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A tiny corner of the World we have both come to love.A note on currency rates - as of late 1997 the Indonesian Rupiah plunged along with other currencies throughout Asia, reaching IRp10,000+ to US$ at one point (!) - what local prices are now in Rupiah and therefore in dollars we cannot guess. Prices through these pages reflect IRp2,300/US$ or IRp1,700/A$ prevailing through 1995-1997.Also, some of these photos are not ours - but they are better than the ones we took. If any of these photos are protected by copywrite please email us grantdale@geocities.com and let us know what you would like us to do. We would be more than happy to give due credit for the great photos, but we forget where they came from off the WWW! |
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We stayed at a place run by a fat, lazy bastard named Baba who luckily has got a hard-working Japanese wife. She keeps the place spotless and cooks great meals while he sits around until someone wants to pay a bill. We had a very cute 2 storey bungalow and the comfortable bed upstairs catches all the sea breezes but this area had howling dog night horrors to rival Ubud. |  |
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Diving is supposed to be good off the coast but the beaches are not much chop even if the colourful outriggers of the local fisherfolk are pulled up on them. Walking is good with some nice views up and down the coast if a little exhausting (hilly and barren). Despite this being a fishing area do not expect to be able to get a decent seafood meal anywhere - bizarre or not? | |
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The area is particularly scenic, and the coast looks out onto the island of Lombok. Here you may see the last rice paddies before the sea - fed by water carefully transfered from field to field all the way from Tirtagangga and Agung itself |  |
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A preferred hotel near Kuta |
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These are the gateways to the villa units - each has a private walled garden and porch. We can recommend Villa 5, on our second visit they must have figured we had such a good time we were given it again! The porch catches the morning sun but is shaded in the hot part of the afternoon. (Hmmm, and we thought we were being quiet...) |  |
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Pool side in the pleasant restaurant. Breakfast is reasonable if part of the 'deal' but at US$16 is way too steep to be buying separately each morning. This works out at Rp35,000 - enough for 7 huge breakfasts in any of the nearby cafes! |  |
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The good thing about Seminyak is that marks the 'end' of the Kuta strip. The hotel backs onto rice fields and coconut palms with local farmers still working the fields. |  |
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And in the distance you can see one of the staff ready to serve Grant or Dale one more Bintang, one more Bali Kopi or supply one more box of matches after the last one falls into the pool. The pool also makes a very civilised spot to watch the traditional dances put on once a week at dinner. |  |
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Nice Work Bench hey! This is taken inside one of the villas. What you cannot see is the soaring grass roof. Small cecak (lizards) scurry across the roof making their odd 'eh-ehhh' noise. Cute little critters that are so distinctly Indonesian. |
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Another view of the temple at Bedugal, but taken from the South-East. One fascinating part of the whole experience is the screaming mosque overlooking the otherwise peaceful park and lake - remembering of course most Balinese are Hindu. |  |
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Mother Temple of Bali |
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Sacred or not you will, nevertheless, still be able to purchase a cheap T-shirt and a nasty sarong from the seething and sebaceous herd at the entrance to the temple. Shoulders must be covered, a sarong and sash worn and women are not permitted to enter if they are menstruating (though we have never heard of anyone checking). |  |
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To sash and not to cash?All visitors to temples in Bali are expected to wear a sash and possibly a sarong. They can be hired at the major temples but - like hired bowling shoes - are ugly, ugly, ugly. A rotten trick is for sarong sellers to grab you on the way out and claim to have merely hired them for the price.We wore sarongs a great deal anyway so this problem rarely arose. If we were wearing shorts and the sash hiring troupe came swarming we would reach into our bags and remove a few of the batik tulis (handmade and relatively expensive) sarong we had acquired in previous travels. That stopped them dead in their tracks! | Show RespectOkay so the temple's half made of shoddy concrete work and overlooks a huge rubbish tip but show some respect for what is the centre of Balinese spiritual buildings.Ask if you may take a photo of worshippers - this is their church and is not merely set-up as a cute photo op. for insensitive tourists. |
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Photos not done yet!If visiting Candi Dasa, we hope you aren't going for the beaches. In brief, the beach washed away when they dynamited the reef to make the lime for the concrete in the hotels!There are, however, decent beaches to be found a short way up the coast (bemos are frequent) and the town could make a place from which to explore Eastern Bali on day-trips. | |
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Photos not done yet!Denpasar is a great place to shop for sarong and handcrafts at prices cheaper than Kuta and Sanur. Many of the factories churning out souvenirs are sited here. | |
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This is the two of us perched on the glamorous surrounds of the Ramayana Palace - a homestay with a Dutch Colonial front (Deco style) and a Balinese rear (with raised sitting platforms) that was once owned by the Chief advisor to the Court. Ramayana is not particularly great but it is the best in KlungKung, the owners are friendly and it also has a 'restaurant' - the only other sleeping place in town being a filthy, slimy hole with no air. |  |
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The Hall of Justice or Kherta Ghosa is a good spot to see the local wayang style of painting. The humourous interior of the roof is covered with various scenes depicting the demons of the afterlife giving wrong doers their just rewards...including cutting out your bowels for farting in public... |  |
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 and for adultry - either getting crushed in a vice or having your pudenda seen to with a flaming torch (quicker than a Braun Lady-Shave no doubt!) |
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Love it or Hate it |
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Where to stay? Talk about a loaded question! Depends - what do you want to do and how much do you want to spend? Everything between a nasty losman with no air and slimey mandi to 5-Star International resort is available.We have enjoyed the Bali Agung Village but it's a fair way North in Seminyak and takes a good 30 min walk into Kuta centre.We have also stayed at 3Brothers just off Jl Legian which is way cheaper and close to Cafe Goa. A 2 storey 'house' (it was huge) cost Rp28000/night or US$13 - the bedroom upstairs was open to the sea breezes and needed no airconditioning. 3Brothers also has a pool, nice garden and a couple of good eateries but the staff are pretty surly and lazy.Once you know your way around in Indonesia, a good technique if you are looking for accomodation go to the area you think is about right and ask a local - they will be only too happy to escort you around as they will get a bit of a kickback with each sleeper they bring in. |
Is it Safe for Tourists? The answer is yes. There is a deal of petty crime - pickpocketing is a concern - but violent crime is low (similar to Indonesia as a whole). Stupid tourists who keep their wallets in open pockets and leave handbags on the beach are prime targets - as they everywhere in the World.Women are more likely to be attacked by a fellow tourist than they are by the locals, and of course it makes no sense to be alone on deserted beaches etc after dark in any country.We cannot confirm this story but during the mid 80's there was an influx of thieves from Java who took to robbing tourists at knifepoint. The local traders formed teams who roamed the streets at night and anyone who wasn't a tourist or known to the locals needed a damn good reason to be on the streets.The thieves left in a hurry after one armed robber was caught in the act, summarily quartered and left in neat pieces on bemo corner as a warning to others. |
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For the gay travellers A short walk up Jalan Legian takes you to the areas of Legian and Seminyak. There are several pubs and clubs that attract the gay crowd (both locals and tourists) We can recommend the following
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Tropical Drag Shows! While in the area, why not catch a drag show at the Hula Cafe off Jl Padma. Run by a friendly Aussie and his Balinese boyfriend this place practically had us in tears. Yes even in this heat and humidity some fellows still feel the need to throw on a frock. We had 'heard' Hula existed but no-one knew where exactly. We started walking through the back streets - and then heard faint sounds of Barbra Streisand drifting in the breezes. That just had to be it! The owner turned out to be an ex-butcher from Seaford in Melbourne and he generously shouted us (too) many beers after the cafe had closed. Graeme is a very friendly fellow - seek him out and say hi.For those of you interested, we got some first hand accounts of what really occurred during the last trip to Bali by Stella and Coco. Email us for details, or bribes to keep our mouths shut!  |
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But Sir, it's only a tiny mint wafer... Eating out is one of the delights of Kuta - everything is available at reasonable prices and the quality is generally high. It is a cheap place to eat Japanese.In general the hotels serve expensive and average food and are no cleaner than local restaurants. Food along Jl Legian is more expensive than the side roads and avoid anywhere with Japanese tour buses (you'll pay way too much!)Local specialties are seafood - ikan (fish), udang (prawns), kepiting (crab), udang karang (lobster) - babi (pork - Bali is not Muslim), bebek (duck) and kodok (frog). Grant is a big fan of ikan bakar sos mentega bawang (bbq fish with garlic butter). Ask to visit the kitchen and pick out a fish that takes your fancy, this is not considered rude but rather a commendable interest. You generally pay for seafood by weight or size. |
We can recommend the following for food:
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Never avoid somewhere on reputation alone! Also to be recommended is the Bounty Hotel run by the extremely friendly and helpful Manager Yudo. The Bounty has a reputation as being 'a bit rough', and we decided to stop in for one beer after a hot day out walking. We bought the beers and then noticed we were surrounded by a large group of very heterosexual and very drunk American marines. Oh Fuck- we're dead! So we slid quietly off to the side and hoped we wouldn't be noticed. About a minute later a smiling local in billowing pirate shirt (get it? The Bounty, as in the ship) bounced over and asked "How long have you two been together?". Horror, we have been discovered. As it turned out it was Yudo simply putting his guests at ease - he told us we were being watched over by the staff so we could relax and enjoy ourselves. Yudo then got hold of a map and drew out a couple of locations around Bali he thought we may like, one of which was Tirtagangga.One of the features of the Bounty is a very generous, and potentially dangerous, Happy Hour that starts with a ringing of bells at 10pm. Dale and Grant became addicted to the Illusion Shakers - about 1 litre of fruit juices and arak. Two of them and you're set for the night. Four and you're comatose! At US$3 each during happy hour they have lead many a naive tourist astray. Before 10pm the Bounty is a restaurant (good steaks) but on the tolling of the bells become a rather lively disco where one can watch young and drunk heterosexual boys attempt to dance. More fun holding a half-price drink is hard to image!The Bounty is due to be rebuilt but when in Kuta seek out Yudo and say hi from Grant and Dale in Melbourne and give him our best regards - he's the perfect host. |
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Photos not ready yet!We stayed in a nice hotel but rather hated this place. The beach was dirty, the food average and rather expensive and the area attracts far too many vague-minded young people all on the hippy trail through South-East Asia - everyone of them has a story or ten to tell about the time they had this or that stolen. If you care to listen that long of course! We didn't.Also, do not pay money to go out in speed boats and harass the dolphins. Too many boats and too many tourists have prevented the dolphins breeding and forced them further down the coast. Alas, insensitive behaviour like this is typical of the type of 'Earth Aware' hippy kids attracted to Lovina. | |
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Photos not ready yet!Sanur claims to suit a older crowd that thinks Kuta sounds too much like a hell-hole and was the original resort of Bali, established in the 1960's for which the only high rise hotel (and a damn ugly one at that) bears witness.The resort is slower and does not have the range of restaurants and entertainment but the beach is good - and it is only a short trip into Kuta.Sanur faces East and gets the sun early in the morning when it's not so hot, but you will miss out on the wonderful pink and orange sunsets of Kuta.We have "sent" some people to Sanur that we knew would hate Kuta and they had an enjoyable time. | |
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 We stayed at Kusuma Jaya Inn - bit of a sod of a walk up the 5,000 steps with packs but the view from the top is worth it; twilight spent on the porch with a jug of watermelon and lemon juice makes you wonder why you don't do this more often. |
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We can also recommend the restaurant run a friendly family outside the entrance to the pools - they did an ayam bakar to die for and their young children are a delight (and we can report that their baby son from the last time we visited is now well and truly walking). | |
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Ignore that 'art' and look at the rice |
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Latest Reports - mid and late 1997 It seems our judgement on Ubud - that it sucks - is both confirmed and denied. All in the eye of the beholder we guess. Someone visited mid 1997 and had a great time, Ubud being what they were looking for. But two friends (despite our pleading otherwise) decided to take a few days as part of the honeymoon and they hated the place - too "commercial", too fake and too developed. And to think we had directed them to Yeh Sanih and Tirtagangga! Oh well, next time. |
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Ubud seems to attract a certain type of middle-aged tourist who is clinging desperately to their ideals of what the 70's hippys were - in all their tied-dyed and vacant-minded ugliness. If you want that type of experience then Ubud is the place for you. If you are really hoping to find an undeveloped Bali, go elsewhere!Ubud also has a reputation as being the howling dog capital of Bali. If it is not, we hope we are deaf when we finally visit the place that is. |  |
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Another 'attraction' is the Monkey Forest. If you visit you soon discover that the influence of tourists and food giveaways has turned the monkeys into nasty little beasts who attack people carrying bags and steal sunglasses and earrings. They hold these things to ransom until you feed them.On a brighter note, Ubud is a good base to see some of the best dance troupes in Bali, the silver workshops of Celuk and the woodcarving of Mas.We found some great restaurants in Ubud and can recommend the one perched above the road near the end of Monkey Forest Road. Also on this road we can recommend the Frog Pond - on our visit we were lucky enough to be in town with two tables of very loud and very stupid Americans on a Bamboo Conference. In a restaurant silent except for the murmur of other diners and the croaking of frogs they regaled half of the island with idiotic notions of what you can make with bamboo. Yeah, right - like the Indonesians need sleazy salesmen and women from California to teach them about bamboo! They might have learnt something from the locals if they had simply asked instead of yelling over one another with stories that started off, of course, with "Let me tell you about the time I...". |
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We are reluctant to tell you about Yeh Sanih because we are afraid it will go through a Lovina or Candi Dasa style development if it does ever become "the new place". Sadly it may already be starting as we were offered, by the towns only tout, firstly a massage, then somewhere to eat, and finally an invitation to go see his "grandmathers" funeral as paying tourists. Urghh, No thanks! We think it rude to go see peoples funerals through the lens of a camera - different if we had known the family, but we certainly will do nothing to encourage this somewhat popular but morbid tourist attraction of Bali.(It is not all one sided though. The locals like a big send-off and often seem quite ready to tolerate paying rubbernecks with video cameras if it makes the pyre all the more bigger and the offerings all the more gaudy. We just think it's tacky. Whether these tourists actually get to see Nanna's funeral or just the cremation of a pig is another matter... Ha ha, sucked - in that's the 3rd time I've been burnt this week!)All the other locals are however very friendly and unassuming and a refreshing change to those at Lovina. We stayed at the rambling complex at the pools itself (Puri Sanih) which claims Ibu Suharto as a guest in the 1960's. We think that was the last time any paint was used, but we had a great few days break here. The complex also employs the services of two of the World's slowest grass cutters - over several days they crept crab-like over the lawn to our constant amusement.Puri Sanih has decent food but we would recommend walking across the road and up the steps for some of the best meals we had anywhere in Bali.Accomodation wise, we stayed in one of the decrepit bungalows - passing up the ugly newer air-con units for the campness of a two-storey house with a breezy balcony and a decided and scary lean to it. Makes a nice spot to enjoy the soft twilight, a cigar and a dutyfree Cointreau in the company of someone you love. |
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URL: http://geocities.datacellar.net/WestHollywood/7378/ New format posted January 13, 1998 This page revised 18 August 1998 |
