Min's Blog

2) Hard Rock Hotel (2 nights)
a. 5 star hotel! Very nice and worth the $$  As this is just ~RM90 more expensive than Harris. They do give a lot discount vouchers.
b. Very nice and big swimming pool. Have sand spot as well and some part of the swimming pool is in “sand”  special.
c. Breakfast is at Starz Diners, good. Buffet dinner at Starz is expensive and can skip. Has 20% discount voucher.
d. Walking distance to Poppies I and Matahari etc.
e. Free welcome drink (juice or local beer) to be redeem at Starz diners or splash bistro (next to swimming pool).
f. 15% discount for food in Hard Rock Café. Can try this out, not bad the food. Have “club” at 1130pm onwards.
g. FREE 1 6R photo at Hard rock “guitar” wall. Subsequent photo if 6R is at RP60,000.
h. Spa I took at Rock Spa is $45/60min for Balinese massage.
i. Centerstage. At night there’s live music. 20% discount voucher. If not staying there I think can drop by as well, to buy the drinks and listen to the music (with dancers too sometimes ).
j. Stayed 1 whole day inside hotel 
k. Bath room comes with a huge bath tub and floor is shinny tiles.
l. My preference: *****
m. Suggestion stayed somewhere for the nights going out for attraction trips and maybe 1-2 nights stayed at Hard Rock with daytime 
n. If departed early, can ask the hotel staff to pack a breakfast box for you  can ask the reception to arrange for taxi as well.
o. Outsiders: hehe, can go in and walk walk around and see see the swimming pool, centerstage etc 

Bali driver: My driver WayanKiong … Price is RP300,000/day.
+6281338298271
[email protected]
day 1 : 300.000 rupiah
barong dance, holy water temple ,coffe field , kintemani volcano,terrace rice field ,ubud market and ubud palace .
day 2 : 300.000 rupiah
tanah lot temple,gwk, blue piont ,uluwatu temple,dinner sunset jimbaran,,,

My boss took another person and he say he’s ok: Nyoman [email protected] +628123658792.
This is my boss itinerary, also nego for RP300,000.
Day 1 (10 august 2010)
8 am, kuta, 8atu bulan (barong n kris dance), batuan (temple + painting villagges), tampak siring (coffe plantation), kintamani (vulcano,lake batur,lunch), tegalalang (rice teracce), ubud.

Day 2 (11 august 2010)
9 am, nusa dua beach (may be play water sport or go to turtle island), tanah lot, uluwatu (clif temple), jimbaran dinner sea food rest.

* All parking are covered by driver. RP300,000 already included their meal and petrols. They won’t eat with you. They’ll wait you outside while you eat.
* Most spots needed entrance fees. Some drivers didn’t include water, so prepare own water.

Itinerary places comments:
For my trip, places dropped by are as suggested, just change some sequence.
My day 2 stops are all close by except the Tanah lot.
1) Barong dance – ***; RP80,000/person; Lasted for 1 hour; started to get bored half way of presentation
2) Holy water temple – quick stopby; ***; water is very pure; just have a quick look and a quick face wash of the holy water.
3) Coffee field – ***; Luwak coffee for RP100,000/cup. Hmm, doesn’t like it that much. Balinese coffee, chocolate, teas are free for testing. Ended up didn’t buy anything.
4) Kintamani volcano – *****; nice view. Forget the restaurant name, but buffet lunch is expensive and not nice, can ask for ala carte menu!
5) Terrace rice field tegalalang – ****; just a stop by, no meal needed. Nice view.
6) Ubud market – ***; packed and all sorts of things sold here. Didn’t buy anything 
7) Ubud Palace – ***; nothing much, just 5min will do. As only can look at the surrounding, no entry to palace inside. FOC.
8) Tanah Lot – *****; dropped by morning. Sea level is not that high, so can walk into the temple (crossing the water). Quite a nice experience and something unique. Read that evening time it’ll be high tide and only can see it from viewpoint far away.
9) GWK – ***; 2 main statue; but nice photo shots.
10) Blue point – ****; nice clear blue water! Didn’t go into the hotel (if can go into the hotel, heard has a nice swimming pool and church!)instead I hike down to the public beach. Tough hike for olds as there’s some staircases and height.
11) Dreamland – ****; beach again with some cliff. Full of people sunbathing there. Can do a quick drop by.
12) Uluwatu temple – Monkeys! Since I didn’t wear contacts, doesn’t dare to walk all the way till the next viewpoint to take the photo like published in books/blogs. Did see people’s spec being snatch (slow reflects people 😛 ) and bags/umbrellas. Careful when you see a guy with peanuts around, should be point of monkeys attack.
13) Jimbaran – Sunset view with tables directly on sand. Took dinner for 2 for ~RM100/person. But quite full, food still ok. People’s blog introduce Lia café.
14) Nusa Dua beach – didn’t drop by as didn’t plan for any water sport/turtle island.

Some other suggestions:
1) At Kuta area, for cheap and ok food, go for Bamboo Corner, it’s deep inside Poppies I. Orange juice ~RP8,000. Try the seafood basket for RP50,000.
2) From Airport (DPS) to Kuta is ~RP50,000. Once arrival, follow taxi sign and go to the counter written Taxi with a signboard of all the rates for places. Straight pay the $ at the counter and taxi driver will be assigned to you.
3) From Kuta Hard Rock back to airport, blue bird taxi is ~RP55,000. Early morning at 6.30am.
4) Remember when exit, each person need to pay RP150,000 Tax in cash. Check in and walk up to up stairs for the tax payment and departure.
5) Upon departure, first security scan (before check in) is ok to bring water.
6) When arrival, Msia citizen walk to the right and queued up next to “Indonesia …” counter (3-4 counters only). Visa upon arrival counters are for foreigners which will have ~6 – 8 counters. Queue might be faster at visa on arrival (at least for my case).
7) Blue bird taxi is standard meter taxi. Go for this.
8) People there can speak Bahasa Melayu, it might sound a bit different in tone, but can understand. Speak Malay is better  So far, only hard rock staff can speak very fluent english
9) Local beer: Bintang/Bali Hai. Tried Bintang for ~RP14,000, taste like Budwisier 
10) Mineral water can get from Circle K (like our 7-11 here).
11) Exchange rate I get: RM 1 == RP2777. Changed ~RM1200 for 2 person use for 5 days 4 nights. With some credit cards for some of Hard rock expenses 
12) Balinese are mostly Hindus.
13) Sun might be a bit hot there, so sunblock .