Bali-which has more than half the hotels in all of Indonesia-offers
the best and widest range of accommodation of any region of Indonesia,
from international five-star hotels with extravagant suites costing US$600
per day to simple, homey, family-run inns with a thin mattress for a bed
and a single hanging light bulb for less than five dollars per night.
Elsewhere in Indonesia, someone is always
inviting you home to meet their family. But this is not the case on Bali
where accommodations are so cheap and plentiful. Families are not permitted
to put you up as long as there's a hotel or homestay in the same village.
At the low end of the price scale, Bali offers some of the best value accommodations
in all of Asia.
There is a full range of accommodations to
fit every budget-from lowly losmen to five-star hotels. Hotel associations
are cracking down on the heretofore loose use of the term, and now won't
let just anyone call themselves a "hotel" without meeting certain
standards. If the front desk clerk speaks English to you, and the tarif
as well as all the prices in the hotel gift shop are given in dollars,
you're probably in a hotel. They'll take either rupiah or dollars at a
bad rate.
In general, in the smaller, family-run homestays
of 10-15 rooms you come into more contact with the Balinese way of life
than in the large, efficient yet impersonal hotel properties with their
huge wings and tower blocks of rooms, run more like luxurious high-rise
apartment buildings.
Among the 4,000 hotels on the island you'll
find Japanese hotels, Aussie hotels, five-star properties, bamboo and thatch
hippy hotels, surfing hotels, dive losmen, hotels that cater to
families, hotels that cater only to package tourists, hotels that cater
to honeymooners and singles, hotels specifically designed for long-term
stays.
You can even stay in a colonial-era hotel,
the newly remodeled and modernized Natour Bali Hotel of Denpasar, which
retains much of its distinct glamor and charm. Another historical art-deco
relic, dating from the Sukarno era, is the grand old Bali Beach Hotel of
Sanur.
Many hotels are using their money to build
new units rather than repair the old, and Bali is so furiously building
hotels in towns and villages all over the island now that at times it feels
like you're vacationing on a construction site. Building freezes are periodically
announced, yet for unexplained reasons, they're only partially enforced.
Finding a Good Place
Other travelers are the best sources of information. The same person who
tells you that a hotel, cottage, or homestay in this book no longer exists
will also be able to tell you where another good one is.
The local police set the price of accommodations
and are also charged with collecting the tax. With the intensity of competition,
particularly among the budget class of accommodations, prices are very
reasonable. But no matter what class place you're staying in, bargain.
Tell the manager or front desk clerk that the hotel is out of your budget
("Taripnya terlalu mahal untuk saya."). The manager might
be amenable to giving you a discount "if you promise not to tell the
other guests."
If you intend to be in a particular area
for awhile, the best is to just grab any halfway decent place for the night
and spend an hour or so the next morning hunting for accommodations which
better fit your tastes and budget. There's a tremendous range in the quality
and price of the rooms, in the variety of the services, furnishings, and
amenities offered, and in locations. It's incredible how different in atmosphere
two hotels in the same price range can be, even hotels very close to each
other like the Nelayan Village and Puri Buitan in Balina.
For a complete night's sleep, don't choose
hotels near schools, bars, discos, or main streets. Also don't stay in
hotels where prostitutes or Indonesians stay. Ask what you're going to
get for breakfast; sometimes the breakfasts included in the price are really
skimpy. It's also important to determine if you're going to be charged
service and government tax, which can be as high as 21%! Make sure the
place is clean, as your room may be frequented by other guests like cockroaches
and rats.
The police are more likely to help you if
you stay in a registered homestay, hotel, or losmen. They have a
reputation to protect. All melati and bintang class hotels
are registered, but with unregistered hotels, sometimes your name and passport
number will not be recorded. In the cheaper homestays, always keep your
valuables with the proprietor for safekeeping.
You can often tell the nationalities that
frequent an accommodation by checking out its library to see what languages
the books and magazines are written in. If you search around and find a
hotel that suits you, take the room immediately, pay a day in advance,
and get the key.
Smoker's Rooms
When Westerners stay in places that accept Indonesians and other Asian
guests, they find that they have different habits-such as talking, laughing,
and playing the radio far into the night. Asians are also more likely to
smoke, and many of the rooms at places catering to them stink of cigarette
smoke. Rooms in homestays and inns, which cater almost exclusively to travelers,
usually don't smell of smoke.
The whole concept of nonsmoking rooms is
only now just beginning to catch on in Indonesia. For example, it's almost
impossible to find a room that doesn't reek of tobacco smoke in some of
the beachfront hotels of Kuta like the Sahid Jaya. Repulsive! If you're
booked into a hotel frequented by Asian guests, always choose the "cottage"
block, a part of the hotel which is apt to more frequented by Europeans
or North Americans, who generally smoke less than Asians.
Baggage Storage
Virtually any hotel, no matter what the class, will offer to store your
luggage in special storage rooms while you're traveling around Bali or
to other islands of Indonesia. In lower-priced homestays, the owner will
even store your gear in the family quarters with the tacit understanding
that you'll stay there again upon your return.
Seasons and Bookings
The low season is Jan.-June, when even Bali's expensive hotels will give
as much as 50% off. But during the high season (July, August, and December),
accommodations are booked solid in all the main tourist areas and you'll
have to head for the hills to find a night's lodging. During this time,
hoteliers don't need your business to survive, are not inclined to bargain,
and charge 10-15% more. Lovina's accommodations, for example, all increase
by Rp5000-10,000 during this time.
Make reservations ahead of time during such
national religious holidays as Leberan, the high tourist season, and during
Christmas and New Years. There's a "shoulder season" (16 Sept.-9
Oct. and 16 Jan.-31 Jan.) when reservations are not as necessary but wise.
Don't neglect to take full advantage of fax.
Most moderately priced-and-up accommodations now have fax machines. It's
an easy matter to fax ahead and make all your bookings; you also eliminate
any travel agent fees. If you're in Java, Kuala Lumpur, Australia, or the
U.S.A. you customarily receive a speedy reply from Bali within 48 hours.
Arriving
At Denpasar airport there are accommodations service desks in both the
domestic and international arrival lounges. These dispense excellent information
and the staff will even call a hotel of your choice and order transportation
which is usually free, though you could end up paying for it. To the Four
Seasons, it can cost Rp40,000. Find out who pays before you commit.
As you emerge from either the domestic and
international terminals at Bali's airport, drivers or their assistants
will be waiting there to escort guests to the hotel of their choice. They'll
be holding up hotel signs; if you have already decided to stay at a certain
hotel, take advantage of the free ride.
Hotel touts are another excellent source
of recommendations. When arriving at the airport, you'll be approached
by locals with offers of a room. These could be quite good, newly opened,
and eager to please. If you're approached by hotel reps, all competing
for your patronage, this is an excellent time to ask for a discount. Many
homestay owners (like Pande in Peliatan) even meet overland travelers at
Denpasar's Kereneng Bus Station, though most (around 25) wait for travelers
to arrive at Batubulan station.
Accommodations at Tourist Sites
Most travelers do not look upon actual tourist destinations as viable places
to stay, but they can be. At night, after all the tourists have gone home,
the tourist site is turned back over to the Balinese and it becomes a unique
place to stay-a small, self-contained scene where you can really get to
know the locals who run the shops and warung. Examples of these
out-of-the-way sites which have accommodations are: Yeh Pulu, Tirtagangga,
Pemuteran, the Ahmed area, Medowe, and to some extent Tanah Lot.
Don't be afraid to follow a sign and venture
down narrow back roads in search of places to stay. At the north end of
Candidasa is a very elegant and comfortable hotel called Puri Bagus. It's
located at the end of a nondescript road that feels like it leads to nowhere.
In Toyabungkah on the shores of Lake Batur you'll find accommodations as
low as Rp5000 s-some of the best deals on Bali-with breakfast, mountain
view, and fewer hassles than tourist-trap Penelokan above the lake.
Hotels in Ubud, Denpasar, Bangli, and Klungkung
are situated in the palaces (puri) of Brahmin families, with individual
bale converted to Western tastes with full bathrooms, Western toilets,
and front verandas. Charging between US$35 and US$60, these traditional-style
hotels have great personality and charm. A tip: Don't wait until
too late in the day to arrive at popular places like Ahmed, Tulemben, and
Padangbai as most of the best accommodations-no matter what the
class-fill up by noontime. Get there as early as you can.
Also, don't settle for low standards in high-priced
accommodations. For example, the Bali Intan of Kuta is expensive, and everything's
got a surcharge-use of the telephones, room service, taxes on drinks and
meals. House movies never come on when they say they're going to come on.
The rate of US$120 per night is simply not worth it. You would never pay
this for a hotel back at home-for just a plain room, nothing special. Much
better values are the so-called "Beach Inns," "Homestays,"
"Cottages," and "Bungalows" that are everywhere and
five to 10 times cheaper. Read on.
Losmen, Inns, Beach Inns, Homestays
These are small enterprises of only 10-15 rooms. The nicest places are
found down the back lanes on the wings of such resorts as Kuta, Candidasa,
Lovina and Ubud where it starts to get quiet and shady; these tend to be
lower-priced and more relaxing. But these locales don't have a monopoly
on the best homestays. Some excellent ones can be found in the villages
of Peliatan, Penestanan, in the vicinity of Amlapura, Singaraja, and even
in the capital of Denpasar itself.
In these small budget accommodations, you're
under the charge of an ibu (literally "mother," your hostess,
the "lady of the house") who will probably speak an abbreviated,
easily understood "tourist" dialect of Indonesian. Your gear
is safe as there's always some family member around, and barking dogs go
into a frenzy whenever a stranger enters the confines of the family home.
In remote places like Toyabungkah (Batur) and Lovina (on Bali's north coast)
you'll find rooms as low as Rp5000 s, but usually the tarif is Rp8000-10,000
s, Rp12,000-15,000 d.
Rooms are set in a row, an ideal way of meeting
other travelers and swapping information while having meals or drinks throughout
the day or night. When not out sightseeing, you spend much of your time
outdoors, breakfasting on the covered veranda furnished with a small table
and two bamboo chairs often facing a garden or courtyard. Room service
depends on the particular accommodations or on the ibu. Tea or coffee
is often available free throughout the day. Laundry service is available
with a price list posted.
Most of these bargain accommodations are
built in Balinese style with separate bungalows or rooms surrounding a
family courtyard. There's electricity, shower, and a private mandi
and toilet inside your room. The room itself is usually a spartan affair-four
thin walls, table, chair, bed with batik cover, batik curtains,
perhaps a wardrobe-but what do you want for five bucks a night? Each guest
is issued one bed sheet-or you can use your sarong. The better places will
be well screened, but few budget accommodations provide mosquito nets,
so bring your own or use an electric mosquito coil.
Be prepared. Roosters, babies crying, children
playing, and loud music all begin promptly at 0600, and Bali's apocalyptic
dogs will serenade you asleep at night, so if you've got a full day ahead
of you make sure you turn in early. Houseboys are very conscientious about
waking you up to catch a bemo, bus, or plane, and these places are
less strict than hotels about enforcing the out-by-noontime rule.
Budget accommodations are run by a family
or a group of friendly, unsophisticated young boys under the supervision
of an absentee owner or manager. In many of the "beach inns"
of Kuta, Legian, Tulamben, Lovina, and Ubud, there's not a family member
in sight. The houseboys who run the place are overworked and underpaid
and give the rooms occasional perfunctory cleanings which are mostly symbolic.
Because you may live right inside the family
compound and participate in the life of the family, homestays can be the
finer experience and preferable over luxury-class hotels in the tourist
enclaves of Nusa Dua or Sanur for immersing yourself in the life and culture
of the people. You get to relate to the Balinese in the family context
rather than relating to them while they're driving you around or serving
you in restaurants.
You learn how to make offerings from the
mother, flutes from the father, kites from the small ones, and how to cook
lawar from the grandmother. The grandfather will take you out for
a drink or two of tuak at the local warung, and the daughter
will show you the shortest way to the dance hall or how to sew a kain
into a skirt. They may well give you snacks to sample, transportation advice,
and descriptions of good walks in the area.
Your losmen owner can also find you
the best dance, painting, or wayang kulit teachers, take you to
a wedding, odalan, toothfiling, or some other special ceremony.
In fact, many travelers choose their homestay for the extras provided;
e.g., the family teaches dancing or silversmithing or gives Bahasa Indonesia
lessons, lends bicycles, offers a bigger or better breakfast, or has an
outstanding paperback library.
Almost all accommodations charging under
US$10 include breakfast in the price. Breakfast is a very flexible term
but usually includes a cup of strong hot Bali coffee or tea with sugar,
toast, egg, freshly picked bananas or a bowl of fruit salad, though some
places just give tea or coffee. The best places offer a different breakfast
each morning, rotating between omelettes, fruit salad, pancake, toast,
or sometimes all four!
The least expensive accommodations ordinarily
provide a tank of cold water for bathing and a squat toilet (no toilet
seat). Forget air-conditioning. If there are nights that are temperature-perfect,
Bali has them. Some homestays have native-style, open-air sleeping pavilions
(bale); these are really cool and comfortable as the atap
roof and open sides are conducive to napping or spending the night.
Bungalows, Cottages, Guesthouses, and Pondok Wisata
"Cottages" and "Bungalows" usually consist of one-
or two-room freestanding buildings, with each room having its own bath.
The asking price for these is far higher than for the average losmen,
but they are far nicer. If it's the low season, you may be able to bargain
as low as Rp15,000-20,000 per person per night for a really nice "cottage"
with a shower. Often these accommodations have a decent restaurant, comfortable
beds, ceiling fans, and plumbing that works. Some even have lovely garden
bathrooms.
When found as a part of the name, such as
"Siti Bungalows," these are all different twists on the same-grade
accommodations. Usually built in Bali-style, these places have nicely furnished
rooms complete with all the amenities-but not the price-of proper hotels.
They charge $20-30 per day for rooms with red brick walls, traditional
atap roofs or brownish-red roof tiles, verandas, tile floors. Inside
you'll find bamboo furniture, fresh flowers, private bath with European
shower, hot water, ceramic Western-style toilet, and wooden beds. To accommodate
a family, Rp5000-10,000 is charged for an extra bed.
Some mountain guesthouses, like the Lila
Graha of Candikuning (near Bedugal), look like Swiss chalets. In Ubud,
they are usually located overlooking rice paddies. The majority of these
moderately priced accommodations sell tours like horseback riding, rafting,
and birdwalks and will phone to have the operator pick you up in the morning
and drop you off in the afternoon. A pondok wisata is a house where
the owner lets out rooms for a moderate price. The owner often stays there
too. No meals usually.
Youth Hostels and Campgrounds
There's only one legitimate youth hostel on Bali, the Bali International
Hostel on Jl. Mertasari 19, Banjar Suwung Kangin, Sidakarya, Denpasar
Selatan (tel./fax 0361-63912). But unless you feel a dogged loyalty to
always staying at a YH, better deals can be found elsewhere. Campgrounds
are rare on this small, densely populated island. The only place to camp
is in the Bali Barat National Park in west Bali. Don't underestimate
either the terrain or the chill. Take rain gear because precipitation is
always a possibility, even in the dry season. In the back-country areas
of this reserve, it may be necessary to pack in water.
Melati-Class Hotels
In Indonesia there are two types of hotels: the melati (jasmine)
class and the bintang (star) class. There are three classifications
of melati: one jasmine, two jasmine, and three jasmine. The one-star
to five-star hotels are higher standard, with the five-star hotel the highest.
Medium-priced melati class have all
the mod-cons including a/c, hot water, adjoining bath, a coffee shop, restaurant,
and almost always a swimming pool. Melati may even offer International
Direct Dialing (IDD) from your room, often provide vehicles for rent, and
take small groups of guests on a personalized tour (ask the manager). They
do not however offer the range of sports facilities and activities the
luxury class hotels do.
Melati class are just as comfortable
and cost-as a rule-only US$20-25, or US$30-35 per day if it has a swimming
pool. You can even find some very comparable accommodations, like Oka Kartini's
in Ubud, that charge as little as $15-20 per day with pool. You
tend to get a bigger bang for your rupiah in hotels outside of Kuta, Nusa
Dua, and Sanur. For example, check out at the Puri Bagus and Rama Ocean
View in Candidasa, and the Baruna Cottages in Lovina.
It's rare that any accommodation, like melati
class, charging over US$10-15 per day, won't include breakfast in the price
of the room. Starting at around 0700, meals can either be served in the
rooms or in attached restaurants. In the venerable Hotel Tjampuan of Campuan
(near Ubud) room service is summoned by sounding a gong in the form of
a demon using a penis-shaped cudgel. If you have to get an early start,
order breakfast at almost any time, even at 0500 in the morning. However,
the earlier the hour, the least likely you'll be served a hot breakfast.
If your plane leaves at 1800, try to bargain
for a "day rate." There's usually no extra charge for children
under 12 occupying the same room as their parents if no extra beds are
required. More and more often now a 15.5% government tax and service charge
is added to your bill. No matter what class hotel you're staying in, you
usually have to vacate the room by noon the next day or you'll be asked
to pay for an additional day.
International-Standard or Berbintang Hotels
Bali unquestionably has Indonesia's swankiest international-class hotels.
A "star system" (berbintang) is used whereby hotels are
assigned a certain number of stars to denote their class. Five-star is
the highest rating, one-star is the lowest. Prices range from US$120 to
US$170; suites are US$200-2500. About half the guests are European, about
15% Indonesian, 12% Australian, 12% North American, and the remainder Japanese,
Singaporean, and Taiwanese.
All of these luxury hotels have the capacity
and facilities to cater to all nationalities and tastes. They have huge
vaulted lobbies, closed-circuit color TV in the rooms, in-house video programming,
fridges and minibars, round-the-clock room service, International Direct
Dialing (IDD), business centers, fax machines, laundry and dry-cleaning
services, safe deposit boxes.
On their extensive grounds are Chinese, Italian,
Asian, and Indonesian restaurants, pizzerias, piano lounges, discos, 24-hour
coffee shops, shopping arcades, house clinics. Also offered are floodlit
tennis courts staffed by professional coaches, fully equipped aerobics
and fitness rooms, jogging tracks, game and video rooms, and children's
playgrounds.
On their private beaches you can enjoy a
smorgasbord of water activities: surfing, parasailing, sailing, windsurfing,
outrigger sailing, and waterskiing. There are free-form swimming pools
with sunken bars, poolside cafes, jacuzzis, and saunas. Their poolside
areas transform into open-air theaters, restaurants, and pasar malam
at night. In spite of their central location, these huge hotel properties
offer tranquility because they're huge and have extensive grounds, and
guarded gateways keep the public out.
In this class of hotel you may arrange guided
tours and sporting adventures (scuba diving, snorkeling). They'll order
you transport, post your letters, reconform your flights (Rp5000), and
charge it all to whatever credit card you carry. Baggage may be carried
to your room on a battery-powered cart along the winding garden walkways.
Shuttle service into the nearest shopping center is frequent, and transfers
to and from the airport are often free. In any "starred" establishment,
you can count on a 21% govenment tax and service charge being added to
your lodging and food bill.
Most of the major international-class hotels
are concentrated in Denpasar, Nusa Dua, Kuta, and Sanur-the tourist triangle
of Bali. First-class hotels are also starting to appear in Ubud, the upland
art center of Bali. Some call the unbelievably posh hotels of Nusa Dua,
with their extravagant, groomed lawns and artificial Bali-style facades,
the ultimate vacation getaway. Others call Nusa Dua a tourist ghetto where
pampered tourists reside and where the Balinese not employed there are
not even allowed to enter.
Though Nusa Dua is scarcely Bali, its greatest
value is that it offers an escape from the cacophony of Kuta and Sanur.
However, the negative of Nusa Dua's-and Bali's-luxury hotels is that they
have a pervasive atmosphere of administrative overkill and often feel sterile,
soulless, and cut off from Bali.
The Aman and Four Season Resorts
Off the map. Hotelier Adrian Zecha's Aman hotels-the Amandari of Kedawatan,
the Amankila in Bugbug in east Bali, and the Aman Nusa in Nusa Dua-are
in a class by themselves. Architecturally speaking, these are Bali's top
hotels-the ultimate in luxurious living. All are situated on high points
(the architect is fond of grand vistas) and every detail has been integrated
so it all fits together-even down to the ashtrays and napkins. The Amans'
combination of natural and modern materials create a refined sensual indulgence
unequaled in any other resort of Bali. Of course, at US$600 a night, they
ought to. Only the Four Seasons of Jimbaran and the Oberoi of Seminyak
can hold a candle to them.
Each Aman resort is set in a different environment-coastal,
mountain, and cosmopolitan. The Amanusa, on a promontory over the fairway
of the Nusa Dua golf course, is so magnificent that it feels as if it has
lost its human scale. The Amankila was built in the proper proportions.
Soaring dramatically 100 meters above the beach, with its white collanades
and enormous open public places, its architecture is reminiscent of an
opulent palace by the sea. The smaller Amandari near Ubud is a re-creation
of the stark integrity of a traditional Balinese village-but without the
mud, pigs, and screaming children. Its smaller proportions make it more
introspective and intimate than the other Amans.
None of the Amans advertise; their fame is
spread by word of mouth, and bookings are essential during the high season.
All share the same philosophy. There are no TVs in the rooms. The guests
are instead encouraged to relax in an atmosphere of understated elegance.
There's no check-in; guests just discreetly slip their American Express
Gold Card to the concierge. Also there's no signing for food or laundry
(in deference to guests, who shouldn't be bothered with such mundane annoyances).
The Aman resorts don't have twin-bedrooms;
couples have to take two double-bed bungalows. This is why some guests
prefer the Four Seasons, which does have twin-bedrooms. Four Seasons villas
also have private plunge pools, but at Aman you have to pay extra for units
with their own pool. Four Seasons are generally more guest-related, hands-on
hotels than the Amans. They offer more hotel-type amenities like business
services, color TVs, and stereos in every room. You can watch HBO, CNN,
and Monday night football back home. Four Seasons staff are dressed to
the hilt; there's a captain's table each night, and cocktail parties every
Monday night in a special guest dining room. Amans, on the other hand,
are more elegantly au natural.
Long-Term Accommodations
Because of the competition between the accommodations and the huge concentration
of tourists, Bali offers the best long-term residence opportunities in
Indonesia for the money. A bonus is that you are not the object of constant
scrutiny as you would be on almost any other island of Indonesia. On Bali
there are so many tourists that no one even takes notice of you-except
the street vendors or if you're in a remote village. On Bali you can go
about your business anonymously.
Rental homes can be found through a legal
service with several offices in Ubud. Westerners and Japanese either lease
land for 20-35 years, build a structure, make improvements on the property,
then hand it back to the Balinese owner at the end of the lease, or they
lease already built residences. Around Seminyak and Petitingit on the coast
west of Kuta are hundreds of homes that have been built by Westerners.
These can be thatch-roofed bungalows built for Rp20-25 million (US$12,000)
or elaborate US$100,000 multistoried structures.
A popular inland locale for long-term residents
is the Ubud area, particularly around Penestanan (rice paddies, views,
country life) and Peliatan (for its appeal to students of culture). Another
way to settle into Bali is to negotiate for a room or section of a house
"under contract." If you're studying dance, music, painting,
or puppetry for several months, this is the way to go.
Talk to people in your hotel and they might
know someone with a house for rent. Look for rumah disewakan signs
along the road up to Tanjung in the Bukit Peninsula and in north Bali (around
Yeh Sanih) where houses still rent for around Rp200,000 per month. If you're
spending Rp5 million per year for a two-bedroom house with kitchen and
veranda, you're doing real good. A cook and housekeeper cost about Rp100,000
per month extra.
Or just find a nice homestay, guesthouse,
or hotel and ask for a special long-term rate; you could arrange for a
nice bungalow with room service for as little as US$10 per night. For extended
vacations, there are a whole string of isolated hotels on the south coast
at Petitenget, Canggu, and Berawa. An excellent choice for families, small
groups, and honeymoon couples is Serendipity (Jl. Padma Utara, Legian,
Kuta, P.O. Box 41, tel. 0361-751331, fax 753333), which offers complete,
fully equipped, spacious, and very private two-story homes.
If you're looking for a long-term rental,
advertise in the Bali Advertiser, Jl. Tanjung Mekar 28 D,
Kuta (tel./fax 0361-755392). Distributed in Kuta-Legian, Denpasar, Nusa
Dua, Sanur, Ubud, Lovina, and Candidasa, for commercial ads brought into
their office, a 25% discount and faster service is offered.
Private Villa Rental
Private Villas Ltd. offers short term rental of about 30 private
villas in Bali. Most of these leisure homes are owned by affluent foreigners
who occupy them for only a short period of time each year and have agreed
to rent them through Private Villas on a weekly or monthly basis to reputable
tenants from overseas. You can choose from cozy hideaways for just two
persons to large, prestigious estates, accommodating up to 12 or more guests
in comfort.
Rental prices range from US$1750 to US$10,500
per week (US$250-US$1500 per day) depending on the season, the number of
bedrooms, and the facilities of each villa. All costs for household staff,
electricity, water, and tax are included. Your only additional expenses
are for food and drinks. The most expensive property, a magnificent two-hectare
beachfront estate renting for US$1500 per day in the high season (US$1000
per day in the regular season and US$800 per day in the low season) features
a main building of 11,000 square feet, three bedrooms, a large swimming
pool, archery range and tennis court, veggie and herb garden, seaview sauna,
and the use of a game fishing boat. This spectacular residence is serviced
by 14 full-time household staff, including an Italian chef.
However, even the least expensive villa (US$250
per day in the shoulder season) has two comfortable bedrooms with a private
bathroom, dining and living areas spacious enough to entertain visitors,
a fully equipped kitchen, and a beautiful garden with a private pool. Serviced
by two staff, it's located less than 600 meters from the beach.
Although private villa rental is not cheap,
the total cost of a villa holiday always turns out to be surprisingly reasonable
compared to staying in hotels. Villa guests experience substantial savings
on food and beverage, as they pay only low supermarket prices for anything
prepared for them by the household staff. A few U.S. dollars per head for
food per day is still a lot of money on Bali, and even French champagne
can be bought for just US$20 per bottle. The total extra costs per day,
therefore, will probably be less than the price for an appetizer in a hotel
restuarant. Extra costs are usually less than 10% of the accommodations
costs in contrast to hotel holidays where the extras can more than double
your bill.
No units are rented less than a week. A security
deposit of US$1000 plus US$100 per day deposit against telephone use (refundable
eight weeks after you leave) is required. Bookings should be made through
Private Villas Ltd., tel. (0361) 703060, fax 701577, e-mail info@villanet.com.
Mailing address: P.O. Box 1166, Tuban, Bali. On the Web, find Private Villas
Ltd. at http://ww.balivillas.com. For the high season, book a year ahead.
Mandi
The verb bermandi means to bathe or wash; the noun mandi
means the place where you bathe or wash. Western-style toilets and showers
with running, piped-in water are becoming more and more widespread, even
in the cheapest accommodations. A mandi could be an ornate, tiled
washroom with jacuzzi in a high-priced "star" hotel, or an open-air,
roofless, shoulder-high cement bathing enclosure in a domestic courtyard
of a homestay near the coast where you can shower in the warm sun in complete
privacy.
Some of the dive losmen on the north
and east coast offer rooms with an inside mandi equipped with a
large water tank. Bobbing in the middle of the water is a plastic or metal
scoop with which you throw water over yourself, elephant-fashion. Don't
climb in the tank and bathe, which fouls it. Instead, soap yourself down
and rinse yourself off while standing on the mandi floor. The water
is warm to cool; you'll welcome its refreshing tingle after spending a
day in the tropical sun.
In mountain towns like Kintamani, Penelokan,
and Bedugul, or in those places that are supplied with water from underground
wells, the water could be icy cold. In these cases, wait until the hottest
part of the day to bathe or talk the proprietor into boiling some water
for you. It'll be provided in buckets. There may be an extra charge of
Rp2000 or so.
WC
Pronounced "WAY-say." This abbreviation stands for "water
closet," the basic European designation for toilet. Other Indonesian
phrases for toilet are either kamar mandi, or kamar kecil
("little room"). The toilet can be either Western-style or Asian-style.
Sometimes, but increasingly rarely, the WC is located in the mandi
room itself. More often it's a separate, darkened enclosure. If you just
need to urinate, it's quite socially acceptable to use the floor of the
mandi; just rinse the floor down afterwards with a couple of scoops
of mandi water. In places that have Western-style toilets, toilet
paper most of the time will be provided, but if you're attached, bring
some in case it isn't.
Once in a while you can still run into an
Indonesian-style WC which consists of two footpads and a drainage hole
made of molded cement. One squats on the pads and afterwards cleans oneself
and the hole by splashing water from a nearby can or plastic dipper. Fill
the can either from the mandi water or a faucet beside the toilet
for that purpose. For urine, throw in two or three scoops; for feces throw
in five or six scoops or until the water is clear.
The Asian-style WC is rapidly giving way
all over Bali to Western-style sit-down toilets, which is a shame because
there's not a more comfortable, orthopedically sound, and physiologically
natural position in which to relieve yourself than squatting on your haunches.
Also, using water is a more hygienic cleaning method than smearing yourself
with toilet paper. In fact, not only is toilet paper expensive and hard
to find, but Indonesia's squat toilets are not designed to flush paper
products. Westerners, who are reluctant to do as the Romans, often clog
up WCs with their copious and inappropriate use of toilet paper.