So I’m back from my adventures on Bali. It really feels good leaving 30+ degrees Celsius of constant heat for 15ish degrees Celsius with rain and wind in Sydney. I KID!

So what is there to say about Bali? Bali was massive fun, especially since I had 3 friends from Sweden coming over and meeting me up. Bali, or more specific Kuta Beach where we stayed at, is a good spot if you’re in your early twenties or thirties and are into surfing, chilling on the beach and hitting the night club scene.

The people

Most Balinese people are a-okay. They’re really dependent on tourism so at times they can be really keen on getting your attention to buy their stuff, or if you find yourself drunk in a weird alley in the middle of the night, sexual services.

The Balinese make about 1,000,000 rupees per month in average (about 725 SEK, $100 USD, $125 AUD) and this income is highly dependent on the tourists so it’s basically no wonder why they’re so keen on selling their stuff and services.

When I first arrived on Bali which was like 1 AM in the night or something me and my mate went for a walk around Kuta beach up to Legian street (the party street). I can’t recall how many times prostitutes on mopeds followed us, jumped off and tried to solicit us to buy sexual services from them. Needless to say, after this I felt that Bali was really, really dodgy.

After moving from IDA hotel (which sucked) to Pesona Beach Inn (awesome place) on Poppy’s Lane 1 my perspective gradually changed.

There was this one guy at the hotel (can’t remember his name) who was super friendly. When my mate got ill in the middle of the night he drove him to the nearest open medical center on his moped free of charge. That guy was also down right a really nice person. Major kudos to him.

The food

The Indonese/Balinese cuisine’s most famous dish is probably Satay which is chicken on skewers with peanut sauce and rice. It’s a-okay to eat for a while, but I got pretty bored of this (just like Nasi Goreng) after a while.

When I first arrived on Bali I was determined to try to continue doing my cyclical keterogenic diet (cut down on carbs in general, eat loads of green veggies, good fat and protein and reload with carbs one day a week only) so initially I just ate steak with veggies - which was all right. Needless to say, I wasn’t able to keep this up for long.

If you’re a steak person, here’s Seb’s official list of culinary steak experiences:

1. Hard Rock Café - I had my best steak here, a rib-eye with some mashed potatoes and veggies. All I can say is oral orgasm.
2. Oceans27 - This place located just on the back side of the Discovery Shopping Mall facing the ocean was pretty chill. I had my second best steak here, guess it was rib-eye again with some veggies and some potato stuff.
3. This place (can’t remember the name) along Legian street just before the first entry to Kuta Beach - Ate here a few times and mostly the steak with the butter sauce was awesome.

The beaches

The beaches over there aren’t quite what I expected them to be. I went there with the expectation that the beaches would have proper white sand and crystal clear water.

The sand looks a bit dirty (apparently it’s volcanic sand or something) and the water is all but crystal clear due to the massive waves. So if you’re looking for über nice beaches Kuta Beach and a few of the surrounding beaches probably aren’t your cup of tea.

Kuta beach was quite good for surfing though (Well, don’t take my word too seriously on this, I never surfed before I went there) but at times it could get really crowded there. I guess the more seasoned surfers hit the other beaches, but if you’re new to surfing Kuta beach is all right and there are also heaps of surfing schools and instructors there.

The night life

The night life on Bali is pretty sweet to say the least. We usually went to these places:

The Green Box

The Green Box is a little bar located on a tiny little square on the same side of the road just before Bounty and Paddy’s.

This place attracts a quite a few people since the drinks are insanely cheap here. 20 shots of Arrak for 50,000 rupees (about 35 SEK, $5 USD, $6 AUD) anyone?

Eikon

Eikon was a place we usually went to around 11-12ish to have a few drinks. This place is usually packed with Scandinavian people and they occasionally play Swedish, Norwegian and Danish music.

Paddy’s

Paddy’s is a pretty sweet place located directly next to Bounty. Pretty packed on the weekends and quite okay drinks. This was my usual stop before heading into Bounty.

Bounty

Bounty is the place everyone eventually ends up at. They’re open the longest and man, do I love those slushyish drinks served in vases. That was some epic stuff.

I had my best night out here as well. I dressed up in a sarong/sari and a rice hat, got heaps drunk and invented the rice hat dance which like 20 people participated in doing. Happy times!

The prices

The place is dirt cheap. Here are a few examples:

• Average hotel room per night: 100,000 - 400,000 rupees (about 70 - 300 SEK, $10-40 USD, $12 - 50 AUD).
• Average meal: 20,000 - 40,000 rupees (about 15-30 SEK, $2-4 USD, $3-5 AUD).
• Bottle of liquor: 30,000 - 50,000 rupees (about 20 - 35 SEK, $3-5 USD, $4 - 6 AUD)
• Average taxi ride: 10,000 - 30,000 rupees (about 7.5 - 20 SEK, $1 - 3 USD, $1.5 - 4 AUD)
• All day tour (for the entire group) around the most of Bali: 400,000 rupees (about 300 SEK, $40 USD, $50 AUD)
• River rafting (per person, including transport and meal): 200,000 rupees (about 150 SEK, $20 USD, $25 AUD)
• Hiring a surf board on the beach: 5,000 - 10,000 rupees per person and hour (about 7.5 - 15 SEK, $0.5 - 1 USD, $0.75 - 1.5 AUD)
• A pair of highly authentic (according to the vendor) sun glasses: 15,000 - 30,000 rupees (about 10 - 20 SEK, $1.5 - 3 USD, $2 - 4 AUD)
• 100% original quality (according to the vendor) baseball cap: 15,000 - 30,000 rupees (about 10 - 20 SEK, $1.5 - 3 USD, $2 - 4 AUD)

The things that are good to know if you’re traveling to Bali

Visa

Indonesia is pretty strict on visa-related stuff so if you’re from any of the 63 countries that are eligible for Visa on Arrival (VoA) you’ll have to pay $10 USD for a seven day visa or $25 USD for a thirty day visa. The visas are non-extendible so you’ll have to leave the country and get back in order to extend your stay.

You can pay the VoA-fee in other currencies than USD, but if you do not have the exact amount there’s a chance that they’ll give you back less money because they choose a exchange rate they see fit.

Another important thing is the departure tax of 150,000 rupees which you have to pay on the airport when you’re about to depart.

Money, credit and debit cards and stuff

If you’re heading out to the clubs and stuff, I would try to keep the money you bring with you to a minimum just for the night and to leave the VISA/Mastercard/Whatever-card at home. I overheard quite a few people saying they lost their wallets with cash and cards and a few Balinese people told me to look after your stuff as well as pocket theft wasn’t that uncommon. I didn’t lose anything though.

A good thing is to tell your bank that you’re heading to Bali. My VISA-card got banned for 5 days straight because I withdrew too much money during a certain amount of time. Good thing I traveled with friends so that I could borrow money, but if you’re going by yourself do some research about these limits with the help of your bank or VISA or Mastercard or whatever.