Sunday 25 January 2009

Bali on a shoestring...

For the last few days I've been in Bali. Well, I was here for 2 days before Malang (where my laptop was stolen), and have come back here for a few days after.

I first stayed in the Kota area, which is the main tourist area. It is packed with bars and clubs that stay open until the early hours, catering to all tastes. It is also full of loud Australians. I get the feeling of a more chilled out (and much cheaper) Asian version of Ibiza or something. But without the drugs...

They have market stalls selling everything that a tourist could need, from sunscreen to large wooden penises...













I have no idea...

When I returned from Malang I went to Ubud, also on Bali. Ubud is much more chilled out. My room, while right in the center of Ubud looked out onto a rice field and you could hardly tell you were in a settled area...

There isn't too much to do in Ubud. Unless you like shopping and eating. The shopping there is very varied. All very artistic, locally produced stuff. In many ways Ubud is an interior decorators dream location. All kinds of art, from paintings to sculptures are to be found there. Also lots of clothes and local cloth and things like that.

The food in Ubud is awesome! I ate somewhere different for every meal, and was never once disappointed at the quality of the food. The serving size leaves a little to be desired, but I guess that is good for me! ;^)

The only real tourist attraction in Ubud (apart from all of the art galleries) is the monkey forest. I went there, it was cool. Lots of monkeys running around. You could feed them bananas if you wanted. Lots of photo opportunities to be had. The atmosphere of calm in the forest was also quite touching. Even with the shrieks of the monkeys all around...

I'm sure Bali has much more to offer (I haven't even mentioned the massages yet), but my funds have been running too low for me to take full advantage of the options available to me...

I'd quite like to come back sometime, possibly with a friend, and probably with a lot more money....

5 comments:

Miss J said...

what are those big monkeys doing with the little one? looks like it's dying or something lol

James Minchew said...

How are you going to cope when you can't have lots of two hour massages every day?

the blogger said...

i just notice you also have a male friend lol.

Indonesia is in my interest to travel to but the factors of money and time have to be taken into account and i actually have a lot of places i'd like to go lol. Remind me of this later when you wanna go again. OK?

Good to know u still had fun with LIMITED budget and no massage hehe

Anonymous said...

Sounds cool. I'll have to go to Ubud when I'm next setting up home.

Clearly it'll be essential!

Ying Ying said...

I wana go to Bali too! Hard Rock hotel! yay!