Hotel Rooms For $3 per Night – You Get What You Pay For!

Hotel Rooms For $3 per Night – You Get What You Pay For!

Early on while backpacking through India and SouthEast Asia, my wife Carrie and I realized that there really wasn’t that much of a difference between a $3 hotel room and a $13 hotel room.
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Bali Hais and Bali Lows

Bali Hais and Bali Lows

A combination of cheap tickets and tales of some of the best diving in the world brought Carrie and I to Bali for a 12 day stint from May 5 – May 17. Our time here was marred with both amazing experiences and epic frustrations, so for something fun this …
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Traveling Like Locals is Practically Impossible

Traveling Like Locals is Practically Impossible

It didn’t take long for us to realize that Bali was unlike any place we’ve ever traveled before, in that it is nearly impossible to use public transportation. As always, after arriving at the airport we were greeted by scores of taxi drivers. And as always, we politely refused and …
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The Food Situation

The Food Situation

Food in Bali consists of a large variety of meat and fish, though not much of it is true Indonesian. Most restaurants serve western style foods rather than traditional dishes, though this is also partly because of the fact that all our time was spent in touristy areas. We did, …
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The Amazing Architecture and Stonework of Bali

The Amazing Architecture and Stonework of Bali

In every town across Bali we saw stonework of the most exquisite quality. Towns were filled with shops carving and selling statues, pillars and more all with intricate Buddha heads, animals, flowers, nature scenes and more. The pieces are occasionally sold to tourists but usually are bought by locals for …
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What Country Are You From…Here's Your Price

What Country Are You From…Here's Your Price

As I mentioned earlier, one of our biggest frustrations in Bali was trying to get a fair price. A typical negotiation would usually go something like: Us: Hi, we are interested in a room, meal, item in your store, etc. How much? Them: What is your country? Us: USA Them: …
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Ubud'ing It Up

Ubud'ing It Up

The majority of our time in Bali was spent in the town of Ubud, which is known as the most traditional Balinese area of the island. I would agree with that statement and add that it is, at least in the area we stayed, also completely fake and designed to …
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Scuba Diving: The Real Reason we Came to Bali

Scuba Diving: The Real Reason we Came to Bali

Our time in Ubud was actually broken into two segments. After a couple of days, we headed north to the black sand beach town of Lovina to do what we came here to do: scuba dive! Our first two dives were off the northwest coast next to the Menjangan islands …
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Hiking Mt Batur: An Active Volcano

Hiking Mt Batur: An Active Volcano

After scuba diving, we spent the night in Tulumben trying to find a cheap local way to get to Mt. Batur: an active volcano that we wanted to hike for the sunrise. Despite our best efforts, we had no choice but to pay top dollar for a driver to take …
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Kuta: Water Parks and Our New Friend in a Resort Town

Kuta: Water Parks and Our New Friend in a Resort Town

After Mt Batur we went back to Ubud for a few days during which Carrie got sick. While there we stayed at the same hote as Angie, our new Scottish friend who we met at Batur. She wound up coming with us when Carrie felt better and we headed south …
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Posted in Bali Hai's and Bali Lows, Bali, Indonesia, Beach Towns, Highlights, SouthEast Asia | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment
The Tourist Zoo at Tanah Lot

The Tourist Zoo at Tanah Lot

Our final stop before the airport was the most famous temple in Bali: Tanah Lot. Situated on the ocean, it is a pilgram location for tourists and locals alike and also has the title of the most photographed spot on the island. Nothing could have prepared us for what awaited …
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Bail Hais and Bali Lows: This and That

Bail Hais and Bali Lows: This and That

I didn’t notice until I had to pay $50 at the Bali airport to get a visa, but the women at our Phuket hotel totally robbed me. I had 2 $20s, a $10 and a $1 in my wallet that they replaced with 4 $1 bills. I even looked into …
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Bali Hais and Bali Lows: Photos and Videos

Bali Hais and Bali Lows: Photos and Videos

As always, here is the multimedia from this post…. Click here for the full flickr gallery Videos: Typical Balinese Dance A cloudy day on Mt Batur, Bali A walk through the back streets of Ubud, Bali Geese in the street in Ubud Getting ready for a celebratiton in Ubud Carrie …
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Posted in Bali Hai's and Bali Lows, Bali, Indonesia, Lots 'o Travel Snapshots, Photography, SouthEast Asia, Videos and Multimedia | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment