Бали, зима 2010 Bali, winter 2010

Review of the tourist about the rest on the island. Bali.

Resort: about. Bali, Indonesia.
Period: 18.01. 2010 - 29.01. 2010
Hotel: Laguna, Nusa Dua, 5*

Flight.
Kyiv-Dubai-Singapore-Denpasar. Back: Denpasar-Singapore-Amsterdam-Kyiv. We chose a flight based on financial capabilities and convenience (short connections and a minimum of transfers). On a suitable date, there were really only two options: Singapore Airlines (chosen by us) and Arab Airlines via Abu Dhabi. Both options involved a transfer in Singapore. The second one was 500 USD cheaper. e per person, but expected to wait in Abu Dhabi for more than 6 hours. Since the budget for the rest allowed both options, we decided not to waste time wiping our pants in Abu Dhabi.

There were no troubles on the road, all flights took place without delay, with the exception of Amsterdam-Kyiv on the way back, but this did not affect our trip in any way. The connections were selected in such a way that the waiting time at the airport did not exceed 2 hours.
As it turned out, this time is enough, only for disembarking from the plane, check-in for the flight (it was necessary to go through check-in in Dubai and Amsterdam) and move around the airport itself. If for someone shopping in duty free is a vital necessity, then plan connections for at least 3 hours.
To pass the local customs in Denpasar, you must fill out a registration card (it will be issued on the plane). A part of this card with a customs mark remains with you. This part must be kept and will be collected upon departure.
I did not notice any particular zeal of the local porters. There were several half-hearted attempts to offer their services, but no more. At the exit from the airport, we were met by the host driver and delivered to the hotel in 20 minutes. Also, do not change money at the airport! This can be done on the way to the hotel, the rate in local "exchanges" is higher. The hotel rate is also bad.

Hotel.
All information on the hotel website is true. The hotel is very beautiful, green and comfortable. The hotel offers B&B accommodation only. For tourists without small children, it is much more convenient. Very few people stay at the hotel during the day (excursions, surfing, golf, etc. ). There is no animation in the hotel at all, and in other hotels too. All entertainment is outside the hotels. We booked a room overlooking the lagoon. After walking around the hotel, we decided to move to a room with a personal access to the pool (access room). Such pleasure cost an additional 40 USD. e / day, but it was very convenient: returned to the hotel in the evening, and swim in the pool at any time of the day, without running in a bathing suit along the floors and corridors.
There are several restaurants on site, but we did not bother to visit them.
Several times we ordered ice cream and something to eat at the beach bar, but the prices turned out to be at least 3 times higher than in restaurants outside the hotel, designed exclusively for tourists.

Upon check-in, the hotel gave us a voucher for free access to the spa at the hotel for two, and dinner without drinks. We visited the SPA on the very first evening and after a long flight, the massage turned out to be very useful, but we decided to use the voucher for dinner after returning from another trip around the island (we were tired and too lazy to go to a restaurant outside the hotel). In the restaurant they brought us a menu, then realizing that we had a voucher, they took the menu away and brought something else. This is not even a menu, but a card that says that we can eat in the "dinner for two presented by the hotel", it was something like "the first is broth, the second is fried potatoes and compote. " We got up and left, we didn’t want to eat anything from the “first, second and compote”.
Conclusion: if you don’t know how to make gifts, then it’s better not to make them at all.
Everything was fine with the SPA, but this was our first and last visit to the SPA in the hotel, because one massage there cost 59 USD. e. , while local spas in Bali Collection offer the same massage for 28-30 c. u. e . . As a result, we agreed with a girl from a local spa with a good reputation that she would come to our hotel every evening and give us a massage in our room - a total of 30 c. u. e. for two. Balinese massage (that's what they did to us) is a general massage (the massage technique itself is different) with the addition of a foot and head massage. Start with the feet and end with the head. The last procedure is so relaxing that I fell asleep every other time. The masseuse's name is Sadwati. Speaks English +6281338613677. Recommend.
The hotel has a swimming pool with two waterfalls and a sandy beach (an artificial sandy beach has been made). For young children, it's just a fairy tale.
In addition, there is a children's pool up to 30 cm deep (for the smallest). All this is very naturally inscribed in the landscape and park of the hotel.
The ocean beach is clean with white very coarse sand. In the surf zone, the sand is something like millet. You drown in such sand by 20-25 cm. At low tide, the depth in the lagoon does not exceed 150-160 cm. At high tide, the water rises by 150-200 cm. do not have to. As a result, there were no surfers in the hotel. But swimming is still very pleasant, the water is clean and warm, there are no “bads” in the water and do not roll on the shore. For a fee ($25/day or $15/half day) you can rent a pavilion-couch (called bali). In such a "bali" you are always in the shade (there is a thatched roof), lying on a soft mattress, you will be served a plate of fruit and water.

Nutrition

The breakfast fully met our expectations: seafood was always present, fresh orange and pineapple juices, at your request, they will prepare a mix of mango, papaya, banana, watermelon, melon, apple, etc. in a blender. The variety of dishes was sufficient so that breakfast would not get bored .

We always dined outside the hotel. Basically, in Bali Collection, this is a separate fenced area with restaurants, boutiques and spas. I can't single out any restaurant in particular. Everywhere they cook normally (but not brightly), and the price level is not particularly different. The average bill for two with beer and drinks was 50-60 USD. e. Sea products (lobster, shrimp, crabs, oysters, etc. ) are sold by weight: lobster 5 c. u. e. / 100 gr. The brightest dinner was on about. Java and cost half as much as in the Bali Collection. Therefore, if you really want to feel the flavor of the local cuisine, then you have a direct road outside of Nusa Dua.

Guide.
We found our guide in the reviews of our predecessors.
We highly recommend Vine (or Ivan +623618023629). We booked all excursions to Bali through him. He was both a driver and a guide. He himself is a Balinese, speaks Russian well, on the back of the car there is an inscription: “Visiting a fairy tale. Ivan - Tsarevich and telephone. Excursions that do not require a guide, but only a transfer is needed, we also ordered through it. In reality, it was 1.5-2.0 times cheaper than that of the receiving party. Transport in this case was provided by the tour organizer (rafting, dolphins). Once he sent his sister Yulia in his place, because all night long he was “giving birth” to his daughter with his wife. She also speaks good Russian, a cheerful and responsible young lady. The replacement is equivalent, so you should not be particularly upset about this. We have no complaints about the organization of excursions from Vine. For his services, he took 45 USD per day. e. We really liked it, for which we received a good bonus, which we timed to coincide with the birth of our daughter.

Tours.
Batur volcano and hot springs.

The volcano was just interesting to look at. Among other things, it was considered as the first sightseeing tour to get a general idea of ​ ​ Bali. There is a lake at the foot of the volcano. It is not customary to swim in the lake (there are no equipped places), but the locals actively catch fish in it, moreover, in an industrial way (bred in fenced backwaters). The lake itself strongly gives off hydrogen sulfide, but this smell is felt only on the very shore and is not at all annoying. Geothermal springs are decorated quite civilly - in the form of a pool. Entrance ticket for one costs 15 USD. For this money they give a towel and a glass of fresh juice. You change clothes and you can sit in the pool with thermal water. If it gets hot (and the water is really very warm, and the air is 30C or more), you can cool off by jumping into a pool of ordinary water.
I can’t say what healing properties geothermal water has, and I couldn’t read about it anywhere in the brochures, but if there are wounds or abrasions on the body, then a slight tingling is felt in these places. After bathing, no incomprehensible reactions of the body and skin were noticed. You can go. The pools themselves with geothermal springs (there are two of them) are small and not deep, so if you run into a large group of tourists, you will not be able to get pleasure.
To view the volcano itself, you will be brought quite high. At the end of the route there will be a restaurant where you can have a bite to eat and admire the view of Batur. The restaurant has a buffet, so you can't count on any frills. Lunch itself costs $9. e. Drinks are charged separately. I really liked the fried bananas in rice flour there. They should be eaten with honey.

Birds and reptiles.
They are in one place. Price from one 21 at. e.
In the bird park they give a rather entertaining performance, in which parrots, pigeons, garudas, ducks (or geese) and some other birds are involved. After that, you can see the exposition of various birds. In general, a bird park is a zoo that specializes in birds. Some birds simply live in the open air (parrots, garudas). They fly, you can touch them, you can take pictures with them. Why they do not fly away remains a secret for me (they fly around the territory quite calmly). Most of the exposition is located in special cages made of mesh. In these enclosures there are walking paths along which you move freely.
The reptile park is just a big terrarium. The biggest joke of this terrarium is iguanas. You can touch them, hold them in your hands (well, take a picture). The Balinese monitor lizard lives with the iguanas. It can also be touched. There are also crocodiles in this terrarium, but a lot of all sorts of snakes.
I really liked the birds.

Safari Park.

This is just a huge zoo in which animals live in conditions close to their natural environment, except that predators are not allowed to hunt. Tourists are put into a shuttle bus, which is closed from the outside. This bus travels along the route and stops at each paddock. Lions, tigers, elephants, hippos emerging right from under the wheels of the shuttle - everything makes an impression, it is much more pleasant to look at them closely through the glass, and not through five rows of iron bars in an enclosure without a single green tree. The guide talks about animals, etc. The trip itself through the park takes about 30-40 minutes. Twice a day they give a short performance with the participation of parrots, garudas, dogs, chimpanzees and ducks. On a separate route you can ride on elephants. Elephant trekking also takes about 30 minutes.
There is a restaurant on the territory, through the window of which a pride of lions will look at you if they are awake at that moment. There is a separate pavilion with aquariums, in one of which you can touch a live shark. And of course - the enclosure of a handsome white tiger.
Entrance with elephant riding cost about 60 USD. e from one. We advise you to have a bite to eat in the safari park itself, as there are no decent restaurants on the way back to Denpasar. We asked our guide to take us to dinner. It was the worst lunch ever. The guide then made amends for several days and explained that in this area there is simply nothing else from public catering. Do not step on our rake. Or grab a bite to eat at the safari park or endure until Denpasar. Better ask to be taken to Kuta and have a good lunch there.

Tanah Lot.
It's definitely worth the trip.
Combine this trip with any excursion and on the way back when returning to Denpasar (if your hotel is in Nusa Dua or its environs) look at Tanah Lot in the sunset. Really very beautiful. Entrance costs 1 or 2 USD. e.

Rafting.
They offer several options (different rivers). Take the most active one. You don't have to stress too much anyway. Rafting feature is in the incredible beauty of wild nature. You will raft for 2 hours. There will be several stops, one of which is near the waterfall. It's nice to take a dip in it. The flow of water is not very strong, but the water is slightly invigorating. 4 people with an instructor sit in the boat. If you are lucky with partners, it will be a lot of fun. We were lucky. We rafted with a Russian couple from Chelyabinsk. The guys are funny and very friendly. Only pleasant impressions remained. They will offer to take video and photos. They ask for 30. e. for a disc with video and photos.

Order one video disc and photo disc per boat. Bargain and definitely get a significant discount. You can then easily make copies of these discs at the hotel. The discs will be delivered to your hotel the same evening. In our case, the courier tried to get an additional 5 c. u. e for shipping. Was culturally sent, smiled, gave the discs and left.
For rafting you need to take a change of clothes and special shoes. Take with you a T-shirt or T-shirt and shorts in which you will raft. Sitting in swimming trunks on a rubber boat will not be comfortable. You need shoes that will hold firmly on your feet and will not become limp, because you will have to walk on water in it. The best option is to have special slippers for swimming (these are sold in any sports store. It’s better to go from the hotel in clothes in which you will raft. Leave all your belongings in the car that delivered you (it will also take you back) .
The instructors offer to pack valuables in a rubberized bag and take them with you, but this is not worth doing. The Japanese paid a heavy price for their mistrust: they packed passports, mobile phones, wallets, a camera and a video camera into the instructor's bag. All this safely got wet and bye-bye.
At the end of the route, a shower awaits you. Your bag that you left in the car will already be waiting for you in a separate cell in front of the shower. They will give you a towel. Lunch overlooking the green slopes (drinks for a fee) and that's it.
Through Vine, rafting cost us 45 USD. e per person. For the same pleasure, the guys from Chelyabinsk were charged 70 USD each. e. We gave them Vine's phone number. They used his services and after that recommended him to another couple from Russia.

about. Java
They went to Java in order to visit Prambanan and Borobudur. The latter is the largest Buddhist temple in the world.

Both temples are located in the vicinity of Yogyakerta (not to be confused with the capital Jakarta). Both temples have repeatedly suffered from earthquakes, but at the moment they are quite well restored. It's worth seeing them. Borobudur is especially impressive. As an additional entertainment, we stopped at the Sultan's Palace in Yogyakarta itself. The territory is large, but nothing particularly impressed us: modestly, but clean. A visit to the Sultan's palace allows you to partially imagine the sacred attitude of the Javanese (Indonesians) to the local authorities.
The result (your impression and sense of the scale of what you see) of the excursion to Java directly depends on the guide. In our case, our guide was Patrick. He himself comes from Sumatra and professes the Protestant faith. He speaks Russian well (he worked in Alma-Ata) and, what is most remarkable, he has an encyclopedic knowledge of history, archeology and Buddhism.
I can’t say (I didn’t ask where he studied), but it seems to me that he himself is a historian or theologian. In Borobudur, he was simply unstoppable: he tried to explain to us every fresco. Considering that at that moment there was a tropical downpour, we (myself, my wife and Patrick) stood completely wet under umbrellas, and he, with a sparkle in his eyes and full of admiration, told the story of the Buddha, moving from one fresco to another. We were impressed. By evening, more information in the head did not fit at all.
Excursion to Java cost us 280 USD. e from each. This was the only excursion we ordered from the host (local agency "Bounty"). Through Vine, the same tour can be ordered for 210-220 USD. e per person (but if you are not lucky with the guide, and a worthy guide is a great success, then you will waste your money. On this tour, you should not only see the temples, but listen to their history).

This price includes flight, car for the entire stay in Java, guide, entrance fees and lunch. We tried to organize everything ourselves, but could not book flights for the right date and time. In addition, we were very worried that we would not find a good guide with knowledge of history. The real cost of the tour with an independent organization will be approximately as follows: air ticket 95 USD. e. (190 for two), car 45 c. u. e. , guide 60 c. u. e. , lunch 25 at. it's for two. Total: 320 USD e. To this amount it is necessary to add the cost of entrance tickets (let it be 60 USD) and we will get no more than 200 USD. is for everyone. It is easy to get to the airport and back by taxi for 5 USD. e one way on the counter. Conclusion - call Patrick directly, he is the main link in this excursion, he will help organize the rest.
Already in the evening before the flight, Patrick showed us a restaurant run by a relative of the local sultan (read governor).
There is no alcohol in the restaurant (Muslims), but the waiters quickly ran to a nearby store for beer. It was the brightest dinner for all stay in Indonesia. With drinks for three, dinner cost about 45 USD. That is, all ordered dishes were with seafood and very, very tasty.

Swimming with dolphins.
They offer two places: on the north coast and on the south. From Nusa Dua to go through the entire island to the north and tiring and long - 3 hours. On Vine's advice, we settled on the south coast. Dolphins are kept in the open ocean (small lagoon). About 8 pens 15x10 m and up to 15 m deep were built on the pontoons. Dolphins are kept in these pens, but every day they are released to swim in the ocean. They don't go anywhere and return after 2 hours. Directly swim with a dolphin is not allowed. You are in the input, but you are standing on a special platform at a depth of about 1.2 m. They are forced to remove all jewelry from your hands.
There is an instructor with you in the water who gives commands to the dolphin and tells you what to do. He also gives you pieces of fish to feed the dolphin. Give scuba hose and mask. Sit on the platform, the instructor holds you by the shoulders so that you don’t float up and you have the opportunity to communicate with the dolphin underwater. The dolphin himself gets great pleasure from communicating with you: he substitutes his sides, stomach, pokes his nose, tries to tell you something. The trip brought a lot of positive emotions. The price for one is 59 USD. e. The price includes transfer from the hotel and back, tea, coffee, water, shower towel. When you are in the water, then ask the instructor (there will be several not involved) to shoot you with your camera or photo. They don't ask for money for this. I highly recommend this tour.

General Tips:

Take only summer things with you (t-shirts, T-shirts, shorts, blouses). Shoes should be summer and not afraid of water.
Warm clothes are needed only on the plane, but even there they give a blanket. The rains were regular, but not at all annoying (15-20 minutes and again the sun). Be sure to use a protective cream with maximum protection. If you try to lie on the beach without cream, you will burn out in 15 minutes, in the shade of trees you will burn out in 30 minutes. I do not recommend even trying to sunbathe on purpose. You still won’t be able to avoid the sun (swimming in the ocean or pool, excursions, etc. ). In 10-12 days you will arrive with such a tan that everyone around will stare at you.
Immediately buy a package of a local mobile operator. We used SimParty. The package itself in the city can be bought for 5 USD. e. , and in the tourist area you will be offered it for 15 c. u. e. Replenish it with scratchcards (when buying a card, ask to refill your number and immediately check it). A local phone is needed to communicate with a local guide, and calling home will be many times cheaper.
For shopping, you need to go with a local guide to a store for locals. There is the same set of souvenirs and goods at prices 3-4 times less than in Nusa Dua.
It is also better to buy fruits in the market or in local fruit stores. Ask your guide to pick up fruit on the way back from the tour.
Change money in local banks, in "exchangers", where a high rate is drawn "with chalk on a tablet" do not change money - you will not receive it 100%.