The last month of my VolunTourism jouney. My last stop is Bali, Indonesia. This part of my journey is different from my trip to Europe in Feb and my trip to South Korea in March/April because during those months, i had a plan but this time I decided to be spontaneous.
I arrived in Bali today (April 16, 2011) I would say my trip did not start smoothly. There were a few things that have already gone "wrong" since I got since I got here in Bali. First, i did not have US$25 to pay for my 1 month Indonesian tourist visa. All I had were Korean Won and Japanese Yen. Fortunately, a Balinese airport worker holding a paper with my name who was waiting for me at the gate as we de-boarded the plane, loaned me $25. I paid him 300,000 indonesian Rupia, he did not have change so my tourist visa ended up to be $34 ($1 = 8666 rupia today).
Travel Tip #1 = Make sureyou have US$25 to pay your Indonesian tourist visa good only for 1 month. Better yet have US$100 with you at all times when traveling abroad in case you need to pay for something.
I was picked up at the airport by a Indonesian couchsurfer, Donnie. And he drove me to another couchsurfer's, Yvonne C.'s apartment.
Travel Tip#2 : For transportation, it is best to be picked up by someone that lives in the area to avoid getting scammed by some taxi drivers. You can go to couchsurfing.org to get to know local people and if they are available then maybe they can pick you up. If you do not know anyone, you can use the airport taxi but it can cost more than a other taxi. If you want to save some mobey you can waitat the airport arrival curb and stop the light blue taxi (Bali taxi). Be sure that they put down the meter to prevent getting charged more.
Travel Tip #3 : To save money when traveling especially for accomodations, you can stay at a couchsurfer's place. To know more about couchsurfing. Go tocouchsurfing.org.
I walked around the neighborhood and saw that the most common mode of transportation is motorbike or scooter. They are a lot of motorbikes so I had to be careful not to be run over because they are driving so fast and with no regard for pedestrians. I continued to walk around because I needed to buy a SIM card for my cellphone and do some grocery shopping.
Travel Tip #4 - Get SIM card to save money on calls and text messaging. You can get XL or Simpati brand for 6,000 - 7,000 Rupia ($0.69 - $0.80 - it's less than $1)
As I continued to walk around, I found an internet shop. This is good for me because I wanted to make sure to update my family and friends that I am doing well here in Bali. There's no WiFi at Yvonne's place and there's no free WiFi around tge neighborhood except for internet shop.
Travel Tip #5 - To use the internet it cost 5,000 Rupia($0.58) per hour. If you just need WiFi access and you have your own computer device like laptop or Iphone it is cheaper 5,000 Rupia ($0.58$ for 2 hours.
I emailed a few coichsurfers in Denpasar, Bali and gave them my cellphone number and told them that I would love to hang out with them while I am here in Bali. An hour later, I got a text inviting me to go watch a movie, The King's Speech, at Bali Galleria with a few couchsurfers - Benny, Dwi, Vika and Han. I am so happy because it's my first night and I am already making friends with the locals. Bali Galleria is about 10 kilometers away and I don't have a car or scooter to get there, so my best option is to call for a motorbike taxi. There are no taxis that yoi can just stop on the street. They will either pick you up usong an airconditioned taxi or just a motorbike.
Travel Tip #6 - Call motorbike taxi to pick you up where you are staying at and brings you to your destination for 20,000 Rupia ($2.30). Make sure to call 1 hour before your planned departure time because it sometimes take that long for them to get to you.
The movie theater's in Bali is not that clean. There were stains on the seats and theater smelled like a mix of sweat and spices. But it is tolerable if you do not expect a theater like the Arclight in Los Angeles. Dwi told me that this is the only theater that shows the most recent foreign films. What she meant by recent is any movie released about 4-5 months ago in the US. That's quite a long time since US films are shown in Philippine theaters as early as 2 weeks after they are released in US especially if they are big films.
The movie ticker cost 30,000 Rupia ($3.46)
After the movie, they took me to a local indonesian restaurant. We had some satay, rice wrapped in banana leaves, water and Jasmine Tea in a "softdrink" bottle. The satay are good but the sauce is not as peanutbuttery as Iam used to having in California. It is medium thick dark colored sauce, a little bit salty and sweet. It cost me only 19,000 Rupia ($2.19).
Travel Tip #7 - Tipping is not mandatory but of course, always appreciated.
This was my first day. Thank you Dear God for guiding me and making me safe :)!!!
- Kaye
Sent from my iPhone
