Alix Says:
We have made it to paradise – after a 13 hour flight delay no less! We got to Denpasar at 9:30pm which was really annoying because our original flight would have gotten us in at 9am giving us ample time to stroll the streets and find a good price place to stay; we knew it would be much harder now.

We headed straight to the town of Sanur on the southern coast. We chose Sanur over the uber-popular Kuta for that reason mainly – it’s not the well known hot-spot town to be in, no traffic jams, no hustle and bustle of tourists. We planned on staying in a homestay – a traditional Balinese family home with rooms to let out ranging from cheap and simple (no air-con, no hot water) to high end (bigger room, air-con, hot water, TV), all rooms have their own bathroom. It was frustrating to get to Sanur at 10:30pm on a Monday, walking the street with our heavy packs, knocking on doors to find a spare room! There were very helpful people on the street pointing us to homestays or offering us rooms and one guy we took up on this because we were just tired of walking for 45min. The room was behind the Mona Lisa restaurant and was a bit nicer than we needed (110,000rp / $11 USD) but we figured we would stay one night then in the morning we could find a better deal. After setting down our packs we went up the street to a bar and got a refreshing and much needed Bintang – the main Balinese beer. We met some nice Brits who were teachers in South Korea and after our beers we all went to the Circle K (24hr mini mart) to buy some more beers and just sit outside. Shortly after we were joined by 2 local guys who worked in the internet cafe we happened to be sitting in front of and they introduced Colin and I to the local drink of Arak – a liquor made from coconuts. Good stuff!! So good we made quite a night of it right there on the sidewalk with our new local pals Ananda and Johan – the Brits went to bed, followed by Colin and I wandered in after 4am!

It’s a joy coming to Indonesia after Australia because, man, it is soooo much cheaper here! Just to give some points of reference – we are a tad turned off by our Lonely Planet because really it’s not so accurate with the prices – the money here is the rupiah, currently 10,200rp = $1USD. People travel here on all sorts of budgets obviously, we still have 9 months of travel so everything we are doing is on the low budget end of it. You can still live wonderfully here on a low budget. Our homestay in Sanur was 70,000rp ($7) a night, for both of us, a simple clean room with double bed, fan and bathroom without hot water. A large Bintang beer will set you back about 20,000rp ($2.00), dinner can range from 25,000rp ($2.50) to 80,000rp ($8) depending on how fancy you want to eat, going into all the temples has a 6,000rp ($.60) fee…..you get the point, very inexpensive compared to Australia and obviously America, but still more costly than our dear Lonely Planet has quoted.

We camped out in the past 5 days in Sanur at Coco’s Homestay on the main street Jl Tamblingan, a delightful home with 5 or 6 rooms to let, and the family is so friendly. Everyone in Bali in general is quite friendly, eager to talk to you, help you out, tell you about their culture and Hindu beliefs – I am extremely appreciative to be in an environment such as this. We took the smallest, cheapest room at Coco’s which was still nice and everything we needed – it’s so warm here I couldn’t even imagine a hot shower really – plus we had a little veranda to chill on. Most nights we headed to the local night market full of warungs which are carts of Indonesian and Balinese food made by the locals, and ate the most cost efficient dinner for two you can come by. It was nice to mingle with the locals, we learned some Indonesian phrases and asked and received many questions. We sent home all our camping gear which made the packs almost delightful to carry without that extra weight!

Colin Says:
Arriving in Bali at 9:30pm without a place to stay could have been a little nerve shattering especially having to haul our heavy as fuck packs with all of our camping shit still in them from Australia on our backs but the people in Sanur were very helpful, laid-back, and friendly and finding a suitable place to stay quickly became a community activity eventually landing us a very nice spot a block off the beach at 11pm. Staying in Sanur ranges from the very exclusive to the budget backpacker shit hole. The town is very laid back and peppered with places to stay alll along the beach. It is very easy to find a place to stay as we discovered, which for me makes Sanur a great place to visit. There is a mild array of things to do. Obviously there’s the beach which is about a 6 out of 10. Its very calm as there is a reef that breaks the tide some 100 meters from shore so there are no waves which is very good for swimming but the seaweed can be quite thick in some areas and kinda tends to float around a bit, so for me not the most ideal for swimming. There are plenty of pockets to jump into seaweed free. The temperature of the water alone is ridiculously warm enough to suck anyone in for a swim if not for a little while.

Apart from the beach there are a million places to get massages and spa activities with the wraps and peels and smearings of things on the body. Lounges, restaurants and bars coat the area, as with any beach scene picking out a good one that doesn’t make you feel like your getting ripped off doesn’t take too much time to find and bam there you are, arrived. A number of places had wifi hot-spots which is a nice 21-century addition. Large Bintang Beers go for 20,000 rp ($2 usd) so you got that going for you. We went to Bonsai Cafe right on the beach for free wi-fi and beers with a view.

Live music is a big thing. I thought I was tripping when I heard this Balinese guy singing “Margarita-Ville” and then “Sultans of Swing”. Reggae bars are a big rage seemingly with every island type atmosphere it seems to be the music of choice. There are also plenty of opportunities to hear traditional gamelon music emitting from the many temples and “important” looking places lining the streets. We’ve seen a couple of processions, one for a cremation of a local priest, came with many Balinese dressed in full formal wear.