General: Bali

I was extremely lucky to have visited Bali, Indonesia in June 2005, before the second bombings took place. To have occurred once was horrendous, killing and maiming all those people but for a second time - what has this island paradise and beautiful and gentle people done to deserve this? I don't want to dwell too much on this incident l want to extol to you (hopefully doing it some justice) the majestic beauty and peaceful tranquillity of this small ...
...will have to connect through one of the more major hubs whether it is Singapore or Bangkok. We flew out of Manchester with Singapore Airlines checking our baggage all the way through to Denpsar in Bali (DPS is the airport code). Flights connecting through Singapore and with a stop over in Singapore on the way home cost less than £600 STG which was excellent value. Expect to travel for practically 24 hours - we had to leave from Belfast therefore ...

purdy 14.01.2006 (04.02.2006) · Read full review
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Review of General: Bali

As you can tell by the title Bali was not my ideal holiday - do apologise to anyone that loves it! Bali was part of a three centre holiday that included Bangkok and Hong Kong in October 2001. Bangkok was for the first three nights, Hong Kong for the last two nights and Bali was the nine nights in the middle. The flight to Bangkok was around 12 hours then another flight of about 6 hours to get to Bali, we landed in Denpasar which is the capital of ...
...that was about an hour away. When we got to Bali we were taken to Grand Bali Beach in Sanur, the reception was very impressive, lots of marble and escalators being the focal attraction, surrounded with lush greenery. We were given our room keys and found we were staying in one of the garden view rooms, these we like little chalets that were similar to Butlins! The trip was in aid of my birthday, I got into the room and instantly took a major disliking ...

Redhead 05.09.2002 · Read full review
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Review of General: Bali

On Saturday October 12th 2002 just after 11pm a small bomb exploded in Paddy’s Bar on Legian Street in Kuta, Bali. This was shortly followed by a huge explosion that came from a car parked across the street outside the Sari Club. Both Paddy’s Bar and the Sari Club were full of young people; travellers, tourists, surfers, honeymooners, ex-pats, bar staff, doormen, prostitutes, DJs. A mix of people from all over the world and from all walks ...
...dance, mingle and enjoy themselves. Both bombs killed people outright, and then fires started. Most buildings in Bali are made mainly of wood, these were no exception, the fires spread rapidly, and the buildings collapsed trapping hundreds of people. The lucky ones managed to escape, over 400 were injured, a huge part of Kuta was destroyed and the death toll was nearly 200. When the bomb went off I was on a Royal Brunei flight to London that had ...

Nyoman 06.12.2002 · Read full review
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Review of General: Bali

Bali - everyone's idea of paradise? Well, certainly ours which is why we chose to go there for our honeymoon last month. Perhaps our expectations were set too high or perhaps we have been fortunate to have seen many other beautiful places for we found Bali to be a great disappointment. Harsh words? So to be fair let's list the good points; sunny weather, not too humid, friendly people, beautiful landscape, good value for money due to the currency ...
...its own private pool, tropical gardens and five friendly staff who looked after our every need. Our last two nights were spent in a five star hotel in the hills surrounded by paddy fields. Sounds idyllic? Well in a way it was. So what went wrong? Well what spoilt it for us, was the fact that it is very commercialised; the locals have to rely so heavily on the tourists and only seem to see you for the money that you might have in your pocket. You ...

Jenson 01.07.2001 · Read full review
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Review of General: Bali

I went to Bali in September 1999 with my girlfriend and spent three weeks travelling the island. After a long 25 hour flight, the moment we stepped off the plane we knew that we were in Paradise. From the runway that disappears into the sea built on a coral reef, the surrounding beaches and palm trees to the hot evening air and beautiful sunset that greeted our arrival, my first impression was that this would probably be a summer well spent. First ...
...Kuta. The advantage is that it is 5 minutes into Kuta where all the mightlife is but it is possible to have a quiet night too. Also, it has some of the best surfing beaches on the island. Australians spend there summer vacations here so it can be like the Aussie Tenerife/Ibiza. The hotel was booked over the internet and saved us about 40% on the cost. The standard of hotel was exceptional. Booked through the net a 4 star hotel cost us about $10US. ...

DavidG 08.08.2000 · Read full review
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Review of General: Bali

Bali really does cater for everyone, be you a backpacker, honeymooner or package holidayer. Parts of the island have been decimated by tourism. The best example of this is Kuta, once a peaceful fishing village with an amazing beach, now a sprawling town full of hawkers and pimps. (the beach is still amazing though with incredible surf and miles of golden sand, as the hawkers mostly stay off the beach and towards the road) If you like your nightlife, ...
...not book anything until you get there, as operators in Europe double the price of everything. Be sure and haggle the price downwards - this applies with regard to everything in Bali - taxis, tours, accomodation, clothes, market goods etc. etc. Get out of the airport as quickly as possible, as everyone tries to rip you off - get a fixed price taxi ticket from the kiosk just outside the terminal. If you're feeling cultural, stay in Ubud - it's not ...

ildamiano 08.08.2000 · Read full review
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Review of General: Bali

I've been to Bali three times in my life. And I must suggest you to go there! =) First of all, mentioning beach, Bali has a lot of beautiful beaches, including Kuta beach, Legian beach, Sanur beach and many more. It is well-known in Bali for spending time watching sun-being-set in the mouth of the coast. It was wonderful. The seas are somehow blue, reflecting the meaning of the real sea, what should it be. Second, the shopping center. It is growing ...
...to stay. It is very easy in Bali to find out the place to stay, even for a night only. Hotels, ranging from 1-star until 7-star are there to serve you, with good and acceptable standard. Four, the society. Bali is known as one international island in Indonesia, and of course, English language is likely to be spoken even by the local people. Waterbom (in Kuta region) is a must-visit swimming pool, as it's noted as one of the biggest and most attractive ...

apaajalah 30.09.2009 · Read full review
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Review of General: Bali

As soon as I stepped off the plane after a 21 hour flight from London Heathrow with BA to Jakarta then to Denpasar(capital of Bali) with Garuda Indonesia, I knew I had found paradise. It was early morning at about 9am and the temperature was upto about 25 degrees (hell) and by lunch time 45 degrees (absolute hell) but we had the gorgeous Balinese sea of Nusa Dua to cool us down. We stayed for 2 weeks all inclusive, and had a brilliant time. Our room ...
...world!). I can't for the life of me remember what the name of it was but it was good! The only bad thing about the whole holiday was the mosquitoes, which were everywhere but if you had a good repellent, no problem. The food there is great, meal for 6 under £15 (no mistake)!!! I would thoroughly recommend this destination to anybody! ...

ChrisCooper 16.08.2000 · Read full review
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Review of General: Bali

Getting to Gili Trawagnan was quite an ordeal in itself, travelling from Bali to Lombok, and then getting on the boat over to the island. As the boat approched the Island we became aware of the fact that it would not sail all the way to the shore so we had to jump out and wade through the water in order to reach the Island.This was fairly amusing as we had to struggle with our rucksacks above our head, whilst panicking about creatures that we were ...
...stood on them. We were immediately aware of the obvious beauty of the island, the sand was perfectly white and the water was bluer than most of the places I had seen in Australia! We were told immediately that the only transport was horse and carts, and they are rickety beyond belief!We were not sure if they would sustain the weight of our rucksacks with us aswell, but the job was done and we arrived at our accomodation.It was adequate, although ...

IMOGENIUS 22.06.2000 · Read full review
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Review of General: Bali