Far East

Discussions regarding holidays in the Far East.
Holiday in bali
10 Posts
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hi and welcome to HT :) . Unfortunately we don't have reviews for your hotels. Have had a look at your first hotel and it looks lovely. Are the bad reviews specifically about the hotels or the resort? Nusa Dua is artificial( I think it was purpose built in the 80s?)
I personally would not stay there although loads of people love it. If you have a lovely hotel and you get out and about in Bali to see why it really is a paradise island then you get the best of both worlds. :)
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Just been looking at Flores as I had no idea where it was :) Looks interesting.
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Hi
Thanks for your reply. The bad reviews are about the accomodation on Nusa Lembongan island (called Nusa Lembongan resort) and also where we are staying in Labaun Bajo which is the Bintang Flores resort. I can't seem to find much info (other than not great reviews) on them, maybe because they are dive resorts? Not sure.
Would love to hear from anyone that has stayed in either of these areas off Bali.
Also any suggestions on what we can see and do in Bali, we don't intend to stay in our hotel in Nusa Dua for the 6 days, would like to go out and about. Also I am assuming it is cheap? Is that the case?
So many questions.....thank you in advance.
:)
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Wow, what an interesting trip! (Like Fiona I have no time for Nusa Dua though), although I spent a couple of nights at The Bale, I didn't leave the hotel.

I can help with the Nusa Lembongan Resort as I spent 2 nights next door last May at the Waka Nusa. The Nusa Lembongan resort was great - beautiful sunset views, and the rooms were impressive. It's not 'uber luxury', maybe that's what people are expecting. The restaurant was lovely, and plenty of nice places a short stroll down the beach. The journey there can be fun!

I presume Labuan Bajo as you are off to see Komodo Dragons? I woudn't worry about the hotel as standards are quite basic once you head off the beaten track in Nusa Tenggera. Try and fit in a climb to Kelimutu Volcano with it's 3 different colour volcanic lakes. How you getting there? Boat or plane?

I'm presuming you've got a tour booked or have you done this independently?
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for things to do- I strongly recommend getting a guide/driver for the day. One of the things you have to do is to visit some temples.Each village has its own temple and it features at the centre of village life. The most impressive one we went to was the Royal Temple in the middle of a lake.
You will obviously see the rice terraces and they take your breath away.
Go to the Barong Dance at Denpasar for 9.30am( we did that at the start of one of our guide days).
A trip Mt Batur to see one of the volcanos Bali has. Tanah Lot is the place to be at sunset. It is a temple on a huge rock which becomes an island at high tide.
Ubud- the monkey forest and a wander through the village to see all the temples and hopefully to witness one of the many ceremonies Bali has. If you can time it for a cremation or even on the day before, where you will see the celebrations around the coffins on display, surrounded by offerings then you will find it fascinating. There are craft villages which are interesting.
Whole villages devoted to one craft- we stopped at a couple- your guide should only stop at the ones you want to- you are paying him after all.
Ubud is a mixture of crafts and the shopping there is great. Also there are museums We also stopped at a spice and coffee plantation.
We also went on the Waka Experience when we stayed at the Waka Namya- but it is open to anyone. To be honest it was expensive but we were taken to places off the beaten track- to a quarry where everything is still done by hand and the women carry the stones on their head up steep slopes. Next was to a traditional farm- fascinating. Lunch was in the middle of a rainforest in a place exclusively built for them- and it is in the middle of nowhere and probably the reason why the trip was expensive. YOu dine on local produce including fern- delicious believe it or not and wine and brandy. We went to a hot spring where locals mass. The other thing I liked was that we passed through villages off the tourist trail and the children would all wave at you! My hand grew tired :wave: :D I have to say that the driver we had was not as good at telling you about the daily life of Balinese as our guide was. Also you are one of about 8. But it is certainly worth it for where they took you.
There are loads of other options- we still have places to see galore. The bird park is enjoyable- as part of a day tour. There is a zoo but havent been there. Go to a dance one evening- if you get a chance to see the kecak then I promise you won't forget it.
Some of our best times were unplanned. For instance, at the start of the Waka tour we were collected by a car to be taken to a meet up for the tour. We had half an hour on our own at the meet point amongst rice fields. A man was busy planting rice and his wife and children came along to give him his breakfast. The two boys were fascinated with us and the camera. We were reluctant to take a photo of them as we had been told that many don't like that. However, they just "happened "to wander into the camera view
and so we motioned that we would take a photo and got a lovely one. They were delighted when they saw themselves in it. The family waved as went off to the landrover. No begging, just friendly and interested.
I'm sure others will add their favourite trips :)
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Wow, thank you very much for all of the info...i certainly think our stay in bali will be jam packed. The KUL and 6 nights in Bali we booked through Virgin, however Nusa Lembongan and Labaun Bajo are independant, we are mainly going there as diving is supposed to be fantastic, however we will also take the time to visit the Komodo dragons too. Really looking forward to it. I am relieved to hear that the resort looked ok and the accom was ok too.....thanks!
So you suggest that we hire our own private driver for the day, does this work out much cheaper then?
Thanks again for your help and advice, it is very much appreciated.
:sun2
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When we had our own guide/driver it was £17 for the day. That was 2 years ago. (Last year I had been ill so we had a more relaxing time and only had an organised 4 wheel drive day tour but did stay in Ubud for a few days which is like a trip in itself.)
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Thank you for this info, its very helpful.
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when we went to bali we took a one night stay in nusa lembongan and was absolutley great,we didnt like bali at all,and wish we could have spent the whole time at nusa lembongan. :)
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