My "How To" Guide For Indonesia

I will not be going into any details or belabor you with any stories about my trip in this blog post. It is mainly to give insight, info, and suggestions for my friends looking to travel to Indo (Sean, Tobias, and more). The next Blog post will be jam-packed with stories where I stumble drunkenly into all kinds of high jinxes! Leave a post if you found this helpful.

Jakarta

Hostels

The only advice I can really give about Jakarta is… don’t go there unless you have to haha. But if you do go there it has the best hostel in South East Asia!  Thi hostel of course is SIX DEGRESS!!!

http://jakarta-backpackers-hostel.com/

I will go into why this is the best hostel ever in my next post but just trust me it’s amazing!

BALI

Kuta, Bali

Kuta is gross and littered with obnoxious Aussie tourists, but worth staying a couple nights to get some party in I think.

Hostels

Hostels don’t really exist in Indo the way they do in the Big Four but you can get some pretty cheap rooms. We tried MANY different places along Poppies 1 and 2 and our favourite overall was Suka Beach Inn on Benesari street (just off poppies 2). I totally think it’s worth the extra few bucks especially if you have just been roughing it for a while. . If you want a really cheap and clean place to stay hit up Legain Mas which is right beside Vilarisi Hotel! We paid something insane like 90,000 a night to stay there for a week! It comes with free wifi and breakfast and decent rooms. It up the beach in Legain tho so its about a eight minute walk from the heart of Kuta (which I think is it good haha).

Food

- Go to circle K to buy water... It's cheapest here.

- Eat at the local food place right beside Sukas.. Called Warung Nauli... You'll see a bunch of bowls of food in the window. Order nasi campur and make sure you get the sweet Tempe when you tell them what you want.

- Go to Vilarisi hotel and restaurant in the Legian area for biggest/best/cheapest nasi goreng

- Hit up Sky garden from 5-6 for free beer, then all you can eat BBQ from 5-9 for 50 000 IDR ($5) then free drinks and free appies starting at 9. I LOVED THE ALL YOU CAN EAT BBQ IT WAS AMAQZING!!!

- Mcdics ice-cream cones are 0.30$ !!!

- Go to Warung Tan Poh in Legian area for the best dessert ever... Called the Balinese Vanilla (or special or somethibg like that.)

Bars

- Alley cats has The cheapest drinks in Town.

- Skygarden is great because of the free booze and has some fun event going on

- Bounty is also a good time! They give out headbands so you know its good!

Other Random Stuff

- A cab from kuta, Bali to the airport should cost max 30 000. But your best bet in Bali is just to use BLUEBIRD taxi and get them to use the meter. They are reputable and won't rip you off. Always use bluebird if possible! Check to see that the meter is running once you start moving.

- Send me a message if you want some info on the visa extension process if you want to stay longer than a month in Indo

- Buy your tickets to Gili Air or Gili T while you're in Kuta, Bali. We paid 400 000 for a RETURN fast boat ticket, which included bus transfers from Kuta to the Padang Bai terminal and from Padang Bai back to Kuta.

- If you need to use a computer, go to Ocean's 2 restaurant near Suka beach inn (there's a big purple sign out front); they'll rent you out a laptop for as long as you need if you order something from their menu.

- Rent a surfboard for max 50 000 IDR ($5) per day. Don’t rent from the beach, though!! It's more expensive there.

- Buy glasses and shirts for max 20 000.

- Go to the beach straight across from hard rock cafe at 4pm to release baby turtles! - Rent motorbikes for max 50 000 per day... Read the insurance policy... Insurance usually isn't worth buying. Carry small amount of money (50 000 or so) to give to cops if u get pulled over, hide the rest of your money in a sneaky pocket (we used bikes a lot and never got pulled over though). Bike south to check out Padang Padang beach, bingin beach, balangan beach, jimboran and uluwatu. I'd just rent for a week or so and take off for the south!

Southern Bali

In Balangan, We stayed at a place called Balangan Homestay about 10 mins from the beach. Beautiful rooms with aircon. Balangan beach was cool but if you don’t want to surf it gets boring quickly. 

Here’s a picture of Balangan beach:  

 

I'd suggest staying a few nights at Uluwatu surf beach instead. SUPER COOL little surf town!! Check it out:

We never ended up staying there cause we didn't check it out till our last day in Indo, and I SERIOUSLY regret not getting there earlier for a few nights stay. Check out the Uluwatu temple while you're there... Definitely worth the 20 000IDR. Look for King Kong...he lives at the temple and he's an OBESE monkey haha it's crazy!

 

 

 Go to Jimboran for seafood BBQ on the beach!! Make sure you also order a piece of BBQ'd corn while you're here. Realllly cool vibe here.

Ubud, Bali

Hostels

We stayed at Warsa's Garden Bungalows and Spa. I would HIGHLY suggest you stay there. We paid 200,000 ($20) for a beautiful bungalow! We had free breakfast delivered to our porch, free wifi, pool access, hot showers, and a beautiful room that got cleaned everyday!

Food

- Ibu Rai is one of the nicer restaurants on town and it's AMAZING! Have the avocado and chicken salad for a starter then the herb chicken breast with pasta!!!!! INSANE! I would even say it was one of my 5 top meals on my whole trip!

- Suckling pig (Babi Guling) is a must try while your here and Ibu Oka does

the best and most affordable meal of it. They’re only open mid day tho! Get

the special... it's $3 and the best pork meal you will ever have! Check it:

- Kafe is an AWESOME organic and health orientated restaurant. The cashew-nut and Tempe vegetable curry is SOOO good!

- The Laughing Budda has amazing live music almost every night! Get there before 9 or it will be full. 
- There is a place in the lonely planet where everyone goes for cripy duck! It was so good!

Other Random Stuff

- If ur into yoga you have to do a class at the Yoga Barn! Fridays at 6pm they

have a free class that's excellent!

- If you interested in hiking but don’t want to do a crazy three day epic like Rinajani I would highly suggest the MT Batur hike! You leave EARLY in the morning but you make it to the top for sunrise and you cook your breakfast by using the volcanic vents of the volcano! We paid like half of what they advertise it say (I think 200,000) SO BARTER!!! 

- Also rent bikes and just roll around UBUD! It’s so safe and SOOOOOOO beautiful! 

- I would suggest a day tour to all the close by temples for 100,000. Make sure your entrance fees to all the temples and sights are included in your tour price. If not just rent scooters and drive to the sights yourself. They are all pretty close to each other. The Elephant temple was my favourite!

Gili Air

You'll LOVE this island!! Suuuper laid back, a few good bars still, beautiful sunsets, a perfect little running loop around the island... Ahh it was GRAND! We stayed at a place called Harmony on the North end of the island. Harmony was easily Court’s favourite homestay thus far! You stay in an open-air bamboo room just steps from the ocean... I've never slept so well! Banana pancakes on your deck in the morning, couches set up on the beach for sunset... It's utter bliss! We paid 130 000 per night and this included a pancake breaky. We usually ate at this little local warung that's about a 5 minute walk inland from harmony... It has a clothing store attached to it... You'll see it. It had cheap and awesome food. Try the beef rendang. Small portion but delicious. Fun activities include try to find a coconut and opening it by yourself! The team at Harmony will lend you a knife haha. Go snorkeling in the morning! We saw an octopus! 

 

Gili T

This is More of a party island compared to Gili A. We had a glorious ol time here. We stayed at Bukit Bungalow... Probs the best deal in town. 100 000 a night for a clean room and an awesome breaky. It's a bit off the main strip so it's nice and quiet. Go to Rudy's for cheapest drinks! Derek was obsessed with this little donut stall that made mini donuts on the spot haha. If you're walking from the Harbour to Bukit, it's on your right on the street just before the street where you turn onto to get to Bukit... Haha does that make sense? Definitely go snorkeling a lot on Gili T!!! Best place to go is in Turtle Bay... Swim out and snorkel along the drop off to see turtles! The current is uslaly strong so it pulls you all the way down the beach. It's like something out of planet earth! Night market was fun for food! Our friends raved about the food at Scalleywags but we never ate there cause it was a bit expensive. If you walking from Bukit to the night market but keep walking past it there is a restaurant on the right that has insane lunch and dinenr deals and provides free wifi and sells donuts during the day! I forget what this palce was called but it was sick!!! I think it had a 2 in the name haha. Go up to the viewpoint to watch sunset... Just ask the boys at Bukit how to get there.

Komodo Tour

In Gili T we booked our 4 day/4 night Komodo tour for 1.3 mill per person; this included a boat to Lombok mainland, bus ride to east Lombok where the tour boat departs from, 3 awesome meals a day, stops at multiple tropical islands for snorkeling/relaxing/swimming, entrance fees at Komodo national park and Rincca. It did NOT include return transportation!! If you do this trip, do not book the return transportation until you get to Flores! It's wayyyy cheaper to book from there... I think we paid 220 000 for the trip --- on Gili T they tried to get us to pay 450 000 for the same trip. We ended up with an awesome group of young people so the trip was a ball, but to be honest Im not sure the faint of heart or particular girls will love this one. Living quarters were EXTREMELY cramped (we had 30 people on a boat fit for 18 max), and you're on the open seas for a large portion of each day. There are some nicer boats, however, where passengers get their own rooms and far nicer (safer?) living quarters. I think these trips costed about 2 mill. If you decide to do the tour, buy your booze beforehand... In sengigi if possible!!! Our boat crew told us that we could order booze from them, but they charged us exorbitant prices and then FORGOT to load the booze onto the boat hahah so we had a mostly sober trip. But ya, if you want to see dragons -- one of the 7 wonders of the world -- this is the best way to do it next to flying!!

Kuta, Lombok

You 100% need to come here, and 100% should stay at Kuta Bay Homestay (www.kutabayhomestay.com). The family who runs this place is ridiculously accommodating. Susie, the Indonesian woman who runs show here, organized everything and anything for us. She set up a surf lessons for our friends at this sweeeet reef break called Gerupak that you boat into. she charged us $20 for the car and boat rides, the board rental, and a private lesson. We wanted beers one night, so she had ice cold beers DELIVERED TO OUR DOOR. Ask her to bring you to the pancake place! Also, her sister will prepare nasi campur for 10 000 per person if you ask. We ate almost every meal at warung Jawa 1... SO FACKING CHEAP! Shakes for 6000 and they usually give you a free refill. Amazing nasi campur for about 12 000 usually. We rented bikes from our homestay and rode out to Mawi Beach one day. A very tough ride, but the final destination is worth the stress haha. Stop at the hilltop vegetarian restaurant called Ashtari cafe on your way home. Amazing views and healthy food here. Use the CIMB ATM at the resort in town (ask susie)... This is the only ATM in town that lets you take out $300... The others max out at $150.

Mount Rinjani: Depending on what season it is when you get to Indo It might not be running (rainy season), but you should definitely look into it just in case because it was the highlight of Court’s whole trip. This was an absolutely EPIC 3 day, 2 night climb up to the summit of a volcano. The last 300m of this climb was the hardest thing Court had ever done (physically). We booked the whole trip for 900 000 (epic bartering took palce!!! Most of our fellow trekkers said they paid about 1 500 000) each. This included our ride from Kuta to Senaru, one night's accommodation in Senaru the night before the climb, 3 meals per day during the climb, snacks, tents and sleeping mats (which were probably thinner than yoga mats... Prepare for the worst sleeps of your life), porters, a guide, and a ride from the mountain to the port town of Bansal. If you do this, prepare for the cold!!! Buy a toque and gloves in Mantaram on your way to Senaru! Bring pants and a jacket. Court was unlucky and got rained on HARD, so make sure you have a rain jacket and bag cover just in case. I won't go into the details of the climb itself in case you can't book it... I don't want to get you too jacked up only to find that the climb is closed haha.

Other Random Tips:

Barter your ass off. YOU ARE IN A BUYERS MARKET!!! Like I said before, don't pay more than 20 000 for singlets and glasses. 25,000 max for sarongs. Buy a sarong as soon as you get there, they are ridiculously useful!! I use mine almost every night as a bed sheet and I love the air flow when I wear it normally ;). Court thinks they are great as a beach blanket... Scarf... Dress... The list goes on.

- Your bartering power goes up if you have more people buying -- ie. if you're booking a tour, try to round up some friends and all book together. The first price they offer you is usually ridiculous... Just laugh and say that you've been in indo for a while and you know that price is way too much.

- Shopkeepers like when you joke with them while bartering. If buying clothes and such, they'll put your purchase in 1 of 3 bags: a black bag if you're a stingy barterer (aka you've done a good job), a white bag if you're a fair barterer, and a colorful or striped black and white bag if you're easy prey haha.

Food staples

-nasi goreng = fried rice

-Mie goreng = fried noodle

-ayam = chicken

- nasi campur = rice with your choice of veg/meat/tofu etc. This is the stuff that you'll order from a selection of food in the window haha. Can look kinda sketchy but it's Sooo good.

A tip for ordering: meat is expensive; so only ask for 1 piece of chicken or whatever if youre on a budget or no meat and just scoop the delicious chicken curry broth into your rice! The more TYPES of food that you ask for, the more they charge you; your best bet is to ask for a lot of just a couple types of food (ie ask for an extra scoop of veg and a lot of sweet Tempe haha).