yea, if you're going dolphin watching, definitely need to stay over in lovina but if you're there like 4 -5 day why waste it in lovina? as I heard nothing much except for the dolphins. If you like diving, go amed or tulamben for the liberty wreck dive is better. Casa Padma and Mecure' is good and adequate, in fact, it can be said that they're more than adequate as you'll be spending time away from the hotel room most of the time. Hibiscus, IF you are referring to Hibiscus cottage, is in ubud, that's far from Kuta.

As bro, stimix said, driving should be ok if you're skilled enuff and good with the GPS. And I used my N78 over there as well, it got me where i wanna go in sanur and kuta on a scooter. Traffic over there is really bad sometimes. Scooters and kachai's are everywhere they like "flies" and this phrase is quoted from a local bike repairman. Wanna be bold and brave, go for the gps + car route.. wanna play it safe, get a local guide + van/car. After all, driver + car is only about 300k per day but I dont think they wanna bring u to lovina and beyond. Poppies, kuta, legian and the south coast can be covered by scooters. I read somewhere that a foreign chick even rented the scooter and got to lovina via.. the east route. But thats entirely up to you too, weather will play a part in that. I got roasted when I rode around kuta and sanur in a scooter.

The usual touristy site is always a must, here's my 3"must" spots for first timers,
Tanah Lot,
Uluwatu
Lake BEdugul ulu danu temple.
* I left out kintamani cuz.. too far up.. and nothing in between. You could cover tampak siring with the tanah lot and ubud route instead.

as for the rest, it's up to you to decide.. watch the wives.. they tend to get stuck in sukawati.. and those cheap shopping place's the guide's bring you.

This post has been edited by jojo_g2: Feb 23 2009, 05:55 PM

if you've got the one by navigasi.net then, u should be able to seperate it area by area.. I got the bali islands map out of the whole indonesia maps. Which turn out to be just about less than 10mb.. I think.

This post has been edited by jojo_g2: Feb 25 2009, 03:14 PM

u might wanna check out the surf in kuta/legian... u'd probably spend hours there if you get hooked. As for the watersport, go Tg. Benua.. all of what you mentioned is there. time to go? hm.. not really sure, i was there at 12pm Roasting time.. but still there's lots of people there playing those sport.

This post has been edited by jojo_g2: Feb 26 2009, 09:33 AM

I wanted to go........ wanted to stay there in ubud! but on my trip, my planned one day stay, it was raining heavily.. so, ended up not staying there, just had bebek benggil and left.

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Added on February 26, 2009, 9:36 amthe Gili's should be awesome bro stimix, but getting there seems to be the problem... long hours of travel.

This post has been edited by jojo_g2: Feb 26 2009, 09:36 AM

don't know much about em but here's some review

Maxi Hotel

Green Garden Hotel?

the reviews are usually spot on. I ignored my hotel of choice reviews and paid the price for it...

hm.. anyone knows where I can get TEH BOTOL in Malaysia?



This post has been edited by jojo_g2: Feb 27 2009, 10:16 AM

depends on people taste bro. I personally liked it very much, its not cinamon, its jasmine. And it's not too sweet which is just nice.. can't seem to have enuff of it when I was there. Everynite I go back to my hotel, I'd buy a couple of bottle to drown it down..

yeah, agreed with the coffee, a real "kick" and best of all, easily prepared. No need to filter this and that... just drink till the last drop. I noticed a lot of the drivers/guide's/supir drank it a lot. They we're waiting for us while we were at uluwatu and the drink most of em ordered was those bali coffee's thick and "KAW KAW"

where in legian are we talking about?

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Added on February 27, 2009, 2:22 pmdid you try the carbonated one? I think its "TEBs - Teacooler" also nice..

This post has been edited by jojo_g2: Feb 27 2009, 02:22 PM

dude, if it's here..



then i guess, it's a little bit overcharged but okay.. . I took a cab from further down than this location to Airport and the fare came out to be about 50k only and got "jam" somemore.
Besides, they will usually take a shortcut from the airport to kuta/legian. Which would shorten the trip but when I was there 2 weeks ago, even though it's a low season, Legian St. and Jl.Pantai Kuta is almost always jammed with cars. Especially traffic going towards HRH.

agreed.. I was having trouble arguing with a my langkawi friends who went with me.. his wife keeps on insisting that Langkawi have a better airport and that langkawi is a more international destination to the japs.. and I was like
DUUUHHHHHHHHH..... please la, Lkawi is soo puny compared Bali.

I'm not making these place look bad.. but it's funny sometimes when you've been there and you look at the words that is clearly coming from a brochure..

Again, both place, Tg.Benoa and Tmn Ayun are beautiful in thier own ways.. with the water sports in Tg. Benoa and the "mini" besakih temple like.. in tmn ayun.

Here's some pic of Tg. Benoa when I was there 3 weeks ago,






tmn ayun..






This post has been edited by jojo_g2: Mar 3 2009, 04:02 PM

yep. 150k now.

my advice would be not to go to jimbaran at all..

IMHO jimbaran is really overated. the seafood.. is.. actually not nice. ITs like.. ikan bakar. everything is bakar. as for the sunset view itself? hm.. you'd get that view anywhere in kuta beach, or better in uluwatu or tanah lot.

stayed there in sept 07. Very nice. Quite new. Deco is ok. Best thing is.. all rooms have balcony facing the pool. The room also includes an extra small bed. Safety box is there too.. 2 bottles of mineral water provided everyday, but its really bottle as in glass bottle. Buffet breakfast was so & so. The in house spa was quite nice.. great atmosphere but its a tad bit expensive.
Outside the hotel walk down left a little bit and you'll come to a local mini market across the road which sells things quite cheap and reasonably(not the Kmart)
if you're planning to eat out, there's a small restaurent out to the left too, which has quite a decent menu(not as great as bamboo corner) and the price is ok as well.
Getting to the beach is a hassle though.. quite a long walk but generally, the beach in front of all season is legian/seminyak, which is more preffered than kuta which was really infested with sellers of this and that... etc etc...
Do watch out though.. when you're out walking outside All Season, the sidewalk around the place really have holes which you can fall down and injure yourself especially at night.
You probably wont be dissapointed in the hotel itself. The water is a tad bit salty if i remember correctly but not as bad as the one's near kuta beach. the thing you might not like maybe is that the hotel is actually quite far from the kuta "action", you'll need to rent a bike or scooter(30k - 50kper day) to get you there... or get yourself a bluebird taxi. Rates go from 10k - 20kRP to get from all season to.. Matahari, depending on the traffic.

hope this help.


hotel front.


view of the pool from the room.

This post has been edited by jojo_g2: Mar 27 2009, 03:01 PM

thats really up to you.. hotel would always ask someone to carry your bags to your room for you when you check in.. I gave the bellboy 5 - 10k on those occasion.
While.. the drivers, I gave em 20k - 40k on my last day, that's when you are finished with thier services. But thats all up to you. In between the tours, we treated them with a meal once and some drinks while the missus was shopping in sukawati or.. etc etc...

One thing though, whenever they /driver/guides/supir bring you to place's to eat, and it's thier choice, you have to know that the restaurent they bring you will probably provide them(drivers/supir) with meals because they are actually bringing the restaurents business and also, WE are PROBABLY paying for thier meals as well..

there are a lot of local guides/supir phone number in this thread, look it up.. they'll offer you great price. Just sms them and they'll be there on the airport to pick you guys up.. and etc etc.
From what you said, 14th - 18th isn't a lot of days.. you'd probably be haging out in kuta the whole time, but if you planned really well, you should be able to overnight in ubud as well. It's all up to your preference. East coast might be a little bit out of the way for you to stay over since your days there arent really a lot.

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Added on March 30, 2009, 10:19 amit depends, on where you are heading to, bali is actually very big. And depending on where you want to go, if your destination varies, then driver/supir is THE way to go. But, lets say if you just want to go get your seafood fix in jimbaran, then I guess you could opt for a cab/taxi.

This post has been edited by jojo_g2: Mar 30 2009, 10:19 AM

yep, 160k x 2.... you'd be better off hiring drivers for 300k per day. Or, as bro stimix said, get your own vehicle and drive.

hey... I remember that stuff... the first food I tasted on balinese soil.. hehe



not bad... not bad at all.. and yes, it's really on the way from denpasar airport to kuta..

I actually don't know how much as this was part of my "full board" meal.. it does taste okay la..


as for babi guling? hm.. I have tasted it twice in 2 trips and it really is not very nice.. very "oily" smell.

But that's just me.. and I haven't yet had the chance to try the famous "ibu oka" one's in ubud.

Have tried the famous "bebek benggil" in ubud though.. and IT IS really REALLLY yummy.


oh and thier ribs are not bad too...


This post has been edited by jojo_g2: Apr 1 2009, 05:44 PM