Things i wish i knew before i went to Bali...
I would recommend that before anyone goes on a trip research the country, places people recommend, places that interest you. It’s good to be spontaneous and meet people there and discover as you go. But there’s nothing worse than getting home and seeing something on the likes of Instagram and it’s tagged in Bali and you are gutted you didn’t know about it! Especially when you are traveling so far you want to see the places that you can research on the internet as the top spots as well as the discoveries that the locals / others on their travels recommend.
Anyway...here's a few things that I would recommend ..
Money exchange:
We changed most of our money there, the exchange rates are better and it was so easy to find a trustworthy exchange place everywhere we went.
Food: Food is pretty cheap in bali- The average cost of a meal 40,000/45,000 (£3ish) . My favourite was the Indonesian special Nasi Goreng -so yummy.
Traveling to the Gili Islands:
when getting a boat to the Gili Islands make sure you book in advance as they may try and overcharge when you arrive on the day . When we arrived at the harbour it was slightly chaotic! (A moment of rain down pore added to this) But there were so many people and I feel like if we went to the harbour without tickets we may have just got any ticket that was advertised because it was hard to know what was what even with a ticket.
Night life:
Gili T is really good and fun for night out to pop-lock-and-drop-it. Theres alot of bars and clubs that are open in the evening. I really liked the club 'Jiggy bar' it was really fun. I also liked the club 'Sky Gardens' in Kuta/ Seminyak - theres a few different floors with different type of music incase some of the music doesn't tickle you're pickles.
Traveling place-to-place:
We used an app called ‘Grab’ Bali has Uber but also uses this app based taxi service. In some areas Grab & Uber is not allowed there are signs in certain areas and it can be frowned upon to use it sometimes by locals. But we had no issues with this and was a brilliant, fast, easy service with amazing value. (We paid the first taxi company (25 minutes journey) the same amount we paid our first Grab to Ubud (around 2hour journey)
Ubad:
If you're in Ubud i would recommend going to 'monkey forest'. The monekys are so cuteeee and friendly. It only costs around £3 to get in. The place is huge and is a massive jungle so theirs a lot of different shades of Green. Be careful with your stuff though some of the moneksy are really cheeky and might try open your bag and take things of you.
Day Trips:
Some hostels have their own day trips advertised at the hostel/hotels. So make sure you ask as they might have some amazing things going on . I at our hostel 'Dewa Hostel' was able to give us a good discount on our coach and boat trip to the Gili Islands.
Gili T: I Recommend finding the sunset points on the islands, they have dedicated swings for awesome pictures and seating area to comfortably sit / drink / eat and watch the sun set.
Gili Air:
When in Gili Air i would recommend going snorkelling ..it includs a guide, stop offs at 3 different Islands, stop off for lunch (lunch was not included in ours but I did see it was included on the other island!) all for £6! I had so much fun. You get to see loads of turtles and we also saw a sculpture underground by Jason Decaires Taylor.
Hostels/ Hotel we stayed in:
Lusa Hotel - Hotel in LegianDewa
Hostel 2 - Hostel in UbudGood for ya knee -
Hostel in Gili T
The ONE Legian - hotel in Kuta / LegianUnknown -
Gili Air, walked and found a bungalow. Lastly!!!:
Recommend for anyone going to any of the surrounding islands just to make sure to return to Bali at least a day before their flight home. The weather conditions and any other unforeseen circumstances could cause delays or cancellations of the boats. So better to be safe than risk relying on a boat the day you are due to be catching a flight home!
