BALI - what do you think about it?

E Shed

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Nice one E. Where abouts in Ubud were you?

Ubud Aura. It's beautiful, relaxed, cheap but well appointed & very friendly.
They are attached in ownership to an ashram out of town so the staff are all really mellow & the overall vibe is super chilled. Apparently the guru blessed the pool so it's extra blissful to swim in ;)
It's right next door to Yoga Barn & hotties just come & go past the pool all day in Yoga clothes :)
They will drive you out to the ashram for free if you want to go do Yoga there or meditate with them. There was a full moon festival on while we were there with singing & dancing & a big feast at the end. Fun stuff if you are into that kind of thing.
 

estibador

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I went to a mushroom full moon party on another Indo island while I was over there. Magic night.

I hate dancing in clubs (hate clubs in general actually) but dancing barefoot on the beach under the moon all night was pretty cool.
 

estibador

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photos or GTO.

lrg-1020-drunkantics01338.jpg
 

estibador

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As if I'm actually gunna take photos of myself at a party though. Do I look like a self-obsessed facebook chick to you?

Actually, don't answer that question...
 

fitzmantle

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I had a lovely week in Bali over Christmas. Spent the whole time in Ubud with a couple of clean living mates. We did Yoga every day surrounded by beautiful women in exercise clothes, ate almost every meal at Kafe (which serves awesome, organic vego food & you can stuff your face & be flat out spending $10 including drinks, coffee, desert), had a massage a day (at a lovely studio where they use scented body oil & serve ginger tea after). $10 for 1 hour full body!
Other than that we spent our time by the pool reading, sleeping, riding motorbikes around.
The whole thing cost me $1000 including airfares, accom, food the lot
Not a bogan in sight in Ubud!

Ubud and its food is awsome. My fear is in the future the bogan might start exploring the rest of the island, then were screwed.
 

theGav56

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Thanks guys..def putting Ubud on the to do list in May..any recommended eateries?

Heaps of places. Mozaic is one of the most up market with an amazing reputation. Siam Sally's is good. Lotus Graden is set beside a lake with a beautiful stage set against a temple backdrop and does nightly performances (I always take first timers to Ubud here in the evening to give a cultural experience that isn't too hard to sit through).

Just follow your nose in Ubud, there are heaps of places.

If you want to go to a local dance performance I recommend kecak (pronounced kechak). Quite spectacular.
 

E Shed

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I never seem to get past eating at Kafe. Honestly I ate there 3 times a day at times. Organic vego (some meat on the menu) just so tasty and fresh. I'd never cook if I lived there. Great drinks too. The Cardamon Lassie & Lime & Ginger Soda to name a couple.
 

JunglistPosse

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I never seem to get past eating at Kafe. Honestly I ate there 3 times a day at times. Organic vego (some meat on the menu) just so tasty and fresh. I'd never cook if I lived there. Great drinks too. The Cardamon Lassie & Lime & Ginger Soda to name a couple.

WOW that does sound great. Tick
 

JunglistPosse

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Heaps of places. Mozaic is one of the most up market with an amazing reputation. Siam Sally's is good. Lotus Graden is set beside a lake with a beautiful stage set against a temple backdrop and does nightly performances (I always take first timers to Ubud here in the evening to give a cultural experience that isn't too hard to sit through).

Just follow your nose in Ubud, there are heaps of places.

If you want to go to a local dance performance I recommend kecak (pronounced kechak). Quite spectacular.

Hmmm Lotus Garden or Moziac for dinner, i think.
 
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Continual reminders of this thread are desperately making me want to take a holiday. It's almost depressing to see how much nicer it could've been in Ubud. Don't get me wrong, we relaxed up a storm but reading some of these experiences makes me wish we visited these places.
 

theGav56

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Continual reminders of this thread are desperately making me want to take a holiday. It's almost depressing to see how much nicer it could've been in Ubud. Don't get me wrong, we relaxed up a storm but reading some of these experiences makes me wish we visited these places.

When I read your post about your holiday I felt sorry for you because the reality is that if you stay trapped in Kuta/Tuban/Legian you have a pretty well worn experience of Bali. It sounds like you had an okay holiday, if not a little bland.

I have traveled a lot for years, and I have to say that coming back to a place on a regular basis (yeah I live here now) changes your experience in a really positive way. I know quite a few people who have been coming here for 10 - 20 years, sometimes a couple of times a year. Time wise it is a bit like going to Margaret River. And Bali may be Asia-Lite, but you can choose to go local if you want to get out of the resorts.
 
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Just out of curiosity, what made you decide to pack up and move to Bali? How long have you been there for and where in Bali do you reside?

The holiday was never really intended to be a huge cultural experience due to the length of time we were there (5 nights). Sure we could have gone and done on a different adventure every day but it was more about taking the opportunity to recharge the batteries without the squirt hanging off one of us the whole time so in that respect it was great.
 

theGav56

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Just out of curiosity, what made you decide to pack up and move to Bali? How long have you been there for and where in Bali do you reside?

I knew I couldn't keep doing my job and needed a change of some sort. Had bought land here 12 years ago and saw that Bali was booming after the bombing recovery, so just wanted to have a start at something different. Had considered Thailand, but the instability, drugs and sex business didn't see it a good a place for a family. Originally planned to live here part-time and in Aus the rest. But when I figured out you could do a decent business here that changed.

We have villas, in Seminyak, and further along the coast near Canggu/Tanah Lot. Had originally expected to live in Ubud, but prefer it as a place to visit than live. Seminyak is a lot more cosmopolitan with a mix of European and Australians making up a fair bit of the expat population. Mostly we live in the villa in Canggu/Seminyak as it is close to my kids school and doesn't get the same sort of occupancy as the Seminyak villas. It is also a beautiful house.

That's it.
 

Borry

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I can't specifically speak on Bali but have met plenty of Aussie tossers on my travels and I agree that we don't have great reputation. Similar to Brits and Americans I guess in that the people who are educated and have a bit of culture blend in fine and have a great time where as the drunken meat heads that expect everything to be like home and think they rule the roost look like fools.

Not only are they Australian's that cause trouble in Bali but generally West Aussie's since it's so cheap from Perth which makes it even worse. If it was a bunch of Queenslanders being wallies then that would be fine. ;)

I did Busabout in the northern summer of 2006 (wasn't a tour, think they called it a flexi-pass?) and loved it DA.

Had a ball on the tour. Best bunch of people I have met, got some genuine friends out of it. Now living in Sydney its good to still see quite a few of them regularly for dinner and beer and things.

What makes me feel grateful about the genuine bunch of people I met was that there was another group doing the same tour, but going the opposite journey. We met in Budapest for a river cruise and all the guys and girls in that group who got on the piss were all looking for fights with people in my group (especially a few insular, jealous males who were probably frustrated about not being able to pick up the token hot looking Brit and/or Aussie), whereas all the people in my group just got drunk and got happier and had fun without causing any trouble. There were a few guys in my group who just wanted to hit the pubs as opposed to sightseeing on the first day, but they were still awesome blokes

Will be heading back to the Baltics for another Busabout tour in August as I won a free tour.

Highly recommend Eastern Europe. Some of the best food on the planet and some good beer. And cheap if you like your drinking.

Sorry for interrupting the Bali discussion. :p
 

theGav56

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Had a ball on the tour. Best bunch of people I have met, got some genuine friends out of it. Now living in Sydney its good to still see quite a few of them regularly for dinner and beer and things.

What makes me feel grateful about the genuine bunch of people I met was that there was another group doing the same tour, but going the opposite journey. We met in Budapest for a river cruise and all the guys and girls in that group who got on the piss were all looking for fights with people in my group (especially a few insular, jealous males who were probably frustrated about not being able to pick up the token hot looking Brit and/or Aussie), whereas all the people in my group just got drunk and got happier and had fun without causing any trouble. There were a few guys in my group who just wanted to hit the pubs as opposed to sightseeing on the first day, but they were still awesome blokes

Will be heading back to the Baltics for another Busabout tour in August as I won a free tour.

Highly recommend Eastern Europe. Some of the best food on the planet and some good beer. And cheap if you like your drinking.

Sorry for interrupting the Bali discussion. :p

Damn troll! Take it to Bay 13.





Sounds like an awesome trip. Is it hosted and pre-organised or do you find your own way?
 

Cameron_K

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Anyone come across any good tailors in Bali? Am heading up there in May and wouldn't mind getting some pants made up if the quality is any good.
 

theGav56

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For anyone interested in taking a look at my new project we have a website in development;

www.baligingersuites.com

Planning to have a Foolish Opening on April 1st, but plenty of things can knock that timeframe around. At the moment we have a neighbour who is trying to extort around $100k out of us to get the electricity connected, and the owner of the land we have leased for 25 years refusing to sign documents he is obliged to sign. Welcome to Bali. Having said that, I've been through it before, and it will come good.

On my first project here, using a contractor, we had tradesmen pushing bare wires into power boards and wedging them in with splinters of wood for good contact. If it rained (which it sure did) they would tie a plastic bag around it and sit it up on a brick. The bamboo scaffolding worked well, but no way I would go up on there.

The new project I have built with my own Site Manager. It has been an interesting experience. A good one. But plenty of issues coming up daily. It has reminded me of a Leunig cartoon in the town of Curly Flats. The applecart has been turned over, and instead of seeing the "catastrophe" the entire village is celebrating the "opportunity" to have fun with apples. My building site is an Indonesian version of Curly Flats. I am sure they have had a few quiet chuckles about the boss losing it because they built the door in the wrong place. Of course when I come again in the morning, the door has been moved and all is good. One thing is for sure, our work-practises have been a bit better, without ever threatening to get close to Australian Health and Safety standards.

Bali is going the way of the hotel now, with 4 new places being built in the area that we are located. Typically they will have 250 characterless rooms, and you could be anywhere. From inside the room you would have no idea that you were actually in Bali. They are clean, good value, and bland. That's not the way I want to see Bali develop. Nothing at all against clean, or good value, but if you are in Asia then you have probably come here for a reason.
 
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