Bali Tour Guide

Tanah Lot is the most popular tourist destination in Bali in the sun set time. But during the day, there are still many tourists in the temple. The temple, the wave, the rock on the beach, and the lush vegetation will always be still beautiful to see despite the time you come. On a visit,  I probably arrived there at 4 in the afternoon. I was with client from South Africa. I took them for a walk on the higher ground west of the temple. From a small cliff, just west of the temple, you can take photo of yourself and have the temple as the background in the east. From that place, the temple looked so small. But, for myself, this is the best place to take photo. Other place to take photo is a higher ground in front of the temple.  Again,  you will put the temple behind you. The Tanah Lot maybe be also popular for sunset, but perfect sunset is rare. The sun may go behind cloud. It doesn't mean you can not enjoy the view if you don't see the sunset,  you can even go ea...

When planning a vacation in Bali, you will need to plan also your accommodation. Sometimes it is not easy, and takes a long time before you can decide where to stay in Bali. There are a lot of choices, but here is a few tips. First, you will need to decide the area you wish to stay. There are many one popular tourists area, but there three major areas, such as Kuta, Nusa Dua and Sanur. Kuta is the most popular place in Bali where you can get from a 5 USD a night (if you are backpacking) to USD 200 a night ccommodation. There are many places to eat, shop, bar, club, restaurants. Kuta is also known with its Kuta beach, place to learn to surf and enjoying the sun set. Sanur is another tourist destination which is located in the eastern side. Compared to Kuta, Sanur will be less busy, less crowded, and less traffic. It is quieter in Sanur, but you will also easily find hotel to stay there, as well as, restaurant and shopping areas. Nusa Dua is a luxurious complex in the most southern tip o...

Ulun Danu temple by lake Bratan is a great place to spend time during the day. You will see the blue lake, and the hills and forest at the end of the lake. Try take a long breath, you can feel the fresh air going into your lungs. Somehow, you will feel warm and peaceful here. (disclaimer: different person may feel different thing, and may not work when it is raining). Back to our discussion, that is, where to go to lunch. First, there is a restaurant in Candi Kuning market. It is called Top Deck restaurant. I have once bring one group of clients from Pacific Mutual Fund for a buffet lunch, and tried the food my self. The food is okay. It belongs to Mr. David (hi Mr. Dave..!!), an Australian who promote his restaurant by having the cleanest toilet in the island. If you'd like to use the restaurant, and admire how clean it is, you need to pay Rp 2000. But if you order your food there, the toilet use if free of charge. You need to be patient though, service is rather slow. Maybe you c...

So, you need to go to toilet when you are at Tanah Lot Temple or Kintamani? No problem. Toilets are available almonst everywhere in popular tourist areas . Just need to prepare to pay for the "service" you get in the toilet and choose the most "suitable" one for you. In public places, the toilets are not as clean and maintained as those in the 5 star hotels. Once when tour guiding in Bali , my clients asked me if they could go to public toilet. Why, sure, and I pointed at the public toilet. They had a look inside it, and decided to just wait until they found a decent toilet. It was dirty and it's what you refer as hole-in-the-ground kind of toilet. Furthermore, paying to go to toilet is just something they felt as "against the human right". Yes, you need to pay to use the toilet. Different charge for different service. Outside the toilet by the door, you will see a box on where you can put the money in. Usually a person sit buy on the chair guarding ...

"When is the best time to visit Bali?" I often got this question asked to me. Not just once, but a lot of time. When you ask this question, I know what you mean is more than this simple question. You want to know when to visit Bali so you can have great times in Bali without any disturbance, for instance, rain or peak season. Rain seems to be the main concern for the visitors. I can understand that because rain can "ruin" your holiday. It is hard to enjoy Bali when rain pour from one morning to the next morning. Let's talk about rain first. We have two seasons in Bali, the dry season and the wet season. The dry season is "scheduled" from April to October, while wet season starts from October to April. So, if you don't fancy rain in your holiday, best time to come is between April to October when the dry season is "on". The wet season, however, is not really really that wet. If you think rain is pouring down on our island for six months ev...

As you step your feet in our island, you'll soon notice that we have different traffic "road rules" with those European or American countries. Some of the rules may appear strange to you. And here are some of the "rules" you will observe in the tiny streets in Bali. Beeping "rules". People seems to beep a lot more here. A driver beeps when asking other driver to give way to him, so he can drive through. A driver also beeps when saying hello to a friend he meets in the street or offers transport service to tourists. Hazard lamp "rule" for cross road. The hazard lamps are lit when going straight in a cross road. Maybe the logic is that when turning right or left, we have to light either right or left sign lamp. So, if going straight, both lamp; left and right, should be lit. "Rules" for crossing the road "Zebra crossing" for pedestrians. Cars will not stop at zebra crossing, even though you have stepped your feet on the zebr...

How do you say no to the street vendors offering you goods they sell? Easy. Just say No, Thank You. Right, but often it is not as easy as it seems. The reason? They don't take no for an answer. They keep offering you post cards, chess set, T-Shirt, wooden statue, beach sarong, bone statue, a pack of chop sticks (we don't use them here) and a lot more. So, how do you "handle this situation"? When you are in Bali, especially in tourists area you will meet many street vendors. You will meet them at tourist objects like Kintamani, Tegalalang, Goa Gajah, Kertha Gosa, Bat Cave, Ulun Danu Batur, Lake Batur, Seribatu village, Lovina Beach or in the street outside your hotel. The street vendors are just the Balinese people who work to earn a living. They don't have stall, or capital to start their own business. The easiest thing to take part in tourism industry is to become street vendors or "pedagang acung". They just need merchandise to sell, and off they go. ...

You can get fast internet connection nowadays in Bali especially in Denpasar and Nusa Dua up to 3.5 Megabit per second. (so, that't what they claimed) This is if you have the so-called HSDPA phone to connect to Internet for example the Nokia 6120C. You can buy the SIM card in Bali if your plan doesnot include international roaming. The easiest way is to get a IM3 SIM card which has Internet connection active already. All you need is just to configure your phone or your modem so it can connect to the service. This one is no sweat since there is a simple manual you can follow. All you need to do is to send sms to a certain number to activate the 3G feature. The price of the data is 1.1 rupiah per kilo Byte, or USD .0001 or so There are also many many hotspot area that will give you free internet. Restaurants and hotels provide wifi area as part of their service. One of the hotels offering hotspots are: the Westin. Other places includes restaurants; like Bali Bakery at Kuta. Hmm, I wi...

Riding a motor bike in Bali can be an exciting activity for you to do. Most of the Balinese ride motor bikes, though most of them don't have license or don't understand the traffic rules. Every body agrees that it is cheap to run compared to cars. You too can ride motor bike in Bali. Getting one while you are here is no big deal. A lot of motor bike rentals in Kuta and other tourist area, but before you hit the Bali street here is some tips that might be useful for you. To hire a motor bike, you will need about 30,000 rupiah a day or about 3.5 USD. The petrol is 4500 a litre. So, yup, it is indeed cheap to run. Next, you have to get an international driving license. You can get that from your country or you can obtain it here. The cost of getting one, is around USD 20 to 25. Get a "automatic" motor bike. So, you don't have to change gears. It is easier especially if you are not used to ride motor bikes a lot in your country. Some brands like Yamaha Mio,...

Bali is a well known inexpensive place for holiday. Since the Indonesian currency is weak, you will get more for your money if you come, for instance, from Australia or United States. Some places are cheap, but there are also expensive places such as hotel with international quality. Bali is suitable for any budget. Top end hotels, restaurants, and boutiques are available. But local shops and food stall is inexpensive place to go. Before going shopping in Bali, you need to have an idea of what the price of goods for sale here.This is not meant to be an absolute Bali cost guide , maybe ypu'll find the prices differs slightly from what listed in this blog. Somehow, it surely will give you an idea about the prices. Petrol is Rp 4500 per litre or .50 cent USD. 1 beach colorful sarong is Rp. 20000 or 2.1 USD A motor bike rent is Rp 30000 or USD 3, and in case you want to buy one (I am sure you don't) the price of new motor bike is Rp 13000000 or about 1400 USD. A ...

I often ask tourists question like, "what do you like best about Bali?" and though not conducting any proper questionnaire, I got a lots of answer from them stating that they like the friendliness of the Balinese. When they meet the Balinese as they walk in the street, in the hotel, in the village, the Balinese seems to be happy meeting other people. So, if you walk around yourself, you will probably experience it yourself where people say hello to you. Well, what your mom says about not talking to stranger is also true, but in Bali people say hello to stranger. Next attraction besides people is the because it is inexpensive holiday in Bali. The low value of Rupiah (local currency) has made possible for many people from abroad to have luxury holiday in Bali. The weather is also another great attraction for many tourists. The consistent weather throughout the year is suitable for holiday at any time. Other people find the Bali beaches as a world class surfing place, making it ...

To visit temples in Bali , there are few rules you need to know. One very common rule is that you need to wear sarong when entering the temple. There are other rules to bear in mind so you can easily enter the temple without any doubt or fear offending the locals. This is also to make sure you will not spoil your holiday in Bali. Here are the list of rules for entering temples in Bali, (some may sound funny to you). Wear sarong . Some temples, especially those that have lots of visitors, provide sarongs at the entrance. You can put it on before entering the temple. Why sarong? Sarong is meant to cover the "unholy" part of our body, especially under the waist part. (Note: most of the temples in Bali do not provide sarongs, so it could be handy to have it if temple is in your tour itinerary.) Dress properly . It means to cove your shoulder, and all your body. Ladies in period are not allowed to enter the temple. People whose relatives recently passed away and still conduct...

If you buy something in Bali in most shops and markets, you need to bargain. Bargaining can be difficult if you are not used to it. Some of the people that I talked to told me it is quite embarrassing to bargain, because they rarely, if not never, do it in their life. In Bali the sellers expect you to bargain when you want to buy something. If you don’t bargain, you might pay too much for something you buy. So, how do you bargain? When you walk accross a shop, let say a T shirts shop, the seller often shout loudly to you in their Balinese accent, "Come ya, just have a look. Not buying is okay." You walk in and see something you like and take it. You try it and the seller give a price. Tell the seller that the price is too expensive, shake your head, and give the T-shirt back to the seller. Then the seller will lower the price or ask you to name your price. Normally, people bargain fifty percent of what the price is offered. Let say, the price is 10 bucks, then you bargain 5 b...

A Hindu Bali temple festival takes place every 210 days or six months(which is a year according to the Bali lunar calendar). In this special day, the local villagers prepare themselves to pray at the temple. The children are very excited and wear their best clothes to go to the temple. The ceremony at the temple usually started from early morning and finish late at night. The people will come more in the afternoon or early evening. The ladies brings offering on their heads; the offering is made of cakes, fruit, and coconut leafs. The men bring incense and flowers as these will be needed when praying. A temple festival is also the precious moment where people gather in the temple yard. So, a temple is not merely a place for praying, but it has turned to be a social place where friends and relatives meet each other. They talk about everything in the outer yard of the temple. This is also where they can watch dances performed by the local girls. At the temple festival you can see dances p...

You probably have heard the not nice experience of exchanging money in some unauthorized money exchangers. People get less of what they should have got from exchanging their money in these so-called money exchangers. I have not met tourist or my clients who have been ripped off by money changers, but still I am going to pose here some tips on how to exchange money safely when you travel to Bali. Well, the first thing to do is to ask for recommendation from people whom you trust, you can ask the hotel staff where you are staying, or your tour guide, or travel representative. They know, and will tell you where the good place to change your money. Maybe you also have friends or relatives that has traveled to Bali before, you can ask them. Next, make sure that you go to the authorized money changer. How do you know that a money changer is authorized? It is not that easy, because all money changers, both good and bad, have "Authorized" sign in their sign board. So? Well, go to th...

We don't talk about weather in Bali. That is not the topic that we'll discuss in our conversation. It's because the weather is always nice, so we talk about some thing else; job, politics, news, Oprah or the coming temple festivals. But once it gets so hot,  many people begin to say "It's hot weather to day, isn't it?" It is very hot now in Bali. Even for Balinese people who are used to tropical heat for all their life. We are now in the rainy season (October to April), but normally we have rain on December to early January. That's the time when the temperature cool off a bit. So, this time of expecting the rain, the day can be so hot. It is 27 to 32 degree Celsius, with 70% humidity. If you plan to go to Bali this month, please prepare lots of sun cream to protect your skin from sun burnt. And also, water, you need lot of water to prevent dehydration. Balinese never get worried about sun burnt. But if exposed to too much sun light, our skin will turn ...

Bargaining is a must when you buy something in the art market or traditional market in Bali . How do you bargain for things that you want to buy? Here are few tips to help you better with bargaining skill. - Understand and know the price of goods you want to buy. The price of a wind chime, for instance, varies from one shop to other shop. So, go to few shops and compare the prices, you will have an idea how much the wind chimes cost. But if you don't have time to wander around, you just bargain the price. This leads us to next tip. - Bargain for things you buy . If you say bargaining is hard, it is true for a lot of people, including me. I don't like bargaining, and it is easier to buy things in the super market. But you will almost get better price if you bargain. Here is the rule of bargaining. Bargain one fourth of the asking price, and move your way up below half price. Let say, the price of wind chimes is 5 USD, you start asking for 1.5 USD. And go up to 2 USD. - Don...

Do you have any question about Bali? Well, here are some questions asked to me by tourist when I did the tour in Bali. Where is the most dangerous place to cross the streets in Bali? The zebra crossing. Most Balinese will not stop in the zebra crossing unless it is located in the traffic light, and the red light is on. So, don't try crossing the street because the zebra crossing is there, but look around, if the coast is clear you can cross the street. I see there are many yellow liquid in bottles for sale by the street. Are they some kind of beer? Nope. They are petrol. You can buy petrol in petrol station and resell it for profit in bottles. How many people are allowed on a motor bike? I don't know. Maybe five. Son at the front, next father, then little sister, and last mother with baby in her hand. I don't count the puppy the son holds. Why is there a black and white checkered cloth around statues or big trees? The statues are actually shrines, not merely statues. The cl...