well... for an extra night i only need to pay an extra RM160
Never fully trust those star ratings Some are rated as 5 stars but offering 3 stars services, while some are rated as 3 stars but offering 5 stars services

Oh yeah... Harris Kuta is not bad, but it's about 10 minutes walk from the main road or beach. Mine is just on the beach

For checking about how's Harris, maybe you can post a question here:
balitravelforums.com, i got most of my tips from there

Bali Garden Hotel is not bad. Its a beach hotel. Was there last November

raining season from Oct to March izzit? howz weather there for Nov??

When I was there in November, no rain at all. Weather very hot & humid. Remember to bring along sunblock. Nice sunset at Tanah Lot.

if u guys going to Ubud, must try babi guling. ask for the one next to the tample under a tree. just across the market.

just back from Bali yesterday... stayed at Kuta area
the place is FANTASTIC!!!! and everything is sooo cheap! and the food is sooo yummy!! and the people there are sooo friendly
definately going back there again next year

Spa package there is damm cheap, but you'll have to hunt around for the best deal, i got a 3 hour spa treatment for RM100++ only! pamper meself and my wifey for 2 spa threatments.
try not to chausually the treatment will includes a foot wash/scrub, body massage, body scrub/mask, flower/milk bath, and facial/scalp threatment.

but becareful of the tax there thou... some place will charge you from 15% to 21% tax, especially at hotel restaurant or fancy one. Those road side one usually no tax, but better ask in advance else you'll get slaughtered.

There are plenties of road site stalls selling souveniers, bags, t-shirt and etc... usually u can slash their offer price up to 60% or more. If they offering Rp60,000 for a pair of slipper, you might be able to get haggle for Rp20,000 if you're good. Usually the simple tactic of "give me this price or I leave" will work well

Ahem DVDs of movies, PS2, Xbox are plentiful also, and cheap!!! Rp10,000 each disc, that's RM4 per piece! and you'll be damm suprise of their library of titles they have there, a lot of latest and rare titles. Usually buy 5 free 1, buy 10 free 3, buy 20 free 7 and etc... didn't know I'll actually go there and sapu more than 60 discs!! Ahem Xbox360 games also selling there for about RM20 per piece.

Seafood there is damm fresh too... must try the the BBQ seafood at jimbaran beach while watching the sunset on the beach, it was awesome!!
but might a bit pricy as all the seafood there are charged by weight.
Another nice place to eat is Bubba Gumps Shrimp restaurant, sort of like TGIF style. It's a theme restaurant of Forest Gump movie. For prawn lovers must try the buckets of shrimps, which is the best and freshest shrimps we had in our life!! A great place to celebrate a special occasion with friends, just tell the staffs there it's a special occasion and you'll receive a plesant suprise from them. Price wise is kinda like TGIF but much cheaper.

for the money, you can bring ringgit there as almost all of the money changers accept RM. Hunt around for the best rate, airport or hotel will offer you the lowest echange rate but safer, shops outside might offer you better rate but becareful of trick as they might short change you. lay your money one by one on the table to count, and make sure it's the correct amount b4 you pocket it. Rp100,000 note and Rp10,000 note can be very confusing, they might slip in one or two Rp10,000 to replace the Rp100,000 note. Money changer at the shopping mall like Matahari and Discovery mall are more realiable.

And lastly for the transport, taxis are plenties there. For taxi take only the blue colored BLUE BIRD taxi, which is the only metered taxi in Bali. The rest can cut your throat with their fares. But don't confuse with another blue colored unmetered taxi which look damm similiar. Look for a blue swan logo on top of the taxi sign for the bluebird taxi.

You can hire your own transport like motorbike or a 4WD suzuki jimmy, but you got to have a international driving license for the car, not sure about the motorbike thou... but not advicible to drive there lar as the road is damm narrow, and virtually there's no traffic law at all.
You also can hire a car (usually aircon toyota kijang) with private driver/guide for whole day for about Rp280,000 to Rp350,000 to drive you around bali. The price is inclusive of petrol for whole day trip ranging from 9 hr to 12 hr, and the place you are going. Negociate with them first where to go and what's in the package. Anything more than Rp350,000 is fishy already.

stay at Bali Garden Hotel, right on the beach of Kuta beach for 4D3N.
it's just located beside the new beachside mall called Discovery Mall, in front of the hotel is the waterbom park and Bali Slingshot. Just 5 minutes walk to the Matahari Mall area.
I got a rate of about RM168nett per night for a deluxe room, inclusive of breakfast.

Guys, if u want to stay in Bali, stay at the Kuta, seminyak town area for all the happening, night life and the surf beach, more mat salleh there. For classy and quiter beach stay at Nusa Dua or Tanjong Benoa area, more korean & japs chicks there. Want to have a quite & serene and near padi field type of stay or villa type of stay, stay around Ubud area. More ulu-ulu & isolated beach area can stay around Lovina, can watch dolphin there.

for the rate survey try wotif.com & ratestogo.com, then email the hotel you're interested to haggle the price more. Usually they will give you cheaper than internet rate if you're good enough to bargain.

thanks for your info... can share with us your itenary??? and cost for transport???

our itinerary is free & easy, no specific plan where to go. We just lepak around.

transport we are taking airasia, how much depends how lucky you are to get the cheapest fare.

btw, there are 2 types of local beer there, Bali Hai & Bintang. Bali Hai is cheaper but taste a bit bland. Bintang is nice You'll see all of the kwai lou drinking bintang only, is kinda funny also seeing those kwai lou riding on a kapchai zooming here & there

greyshadow: which beach is the best? as in, white sandy beach...Kuta or Nusa Dua? Is there any guest house around?...

Greyshadow,

Any comment bout my hotel, Harris Resort Kuta. I posted in BALI forum but nobody can reply me la..

thanks agaoin

neo18, Harris Kuta is next to Hard Rock. My relatives stayed there for his honeymoon, and he said it is beautiful.

greyshadow, good that u enjoy your trip. My wife said she didn't like the Bintang beer, too bland for her. So, what food did u try?

Harris next to HardRock meh?
I saw it on the way from airport, it's near to the airport leh, way before the discovery mall.

maybe your wifey taste is different than my wifey, my wife prefer the Bintang there

Food ar.... BBQ seafood at jimbaran beach is wonderful and damm fresh. They got the live lobster also, but didn't order as per lobster can cost up to RM180 We had our fantastic dinner on the sandy beach while enjoying the beautiful sunset

We had our anniversary dinner at the Kori's Restaurant at Gang Poppies II (Poppies Lane II), I had their giant ribs, which is damm tender and juicy, the meat basically fell from the ribs, which you won't need to use a knife to cut it. Wifey had roasted bebek (roast duck), which is soooo tender too. They also have a live band there after 8:30pm, which sings alternate version of current english hit songs, really fantastic and talented band. If you're going there, request for a Bale seating by the pond, fantastic romantic environment.
www.korirestaurant.com

We also tried Bubba Gumps Shrimp Company themed restaurant beside the waterbom park. Shrimps there are also very fresh and tangy, must try the Shrimper's net catch, order half a half for half garlic and half cajun. We even had it for lunch & dinner!!
http://www.bubbagump.com/html/bali.html

All of the beach areas will have lots of guest house/hotel around.

Nusa Dua/Benoa is cleaner & lesser people, more suitable for swimming, more korean/japs chicks there too.
Kuta is more crowded more happening, not really suitable for swimming as the wave is big, most of the people will go there surfing.

Erm... didn't see your post of balitravelforum leh... Try to post again with the title of Harris Resort Kuta.
anyway, just check your hotel is just across the road from Kuta beach, lots of happening around the area too!!

There's actually 2 Harris in Bali, one near the airport which is Harris Sanur, and another one few block away from HardRock which is Harris Kuta. Hope they don't send you to the wrong Harris

hey, you are right. yes, I have fren that stay in harris, so mix up. my relative staty in mecure, which is next to Hard Rock. Sorry, Neo18, wrong info.

yes, i also went to jimbaran. will try the restaurant in Poppies Lane 2 next time.

I got this of Baliforum.com
-----------------------------
Hi,

Harris Resort Kuta is one of the best Hotel i I think.
We went there in January, the years before we were in Hotel Jayakarta and Bali Garden).
Harris is a cool design resort, nice, young and friendly stuff.
The stuff is really trained to satisfy the guests. Even it is a good place for european people, there are many rich indonesian people.
sometimes indonesian film stars....
there is a good surf desk in the lobby.
breakfast is wounderful.

weeh

that's cool dude, enjoy your stay there next month
but beware that starting Oct is raining season, check the weather forecast 1st before going over and be prepared to change the itinerary as neccessary. It sucks when it's raining over there as not many indoor activities as an option, except 1 or 2 shopping malls like Matahari or Discovery. I'll recommend to go to Discovery mall as it's newer and bigger. From your place taking BlueBird taxi to Discovery Mall should cost around Rp10,000++ only, that's around RM4 lar.

Since your hotel has direct access to Poppies Lane 2, you can bring your gf to the Kori's restaurant there for a fantastic romantic dinner as a suprise to her. But better reserve in advance, tell them you wanted a Bale seating near the pond, they can arrange for your gf's favourite flowers also for a small fees, around RM60 - RM80. You also can dedicate a song from the very talented live band there which started at 8:30pm. The band comprise of three talended young local chap, 2 playing guitars while another playing a violin! Most of their songs are recent hit songs like You are beautiful from James Blunt, They have their own alternate version of the songs.

If you are planning to proposed to your lady, Jimbaran Beach would be a nice spot
While having a candlelight seafood dinner on the sandy beach, watching over the beautiful sunset over the horizon, pop the once in a life time million dollar question.

Hahahahaa.... Seems like I already kena a very very deep Bali poison liaw Keep on promoting Bali only

This post has been edited by greyshadow: Oct 4 2006, 12:46 PM

Another from baliforum.com
--------------------

We have stayed at the sister place next door Sahidraya, the 1st couple of times we were there they were one big resort. but got split a couple of years ago, The rooms at the Harris are OK have been done up. If the breakfast is anything like sahid's you will not go hungry during the day. Great location.

You get to use both pools and there is a back gate out into Poppies II, which is great. Staff friendly and lovely people. We would go back to sahid tomorrow except they have upped the price. Not many aussies stay at this half.

Nellie

Any1 here been to Hard Rock Hotel? Heard it's darn expensive.