The Bali Experience
The giant Boeing of Emirates landed and I was again in Bali, Indonesia. I passed immigration control and was free to explore the island. The first thing I did obviously was to buy a SIM card in order to have internet access. It is cheap and the entire island has good network coverage. Afterwards, I went to the arrivals hallway, wherein I was literally attacked by people (drivers) offering their service to take me to my hotel. My strategy in such situations is to never go with the first drivers. Those who insist too much do not have my trust. I like to go further, pretend someone is waiting for me, look around, walk back and forth and pick someone more in the background. With this strategy, I came across a young 22 years old guy, who turned out to be extremely sympathetic and with whom I made 2 amazing road trips during my stay (to be described later).
Something very important to know about Bali is that roads are very narrow and traffic is huge. Therefore a trip which on Google Maps is of 10–15 km may take up to 2 hours. Therefore, it is recommended to buy some water before going to the hotel (despite the fact that water at the airport is rather expensive, I paid 50 000 Rupiah — in the town it is 20–30000). Overall, it took me about 3 hours starting from the moment I passed immigration to reach my hotel. Given the long travel, I of course immediately went to sleep a few hours (it was midday).
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The first thing after getting into shape was to find a scooter. Without a scooter, your experience in Bali will be limited. There is no public transportation that is reliable and going with a driver all the time will be expensive. My recommendation however is that you do not rent a scooter if you have never driven one before. Try to take some lessons before going to Bali. Despite the fact that it is quite easy to drive, you still need some practice when taking curves and looking into the mirrors to avoid a crash. Fortunately, I learned these skills during my stay in Taiwan a few years ago (I still forgot quite often to turn off the signaling when turning right or left — on a scooter it is not automated like in cars). The most important thing to keep in mind (despite being unconfortable): always wear the helmet.
Scooter rental prices are usually between 50 -60 000 Rupiah per day. No document is needed, you just fill out a form. It goes on trust. There is also no insurance possibility. So driving carefully is crucial.
Once I had the scooter, Bali was mine. I immediately started planning. My strategy was that for important locations within approximately 15 km, I will use the scooter, and for longer trips I go with my driver. A full day trip with a driver is about 700 000 Rupiah — let’s say 40 Euros. So I was planning to do about two of these, one to the volcano (Batur), and one to the Uluwatu Temple area (1 400 000 Rupiah — 90 euro).
The next posts will focus on these day trips mainly.
