Come for the hedonism not the culture (Kuta)

Member Name: MGirl

Product:	Kuta
Date:	06/08/02 (179 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap, Great beach, Great surf

Disadvantages: No real culture

My impressions of Kuta are coloured greatly by the fact that a few days before arriving, I’d just left India (see that opinion if you’re interested about all that). Kuta is a beautiful place. Kuta had miles of beautiful white beach with decent surf and a patrol for swimmers. Food and drink are both cheap. You can turn up and get a double room in a Losman or Inn for £6 a night and buy a meal and a beer in a restaurant for the equivalent of £1.50.

Some top tips:

Get a pre-paid taxi from the airport because prices are fixed and if you pick one up randomly, they might overcharge. You pay in a booth just outside the arrivals exit and they’ll point you in the direction of the driver. There’s an exchange just through passport control although as in anywhere in Asia, you’ll probably find the odd American Dollar would be accepted if you had no Rupia.

Never buy beer in a supermarket, bizarrely it’s cheaper in bars (80p) and happy hours mean you can buy a 650ml bottle of Bintang for the equivalent of 60p. Bintang is the best local beer by far and is really quite palatable; Bali Hai isn’t very nice but isn’t sold in as many places anyway.

The cheapest accommodation is around Poppies Poppies II and I. We didn’t bother haggling but it’s worth a try if you’re really strapped, it’s a haggling culture. Check the doors etc in your room though. The first place we stayed in had a lock that didn’t work because the door had been forced. Crime isn’t bad in Bali but the main problem is your fellow tourists. The worst that will happen generally from the Balinese is they’ll try and scam money out of you or hard sell. It’s certainly bearable and no worse than the rest of Asia. The second Inn we stayed in was really nice though and I can heartily recommend it. It’s called the Berlian Inn and I think it’s off Poppies II but the side stree
ts are a little like a maze! The ensuite bathroom had a tropical feel with plants (deliberately) grown on one side.

Be careful about where you change your money in Kuta. Even though I kept my eyes on the guy, I was ripped off in one moneychanger; he must have done it by slight of hand. It was my own fault; it looked dodgy but had a good rate advertised outside. A scam to look out for is the money changer using large numbers of notes with low denominations then sneaking out a few as you’re not looking.

At the moment there are a few guys on motorbikes in Kuta giving out scratch cards. From my knowledge of elsewhere, this is probably a timeshare scam. Anyway, they’ll try and get you to go with them to claim the prize you’ll inevitably win – as you would anywhere else, be sensible, you wouldn’t do it in the UK!

Do try the local food. The fish is fantastic (and cheap) and satay is definitely worth a try. We didn’t have any problems with food but be sensible and drink plenty of bottled water. The best places to eat are off the front. You’ll pay a premium for any food there. Please avoid the western food places – MacDonald’s, KFC etc are all in Kuta but there are some lovely eating places, which are much nicer and cheaper than these. If you want to splash out you could have lobster much more cheaply than you could back home.

If it’s your first trip to Asia you may get annoyed with the hassle. People will try to sell you things all the time (especially on the beach) but unlike India, I felt that I could go into a shop and look without feeling too pressured. Bargaining is the order of the day, especially if you’re buying more than one thing from the same person. There are plenty of clothes on sale but if you’re a size 14 like me, you may find some of the tops for women a little on the small side.

Bali is a low risk country for Malaria but itR
17;s a good plan to take a mosquito net and some DEET, just to prevent the bites.

Kuta has some of the best sunsets in the world. Wonder down (or stay on) the beach to witness it. Beautiful. What’s more as it’s so close to the equator, the weather is pretty good for most of the year.

Kuta is a great place to go if you have a few days in which you just want to chill out en route to other places in Asia or Australasia. It’s close to the airport, has good amenities and one of the worlds best beaches. For a more authentic taste of Indonesia, Kuta really wouldn’t be for you but if you’re weary of forts, palaces and culture and want to spend a week getting bronzed and drinking a little too much in fabulous surroundings then you can’t beat it. I wouldn’t go to Kuta as the main purpose of my trip but I enjoyed it in a gloriously carefree, hedonistic kind of way.

After saying that though, does anyone know what the daily offerings in Bali are about? Every day people make offerings in banana leaves with rice, flowers biscuits and incense inside. Does anyone know if this is a religious thing and if so, which religion?

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