MomJC

Hello,
Wonder if you can share your thoughts. We will be staying in Nusa Dua at the Laguna resort. For sightseeing at Uluwatu/Kecak dance and dining at Jimbaran bay, do you need to sign up for a tour service or one can do it on their own. How far is the taxi ride from the hotel to these places ?
Also, can you please share your thoughts on whether elephant ride in Bali is worth it? Will they let children younger than 6 ride the elephant alone? We are just interested in the ride and not the whole safari place. Thanks.

KimJapan

No idea about the age thing at the elephant places.

Uluwatu and Kecak dance, no need at all for a tour. Just get transport and go. No worries.

MomJC

Thanks for your quick reply. Do you recall approximately how much taxi fare will be? is it reasonable over there or not? Also, how far is Laguna Nusa Dua to Seminyak? I heard Seminyak is a good place for souvenir shopping, correct?
I am also interested in shopping for semi precious stones. Is Bali the place for this? I was told that India has good price, but not sure about Bali. thanks for your help.

KimJapan

I've not stayed in Nusa Dua, so not sure about time...under an hour, though, I think. Cost...you'll probably be paying a bit more since you are in Nusa Dua, a tourist enclave. You can negotiate. 400,000 - 500,000 rp gets you a car and driver for a whole day.

Semi precious stones....I wouldn't think Bali would be a place to buy them, and if you were entertaining the idea, I'd hope you knew something about them so you could tell real from fake and good quality from poor quality. I've never noticed or heard of there being any place to buy them in Bali, though. I'm sure a good jeweler will have stones, but I'm guessing you thought stones would be cheap?

MomJC

Thanks. On second thought, the stone idea is not good, perhaps Bali is not the place for it.

MichaelBKK

You know, although there is an "elephant cave" near Ubud, I can't recall ever seeing an elephant on the island (and I've been there close to 20 times) and I don't remember seeing any elephant camps advertised.

For transportation, there are metered taxis, which are quite cheap, and then there are the ubiquitous guys on the street offering transport. The trouble with the Kecak dance might be that, although it would be easy to get a taxi there, it might be hard to get one back. You might negotiate a RT deal with one of the transport guys.

KimJapan

The one I know of is outside of Ubud in Taro. I think the elephants came from Sumatra?

http://www.baliadventuretours.com/BAT-Elephant_Park.htm

Cicerone

I would do Uluwatu for sunset, as it is really lovely then. You do not need or want to do this on a tour. I have done this so many times on my own, and it is a no-brainer. For sure get a driver for the afternoon/day and he can wait for you in the parking lot. You could then go to dinner someplace nearby like the Four Seasons or Ritz-Carlton, or there are some more casual seafood places not associated with hotels there as well. Check sunrisesunset.com for approximate sunset timings, and go like 30 minutes or so before sunset so you can get a look around and then be there for dusk and sunset. Bring a flashlight as it will be dark coming back from the temple after sunset. Women should have a long skirt or long pants on, no exposed knees, as you will be on temple grounds. Go all the way out to the end of the temple area to the bits at the cliff edge. (Not dangerous but do watch children of course.) . I think from Nusa Dua it would take about 20 minutes, but confirm with your hotel. According to the website for your hotel, it’s only 9 miles to the temple, so you could almost bike it, but it’s a bit hilly and you would not want to bike back in the dark.

Another thought if you don’t want to be at the temple for sunset is to go in the late afternoon to tour the temple (its very small, IMO it’s really all about the sunset and to see the surfers far down below), and then go to the Ritz for sunset, as they have a lovely spot on the cliffs for it, and make a big ceremony of it, and you can then stay for dinner. They have a beach restaurant down on the beach. As the Ritz is set on a cliff (restaurant is down a flight of stairs), this would be a different experience from your hotel which is on a long, wide, flat beach.

I would not join a tour for any dance, try to find a local one going on, I would wait until you get to Ubud personally, and then ask around from someone working at the hotel to see if there is something going on in their village that you can attend (these tend to take place late at night, which may be an issue with your young kids). The tour ones are just canned. However, the dances performed at the palace in Ubud each night are quite good, and you should defiantly considering attending those. They may not necessarily include Kecak at a performance, but will include others, all enjoyable, IMO. Otherwise, your hotel may be offering dances in the evening, and while for tourists, they are still nice and you are not at least paying for them. There used to be a children’s gamelan troupe in Ubud that performed a few nights a week, not sure they still do, but ask around, they were really very good.

I think almost <i>anyplace</i> is good for souvenir shopping. You could easily go to Kuta for a few hours from Nusa Dua, its like 20-30 minutes or so, lots of shops there for trinkets. Go to Poppies for lunch and shop the alleys along there. www.poppiesbali.com (Sunset on Kuta beach is also quite the scene, but Uluwatu is a little more subdued, maybe better for kids too.) If you drive up to Ubud, which is think is in your plan, you will pass through Batubulan, Mas and Celuk, which have loads of silver shops, some good antique shops, wood carving shops, furniture shops and other shops. Ubud of course has just tons of shops and lots of artists galleries as well. Seminyak is fine too, it has a lot of carvers, more stone carvers I always thought. This is north of Kuta along the west coast and could easily be combined with a trip to Kuta (although lunch at the Oberoi is nice too).

I agree on not buying stones in Bali. They are not native to Bali or Indonesia generally, so you would be paying for imported stones. Silver can be a good buy, but I would stick to local artwork, wood carvings, batik textiles, masks. I bought one of the clay garden figurnes many years ago, about 2 feet tall, it fit in the overhead compartment of the plane, and have always loved it in my various gardens. Try to find a CD of Balinese music, that is a great memory, IMO. The carved wooden windows can be used as wall hangings or mirror frames, and can usually be taken apart into pieces and you can bring them home in or as part of your luggage.

Please do not bother with the elephant ride. Again, elephants are not native to Bali, and to the best of my knowledge were never used for work like logging as there were and are in other parts of Asia. This is just for tourists. I would not bother. There is so much else to do.

rhkkmk

michael's point is a very important one....how would you get back....the place is issolated and there would be no taxis waiting around to take you back... you will need round trip transportation....we did it as the end of the day activities after a full day with a driver/guide.....i would suggest that you do the same...

putu is a good one to get for this...

also you don't &quot;dine&quot; at the beach you eat there....its very informal....you sit in plastic chairs at plastic tables on the beach...it is excellent....there are many places on the beach to eat...knowing which one might help and the driver could assist there as well...

MomJC

Thanks everyone for your feedback. We are looking forward to Bali.