Your Impression of Bali..

LoremIpsum
Thu, 14 Oct 2010 14:25:21 +0000

I’ve been to Bali twice, once with two young children, 5 and 9. It’s a lovely place, full of beautiful carvings and Hindu offerings of flowers and incense a few times a day. Artloversplus, you will certainly enjoy the local art, which is most interesting when it imitates art from other areas, while adding a Balinese touch. Visit the Monkey Forest and feed the monkeys – just don’t let them onto your shoulder and into your hair; I had one rooted there once, a mean one, who had to be bribed with a banana to leave.

Labor is cheap. You don’t need to have a car and driver on call at all times; just wander out front and there will be taxis waiting to take you anywhere, for as long as you’d like. Haggle for a decent day price; it’s expected.

Prices are highly stratified. You may find it worth it to spend $300 a night for some luxury hotel with marble floors and over-the-top details. But you CAN get 80-90% of the charm at places running $25-$75 a night, with cottages set in beautiful gardens. Taxis for the day can cost you twice as much if located in front of a 5-star hotel. If you can take a walk down the street to another cheaper local, you’ll save plenty for the same service.

Avoid the shops that look like they would fit into any large suburban mall – they will charge you several times what other places charge tourists. Usually each item has some ridiculous price tag, best suited for high-end US locations, and they’ll offer you 50% off eventually, maybe 60%. Don’t be fooled: you’ll do much better by having your driver stop at any interesting but less fancy location along the way as you tour. You can still buy hand-made trinkets like earrings for a buck or two, nice wood carvings for $5-$10 and hand-painted T-shirts for about the same. I bought an oil painting, about 8x10 in size, showing Balinese mythology, in some little shop for under $25.

As far as Thailand goes, if you’re in the area, don’t hesitate to go. I was in Thailand once DURING a coup; it was apparently all over the news here at home, but I didn’t hear a thing or see anything unusual while I was in Thailand. Americans too often forget that they live in one of the world’s most dangerous countries per capita; we know enough to not go wandering aimlessly into tough inner-city neighborhoods where most crime takes place. By the same token, unless you’re drawn to watching political conflict up close, the activities which make the international news do not take place in those areas frequented by farangs (foreigners).