Enchanting Bali! Helpful tips to plan a trip to Bali (Ubud & Seminyak)

Bali is one the most beautiful places I have been. Although I have returned from Bali but it seems like my heart still resides there. One of the most striking features of Bali is its tropical flora. Bali is a treasure of Nature’s most beautiful flowers. Among other features are its people. They are very courteous and warm. Everything in Bali is very tourist friendly. Balinese people are also very artistic. They have some of the fine stone carvings and wood carvings. In fact, I felt that they are very artistic in their overall approach in life. The way they dress, express their happiness to god, the way they pray to god, their cuisine etc. I think Bali is a place one must visit. Oh did I mention that they are just obsessed with Ramayana & Mahabharata! You will know once you are in Bali!

Visa
There is Tourist Visa exemption for about 140 countries. These countries get a visa stamp for 30 days ONLY. Being Indian I did not have to pay for Visa on Arrival, however do check on these rules before visiting as my friend had paid for it just a year ago. For more details please check the below websites:
https://www.bali.com/visa-indonesia-entry-requirements-bali.html
http://www.inbali.org/bali-visa/

Flight
We traveled from Mumbai to Bali (Denpasar) via Kuala Lumpur through Air Asia. It was 9 hours flight. Since Air Asia is a budget Airline, one needs to pre-book their meals and baggage allowance. These things are considered as Add-ons.

1. Meals: My suggestion would be to book your meals in advance either during purchasing your tickets or while web check-in which needs to be 24 hrs. prior to flight time (if you wish to book meals). You can also purchase your meals on the flight, but options are very limited. Especially for vegetarians.
2. In Flight Entertainment: There are no inflight entertainments in Air Asia flights so please prepare accordingly what you will be doing during the 9 hours journey.
3. Baggage: Air Asia is quite strict with Baggage allowance. You are allowed only 2 pieces of cabin baggage that does not exceed 7kgs. If you wish to Check-in luggage then you will need to purchase baggage allowance separately.

Means of Communication
Once we landed in Bali, the first thing we did was to purchase a SIM card. There is a Telkomsel booth just after you come out of the Airport on the left side where a lot of drivers are waiting with placards. There are about 3-4 options offered. Depending on your requirement of International call usage, local call usage and Data usage you can choose the suitable option. The price ranges from 350,000 IDR to 500,000 IDR. However, we later realized that there are cheaper options available in the city.
Taxi from Airport
We were greeted by many agents outside the airport for taxi. They initially quote very high you need to negotiate with them. We had planned to visit Ubud first; the pre-paid taxi quoted IDR 600,000. However, we negotiated to IDR 250,000 since Ubud is quite far from Denpasar.

Local Transport
Seminyak/Denpasar: For local transport you can also take Bluebird taxi. It charges you by meter. But Bali has too many similar looking taxis, so look for bluebird only. Many a times the driver will refuse to go by meter and will ask for random amount (in dollars) hence ensure that he goes by meter.  For bluebird taxi you can use the bluebird app on your android phone. You can get Bluebird taxi just a little outside the airport.
Our driver showed us his Bluebird ID at the airport so we went with him, but we later realized that he either wasn’t a Bluebird driver but possessed a fake ID or he was just using his id to make some more money. As long as you are charged a reasonable amount, most drivers are safe to go with.
Another option for local transport is Grab taxi. Similar to Bluebird taxi, Grab taxi also has its app. Grab is the cheapest of all. However most of the hotel staff do not recommend Grab due to some taxi union issues, hence preferably do not make it obvious that you are using grab taxi. Also, please do not make them wait so that nobody will notice it. This will help the driver to serve you better. However, this is applicable for Seminyak, Kuta etc.
Ubud :In Ubud, the best option for short distance travel is to hire a moped bike. In fact, if you are used to riding bikes and if you have a valid license you can use it to explore Ubud. Most hotels will provide you with bikes for a rent of IDR 60,000 - 80,000 per day. Ubud being the mountainous region has lot of slopes, so be careful while riding with your bikes. And it rains there quite often so roads could be slippery.

Currency

We had carried Indonesian Rupiah with us we bought it from Daspan Forex at Goregaon. Only selective vendors keep IDRs. Normally when you ask the price to buy IDR you will be given price per 100,000 IDR. We paid 530 rupees per 100,000 IDR. Before leaving we had checked if we could withdraw money after reaching Bali using our debit card. And to our surprise, the currency withdrawn through debit cards were cheaper. It cost us 480 rupees per 100,000 IDR.

Restaurants
Ubud has many nice restaurants and available to fit every budget. However, we found it difficult to find vegetarian or vegan restaurants. In normal restaurants you will hardly find anything in Veg. They consider egg as veg so be specific when you order food and ask questions. Some restaurants have amazing ambience, however almost every restaurant has amazing staff. Some of the restaurants or cafes that we tried in Ubud were:

1. Bali Buda, located at Jl. Jembawan, Ubud, Bali.
2. Gelato Secrets, located at Jl. Raya Ubud. They serve amazing Gelatos.
3. Taman Curry, located at Jl. Raya Ubud. Ambience is just ok however food is quite good and reasonable.
4. Tukies, located at Jl. Raya Ubud. They have varieties of sweets and other delicacies made of coconut. They also have amazing fresh coconut ice cream.

       

Tukies

Seminyak: Seminyak has millions of options for food, drinks, & desserts.

1. Zula Vegetarian Paradise, Jl Camplung Tanduk, Seminyak. This was the veg restaurant with amazing variety in their menu and food is great as well. We visited this place twice while we were in Seminyak.
2. Sushimi Kai, Jl Camplung Tanduk, Seminyak. This is a Japanese Restaurant mainly serving Sushi. We went here twice as we enjoyed our meals here. The staff is very warm and ambience so nice that you would definitely want to revisit.
3. La Patio, Jl. Raya Seminyak.
4. Gateway of India, Jl. Abimanyu No. 10, Seminyak. We used to visit this place only for Indian Chai. Along with Chai Pakoras which were amazing.
5. Gelato Twist, Jl. Raya Seminyak. The best ice cream of my life was made here. Try their Dragon Berry you will be blown away.

Zula

Sushimi Kai

Accommodation

Ubud :Accommodation is very cheap in Ubid and the good news is even though its cheap it’s damn good. We paid about approx. IDR 900,000 for three nights including fresh and yummy breakfast.
We had already booked our hotel in Ubud through booking.com. It was Taman Bali Bungalow (No., Jl. Sri Wedari No.64, Ubud, Gianyar, Bali 80571, Indonesia). It is a little inside from the main street but was very nice place to stay. It is a single wooden cabin with a double bed and some necessary things. It has a small beautiful garden outside it. If you are a nature lover, you are in for a real treat!! They grow their own ginger!! I was fascinated with that. Ubud will attract you for so many reasons and flora being just one of them! And that is why most restaurants I guess serves fresh food.

Lip smacking breakfast at Taman Bali Bunglow

Coming back to Taman Bali Bungalow, it is very well managed, spotlessly clean and they have a very warm staff. They have small verandah/porch outside the cabin where you can leave your breakfast request on the sheet of paper which will be given to you and it will be served in the morning!


Seminyak: We had booked Grandmas Plus Hotel. Seminyak, unlike Ubud gives very urban feel. And most hotels are big buildings. Our hotel was very close to the beach. The staff was very warm and welcoming. They have a very small pool by the restaurant. They also have complimentary bicycles. Note that there are just 4-5 cycles and they can be used up till 6:00 PM. We used these cycles to move around. The streets are beautiful with shops and restaurants on both the sides.
Rooms are smaller but very clean and will have everything you need. We had paid about IDR 2120000 for 4 nights. This included breakfast. Breakfast is not a buffet, and is served in smaller portion. So, you may have to eat out to fill your stomach.
They have a beautiful lobby where you can surf net, read books, they also have some activities like learn to make Canang Sari ('chanang', or small, square, woven baskets made from cut coconut leaves and filled with flowers – accompanied by an assortment of gifts for the Gods and topped with a single smoldering stick of incense.)


Places to visit/things to do in Bali
Ubud:

1. Cycle tour with Greenbyke. This is a must do. This was the best way to explore Bali and its culture. Greenbyke will pick you up from your hotel. First, they will take you to the coffee plantation, where you can see a Luwak. Also, you can taste the world famous Luwak coffee which is world’s most expensive coffee, but not that expensive in Bali. You will be served breakfast here mostly pancakes and fruits.During the tour, Greenbyke will actually take you to some of the local Balinese people’s homes and show you how they live, explain their culture etc. You will cycle on the lanes between rice fields, orchards, temples etc. It is mostly downhill cycling so you won’t feel tired and besides the cycles provided are geared ones. Once the tour is over, you will be served lunch in a beautiful restaurant. They are very considerate of your food preferences (in case of any food allergies etc.) Food is very delicious! This price for this tour was IDR 350,000 per person. There are other operators as well.  If you research well you could find some operators which charge IDR 280,000 -300,000 per person. But since the reviews were very good we went with Greenbyke.
2. Visit waterfalls: We had visited Tegenungan waterfall. There are more waterfalls like Nungnung. But since Tegenungan waterfall is just about 15 mins drive from Ubud we decided to visit this place. We had to pay some entrance fees here. There is changing room facility here so in case you wish to swim, carry extra pair of clothes and your swim suit.
   
   

   

   Tegenungan waterfall

3. Visit beautiful temples of Ubud – Gunang Kawi, this is an ancient temple you will need to climb down some stairs. More than the temple I enjoyed the path to reach the temple. Lush green rice fields, small water streams on either side of the path and it made the walk to the temple enjoyable. There is a market here which sells beautiful articles made from coconut shell or wood. Balinese are very artistic and you can witness it through these markets
   

Tampa siring Temple – This is the temple with hot spring, water gushes out from about 15- 20 showers. Balinese consider this to be holy water and often come to take bath. When we visited this temple, there was some ceremony going on. Balinese express their happiness through singing, dancing and playing different instruments. We had to pay the entrance fees here of about 15,000 IDR per person. You can also visit the famous monkey temple.

Tampa Siring Temple

                                                                           

Balinese expressing their happiness

4. One thing which we wanted to do but we missed is Sunrise trekking at Mount Batur. We even booked for this by paying advance of 100,000 IDR per person but my husband was not feeling well that night and we had to give it a miss! For this you will need to be ready in the morning 2:00 AM depending on your location and you will be picked up by the operator.
5. Striking feature of Ubud is the rice fields. Do visit these rice fields. There are different operators who arrange either rice field walk or cycling around these fields. Either of them can be a great experience. We cycled around the rice fields. This is a must activity in your itinerary.

   

   Rice field at Gunang Kawi

Seminyak:
Seminyak is like Goa, it has beautiful beaches and streets filled with vibrant shops and lots of restaurants and Cafes.
We soaked in the vibes of Seminyak, went swimming, went cycling, tried different cafes and restaurants on the street.
What you could do in Seminyak:

1. Cycle around the beautiful streets of Seminyak and try different cafes and restaurants.
2. Learn to make Canang Sari ('chanang', or small, square, woven baskets made from cut coconut leaves and filled with flowers – accompanied by an assortment of gifts for the Gods and topped with a single smoldering stick of incense.)

   

   Canang Sari

3. Go swimming. Seminyak Beach is one of the busiest beaches. You could go swimming there.
4. Lear Surfing. Seminyak beach has instructors who can teach basic surfing. You can get surf boats on rent.
5. Kite flying. You will see vendors selling beautiful kites.  These kites are three dimensional, brightly colored and beautiful.
6. Yoga: You will find quite a few Yoga instructors in Bali and you can try out some Yoga classes.
7.  Visit other places like Tanah lot temple. Watch Sunset from Tanah lot, it is believed to be a beautiful experience. We did not visit all these places as our motto was to enjoy each place thoroughly rather than rushing all the time to reach the next place.
8. Visit Sunday Beach club. This is in Uluwatu. It is a private beach lagoon with a restaurant and facilities like shower, towel, wifi, games etc. made available. In the evening they light bon fire and it looks all so beautiful and romantic. You have to pay an entry fee, a part of which can be redeemed on food and beverages. This could be an expensive affair as food is way too expensive. Lagoon and beach is beautiful. This could be a great option for families with kids. Check out http://www.sundaysbeachclub.com

   

   Bonfire at Sunday Beach club
9. Visit Kuta: Kuta is extremely commercialized, you will see so many huge restaurants, discos, pubs, malls etc. We were lost and overwhelmed. We preferred to stay at Seminyak. But for Party lovers and sea food lovers Kuta is your destination! You could visit the Kuta beach as well.
10. Visit neighboring islands - Nusa Lembongan & Nusa Penida. You can go for a day trip tour to Lembongan. Its a small island but very beautiful island. Within this island you have many things to do - Mangrove tour(see the image below), visit to Yellow bridge & Dream beach(see the second image below) etc. For Nusa Penida you will need more time as it is a bigger island. These two islands do not get many tourists and there are some beaches which are untouched.

    

    Mangrove tour

Dream Beach

Shopping
People who love shopping you will be in for a real delight in Bali! Some of things you shop from Bali are:

1. Wooden articles: Beautifully carved articles are available at a reasonable price. If you love cooking look out for the wooden chopping board. These are only available in Ubud though.
2. Stone carved articles.
3. Clothes, shoes, bags etc. - Our suggestion is if you are visiting Bali, do not carry too many clothes, as you will most likely fall in love with the clothes/sarongs which are sold here and end up wearing only the dresses from these shops. They have dresses in every range for all occasions. Balinese have some excellent taste in dressing as well.
4. Dream catchers – you will not be able to resist these things!
5. Locally made soaps, personal care products, perfumes, massage oils etc. I picked up some locally manufactured perfumes which were very cheap and really good quality.
6. Accessories like silver jewellery, jewellery items made of beads, key chains etc. Key chains could be great souvenir gifts!
7. Beautiful trays made up of cut work. They are absolutely stunning!
8. Remember Balinese are very artistic, you will find beautiful paintings on sale.
9. Coffee: You must try the world’s most expensive coffee i.e. Luwak coffee. Actually, it is not that expensive in Bali!
10. Organic food items like Nuts, herbs, seeds etc.
11. Movie DVDs - Yeah strange right! But you will find some DVD shops with lot of Hollywood movie DVD for just IDR 10,000. We purchased 5 of them and four out of five worked!
12. Incense sticks.They have incense sticks available in different fragrances.

And the list goes on!

Shopping tip: Hone your bargaining/negotiating skills before shopping!