Bali - The Island of a Thousand Temples

Before we left the UK, we tried to keep our budgeting process simple and assumed the same monthly spend target for each country we visited in South East Asia. Even though we knew there would be slight variances for many different reasons. Given Bali is the most touristy of the Indonesian islands, it turns out that it wasn’t as cheap as we thought. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still really cheap compared to the UK and most parts of the Western world. As always, it depends on how you live your time there. If you want to be extravagant with your accommodation, where you eat and drink, then of course, it won’t be cheap. For people who are backpacking and watching the pennies, Bali will feel a bit more pricey than the likes of Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia. As a family, I am trying to watch the pennies as we want our spending money to stretch for as long as possible. I assumed this on our budgeting spreadsheet which allowed us to eat out 3 or 4 days a week. Email us if you want a copy of our detailed spreadsheet (meetthearshads7@gmail.com). Will be more than happy to share.

With a family of 7, hotels won’t have big enough rooms, they are expensive for a decent standard and they are not suited to a long term travel lifestyle. After research, we found that Air BNB’s would be a suitable option for us. SE Asia is cheaper and if you book long stay periods (over 28 days), they are even less costly than short stay. We got lucky with the price of our Air BNB as I took a risk and booked it during the pandemic lockdown when tourists were not allowed in. We got a whopping 65% off the normal price!

We stayed in a place called Legian which is in Kuta not far from the airport. Alongside Seminyak and Canggu, these are the busiest areas of Bali. If you want good surfing waves, lots of shops, bars,beach clubs, restaurants then this is the place to be. The sunsets on these parts of the island are amazing. Having kids with us meant there was always something to do which is important for our own sanity! They also made friends with local children which was really nice. The non-stop attention from traders on the streets and beaches did start to become annoying but we stayed polite and patient with them. They have had a really hard last two years with no tourism so we totally understand why they are a bit pushy.

There are no buses or trains. It’s all about travel by road in a car or on a motorbike. Like most of South East Asia, the taxis are cheap. The roads are always congested so if you are in a car, you need to be patient with all the traffic as you won’t be getting anywhere fast especially around Kuta, Seminyak, Canggu and Ubud. The quickest way to get around is by motorbike. It’s not necessarily the safest if you hire one yourself but that is an option and it’s cheap. It’s also cheap to use them as taxis which can easily be ordered via Grab and Gojek apps. These apps are brilliant as you also order fast food, groceries and medicine to be delivered by the drivers. We did consider renting a car which was quite cheap but when we weighed up the pros and cons, it made more sense to hire a driver with a large people carrier. No stress trying to drive on those busy roads, the driver knows where to go and is effectively your tour guide and interpreter where needed. I would recommend using drivers for longer trips and taxis for the shorter ones.

I’ve already mentioned Kuta and Seminyak earlier. They are not much different from each other especially when it comes to congested roads but there are differences to be aware of. Kuta is very busy with mainstream tourists and backpackers. It’s cheaper than Seminyak, has plenty of shops and beach bars/clubs. Seminyak is more luxurious with good beaches, more trendy boutique shops/hotels and restaurants. Canggu is the new kid on the block. It’s up and coming and already busy. Different type of tourists here ranging from backpackers to digital nomads to expats.

Uluwatu on the Southern tip of the island is a beautiful place to stay or visit. Quieter than where we stayed and a bit more upmarket but still got enough going on for you to feel the laid back party vibes. Beach clubs and upmarket resorts. We visited Melasti and Dreamland beaches as well as taking in an open air traditional dance show.

Ubud is inland virtually in the centre of the island. It’s very busy in the centre as every visit to Bali is not complete without checking this place out. Lots of peaceful, serene parts just outside of the Ubud centre and if you like Yoga, creative arts and monkeys, this is the place to be. It’s slap bang in the middle of stunning natural jungle habitat with so many temples, waterfalls and rice paddies to see. Plenty of places to stay suiting all budgets. The Monkey Forest is there which a lot of people go to but we didn’t and to be honest, I’m happy we didn’t. You see monkeys everywhere in Bali.

We also loved other parts of Bali. Nusa Dua and Sanur for their white sand beaches and family friendly resorts. Lovina was in North Bali a 2.5 hr drive from the South but worth it if you want less tourists, getting closer to nature with waterfalls, rice paddies and a nearby volcano called Mt Batur.

We didn’t have enough time to visit everywhere on the island (who does??) but covered enough of it to get a feel for what Bali has to offer. Make sure you visit a few of the bigger temples, go to some of their stunning waterfalls, visit one of the many rice fields/paddies using a Bali swing, try a black sand beach (Lovina in North Bali where you have an opportunity to swim with Dolphins) and go to a lively beach club for sunset cocktails, take in an Indonesian dance show, visit a traditional village, learn to cook Balinese style, get a massage or a tattoo (I have never seen so many parlours in one place), trek up to the summit of Mt Batur for sunrise. We also went to the GWK Cultural Park to see Vishnu statue but it was quite expensive for our whole family and in my opinion not worth it.

This was our first place to visit in South East Asia. I had been to this part of the world many years ago so I knew that the culture shock would hit us hard. It did. After getting over the jet lag, we had many challenges to contend with adjusting to a brand new way of life over 8,000 miles from the UK. Fortunately, we never did get Bali Belly which we were dreading and heard that lots of people got it and it was inevitable. Maybe that comes later in our trip.

Some of the key things that we had to adjust to include:

• Hot tropical climate
• Food and drink. Trying new dishes and being mindful of the lower hygiene standard
• Road safety
• Respectful body language (what to say and do in other cultures where a different religion is practised, e.g. not patting someone on the head, using your right hand to touch things/eat, not pointing at someone, dress code at religious sites etc
• Wildlife (stray dogs and being vigilant) and insects (mosquito safety in particular)
• Being more patient in general. Life goes at a slower pace for most
• Being polite with street vendors and not being afraid to negotiate

Have a look at our You Tube video to see more about our trip to Bali.

We hope you like it!