Taking trip to Bali for 5 days seemed like a stupid plan for many of my friends. Anyway that was exactly what saved me from starving to death.
I landed in Ngurah Rai International Airport in the capital Denpasar shortly after midnight. My host who picked me up by his scooter took me around his neighborhood called Kuta. Later on I heard that Kuta is kind of a dangerous place to hang out at night. Seminyak, Uluwatu or Nusa Dua are better, locals say, even though Seminyak is the touristic area therefore it is hard to see Bali without pink glasses. It was 1,5 hour after arrival when they robbed me in the middle of Kuta, riding a scooter. I am gonna tell you I would love to have this kind of sense for adventure as the thieves had. Leaning towards my handbag while not even stopping on a scooter in full speed while you still have to keep the balance, that's something. And I thought I am adventurous.
1. Always separate your money to different places
That would probably spare me a bit more than 150USD for 5 days to live on. Stupid me, I didn't so that my scuba diving course fell apart and I spent the following day calling to my both banks to block my debit cards. Simply, the money I was counting on having, I didn't have an access to.
2. Always separate money from your passport
This was a step which I luckily did. Not purposely but because everytime I go out of an airport I just put my stuff everywhere where's an extra space. So that I put my passport into my backpack even though at the beginning of my journey it had its place in the stolen handbag. Yay for messy me!
I spent my second day on the Jimbaran Beach wondering what to do as I was canceling my diving course. Going to Starbucks for refreshment led me to connect to their Biznet Hotspot for free! So I started with even more low-cost plan B which I call 'my double low-cost plan'. I exchanged my last 150USD which I found in my backpack and counted my daily balance which was approximately 640k IDR. The first day I still didn't know how much it is so that I barely ate anything and if so I bought a pack of nuts which make you stuff for a long time. It's been a day before my last day when I found out I actually can throw a party and still have enough money.
3. Rent a scooter
The third day I woke up in a good mood with an energy to explore surroundings. After breakfast my caring and thoughtful host helped me rent a scooter for 150k IDR for 3 days (3USD/day). In addition, the full tank costs you around 15k IDR. The scooters consume a lot so I had to gas it up every day. Still found it hell cheap. Mask is optional but it really helps because the air is really polluted. Scooters are often driven by 12-year-old kids so don't get all confused, it is normal. Barely policemen control riders unless you do a big (prestupek) which is almost invisible in all that fuss.
On Bali, people drive on the opposite direction as it is in the United Kingdom. And the traffic is crazy! I simply had to find a tiny place among other scooters to move forward. Sometimes scooters are driven on the sidewalk when there's a jam and nobody walks there at the moment. I went to Garuda Wisnu K Kencana Cultural Park to relax and see some nature. On the way there I saw a couple of blond-haired people pulling over the street. I thought it is another accident until a police officer asked me to pull over, too. They were conrtoling tourists only and since it was two day ago I had been robbed I didn't have my driver's lincense. Well it was my fault, I shouldn't be riding a scooter without a driver's license. But when you see the kids driving them and people telling you the policemen don't control it anyway you are just fine. Well, I apparently was not. I paid 200k IDR to the police officer's pocket and was free to roll on.
4. Let go of the image that beauty and the city goes hand in hand
The GWK Cultural Park was different than I expected. It was simply trashy outside and scenic inside. Check the photos out. My opinion is that this is not how cultural park should look like. Generally I found the south of Bali very polluted and trashy. I have to point out I haven't spent a minute inside the luxurious hotel resorts. That's where 95 % of photos from southern Bali are taken. It was really a culture shock for me. First I wanted to go to Bali to relax, surf and dive, see the beautiful nature. Not of it happend. Massages, yoga gyms and jacuzzi bubbling is just within the resorts. Outside of that cities on south are set into a quick pace, difficult traffic, kind of a chaos which only inhabitants understand. Be ready that there are a few places to visit for free. Usually you have to pay for all the parks, monuments, parking and beaches you visit.
I heard that Ubud is an area you wanna explore. It is a village on north from Denpasar set in the middle of the island surrounded by jungle. I haven't been there because I was too scared to ride the scooter there alone moreover I didn't speak indonesian in case I run into locals, they could also speak balinese and that would be a dead end even for my host because of his papuan origin. Tegallalang Rice Terraces offer a breathtaking view of the paddy fields where you can also find some roadside stalls along the Tegallalang Road. In addition to this, Ubud Monkey Forest is also a place you don't wanna miss. Just, please, watch your belongings, including glasses on your head or cell phone in your hand.
5. Excited to see the monkeys? It requires a deep preparation.
Have you heard about the ring on the phone? It protected my phone from being stolen by one of the curious monkeys. But that was back in Uluwatu.
Uluwatu was one of the cleanest places I have been to. The views from the cliffs are amazing. As you can see many temples all around the island, Uluwatu also has one. The Uluwatu temple settled on the very tip of the cliff. The ticket costs 30k IDR and there leads a long track from the front gate to the temple and along the cliff. That's where you shall start to watch your belongings. Monkeys are curious but shy a little, not like in Kuala Lumpur! Monkeys living around Batu Caves are naughty as hell and even steal your food in plastic bags. Here the monkeys accept you taking pictures of them while chilling on the half-wall dividing the track from their territory. You can see them taking shower in the beton water tank. If you have some nuts, be ready that once you start fishing in the plastic bag, the whole gang is coming. I had to peek behind myself on one of these monkeys cause it was sitting on the opposite side of me waiting for a peanut while I was jerkily pushing my bag tight to my body. Men and women are both forbidden to enter temples with bare legs therefore you are given a piece of cloth to wrap yourself into. You have to give it back on the way to the exit.
As I was exploring south of Bali deeply I found one thing I lacked at that place - roadside stalls with local cuisine. And night markets. It was nowhere to be found. I mean they have food like rice chips or bananas but not like a boiled meal. I wished for rice with meat or seafood, an omelette or sandwich. Alongside Jalan Raya Uluwatu there are many shops which offer Absolute vodka bottles with petrol for sale (approximately 10k per bottle - more than a half of the tank), fruit and vegetables, clothes (so much clothes with beautiful patterns!!), handmade rattan bags and wooden statues or masks looking like their gods' faces which look so evil, motorbike rentals and service stations. When it comes to food, you really have to take a deep look to find a small eatery where a meal costs around 25k IDR and you are good.
6. Supermarkets everywhere
The best way how to get to any kinds of food is a supermarket. There are many chains everywhere (Minimart, Indomaret, Alfamart, Circle K and others. But the best thing to get there is probably a sack of chips or nut mix. Not too much for picky people like me. I always choose one meal during the vacation which I am willing to pay extra money for. For this trip I chose one of the seaside restaurants on Jimbaran Beach. I paid 99k IDR for a full set of rice, mussels in bolognese sauce with lime juice and garlic and fresh cut fruit as a dessert in the end. It was a good smiling service they provided. That's why I was okay to pay their service fee of 18% with a smile on my face, too. After dinner, you can take a ride on a horse along the beach which I didn't. I didn't want to kill the horse. Fast food chains are more often than local food which made me very dissapointed there. Although McDonalds has its own stall for an ice-cream because of many various types. On the other hand KFC is even more expensive than the street food when I found some. I paid 35k for two pieces of chicken tight in comparison to a full bowl of fried rice with seafood for only 25k IDR. Well, it is a sad story.
7. Don't be shy to bargain for everything
I saw that kind of dress which I was looking for 2-3 years already but never found the real match. This was it. The lady offered me the dress for 350k IDR. I told her it is too much for me so what about 70k IDR. She started laughing and went on bargaining with me. Everytime she told me her offer, she added "for good luck". I still knew it is high but she kept saying this price is for good luck. Well, by that time I did not really believe in a good luck anymore regarding the first 3 days here. So I went on pulling the price down. Our final deal was 175k IDR on which we settled. Both of us were satisfied. I got the dress and the nice lady her 175k IDR. It looked she was happy. I have a story from one of my Czech acquaintance in Bali who told me once they arrived she and her partner wanted to buy a prepaid SIM card. The shop clerk offered one SIM card for 375 IDR and they took it. They did not know the usual price for it is like 75k IDR, right? Nobody would. If you just landed you don't know anything and plus you are quite tired and the last thing you want is to bargain. You just wanna grab that thing you need and go. Well I'd better stop and bargain that time. The shop clerk probably just got his annual bonus which he did not even expect. It is automatic for them to offer the highest price at first with no thought you'd ever say yes to it. But they did, omg! In the end, you just have to laugh at it. And the rich boy can treat his new-found girlfriend with his stuffed wallet now, can't he? They just made someone happy and that counts. That's what I keep telling myself about the robbery. Probably they needed the money more than me for the scuba diving certificate.
Those are just my tips from my balinese adventure but if you want to read my journey, click here.
Take care if you go to Bali! Watch out and be ready for adventure