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 Traveller's Tales: Things to do in Indonesia
Learn about leisure and recreation in Indonesia. You may read about their travel activities and adventures. Find out their travel tips and guides and discover fun things to do in Indonesia.Also, you might want to read our
Bali city guide,
and Lombok city guide.
Pages (2 of 8):
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| J Fitch |
29 November 2004 |
Stayed at Jimbaran Puri Bali - Bali, Indonesia.
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We took a long weekend in Bali, my husband and I and a friend. It was decided to spend 2 nights somewhere near Ubud and one night on a beach to get the contrast and in case the weather was bad in the mountains. It was a good decision. Being Monsoon time the weather closed in most afternoons in the the high country. We stayed at Tamen Babek Villas in Sayan about 10 minutes from Ubud. The view is better than the 4 Seasons, which is just along the road but below our villa. We were situated overlooking the Ayang River and across to rice terraces and palm clad hills...and in the distance Mount Batukaru. Very peaceful, and yet the jungle around us was teeming with it's own life. The Tamen Babek villas are lovely old traditional houses with wide verandas and timber floors, very rustic, set in tropical grounds designed by the enigmatic Australian expat Michael White, or Made Widjaya as he is now called.
We hired our own driver, rather than take a conventional tour, and went to Ubud. Spent the day window gazing and had dinner in a tiny little restaurant called Bumbu, where there were small pavilions dotted round a private garden with a lilly pond in the centre. There were proper tables as well but we preferred to sit on cushions in our own private pavilion. The food was good and more important the ambience was delightful. We also took in a Kechak fire and trance dance that evening, hawkers sell tickets all over Ubud and tell you where to go and what time etc. Totally rivetting and the dancing girls were very beautiful. We bought some paintings from a local artist in residence near our villas, of the Hindu God characters (Sita Rama and the Monkey King) in the Kechak dance as mementos. The next day we hired a driver to take us to Mount Batur ( the still active volcano). We ate at a restaurant which was built on a ridge opposite
the volcano.
On our way back our driver was very obliging and stopped whenever we asked, so that we could look at some of the wood carvings, stone carvings and basketware, that interested us. Tegallalang had some pretty good shops. Most private drivers charged around 30,000 to 45,000 Rupiahs for the round trip. We stayed one night at the Pansea Bali in Jimbaran Bay. A beautiful bay with lovely sand and swimming and great seafood restaurants dotted along the beach. This hotel is right on the beach so you can sit with your toes in the sand while you eat lunch or dinner by flaming torch. It is very unpretentious, unlike some of the 5 star hotels in the area. We walked up the beach a couple of hundred yards to one of the seafood restaurants called Denas... where we chose our own red snapper and prawns and told them how we wanted them cooked...just grilled with butter and garlic or with chili sauce. The hotel food was also very good and priced very competitively.
As we only had one day and we wanted to see a temple, so we went to Uluwatu Temple. The Macacque monkeys who live there snatch your glasses and hats, all very entertaining and the sunset is divine. You can also sit happily with a cocktail at the hotel beach bar and watch the sunset too if you are so inclined. The Pansea Bali Hotel is only 15 minutes from the airport and yet it is on one of the most beautiful beaches in Bali. As it was the Monsoon season the weather was kind to us, and we got a tan...however the skies were turbulent and exciting as there was always thunder and lightening somewhere in the distance either over the mountains or out to sea. We would definitely go to the Pansea Bali Hotel again.
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| T Iskandar |
19 November 2004 |
Stayed at Grand Mercure Phoenix Yogyakarta Hotel - Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
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You can reach Yogyakarta from all major cities in Indonesia by plane or bus. I like to call Yogyakarta a heritage city. It has a lot of things that have been kept for hundred years, such as king palace, museum, candi, batik, wayang puppet, gudeg and etc. You could enjoy Gudeg (a traditional food) at Wijilan street near king palace. At night you could travel along Malioboro street just to spent your money to but crafts and gifts at this traditional hawker centre. Lesehan is a traditional way to eat gudeg at Malioboro street. Looking for more batik crafts? In the morning, Beringharjo market at Malioboro street is a great choice. Borobudur is one of the wonders of the world located 72 km north Yogyakarta. Prambanan is famous for its Ramayana dance and located near Yogyakarta. Bakpia pathuk are popular traditional cookies that you must try. So many things, so little time. That's why I visit Yogyakarta every year and always find a new experience.
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| N Ebrahim |
18 November 2004 |
Stayed at Alila Ubud - Bali, Indonesia.
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THE Alila Ubud was a nice place to stay in Ubud. The dances in Ubud are not to be missed. Ary's warung an excellent restaruant. As with Ubud being the capital of art in Bali so it also seems to be the capital of good artistic food. HOWEVER, one day I went on a white water rafting trip, which was amazing, and at the end of it we were given a beatiful traditional Balinese lunch. We were offered some sauces labeled mild and spicy. Enjoying spicy food I asked the guide if 'spicy' meant 'very spicy' and she replied yes it is very spicy. Well being used to spicy food I slapped a bunch on and proceeded to eat it when I started choking as if my esophagus is going into spasms. I downed the beer , anything I could get my hands on , when finally I realised I was going to survive. The next morning I woke up with blisters all around the inside of my lips, and my lips were swollen. I spoke for the next week as if I had a peirced tounge, and I also found it very painful to eat.
Later on during my trip I watched a program on Bali Vision on Balinese food. It mentioned Balinese chillies are the HOTTEST in the WORLD. I can attest to that!
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| C Mathis |
01 November 2004 |
Stayed at Puri Bambu Hotel - Bali, Indonesia.
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This was the first time that I ventured outside of Kuta. We took a day trip into Denpasar to the Kumbi Sari market. It was huge, especially the craft market. The cost for a bemo (public bus) from Kuta was about 10,000 rupiah ($1). Apparently this is where many of the locals shop and business owners buy their goods to sell at the local markets. It is well worth a visit.
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| S Petruska |
29 September 2004 |
Stayed at Damai Lovina Villas - Bali, Indonesia.
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Plenty to do in the surrounding areas- temples to visit, waterfalls, great snorkelling... there was a 6 hour snorkelling trip to an island in the Northwest of Bali that is supposed to be fantastic, but we were afraid of sunburn... for 20$ a fisherman took us off the coast of Lovina for two hours and although the coral reefs were not spectacular, the fish were amazing. We ate dinner at the restaurant each night since the food was so good. We hired a car from Denpasar and came up to Lovina via Ubud and Gunung Batur (40$ for driver and guide for whole day), and then returned home via the floating temple, visited Tanah Lot for sunset, took showers at the hotel at which we had stayed in Denpasar and then caught our 11 PM flight.
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| M Duggan |
13 September 2004 |
Stayed at Ibis Kemayoran - Jakarta, Indonesia.
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We arrived 2 days after the Jakarta bomb at the Australian Embassy, and local people seemed surprised that we (Australians) were still game to visit, and pleased that we were there.
We got around by taxis which were quite cheap but on average they were reluctant to use their meters and we had to insist. No problem with Bluebird cabs, but imitators were abundant.
We visited Ancol complex and walked around the beach. Good food and drink, not many tourists (indo or australian).
Mangga Dua shopping mall was not far from the hotel, and well worth a visit - clean and bright and modern, with good prices on consumer goods, and there are lots of rumah makans and padang restaurants nearby which do a roaring trade.
Also visited Pasar Raya shopping mall a little south of the city, better than Mangga Dua and a favourite of ours. Only about Rp 15,000 by taxi. The market around the mall was a hassle.
Sunda Kelapa harbour was interesting, watched boats being laden with timber bound for Sumatra and outlying islands, but the bearers loading the timber only get paid Rp 25,000 per day, a pity.
Went to Cafe Batavia on Fatahillah Square. Despite it being lunchtime on a Saturday, it was very quiet. Beautiful ambience, old colonial features, ceiling fans, dark wood, linen table cloths etc - very Raffles. Also very overpriced - we had a modest 2 course lunch which cost Rp 425,000 for 2 people including 2 beers - still stinging from that bill.
Visited Istiqlal Mosque, the biggest in SE Asia, which was beautiful - 5 storeys high and very vast and cool inside. We were made very welcome and given a tour by the guide/guard who advised us that he "normally gets Rp 20,000 from each person" for the tour. We gave him only Rp 20,000 total and he seemed ok with that.
Also visited the fleamarket on Jl Surabaya which was very interesting - well kept, neat, orderly, little tiny shops in a row filled with bric a brac, "antiques", bits of porcelain, coins, brassware, and assorted interesting bits and pieces - worth a visit.
We did struggle to fill 3 days in Jakarta and were happy to be leaving at the end, and feel we won't return unless it's necessary to pass thru on the way to another destination. Having said that, we have visited in the past and stayed a beautiful villa in Pondok Indah with swimming pool and cook, and were chauffered around by drivers - if that had been the case again, I'm sure we would feel very differently than having to find our own way around in dodgy taxis in uncertain areas.
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| J May |
11 August 2004 |
Stayed at Poppies Bali - Kuta, Indonesia.
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Bali is a beautiful holiday spot. Recommend hiring a driver for the day and going to have lunch by the volcano, going to the monket forest and shopping for arts and crafts in Ubud. Go and party and Double Six located at Legian Beach.
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| K Elsby |
27 June 2004 |
Stayed at Alila Ubud - Bali, Indonesia.
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I took the hotel's complimentary rice terrace/banana plantation walk in the hills of Ubud, followed by a gourmet picnic in the fields - this was my personal highlight and I would highly recommend the experience.
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| J Cheang |
13 June 2004 |
Stayed at Green Garden Hotel - Bali, Indonesia.
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We walked around Kuta town, did a lot of shopping for wood carvings, some sarongs, which were very cheap. Found a restaurant called Kunyit Bali, in front of Santika Beach Hotel in Kuta, which served delicious Balinese food. We also chartered a van to take us to Kintamani, Mt. Batur, Ubud, and along the way, lots of vendors selling wood carvings, handicrafts, which were very much cheaper compared to Kuta. As we are from Malaysia, the sun, sea and surf did not interest us much since we have plenty of that back home, but the shopping did!
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| D Bolton |
28 May 2004 |
Stayed at Inna Garuda - Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
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Jogja was great. Don't miss the Ramayana Ballet, quite spectacular. Prambanam and Borobodur temples were sensational. If you really like the time to look around these places rather than being rushed by a limited tour schedule, book a taxi for the day. Of course you'll need to bargain, but we got a car and driver (albeit with almost no english) for 400,000 rupiah for the day (and no doubt you could get it cheaper too) and for this we toured to Borobodur for as long as we wanted, the village of Kaliurang for views of Mt Merapi (although it was raining the walk through the rainforest there was beautiful - so didn't see the volcano) and Prambanam is also very beautiful and worth a good look. Also hire a guide at both temples - only 40,000 rupiah and worth the money - very informative.
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