He quoted me 300k per day. I said my friend told me he charged her 250k, he replied and said petrol naik so can't go lower than 300k. I'm travelling in a group of 6. If you got lesser people maybe he can charge lower, as the earlier quote he gave me was 60k per person. From 360k reduced to 300k I think reasonable la.

Nope I arranged the hotels myself earlier, so when I contacted him I just told him I got my own itinerary. You can try asking him. Or i got an email address from Pak Wayan cos I smsed him earlier to ask for rates. Maybe he wasn't free and he asked me to contact bali-dean@centrin.net.id. I told him that I booked with other drivers already, he still has the courtesy to reply thanks to me and said perhaps next time (in perfect English grammar). Feel quite pro.

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Added on July 24, 2008, 12:28 pmForgot to tell, Jhony also quote 60k for airport transfer to Kuta area. This one I haven't confirmed with him whether I want to take. He recommended to take 1/2 day tour instead which makes sense.

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Added on July 24, 2008, 12:34 pmTo sweetooth80...
Wanna join? Never say early early...
My friend wanted to join last minute but checked AA few weeks ago...adoi return tix is 1k leh...we got it for RM377 only during promo.

This post has been edited by kshereen: Jul 24 2008, 12:34 PM

You can probably get info from balitrips.net or http://balivillafinder.com/.
I booked Pat-mase in Jimbaran and Suly resort in Ubud. When I come back only I'm able to tell if they are good. Suly wasn't my first choice cos I booked only about two weeks ago and the "nice" resorts that I wanted was fully booked already. "Nice" means look from the pictures nice la...I wanted a view of the paddy field. Suly appeared affordable and decent and with other no more so I booked it.

The rate is USD260 per night for the 3-bedroom villa during peak period. I don't know whether it's good but from the pictures that tourist had taken, it was quite OK. They say Jimbaran is quiet and has nothing there but that's precisely why we want to go there . It is also near the beach.
Will be able to let you know more when I get back.

Yes I booked thru the Internet. My col did tell me it's cheaper to book thru the net but if you go walk around and book then perhaps you can find a resort that suits your taste? I don't like the hassle of going around asking for price and it's peak so I choose to book online.

I'm also going for 6D/5N and book two nights at Pat-Mase cos it's more costly. Then Ubud would be nearer to all the places that I want to visit. I plan to visit the south bali when I'm in Jimbaran and cover the north and central when I'm in Ubud. For me I think max is two resorts during the trip else would be more hassle to keep changing resorts.

PS Lee who posted his experience in this forum and on his blog > http://pslee81.blogspot.com/2008/02/virgin-bali-trip.html

I only know that Aug and Dec are peak months. Mayb Jan and Feb are not as it's rainy those months.

I jz came back from my wonderful Bali trip. Managed to squeeze almost all of the famous spots in Bali in 6D/5N. About petrol, I saw my driver pumping Rp100k for 16.16 liter. Perhaps more on my trip later for the benefit of everyone here...till next time, ciao!

This post has been edited by kshereen: Aug 7 2008, 02:44 AM

Sure I will share info here...cos this is the place that helped me plan my trip well. All I can say for now is Bali is a great place for photography as it has a mixture of lifestyles in one island. Kuta is the hip and happening place, Ubud the more quiet art village (nearest to most attractions), Nusa Dua and Jimbaran has nice and upper market accommodation by the sea. There's a Sogo shopping mall by the sea at Kuta area, from there you can see surfers while dining.

The sea and sunsets are to die...even if you can't get to see the round ball of fire, it's still very nice...for example here...





This post has been edited by kshereen: Aug 7 2008, 10:39 AM

I saw that in Bedegul area more Muslims Balinese? Could differentiate from their tudung.

Yep...it is only 150k Rp.

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Added on August 12, 2008, 12:46 pmHi guys,

Here's my tried and tested itinerary in Bali:

1st day
LCCT to DPS airport (the Airasia crew was nice to point out to the passengers that there was active volcanoes on the right of the plane)
Kuta (lunch)
Pat-Mase villas, Jimbaran (very cozy and private villa...relaxation to the max. The chef comes in the morning to cook our breakfast in our private kitchen. No noisy kids nor rowdy crowds at the whole resort.)
Jimbaran Bay (Recommended by taxi drivers to Blue Marine for sunset and drinks after finding out that the menu is uninteresting and expensive. Do try the spicy grilled corn by the seaside and remember to bargain)
Kuta for dinner (at Warung Made, so-so food at tourist’s price. Perhaps should have tried the food market in Kuta.)
Walk around Kuta shops and beach. (went back to villa about 11pm+.)

2nd Day
Benoa (watersports - parasailing at 70k per person)
Nusa Dua (our guide brought us to the beach near Grand Hyatt where there's an attraction called Blow Point, you can see the waves hitting the rocks and gush up about 1 storey high. We stayed there for quite a long time taking photos and enjoying the amazing view. We also sunbathed at 12pm at the Nusa Dua beach )
GWK (not yet completed. Project stalled due to insufficient funds. They still collect RM6 for that! There is a Barong and Rangkha there and seems like they got a free show at a certain time. Other than that nothing much to see there but weather was good for photography with the huge Garuda and Wisnu statues against the blue sky. This place is rather big!)
Blue Point (pass by only, there was a surfing competition on. Head to Uluwatu as we did not want to miss the sunset.)
Uluwatu (we were early and walked around. Didn't watch the kecak dance as I was more interested in taking the sunset photos. Beware of pesky monkeys, they'll grab anything at all including glasses and handphones. We were there from 4.45pm to 6.20pm.Sunset was at about 6-6.15)
Jimbaran (dinner at a small restaurant by the roadside on our way back to Pat-Mase, Chinese cooking very very cheap n tasty. 6 of us had a big fish-fresh n sweet, some prawns, squid and 2 other dishes for only RM50-with drinks!!! Tapow some sate kambing, a few Bintangs and some nuts to our villa and enjoy by the pool)

3rd day
Batubulan for Barong dance.
A batik factory. (too expensive to buy, but get to see how they weave and make batik)
Tegallalang rice fields
Kintamani (had local buffet lunch, so-so taste but worth the 50k. Great view of the volcano peaks.)
Coffee plantation (famous for their musang coffee, where the musang eats the coffee fruits and output the undigested coffee beans which in the end ground into coffee powder. Sell for RM50 for a small bottle. Expensive! Bought their soothing cinnamon tea instead.)
Tampak Siring, Tirta Pura Empul (also bought things from the art market. Not too cheap but should be able to get some bargains.)
Transfer to Suly Resort, Ubud (this resort is like an ancient city. Not too posh but a different kind of experience! Near a paddy field and about 3 blocks away from Bebek Bengil.)
Dinner at Bebek Bengil (didn’t try the smoked duck, just had the crispy duck cos guide keep saying no need pre-order, was thinking to come back another day to try the smoked duck but none of us were ducks fan so we gave it a skip. Environment was good though and it’s huge. The next night, we went to Ayam Tulang Lunak, next to Bebek Bengil. The food was much nicer and cost ½ the price. We were joking about the name cos we didn’t know wat lunak meant…and we said that they serve chicken bones there. To our surprise, we really can eat the chicken bones!!! It is cooked at high pressure till the bones are so crispy that is it edible.)

4th day
Besakith Temple (80k for guide, divided by 6 persons. Need to get sarong to enter, we end up buying the sarongs (for women) for 35k a piece as we wanted to bring back as souvenirs. Nice view and get to see the actual rituals. I think a guide is useful to explain the cultures and rituals at the temple else it’s meaningless for you to get to the temple without understanding which is what.)
Lunch at roadside babi guling stall in Ubud. (we wanted to try the taste of the common babi guling and the famous ones. We were charged 25k for a plate of not so tasty meals. We had some goreng stuffs like tofu, tempe and pisang. It was nice that we had it for 3 days straight! It was cheap…about RM1.80 for 12 pieces. End up with sorethroat from all the goreng stuffs.)
Ubud art market (quite a lot of stuffs here but one of the seller said she took from Sukawati also can’t get the price we bargained for. Sukawati is the wholesale place.)

5th day
Spa @ Zen Spa, Ubud (1 hr 45 min lulur treatment and bath 115k Rp. served tea & fruits at the end of bath)
Ibu Oka babi guling (really much better than the roadside stalls. Must be there by 12+. During our lunchtime, 2 new pigs were brought to the stall within that hour. Imagine the volume!)
Bedegul (cool weather, long journey to the top. Stopped at the keropok market. Got some nice handmade photo albums for 10k each, good souvenirs. Strawberries there were cheap n sweet at 20k per kg.)
Tanah Lot (amazing seaside…it is very wide and the view of the temple against the sunset is spectacular. While I was busy shooting, my friends ventured the pools of trapped water on land, they found many creatures there.
Dinner at Nuraini Restaurant, Ubud. (Row opposite Bebek Bengil. price and taste is reasonable but food was served very very slowly. Even the slowest restaurant in Malaysia can’t beat it. Definitely can't go when you are super hungry. Has a view of the paddy fields.)

6th day
Depart from Ubud to Kuta
Sukawati Art Market (drive good bargains all around)
Look see & lunch at Discovery Shopping Mall. (behind the mall leads to a beach where some surfers are. We had KFC there. Many varieties like spaghetti and rice. My bento was OK but the spaghetti wasn’t nice. Fried chicken was so-so and saltier than Malaysia’s one. They also have Coffee Bean, Dunkin donuts and a Krispy Kreme outlet! -Wish Msia would have one too.)
Kuta shopping and beach area. (with around 170k left to spend, hubby and I went for body massage again. Tried Sole Massage, it was pretty good at 75k for 1 hr for whole body massage. The place was clean and service was good. I saw there are cheaper ones like 60k per hr as well.)
Shopped around Kuta and got great deals on some handbags and DVDs as well as games.
Left for airport at 5pm. (shopped at the DFS, more choices but more expensive than the other smaller liquor shop. LCCT was cheaper I think but with lesser choices as well. At DPS duty free you can get some exclusive Bali liquor. To my surprise LCCT duty free shop still opens at 11pm+. It is probably open 24 hrs?)



Overall, we were satisfied with the trip as it wasn’t too rushed and managed to cover most of the attractions. Bargaining was fun. To get carvings, it’s best to go to Sukawati. Try looking for I Made or something like that, the father and son are willing to give good discounts. For stone carvings, go to Batubulan. My friend didn’t get the stone carving that he wanted there and thought could get it at Sukawati but found out there wasn’t any on sale there. Managed to drive a reasonable bargain for it at Kuta last minute shopping though.

Like jaaway, I booked Jhony as our driver but he assigned us his bro Wayan. Jhony drove us on two days cos Wayan was on leave. I don’t think he really meant brother cos Wayan actually told us to not tell the boss that he drove us more than 10 hrs on the 1st day. And Jhony was complaining that “these village boys” will simply take leave whenever they like. Either they r not related or they don't really see eye to eye. Anyway, both of them spoke pretty good English. We tip the driver on all days. He told us that he earns only 50k per day, the rest were given to the boss and 100k for petrol per day. We tipped cos we were satisfied with their service. One drawback is that they fail to understand our statement of “cheap food”. They will drive to some places where tourists usually eat. Of course you can always survey the place yourselves and decide where to eat. They are obliging in driving you to your choice of eateries if you find the place they suggest is not suitable. They drove Mitsubishi Colt vans comfortable for 6 adults, if you have a lot of luggage then would be slightly more packed. I personally would prefer Wayan as he’s more humble and helpful. Just tell them the list of places you want to visit and they will plan the timing and itinerary for you.

This is really long-winded so if you want to skip the details, just look at the bold wordings.
Enjoy your trip to Bali!


This post has been edited by kshereen: Aug 12 2008, 12:46 PM

Haha I thought so...but the guy told us that he's No 2 in the family...hehe...

BTW, almost booked Hibiscus Cottage but didn't get much reply from them so booked other hotels instead...mayb can try next time as seems like it is quite OK budget accommodation.

You can google a bit to find the operators. For example, http://sportfishingbali.com/

Hi joivyhn,

My answers below:

1) When I went in a group, we use average RM80 per day (for transport + entrance fee + food + little bit of shopping) each person. I brought RM700 but I didn't buy a lot of stuffs. More if you like shopping.

2) Yes must have Rp150k per person for the airport tax. Else if convert RM or USD then u rugi cos they might round up and you end up paying more than Rp150k.

3) Bargain all the way for things there including at the roadside foodstall. Even at the roadside corn seller also you can bargain. At some restaurants you tell them you do not need the receipt and they can waive the service tax etc.

This post has been edited by kshereen: Aug 29 2008, 11:16 PM

Well I think since Balinese are mostly Hindus, probably they'll open for business during Raya.

Yup the site is reliable. I used that to book one of my hotels in Bali. It'll lead you to the payment site which is Aust Bank and they charge a transaction fee of USD5 if not mistaken.