5/16/10 – 5/17/10 (legian)
Annie LinLegian
There are three towns, Kuta-Legian-Seminyak, along the beach of southern Bali that is pretty touristy. We weren’t quite sure where to stay in Bali and picked Legian since it is supposed to be not as crowded as Kuta but not as expensive at Seminyak, which is where all the boutique shops were located. We figured it was a good base for us until we figured out where to go next.
It was very quiet at the hotel so much so that we weren’t sure if there was anyone else staying there. It provided pretty basic accommodations with no frills but it had a/c and hot water. There was also fresh fruit and toast provided every morning. After breakfast we decided to walk along the beach to check out the area. There were many restaurants and hotels that lined the streets along with people asking you if you needed a driver. The waves looked pretty good and there were a lot of surfers out. We asked a few hotels to see if they had any openings and realized that our hotel was a pretty good value for what we were getting. There were very nice hotels which cost around $80/night, which is pretty affordable and if traveling for a short period of time. We decided to stay at our hotel since it offered us the basic necessities of what we were looking for. After staying there a bit longer we got more comfortable with our surroundings.
It was very muggy and just after a few minutes of walking we were sweating as if we had just run a marathon. We were looking for a bookstore to get a guidebook and after walking an hour we relented to a taxi. It felt so good to be in an air-conditioned car. The taxi driver took us to the Seminyak market where there were cafes and a bookstore. We book our guidebook only to realize later that it was a 2008 version. Oh well. It probably has all the same information and we use the guidebook more as a reference of where things are rather than as a source of information.
After lunch we went on a search for a SIM card for our cell phone. It was a bit difficult trying to figure out how the system worked. We shopped around a bit and met a nice lady in a fabric store who found us anther lady who sold SIM cards. She seemed nice and her explanation of how to use the phone was completely different from what a guy in another shop told us. Even though she sold SIM cards out of a fanny pack we trusted her. Our two main goals for the day were accomplished.
Jon was going to go surfing the next day but the waves weren’t as good. We decided to stay low key and figure out what we wanted to see while we were in the Legian area. Several people had told us hiring a driver is the best route since they will be able to show you around and also maneuver through the traffic. We found a driver on trip advisor who had a well maintained website and a friendly photo of himself. He offered us a reasonable deal compared to others and spoke pretty good English on the phone. It is hard to choose unless you have a personal recommendation so really you just have to trust that it will work out. We also decided that we wanted to get out of the city and see the rest of Bali. We heard great things about Ubud from many people. We found a homestay, rated #1 Ubud homestay on trip advisor, for $30/night and decided to book it for three nights.
For dinner that night we went to a warung, which is a small street side restaurant or foodstall. It was packed with locals and tourists. There were small lizards crawling on the wall but no one seemed to mind. They gave you a card with a price on it for each item you ordered so some tables with lots of people had a stack of cards. We got spring rolls as appetizer and Jon had nasi goreng (fried rice) while I had rice with lots of different vegetables that you can choose from a buffet like table. It was probably one of the best meals we had so far on our Balinese trip and all for less than $10! That’s what I’m talking about.
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