Monday 6 April 2009

Bali

Seems these days all I do is ask for travel advice and here I am yet again, begging for more travel advice... I am off to Bali in July for a wedding... my dear friend Y is having a reception and I am lucky enough to have an invite... I have a little over a week in Bali prior to the wedding so I have plenty of time to explore...

This is where I am staying http://www.villabeji.com and I don't have any transport whilst there so would appreciate somewhere close by if possible.

I would love any advice anyone has to offer!

Vida x

7 comments:

Hannah said...

Have a wonderful trip and I look forward to reading all your adventures when you get back.
We had a good trip to the water palaces over in the East although that is quite a way from where you are staying.

Vida said...

Thanks Hannah, water palaces sound amazing, I am sure I can find a way to get down there! Thanks for all your advice too! Vida x

claire said...

Hi Vida, I wrote up a detailed post on my trip to Bali in 2007: let me know if you'd like any further detail on any of the places I visited!

Ilva said...

How wonderful Vida! I hope you will do some extensive blogging about your trip! Lucky woman!

stickyfingers said...

Wow looks swish-o, fabulous! Your villa is in Canggu (pronounced Chang-goo), a rural area popular with serious surfers. It has a long black sand beach & is on the way to Tanah Lot temple where tourists go to watch the sunset ritual. Most of the landscape around there consists of rice paddies and farms.

It's about a 25 minute drive to Seminyak where the good eats and shopping are. Longer of course in peak hour, so you'll need to hire a car and driver for adventures away from the villa. Most villas can arrange this for you. Our friend's villas have a car packaged up in the fee, perhaps it's the same at your friend's venue?

Apart from a fun beach restaurant nearby called Echo Beach, where they lay out fresh seafood on ice every night and a band plays covers, there's not a lot close by in terms of cafes or resto's. You could ask your friend to order in a whole Babi Guling (suckling pig) from the local village, which is a rather lovely local specialty you can enjoy at the villa.

The nearest shopping is a touristy market at Tanah Lot which sells souvenirs and average quality fake designer bags.

It's worth doing some day trips. Ubud would be high on my priorities for beautiful scenery, art and temples. And Janet De Neefe's cooking class there at Casa Luna is well worth booking for before you leave home. Celuk is the village where the silver smiths are if you're after unique jewellery.

Kuta has a modern shoppping mall which may interest you and there are small department stores in Dempasar - but they're not fabulous.

I'd go to KuDeTa in Kuta for a lovely brekkie and take your togs, you can lie on their sunbeds all day with access to the beach without the hassle of hawkers and stay on for lunch. La Lucciola has had a good reputation for years as an expensive eatery, but you may just want to eat local style and hoe into a few cheap satays, nasi campur and tiny grilled local lobsters.

Please be respectful of the Balinese culture on arrival by not wearing revealing clothes at the airport. You'll find authorities will be less kind, especially when checking your duty free items.
Whatever you do I'm sure you'll love your well earned break. Enjoy!

stickyfingers said...

BTW 'thank you' in Bahasa Indonesia is Terima Kasi. Mr Sticky remembers it because when he first heard it, he thought someone had said "Tear up my car seat" ;)

Vida said...

WOW, WOW, WOW, you guys are the best... I feel totally confident in going alone on this trip and having the time of my LIFE!!!!!!!!

Sticky, your advice is unreal and covers everything (silver jewellery was on top of my list!) and all the food places and the relaxing beach eateries, as well as loving to get into the local food. I loved this part of my trip to Singapore where I had two very different friends showing me the absolute high life and the absolute local and market fare... I loved it all... I cannot express how excited I am to go now... my girlfriends wedding is at the venue and her friends own the place. She has hired out the entire villa and we are all sharing the cost of accommodation.

THANK YOU ALL for all your help. Vida x x x x x x x