopping - Not my go, Mrs C didn't miss though. Sister in Law, stuff me.... she was shopping for cushions....in Bali, why, just why? I managed to pick up a few singlets. An Indiana Pacers one (then Haliburton tears the Achilles 2 days later) and the mandatory Bintang one. Reckon they search your bags when you leave, if you don't have one onboard they send you back to the airport gift shop.

Pi55ed Aussies. Pretty well everywhere. One evening, we were sitting in a restaurant, adjacent to the beach. About 9pm a group of well hydrated Aussies appear from their sunset drinks. Among them a middle aged lady (mid 50's), the kids (also pi55ed) think it's a great idea to get "gran" a moto bike back to the resort. What unfolded from there was entertaining to say the least. First she hands her entire purse to the rider.... he says no hands it back. She then pulls out some cash for the ride, hands it to him. He pockets it. Shen then hangs her handbag (full of god only knows what content) over the riders head. He says no, gives it back to her. Then she starts to line up how to get on the back of the bike. By this stage our fellow dinners have cottoned onto the situation and were all tuned in. Eventually she hitches up her dress (to the waist) showing off her G banger.... and climbs aboard. The rider hands her a helmet, which she struggles with. As the rider pulls away from the curb with his passenger, they receive a standing ovation from the dinners in the restaurant. Probably happens every night in Bali....

Will we go back? - Yes but not in the short term. Probably 3 or 4 years for another look. 8 days for us in Legian or Seminyak about right, but then I would move over to the other side, or to another location nearby - Lombok etc.

Yep, I just use Bali as the airport these days,
Lembongan is just the best, clean water, chilled out pace, great food & plenty to do still,
Then I recently went to the Gili islands, even better!
No motors makes it the winner for me & no hawkers either, sooooooooooooooooo relaxing.

[carey]

I’ve just spontaneously booked a Bali trip after a few drinks the other night, as I was asked to play footy in the carnival to which of course I accepted.

There are five of us going so far, travelling Sunday 31 May through Wednesday 10 June.

We haven’t booked any accommodation yet , I’ll read through the previous pages and would love any advice from you good folk on here.

No kids… what a shame

Feel Free to recommend accommodation.

Thanks in advance

[carey]

We also got a good conversion rate of 11,550 which apparently is really high.

The boys got me on to a Wise card, I'd never heard of it, but they transfer all the money on that, apparently a lot cheaper easier way of doing it.

[Jim05]

There are five of us going so far, travelling Sunday 31 May through Wednesday 10 June.

We are in Bali those exact same dates.
Two trips over there this year.
First one we are going to Jakarta for a couple days and get to Bali on May 31st and then when we leave we will do a few days somewhere else before heading home.

We then go back mid October for another week or two but yet to book anything for that yet

[CENTURION]

I went 4 times last year, going again on the 24th February,
it all depends on what you want from Bali,
do you want noise & lots of traffic & people constantly harrassing you on the beach & in the streets?
If yes, go to anywhere on the west coast from the very bottom of Bali, around Uluwatu, all the way up to Canggu,
if you want peace & clean sea water & no beggars, go over to the north east coast, or better still do what I do & get off Bali & go over to Lembongan or up to the Gili Islands.
Accommodation in Bali ranges from $20/night, through to $700/night, depends on the standard you desire.

[mighty_tiger_79]

There are five of us going so far, travelling Sunday 31 May through Wednesday 10 June.

We are in Bali those exact same dates.
Two trips over there this year.
First one we are going to Jakarta for a couple days and get to Bali on May 31st and then when we leave we will do a few days somewhere else before heading home.

We then go back mid October for another week or two but yet to book anything for that yet

oooh a Norwood V Port bust up on the beach

[carey]

There are five of us going so far, travelling Sunday 31 May through Wednesday 10 June.

We are in Bali those exact same dates.
Two trips over there this year.
First one we are going to Jakarta for a couple days and get to Bali on May 31st and then when we leave we will do a few days somewhere else before heading home.

We then go back mid October for another week or two but yet to book anything for that yet

We better paint the town black and red then lol

[Booney]

I went 4 times last year, going again on the 24th February,
it all depends on what you want from Bali,
do you want noise & lots of traffic & people constantly harrassing you on the beach & in the streets?
If yes, go to anywhere on the west coast from the very bottom of Bali, around Uluwatu, all the way up to Canggu,
if you want peace & clean sea water & no beggars, go over to the north east coast, or better still do what I do & get off Bali & go over to Lembongan or up to the Gili Islands.
Accommodation in Bali ranges from $20/night, through to $700/night, depends on the standard you desire.

I loved the trip we did where we spent 6 nights in Nusa Dua doing all the normal Bali stuff, shop, eat, swim, drink, walk to find dinner etc then 5 nights in the Bay Shore Huts on Lembongan and did absolutely sweet f*ck all for that time.

[carey]

SAF Folk,

It’s time to lock in accommodation, so I’d love some input from everyone. I’m going into Bali a bit blind; I’ve got plenty of experience travelling Thailand, but Bali is new territory for me.

Location options we’re looking at:

Kuta
Seminyak
Legian
Canggu

At this stage, Kuta is probably my last pick. From what I’ve seen online, Canggu looks great, but that’s just based on research but, as I said I have no firsthand knowledge.

Accommodation type:

Some of the boys are keen on villa-style accommodation

A couple of people prefer a resort, mainly for things like swim-up bars, breakfast included, and on-site facilities

I’m personally leaning slightly towards a resort, mainly for the social aspect mingling, meeting others, and the pool/bar

Any thoughts, recommendations, or past experiences in Bali (especially ones with stories that end well) lol

Thanks in Advance

[Booney]

Canggu is good if you're an Instagram foodie yoga influencer.

I'd be looking at a resort with all inclusive or a group of Villas that you can get together.

Seminyak or Nusa Dua are my picks.

I’m going into Bali a bit blind

I expect you'll come out the same.

[Jim05]

Seminyak/Legian is the best if you still want some of the action. It’s the best blend of restaurants, bars, shops and beaches.
Canggu is nice but away from the action and you will spend half your time in a taxi.
We do like Nusa Dua but that is also a bit away from the action but if you just want to relax at your resort all day that might be the best option

[Booney]

I'd go :

Seminyak
Nusa Dua
.
.
.
.
.
Legian
.
.
.
Ubud
Canggu
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Kuta