vivaldi, when did you go? can see you manage to have a clear sky for sunset at tanah lot... so sad during my visit, all i could see was only a thick clouds

haha... ya ya...
it is just a "must see" tourist attraction la. But heavily depend on individual oso. For people like relaxing trip and like photo shooting, then the place very good la. For people like shopping and happening, then nothing much la maybe....
but actually i think i wont go to tanah lot again in another 2 years maybe, except for its market place there... cheap cheap...

you can get it cheap in the market place at Tanah Lot, Sukawati, Tampak Siring, etc... There are more choices at the market places around Kuta, but their price are slightly expensive, like 50% more of what you can get at other places. But averagely, they're still much more cheaper if compare to malaysia la...

i spent about RM 1.6K for 2 for 5D4N, all inclusive. But i'm kidda of budget style la... budget but clean accommodation, hired driver with own itinerary, etc... And my air ticket was free seat one, i just paid RM 193 per person for the airport tax, excluding the last one you have to pay when leaving Bali (IDR 150K).

not very sure about package price. You can get it cheap at the Matta Fair, or go to airasia go holiday package. But my advice:
- Do some works and you will save a lot of $$, plus going to places you like
- Get package only if you're lazy enough to make your own plan. But you will probably be sent to visit all gold smith, silver work, wood carving, etc...
- If you wanna get package, make sure it is a good one ($$$). Or else they will put you in a hotel far far away, very hard to get around one like my friend did when he booked from the airasia go holiday. Hotel sound nice, at Nusa Dua, but uphill far away from everything...

ya... that are a lot of useful information from other forumers as well...
i just created a full details about my trip here:
http://pslee81.blogspot.com/2008/02/virgin-bali-trip.html

all the details, timing n everything... still missed out something... will add on when i'm free..

hi kairel... so you're going for 7D6N, right?
i think lovina is quite night, although i never been there before. The place is more suitable for people to rest and enjoy the life, way from the busy street, and nightlife...

as for your itinerary, below are what i think:
20th: don waste your time free n easy. Suggest you put your dolphin visit in the morning (not sure where it is). Then only enjoy the other half day.

21st: Since you're going to pupuan, why not try to slot in Bratan Temple, at Bedugul, believe it is not very far away from what i observe in the map. Then only go to banjar hotspring (not sure where it is also).

22nd: another wasting time journey. Try to slot other place. Ask your driver to suggest anyplace closer to this one. Or you can just combine this area with other place in other day.

23rd: dunno where tulamben is. But i know there is an island call Menjangan Island which have a nice snorkeling. If same place, then good! So sad that i missed this place as it is too far away from Kuta or Ubud.

24th: OK!

25th: what time is your flight? if late evening, you can slot something in the morning session. Maybe stop at Kuta, or Uluwatu in the morning. Uluwatu is very pretty. The view is amazing! Should go there!

In my personal opinion, your driver like trying to bring you to 1 or 2 places in each day. Depending on your rental condition, like mine i booked for 12 hour charter service, so fully utilize it! Like your schedule above, on 21st, he only bring you to pupuan to see, wait for you... then bring you to hotspring, then wait for you again. Same for 22nd & 23rd... maybe he is based in Kuta or Denpasar.. For me, i think there are 2-4 must visit area: Uluwatu--> Bratan Temple, Begudul--> Kintamani--> Tanah Lot. All these are the landmark of Bali!

But it all depend on individual. Some people like a slow and enjoy journey. Some like me like to see the max of all in the time given... So hope you enjoy your journey la!

Sorry cant do much research as i'm using super slow computer + super slow internet connection...

*updated my blog with the 2 important contact numbers (hotel & driver)

This post has been edited by ...PS...: Mar 17 2008, 10:40 PM

roughly only... just know Lovina is on the north side. Then according to what keirel said, i just look in the map only....

haha... don't want to share it under my sig la... if you want to check my detailed journey, here it is:
http://pslee81.blogspot.com/2008/02/virgin-bali-trip.html

oh ya, talking about nasi padang, you can see it almost everywhere... depending on the region la... some area like Ubud, 90% are hindu, so might be less halal food. But like Kuta, Denpasar, Gianyar, Bedugul, etc, think easy to find one la...

i remember the first meal in Bali we took nasi padang not far away from the airport. The waiters took out about 20++ different dishes on a small plate and put on our table. They said you only paid if you eat it. But personally i think it wasn't so hygiene lor like that...

he doesn't have any Internet access one, that's y i'm helping him... heheh... you can just sms him, he will reply you, dont worry... let me know if you need any help

normally people deal thru internet or should i say people know how to use internet normally will charge slightly higher, coz they grab customer in the front line. yours is about RM 120 per day should be ok ma, depending on the vehicle type and no. of pax also la. if for 4 person i think it is acceptable ma. But mine RM 160 for 8 person, so RM 20 per person per day only, superbly worth it la... YOu can try to sms Pak Mul, ask some something smaller, tell him you got the number from me, maybe he can adjust something out.. good luck !

teckhooi: it is hidden somewhere in there la... but i think you can get it here also ma.. i already post it in the earlier page. Just in case one day this thread closed liao, then at least i still got backup... hehhee

it is better to change your money here. There better bring some USD lor, but be EXTRA careful. Bring along your friend to count the money... there is on money changer in KL which give better rate (at least the one i know). It is near the Jln Ah Loy, a counter at the hotel. Dont remember what hotel name it is. Not at the main road one... the hotel is beside KFC one... if you compare to other money changer, his rate is always lower. I changed my rupiah there and taiwanese note once, it was slightly cheaper than the cheapest you can find at the Jln Bukit Bintang and also the cheapest you can get in Sg. Wang. go make some comparison

This post has been edited by ...PS...: Mar 19 2008, 11:07 PM

USD 50 per day same as mine la... but i booked for pregio for that price, which can take max 9 pax including the driver. They also offered me Isuzu ELF for em... USD 55 or USD 60 which can take max 13 pax including the driver. But i decided to go for the Pregio only.

Once arrived at the airport, Pak Mul asked me whether we wanna change to ELF... we thought he's trying to earn some extra commission, so we insisted to take the Pregio... but then he said same price, so we take the ELF lor. I think you can try to ask Pak Mul, tell him what you got form balitrip.net, ask him whether he can arrange anything special... coz i remember i asked him who was the person i was talking to from balitrip.net. he said he also dunno. So i believe balitrip.net is also an agent who take customer first hand and hand it over to the car rental company like Pak Mul's company. But i think balitrip.net offer the best rate for a big vehicle (van) among many other internet agent.
So surely if you go thru Pak Mul's company or Pak Mul himself, you can get cheaper lor... at least that is what i think la...

let me know if you manage to get any cheaper price... so that we can use it as a benchmark whether to go thru balitrip.net or Pak Mul himself la...

as i said, he work for his boss... so practically i think he doesn't have any vechicle of his own lor... what he does is arrange for the type of vehicle you want, then quote you the price lor... so it all depend on how many vehicle his company have... i think his company should be quite big, judge from the size of vehicle i got last time... so most probably his company have many smaller car as well...

yours USD50 is what type of car? big or small one? did you ask him?

teckhooi: 9pax probably pregio lor... like what i got last time... Except that i got free upgrade when we arrived at the airport. Maybe because we booked for 3 straight day kua...

love-angel: as i said, pak mul english is not that good... about premium i think is gov + petrol, etc... dont care about it la... just know that for that price, you can go anywhere you like, anytime, for the duration max 12 hour. But extra 1 or 2 hour should be ok one...

about 'Tour 1 hr us40, dr airport ke Kuta + diner usd20 aja', he just wanna tell u if you book for 1 hour tour, that is the price. But he gonna give you special rate at USD 20 (pickup + bring you to dinner). But i think you can get it for USD 10 without dinner tour, coz you can get your dinner in Kuta near you accommodation.

I mentioned many times liao... YES, you can get maybe cheaper price at the airport, but are you willing to scarify your time looking for driver and discussing about the price just to save maybe 10 or 20 bucks? unless if you are very confidence about your itinerary, or else you will ended up listening to them suggesting this and that which may take you 1 hour... i knew it because in the past few travel, we always find our tour when we got to that place. Of course the price there might be cheaper than the one published on the Internet, but definitely it took us more than 1 hour to discuss. Even with our own schedule, they will give you other opinion, this n that. Then when seems alright, ARE YOU SURE he IS GIVING you the BEST rate? sure you want to check from other ppl right? unless you're a cincai person, just follow than maybe you'll save you time a lot.. but from what you're saying, sure you wanna go for the cheapest one! right?

actually i think going for vacation, the time is the most valuable thing to us. Backpacking is a big headache as you have to arrange everything yourself. Anything goes wrong you wil waste a lot of your time. Among all my travel, i think to Bali is the best planned backpacking trip i ever had.., Go ahead, probably you will learn it thru experience...

*again, i'm not asking you to hire Pak Mul. Just to share some thought on backpacking or self arranged trip...

i only booked for 3 whole day tour. First and last free n easy ma...

teckhooi: depending on your schedule la... first day and last day also need transport, but mainly airport transfer/pickup only lor...

normally i will schedule my journey so that the first and the last will be free n easy at my accommodation area... the rest, take the full use of the whole day I got for a full tour or any activity lor...



This post has been edited by ...PS...: Mar 27 2008, 10:57 AM

May or June should be almost the same, not much different coz it is consider a peak season. So it is up to you when you're free and whether you manage to get any ticket or accommodation...

Kuta itself is a town, full with tourist, mostly surfers and nightlife lovers! You can stay around the Hard Rock area. Not sure how much Hard Rock cost during peak season, but last time during our visit it was around USD 100-130, and somemore fully booked! According to stimix, internet price is around USD 80, slightly cheaper, but remember you're going during peak season, so expect more expensive price + hard to get a room also...


haha... hopefully he can give you a good service. Btw, when are you going?

wow... that's so expensive man! We paid em.. IDR 15,000 for the entrance at the security guard/army not far away from the main entrance, and IDR 20,000 for the tour guide for 8 pax! hahah... thanks to our kind driver who helped us to bargain for the superbly cheap price! The only thing we got con was about the umbrella where it cost us IDR 5,000 where initially it was only IDR 3,000. I hate it alot when encounter this kind of situation! And our driver also almost argue with the umbrealla lady! I even thinking of just walking away without paying anything. I was really really regret when i initially thought i was just wanted to help them for some businesses! Guys, if any of you all wanna visit besakih temple, just be careful cos the place is full of conman! Do not pity them at all!

Your recommendations above are very right! For first time traveler, just follow the list above. And if you got extra time, then maybe you can slot in the second so-so attraction along the way to the must see places. I read about the Menjangan island at the east, famous for its nice coral life... Anyone have any idea ha?

I think your day 2 is quite pack... i dont think you can go to goa lawah cos it is quite far to the east. Should take it out... I remember last time we took about 1.5 hour journey from tampak siring to Ubud town!

I dont think there will be enough time to go to monkey forest after tanah lot. Cos i believe you wanna go for sunset at tanah lot right? so from tanah lot to Ubud takes about 1 hour drive, so by the time you reach ubud, it is already nighttime d... if really wanna go, but monkey forest and ubud together, coz it is same place.

should be alright, but depend on what time you wanna be at the kintamani lor. Last time what i did was:
From Ubud (9.30am) > Tegalalang > Tampak Siring > Kintamani > Besakih > Ubud (around 6pm)
So when we got to Kintamani it was already after mid noon already... the view not nice + raining + heavy could. According to brother stimix, it is better to visit Kintamani in the morning. So in your case, maybe it is alright, cos your Kintamani will be on the second destination, you will probably be there before lunch... Then you can continue with Besakih, and while on the way back, you can go to Tampak Siring, Tegalalang, Goa Gajah, Kuta... you can skip GOa Gajah if time is not enough coz not really worth it, unless you're passing by la...

As for day 3, i assume you'll be staying in Kuta right? should be OK one... Actually Ubud is a little bit to the east... But you can still make it... after Ubud you can go to Taman Ayun, then continue... overall should be OK...

The best is if you stay at Ubud either on 2nd night... so that you no need to rush back to Kuta after Goa Gajah, coz Goa Gajah is not very far away from Ubud. So on 3rd day, you can visit Ubud in the morning, then continue with Celuk, Taman Ayun, etc...

This post has been edited by ...PS...: Apr 8 2008, 10:47 PM

teckhooi, you're talking about hibiscus cottages?

upper got 2 types:
- 1 normal upper, with 1 double bed (IDR 150K)
- 1 is a 2-story upper floor, with 1 double bed at each story. It is like a penthouse on level 1 & 2. (IDR 200) Below is the normal ground floor room loh...

the ground got 3 rooms, including the one below the penthouse-styled room mentioned above...

I think they're quoting you the price for the normal upper floor lor... coz during my visit, we took 4 rooms, so we managed to press kao kao the price... I think the normal upper floor is very nice already... try to bargain maybe to IDR 150-170K lor, but don say i teach you one la... hehehe...

*Remember, the price above is excluding the gov tax!

ya.. for Hard Rock hotel, it is very hard to get, unless if you're going for the most expensive one la... my visit in low season also full house... during peak season lagi no need to say la...

besides flight should be boat n bus n boat n bus n boat lor... but will take you 3-7 days just to get to the island lor... so still wanna take other option? ... suggest you check for airasia ticket lor... look for promotion, but since you wanna fix the date, so a bit difficult lor... but try la...

for 4D3N, in a group of >10, i think it should be quite cheap lor... coz you can get many group price, like transportation, hostel, etc... I would say around RM 600 per person w/o air ticket! That is for normal traveler, avg spending lor... But a big group also can bring more headache, coz many things have to be arranged perfectly, hard to find rooms for same accommodation, timing, etc... suggest you all further split into 2 group like 6 pax lor... then 6 pax can easily fix into 1 Kijang (Unser), and can easily find 3 rooms or so in the same hotel/hostel...

check out from page one, sure you will get many useful tips!