Left this way to long to write, but I am just going to give my general impressions on these two places. Will give an overview and then some random thoughts on individual places. When we start up travelling again next year I will go back to writing a proper blog.
Bali: Much better than expected, but then we had low expectations. From what I had read and heard I was expecting a Disneyland Indonesia with nothing really authentically Indonesian. While that is kind of true, I would say that it's actually enjoyable, especially if you have been fighting through Java for a few weeks. There are a lot of short term tourists on these two islands with a lot of money, but this has unexpected benefits. You don't have to fight much for prices here, as they will overquote you, but you can haggle down quickly, especially if you speak some Bahasa. They have bigger fish to fry and won't waste their time on tourists who obviously aren't going to pay well over the top. The people are also quite chatty here, even if the majority of conversations often transform into a sales pitch some way down the line. There is nothing 'stunning' on Bali as the rice terraces were better in the Philippines, as was the diving and the landscape was more stunning in Sumatra. What it does have is a bit of everything concentrated into one place. Its like a microcosm of South East Asia rolled into one easily manageable place. You won't see the best of anything, but you will see a bit of everything and this is the obvious appeal to those on a short holiday. Long term travellers may skip it, but I think its worth a week or so of time, especially if you are missing some home comforts.
Padangbai: We spent a good deal of time in Padangbai diving. The cafe at the end of the beach strip does really good food and we had a great time hanging out here. Even met a Swiss couple who let us stay the night in their amazing 5 star hotel for free. We bought them dinner as a thankyou. The diving around Nusa Pernida is nothing special. We had hoped to see a sunfish, but we weren't lucky enough. We met quite a few divers who had seen them though, so they were around. Some people had said that the dive masters were deliberately getting divers to swim against the current and it felt like that sometimes. Its ok but does not compare to the Philippines. The diving with the manta rays was awesome though. What a majestic creature. Amazing. Like diving with ghostly Gods. Only problem was the water temperature. At 25C it was absolutely freezing for me and I was shivering after about 15 minutes or so under water. You can see the contrast with a French couple, who usually dive in the Med and came up saying how wonderfully warm it was. We also took the opportunity to dive the USS Liberty wreck from Padangbai and that was a nice dive. Our first real wreck dive and it was beautiful. Plenty of schools of fish and I even got to see the giant grouper there, though the others missed it as I was ahead of everyone on the dive. Well worth it. I would highly recommend Padangbai as a base for all your island diving as it will probably end up being cheaper and you have some really nice restaurants in town. We also took a day trip from here to the water gardens in the East of the island, which make for a pleasant day trip.
Kuta: Totally panned by travellers, I had expected a shithole. Ok, so we had really low expectations but I was actually pleasantly surprised by Kuta. The beach is the best we saw in Bali (though that's not saying much as the beaches there are not great). Not sure why Australians go there, when the beaches in Sydney are better than Bali's. There is a pleasant shopping centre and a few things to do. Its not going to rock your world, but it won't be the end of it either.
Denpasar: Another pleasant surprise. We got the best Padang food we had had outside of Sumatra here. Well maybe Yogya was better. The centre is quite pretty and pleasant to wander around in. The museum is ok and there are some nice hotels. Decent place.
Ubud: Traveller's favourite and for a reason. Its a very pretty, if spectacularly touristy little town. So many good restaurants and cafes, you can tell its been set up by the hippy chic set of travellers. Its their kind of town. The temples are quite pretty and the rice terraces are beautiful, if not spectacular. The town is kind of consuming itself under its own popularity. What I did love about Bali was the architecture of the buildings though. Its truly spectacular with the intricacy of detail and variety of styles. Makes walking down random streets a pleasant undertaking. Can't say we did much there. Just chilled out with Ash and Reli and enjoyed the food on the final part of our holiday before we flew to Australia. We spent the last night in Ubud Hanging Gardens hotel for Cannelle's birthday and that place is stunning. Truly something else, even if the monkeys tried to steal our food lol. Thoroughly recommended. We enjoyed everywhere we went in Bali, even if nothing really blew us away.
Lombok: Was not overly impressed with the new Bali. Lacks much to do. Rinjani is stunning, but the rest is overrated in my opinion. Don't think I would be in a rush to go back there. The locals have a weird attitude to tourists here as one guy told us not to take local buses as we would have to sit next to smelling locals with their fish and here was I thinking that travelling was about getting to know the local people. Mind you even the locals argue about prices with bus drivers, just pay them what they think and ignore their hurled insults. We had to get our visa extended for a second time in Lombok and that was an expensive procedure that took too long, but we were happy to avoid the hassle of dealing with it ourselves. See Rinjani and leave would be my advice.
Mataram: We spent so many nights in Mataram waiting for our damn passports. Was also during Ramadan so everything was shut. To be fair I didn't mind the city but it has nothing to lend itself to tourists for.
Sengiggi: Dump. Would rather stay in Mataram. More authentic.
Gili Islands: We had to fight for prices to get around by public transport and its not as easy to get the real prices as it is in Bali. These islands are super overrated. The beaches are nothing special, though they are probably better than Balis. Its just a tourist hang out. Like the South of Thailand. I saw nothing snorkelling to suggest the diving is anything special. Having said that we are a couple. The islands are not for us. They are just a hook up party place. Think Koh Phi Phi, but far less attractive. If you are single and looking for a hook up then this place is probably a perfect destination for you. Some will love it, some will hate it, but it depends what you are looking for, but it is certainly no paradise. I am a bit concerned that after the Philippines no other beach place will ever be appealing. Its like a beach crocodile dundee. 'That's not a beach, THIS is a beach' kinda thing.
Rinjani: The jewel in the island and truth be told the only reason to come here. Another bus driver had decided to be a cock and drop us off short of the town to climb the mountain so we would use his motorcycle buddies, but we just walked as always. Lucky decision as despite being followed by a motorcycle guy we got picked up by the former mayor of the town. He let us stay at his place for 100,000 a night and he found us a guide for 300,000 for the night. We had no interest in doing the summit as the view didn't look that amazing and I had climbed much higher mountains. We did want to see the crater lake though. The 3 day/2 night tours are around 1,000,000 each. That's nuts when we paid that between us for Kerinci. We also figured we didn't need that much time. We wanted to do it in a night. We set off at midnight and climbed the 2,100m in altitude and 10km trail in time for sunrise. It was tough, but we were in excellent shape at this point. Also as we left early we didn't have to pay the 150,000 visitor fee so we effectively climbed for free. We saw the stunning lake (Can't decide which was better of Kerinci, Ijen, Bromo and Rinjani). All 4 of them were amazing and so different. Such a beautiful country. So we went up and down in 12 hours. We were ok, but our guide was exhausted as it was the first time he had done it in one night. Not bad to do a 20km round trip with a 2,100m height change and having about 2 hours at the top to enjoy the view, all for 150,000 each. So cheap for such a beautiful experience but I would recommend doing it this way for anyone with good fitness and a lack of money. Our friends even attempted to climb it by themselves and noone said anything to them. We did end up having to eat Mie Goreng for 9 consecutive meals here though. That's rough. Maybe it's the reason we liked Bali so much. Looking forward to coming back to Indonesia next year to do the rest of the country.
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