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[d-rail]

im headed to Bali in May. Never been there and i just wanted to see if anyone else has, what kind of stuff to do, things to watch out for. 5days, planning on laying on the beach a lot, but anyone know what else to do there?

[Bibbitybop]

The first thing you should realize is that things are very cheap, but people will ask and ask and ask you to buy things or use their services. Knowing what you want to do and negotiating is important. That's the only bad thing about Bali is the constant shouts of "transport!?" and "massage?"

You won't need reservations for anything except maybe the boat or plane rides. There are literally taxis everywhere. Everyone knows everybody on the island and people can get you anything you need. If you stay at a hotel/guest house, just ask them what you need: Motorcycle, taxi, car with driver, tours, info, etc.

We loved everything we did on Bali with the exception of Kuta beach. It was crowded, dirty and annoying, but if you wanna club or buy things, it's a party place. We only went there for our first night b/c it's near the airport and we got in late.

Near Kuta is a place called Sanur. It is very uncrowded and what we were looking for in a beach near the airport.

We took a boat to Nusa Lembongan. We stayed at a hotel on the water, I can't remember the name, it's in the Lonely Planet Bali/Lombok book, and it has the dive center located at the hotel. Great food at that hotel, too, and a sweet dog that will sleep on your steps. The snorkeling/diving trips were expensive compared to other things in Bali, but we enjoyed it a lot. We only spent 1 night on the island and could've stayed a few more exploring it an other diving around it.

We went to Ubud after that and explored a lot of places around it on motorbike. We just headed East and north on our own and had a great day. Ubud is a great town and has a monkey forest that's fun.. Definitely check out one of the local performances at night. Ketala, I think the name is, is one of the fire and trance dances. We loved it.

We were going to go on a temple bus tour, but with 2 people, it was just as cheap to hire a car with a driver. Lots of temples are East of Ubud, there are volcanoes and mountain lakes, too. The temples are some of the best structures in the world. Buy a sarong and sash before doing a lot of temples, or else you might have to "rent" one.

One word of warning, also mentioned in the Bali book: Pura Besekah (spelling?) is one of the most important temples on Bali, but every single person associated with is corrupt. Its beautiful, but you have to stand your ground. After you pay the entrance fee at the base of the road, you don't have to buy anything else (unless you don't have a sarong). People will tell you there is a ceremony going on. There isn't. People will tell you that you need a guide to enter the temple. You don't. Like the book says, you are free to enter the temple and go anywhere inside of it. One guy was practically yelling at me not to enter the front gate b/c I wouldn't pay him to be a guide, or "temple guardian" as he claimed. I told him off using some choice words and wandered the temple with no problem.

[Yaya]

I've been to Bali twice and love it. The problem is, flying there from Korea is expensive, as you'll probably pay at least 600,000 won for a roundtrip ticket there. Plus getting a flight there is tough even at the high prices.

That said, Kuta Beach is rockin' though it can be quite dead during low season. The food ain't nothing to brag about but there are plenty of other cuisines available and for cheap. Of course, there were terrorist bombings in 2002 and 2005, but things have gotten back to normal in Bali.

The biggest gripe I have about Bali is getting there from Korea. Nuff said.

[d-rail]

wow, great info. thanks for the quality replies
found great deals on tickets and hotel, 600,000 원