Monday 24 September 2018

Things You Need to Know Before Travelling to Bali

Hey lovelies, so about 2 months ago I went to Bali for a week and I had an amazing time. I thought it would be cool to do like a short little post of things to be wary of when going to Bali because as much as it is a nice place to go to, safety is always first when travelling overseas.

Bargaining:


If you've been to Bali you'll know what I mean when I say that everyday is a new scam. Nearly every day I found out I got scammed the day before because I would find something I bought cheaper at another place which is super frustrating. So here's some quick easy steps to ensure you're getting the price you want:

  1. Say you're buying a fake Gucci T-shirt and they say it is $20 (this is outrageous, don't spend more than $5 because it is obviously fake and cheap quality) but you only want to pay $10 at most
  2. Start as low as $5 and they'll usually try to bargain with you and say $10
  3. If you're comfortable with this price take it, if not pretend to walk away and say something like "No I've only got $5 on me," or "I saw it at another stall for cheaper"
  4. Most of the time they'll settle with whatever price you offered. 
My friend was awful at bargaining and she got ripped off many times. 

Hotel Scams:


When we first arrived to our hotel, the staff in the lobby said that we got a "free" upgrade that was better. Of course we jumped at the chance because it sounded amazing. I was travelling with 2 other friends and we were originally meant to get a room with 3 single beds. Instead this "upgrade" turned out to be a single bed in the living room area and a king sized double. So I was stuck out in the other room with my friends. 

Another little scam I noticed throughout the week was, in the kitchen area they had small bottles of water that was for free, and then large litre bottler that were $2. By about mid week we noticed they had raise the price of the large bottles to around 3-4 dollars without notifying us which I thought was a little dodgy.

Oh and a side note, you can get large bottles for crazy cheap, like $1.

The infamous 'Bali Belly'

Luckily neither me, or my friends got Bali Belly which was something that was playing on my mind every meal I ate. But here are some simple steps to avoid it:
  • Come prepared - buy hydralyte tablets which will replace your fluids if you do encounter Bali belly.
  • Never drink tap water! - This is because your stomach is not used to the bacteria that is in the water over there. This is a general rule when travelling overseas. You'll find yourself buying loads of water. 
  • Brush your teeth with bottle water - this was a hard one to wrap my head around. It's so difficult breaking routine. 
  • Avoid getting ice in drinks - this surprisingly is a hard one, and you'll sometimes forget. It's not a huge deal because we had plenty of cocktails that would have crushed ice in it but just try to limit how much you have in it. 
  • Buy foods from restaurants in reputable areas and where you see other tourists eating! You'll see plenty of aussies in Bali so it's not hard to tell which restaurants are best. 


Alcohol

Now this is one of the major things to be wary of in Bali. Unfortunately in some dodgy bars they like to serve a cheap alternative to alcohol called "Arak." They may not necessarily tell you they're serving it and will just poor it into a well known Smirnoff bottle. It's basically a cheap alcohol they make because there are high taxes on alcohol in Indonesia. It's basically like moonshine which is extremely potent. 

The risk: To my horror which I later found out, arak can literally cause blindness, organ failure, put you in a coma and in worse cases death. This is because whoever makes it, does not distill the alcohol properly which gets rid of all the toxins. If you look at a bottle of vodka it will say distilled 5 times or something, which is to ensure its safe. 

Ways to avoid this:
  • If you see drinks that have spirits that are $5 or less I'd seriously avoid it. My dumbass bought vodka redbull's with double shots for $5. In Australia a single vodka redbull can cost like $13-$15 which puts it into perspective. 
  • Even cheeky deals where you can get like 2 cocktails for $10 you have to be wary of.
  • Like the food, look for popular bars with lots of other tourists.
Drink responsibly kids 'cause I sure don't!

Taxis

So here's a little hack I found when travelling in Bali. Choose the light blue taxis!!! I repeat choose the light blue taxis!!! Or any taxis that do it by metre. Usually in Australia, having a metre in the taxi is a no go because it is so pricy, and do you all feel that fear when you see it ticking up the price by like 20 cents.

Most the time we drove in dark blue taxis and they'd charge us up to $20 a fare which is decent for Sydney. However we later found out it could cost as little as $3!!!

Mopeds/Bikes

The first thing you will probably notice in Bali is the traffic and no road rules!!! To my horror all these people on mopeds and motorbikes would ride around with no care in the world. They will literally cut in front of cars and taxis and you will 100% be pushing your imaginary breaks in your mind. But after a while you get used to this style of driving and will soon admire how little accidents occur. 

I don't recommend riding a motorbike yourself but if you're going to do it, do it with a driver. At least they're used to the roads. However I will admit one drunken nights, my friends and I hopped on the back of a bike when leaving a club and I will say it is the most exhilarating experience. We were lucky because there was 0 traffic on the road because it was like 4am. 

So all in all these are the main things to be wary of in Bali. If you would like a post on fun activities to do let me know in the comments!

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