Впервые на Бали First time in Bali

We have just returned from Bali where we stayed for 2 weeks from December 6th. We went there instead of the urgently canceled Thailand, on a last-minute package that cost us $ 1660 per person, with accommodation in a wonderful small Bali Tropic hotel.
We flew by Transaero plane for 12 hours, but lying down, as there were not enough people. But there was a set of passengers back and we were just sitting, and water flowed down the aisle from the washstands and the flight attendants jumped over scattered rags like frogs from bump to bump.
Bali was met with such stuffiness that it was never possible to get used to it. Although, I admit that it seemed that way after you leave the air-conditioned room. In the room, it worked properly, so we sometimes got cold, but did not turn it off under any circumstances. We lived at the Bali Tropic Hotel - a small hotel consisting of 2-storey bungalows with 100 rooms. Everything is clean, comfortable, surrounded by greenery.

People who are vacationing in the tropics for the first time are amazed by the lush vegetation everywhere, the flowers that are everywhere here and with which they adorn everything that is possible. In particular, and you, as soon as you leave their airport building. Everywhere you smile, and sincerely. And although I had suspicions that they see us only as newly arrived wallets (they are), they stopped bothering me when I saw that the Balinese were just as friendly to each other.
I will briefly confirm what has already been written about Bali: that it is worth driving around by taxi (from the main Nusa Dua vacation area to the Kuta party center $ 6-7 according to the meter (take blue taxis with a meter); food in restaurants is cheap and from the belly (although what a belly! ) you can eat for $20-30; that you have to bargain in the markets, standing your ground and dividing the price you have been told by 4, or even by 5. So, we managed to buy mangoes instead of the named $2 per kg (20.000 ) for 8000 rupees Acquaintances, having bought 5 kg of different fruits for $ 4 and spreading this charm on the floor in the room, could not come to their senses for a long time.
We used private transport to travel around the island. At the same time, we were lucky to meet a wonderful guide named Gede, who happened to work for a travel company (in my opinion, and continues to work) and who knows all the routes and those places that are really worth visiting. He was the only one we didn't bargain with in Bali, his prices were so real. Bribing his politeness and willingness to help without unnecessary fawning, with a sense of dignity. For those who know English, we report his phone number: 08.706 7.977. In a year, he promised to learn Russian as well as his English and Japanese. We were all the more pleased with the trip with Gede, because the Russian host companies arranged a real juicer from their compatriots. "Bounty Bali", giving us a list of their excursions and prices for them, almost brought us out of a state of readiness to relax. Where we drove with Gede through temples and parks for $40 for two for 11 hours, "B. B" asked for $120 per person. True, we bought entrance tickets to temples and parks separately and they are not cheap everywhere, but the calculations showed the purest fraud of travel agencies. And the representative of the "Navigator" Katya completely yelled at the intelligent Muscovites who arrived, who decided to refuse their services (the women were stopped in time from paying for the tour by seasoned tourists), and, saying that they are OBLIGED to use only the services of their company and having selected all the prospectuses, she left. The tetechs were brought to their senses and instead of "Navigator" they were given a lot of advice on hiring local guides. Also with a trip to Java. We flew there (which we will never regret! ) for $230, our companions for $200, and Russian companies offered tours for $320-425. At the same time, for some reason, they claimed that planes fly to Java only on Wednesdays , although they fly there immeasurably every day, and even the prices change from day to day.
Speaking of prices. The dollar exchange rate sometimes changed during the day. Only we sold dollars for 10.980 rupees, as in the same point an hour later it was 10.080. It should be borne in mind that exchangers allegedly do not accept banknotes with the letters C and D in their numbers, and we were warned about this in Moscow. But we never managed to notice that our banknotes were closely examined during the exchange. We changed money in the exchange offices of the Kuta district, in the Discovery store, which everyone will definitely find out about upon arrival, since the store is really big and good. The rate at the hotel was quite flimsy.

A little more about excursions. There are not so many places worth seeing, or maybe just many temples are not accessible to tourists or are not very impressive. That is, if you jump on excursions, unless you prefer sitting in the pool with beer or whiskey, which is also a vacation in itself, you run the risk of seeing everything very quickly and joining those soaking in the pool or the sea in the remaining days. Many companies break up excursions into small pieces and what we saw for a full day and for $ 40, I can offer you as separate excursions, spreading them into 3-4 excursions: separately crocodiles in the mud, separately turtles in the mud, and monkeys in separately, although in the Uluwata temple, where you will be taken to watch the Kechak dance, you will get to know them more than closely, left without glasses or pendants. Well, you don’t need a guide at the zoo and parks of birds and reptiles, everything is clear there.
Many who were in Thailand before traveling to Bali tend to think that Thailand is better, more interesting, but "busy"; massages in Bali are definitely worse, especially $10 on the beach (1 hour of hard strokes) and $35 in the salon (2 hours of strokes). It probably is, but Bali is a good place and worth a visit. Moreover, it is worth doing this in the coming years, while our ubiquitous compatriots have not yet ruined all the locals with their money and the Balinese are still smiling.
That's probably all