10 days in Indonesia: June 2017
Lobby in Rimba
Infinity pools in Ayana
The Rock Bar
Martini Bar at Ayana Villas
AVOID this place or count your money 10 times if you need to
Started our journey from Dubai. We took direct flight with Emirates to Bali, Indonesia.
First night in Bedrock hotel, airport hotel since we arrived super late. Paid $30 for such a comfortable room with breakfast. It's literally a 5-10 mins ride from the airport and of course the drivers will try to rip you off. They started out with 200,000idr. We lowered to 70,000idr even though we knew it was still a rip off.
Next day we took Uber to Rimba resort in Jimberan. DONOT tell the hotel receptionists that you're taking Uber. Obviously Uber is legal in Indonesia so therefore the app is there but you'll see signs such as: no Uber, no Grab,... everywhere. They don't like Uber drivers bc they took away the business from taxi drivers. You'll get those Uber drivers in troubles if the hotels know. When they asked if we need transportation, we always told them we have a friend who takes us around.
Ayana is such a beautiful resort even though it's packed with tourists. You can use all the facilities in Ayana and Rimba resort if you stay in either one. Trams are available every 10 minutes to Kubu private beach and between 2 resorts, as well their villas. The Rock Bar is quite famous and you shouldn't miss it during your Bali vacation, the sunset view is amazing. The Rock Bar is opened to non hotel guests as well except the wait can be long while hotel guests have priority access. Although, that's the place to be, we think the cocktails were just alright while Martini Bar in the villas area has the most amazing drinks. We had a few and none failed us.
Welcome to Rimba Resort
Infinity pool in Rimba
Kubu beach (private beach in Ayana)
Off to Ubud! It's a 1.5 hrs from Jimbaran. We stayed in Kupu Kupu Barong, jungle retreat. It's a very nice resort however the 3 pools they have aren't that nice. Unless you stay in their villa then you'll get a private pool. We didn't. Make sure to bring insects or mosquitoes spray. My whole body was their free buffet.
Free shuttle to Ubud town from the resort. There aren't much to do in town beside restaurants and bars.
Activities in Ubud: hired a driver for the entire day. We went to Pura Ulun Danu Bratan temple, tegalallang rice terrace, and Tegenungan waterfall (it wasn't impressive at all plus you'll have to walk about 100+ steps to go down which mean you'll have to take the same steps to go up so don't go there.)
The last day in Ubud, we went to a "hideaway" place to use their jungle swing. Such an amazing experience!!! A Must Do!!!
Our driver was Yuni. She's lovely. She took a great care of us. If you need her number, drop a line on my post then i'll pm you her number.
Kupu Kup Barong resort
Swing into the Jungle
Pura Ulun Danu Bratan temple
Tegalallang Rice Terrace
Tegenungan Waterfall
A night in Kuta:
We actually went back to Kuta for a night from Ubub before heading out to Lombok (another island in Indonesia).
We decided to stay in the center of kuta, where all the actions are. Our hotel, NEO+ was walking distance to all the bars and restaurants, 10 mins to beach walk mall, and right next to sky garden club. Which was a very bad idea! You can hear the loud music from the club in your room. So do not stay there if the noise bothers you, which it was to us.
Be careful while you're in kuta. It's a very touristic area with lots of shops and tour booths try to sell their products aggressively to you. BE VERY CAREFUL when exchanging money! Boy friend and I couldn't find any legit places so we went into one of those corners with "money changer" sign. The guy distracted us with many questions so we left with 500000idr shortage ($40ish out of $100). We came back right away when we realized we were short. The guy knew right away we're back for the rest of or money so he said he can only give us 350000idr back. While argued back and forth he offered to give back my $100 and take his idr back. The trick is he's going to give us a fake $100 bill. Thank god I knew the trick. There was a mark on my $100 bill so I asked to either give me 500000idr or my original $100 bill and threaten to call the police. He did give us the shortage amount. This happens a lot in Asia and we were just unlucky that day. However we got the money back!
Off to Lombok:
You can find cheap flights to Lombok from Bali or speedboat, which was our option. $32/person one way from Padangbai to Sengigi. Keep in mind that padangai is 1.5 hrs from the airport. It's closer to Ubud. We booked on komodowisata.com Transportation from your hotel to the port is free. There's a list of pick up areas on their website. They do arrange pick up in sengigi for a fee, which we took and it was expensive. It's harder to find taxi at the port though. Always bargain if you want to pay a fix price or ask them to do meter.
Padangbai port is dirty and unorganized. Just be aware! The ride from Padangbai to sengigi is 1hr30 to 1hr45. The speedboat has 75 seats, toilet, and room for big luggages. The ride was comfortable.
We stayed in a villa in Puri Mas beach resort. The resort itself is very nice. We are very satisfied with our villa with private pool. The service wasn't great though. We were left waiting for half an hr before anybody came to get our orders. Breakfast was a la carte, not buffet and yet it took 40 mins for us to get our breakfast. If service is important to your stay then I don't recommend to stay here. Otherwise it's a very nice place on the beach and Infinity pool. The drinks aren't too great. Always ask them to make it strong otherwise it's pretty Water down.
Since it was the end of our vacation, we chose to relax in the resort. You can take a tour to Gili islands which not too far away or kuta beach. There were many men from the "travel agencies" walked along the beach in front of our resort to offer tours.
Pool in our Villa
That was the end of our trip in Indonesia. Enjoy my post and safe travel!
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