depends on what u wanna eat... some are famous and are only available on one place. others can be seen everywhere around bali. but generally, if you check or read through the food joint recommended by people here in this thread, you cant be wrong.
Here's a site which the author regularly recommends great and cheap food around kuta area..

Bali blog.

This post has been edited by jojo_g2: Apr 2 2009, 09:15 AM

actually.. i think besides food and transportation, there is actually lots of things to buy there.. handicraft especially is cheap and plenty abound. Which would make you think of buying everything for everyone.

Tshirts are definitely cheap there. One thing you have to know though is what kind of tshirt you're looking for. And best thing is, they'll always stick thier calculators for you to say how much you want for those tee's.

About the wood carving things, yes, as bro stimix said it, lots of people actually go there and buy everything, ship them back here and sell them at a healthy profit. (I regretted not doing that on some of the items I saw which a lot of my friends actually wanted, I could've make a fortune! )

Hotels?, same as bro stimix said, whole lot of hotels out there in Bali. My advice is, pick one, not too expensive.. and make your own decision over there.. IF you have the time. As there is really some fantastic looking hotels, villa's over there which is affordable.

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Added on April 6, 2009, 10:30 amtrue, I got stopped and have to pay a certain amount of RP to get to ubud's Alam Indah. Cuz, you really have to pass through that area to get to the place.

This post has been edited by jojo_g2: Apr 6 2009, 10:30 AM

dude, 100% can make if you know how to nego well and how to move items back here..

some of the items in geneva handicraft.. which i found deserted when I was there in feb and not really very cheap, but cheap for sure if you compare prices over here in lkawi.

might be better if you know where to get it in bali.

have fun.. envy you guys going..

things to do.. over there is endless and yet it will still feels relaxing.

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Added on April 8, 2009, 10:17 amso sooo many things to do and see...

This post has been edited by jojo_g2: Apr 8 2009, 10:17 AM

usually their reservation is good. When they say you're booked, you're booked. but i guess if your're not comfortable with such arrangement, then I guess you could always keep on chasing after them about the booking..

if you are in Kuta, my suggestion is to ditch the car.. as traffic is really realllyyy bad there. Rent a moped(scooter) instead.. dirt cheap perday rate and i dont know if you will believe it or not, rm 2 -3 and the bike's tank will be full.

I would say that kuta shops, actually close quite standard time. 10pm or so. but for the night life like disco and bars.. that would not be close till early morning.. hehe

oh, and i dont think you have to worry about killing time in uluwatu.. its actually very very huge, from one end to the other end.

well.. I agree too that, the cops wont know the difference between our license and thiers.. just drive carefully and smart. Got to keep your eyes on the road and for cops too. But in case you ever got caught, the fine can be settled on the spot for about 20k RP. Thats what all the bike rental guys told us.
Biking to jimbaran & geneva should be fine as theyre both quite near. Tanah lot and uluwatu is doable, but you've just said that you dont have license for bikes.. which might make it a bit too far for you guys. As for nusa dua, yes can do, but there was a huge security check when entering the area.. so, I don't know if you can go in with your scooters and without license.

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Added on April 11, 2009, 11:53 ambeen there twice, once with MAS and once with AA. no such problems. the last trip I made, bought too many things and had to buy a cheapo HUGE bag(40k) which actually look very weak.. but it lasted and made it safe back home here in MY without any problems. * one tip, get a cheapo lock or a cable tie for the zippers for your bag. It's not 100% secure but it works.

just take your time to enjoy the main attractions there.
tanah lot, uluwatu & ulu danu.
you'll probably make trips back there again in the future, it IS that good...

This post has been edited by jojo_g2: Apr 11 2009, 12:57 PM

I guess first time will always be by hiring drivers. But like bro stimix said, if you ever gonna be there for the 2nd time, driving or riding bike's is much more preferable especially in sight of how cheap the rental of bikes and car is.
And by driving or riding bikes over there, I think that you'll be taking in more of the "real" bali. Getting to see places and things you don't normally see by hiring a driver, stopping and eating whenever you feel like it instead of drivers taking you to predetermined restaurent which you might not like... etc etc..

XL was the simpack brand we bought.. got it from a normal phone shop somewhere in kuta... A MUST HAVE item if you need to call back home to report all the time.
How much you need? depends, if im not wrong, 30k for the simpack and free 5k talk time for you. the weird thing over there is, if you buy a 10k talk time, you have to pay 12k. Oh, and the 5k talk time lasted more than 5 minutes. Do ask them about the rate though.. as I think talking at night is cheaper, or was it the other way around...

As for your $$, the first time I was there, the hotel has an in room safety box, the second time I was there, we put some in the reception's personal safety box(they have those personal safety box in the reception area which looks like a personal box with a key for you and another for them to keep) and some we took out and yes, we always have our passport with us.

This post has been edited by jojo_g2: Apr 13 2009, 12:33 PM

yeah you buy the top up from the shops, just ask em.. and they will help you. there is a small stall/shop in matahari mall, just right in front of the grocery paying counter that sells em.

both times I was there, the box services are free, one was in the room itself, which has an electronic 6 digit number which you can key in.

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Added on April 13, 2009, 5:56 pm1st day, spa in verona?? down to jimbaran seafood then.. back to ubud?? that's like rushing it.. and I don't think the driver you hire would want to make such a trip



This post has been edited by jojo_g2: Apr 13 2009, 05:56 PM

well, I was with jhony on my second trip.. for 2 days, he's got more than one van. You could try him. If you don't mind his.. slightly, not so "pandai" young guide who keeps on talking to his girlfriend on the phone and his not so cold air conditioned van.

But seriously, the young chap who drive us around was kinda cool, although he's always on the phone with his numerous girlfriends on our way to destinations, at least he's a talkative guy, and he's okay with going to place's on your list IF its, on the way and in the time frame.... and truthfully, itineraries are almost always not gonna work, if you're going with GF or spouse, the moment they step on to those shopping destinations like ubud market, sukawati.. you'll be stuck there for hours, and your destinations will fall off the list....

This post has been edited by jojo_g2: Apr 14 2009, 10:54 AM

yea.. there's 4 names involved in a family, Wayan, Made, Nyoman and Ketut.. so, all of em actually have the same name.

yea.. the first time I was there... my driver was a guy name bagus.. and he took us to a typical balinese house where the mother was cooking in the courtyard... and see those.. cock fighting thing.. and some ritual. really authentic which actually made the whole experience more rich and "authenthic" made me fall in love with bali in the first place.

the second time I was there, the changing of driver happened to me too.. and the driving is needless to say "scary" but then again, I guess with the traffic there in bali.. I guess its normal for them. I don't really mind it much.

if you are into halal food then, its ok. But if you're not, stay away at all cost.

tapwater is extremely salty.
bed will break down
mosquito in rooms
when it rains, and you are on the ground floor, the room will flood.

Thoose reasons good enough for you to stay away?

yea, I stayed there in feb 2009 and its valentine. They gave me and my friends 2 rooms which has the same problems. we stayed for 5 nights and I got changed rooms twice, my friends room was flooded so, he got the presidential suite. But, guess what, the presidential suite is partly under renovation. I don't understand why they couldn't just gave us one of the regular rooms. Like I said, stay away, for these reasons :

Mosquitoes in the room
Tap water is EXTREMELY salty

and trust me, I've stayed in far more worst place before, even those small little motels in langkawi would be more better, I mean sure, in langkawi, they might not give you satellite TV and this and that, but at least they provided you with working hot showers, working toilets, fresh clean tap water, rooms and beds that actually works, Wina is just really bad. Everything just doesn't work for me there. One way of saying it would be that, THAT HOTEL is the main reason I hated my 2nd trip to Bali.

This post has been edited by jojo_g2: May 5 2009, 12:43 PM

wonder why there is soo much hoo haa... about the lia cafe/jimbaran seafood thing? ask anyone here who went before and they'll probably tell you they wont go to jimbaran again anymore if they ever go back to bali again.. seafood there is stupendously plain. The only thing worth is just the view and the setting and that is IF it doesnt rain.

just my 2 sen.

IMHO, there are other far more delicious good food around bali to go for instead of the seafood in jimbaran.

This post has been edited by jojo_g2: May 5 2009, 05:52 PM

sorry for being rude but, hotels in kuta have national geographic channel, watch dolphins there and then take your sweet time to do something else..

on a serious note, you have to be in lovina a day earlier to actually go out to sea before sunrise to see the dolphins THAT is IF the boat you are on are lucky enough to actually spot a group of them. So, you actually have to spend 2 days for one dolphin watching activity. If it was up to me, I'd take the 2 days to get myself to the gili islands. Just my 2 cents.

here's some info on the gili's and the schedule/prices

This post has been edited by jojo_g2: May 20 2009, 05:24 PM