10 replies to this topic

[danbailey80]

Bit of an odd thread this one but bare with me....

I'm off travelling in Indonesia late July for 6 weeks. I was wondering if anyone of these forums could recommend somewhere with a similar chilled, music, arts vibe to glastonbury....I've heard Bali and particularly the Gili islands are amazing.

Any tips from like minded people would be appreciated...

[tommmy]

[danbailey80]

Must be Komodo island - might pop there...

[devonhammer]

danbailey80, on 03 June 2011 - 07:39 AM, said:

Must be Komodo island - might pop there...

You can't stay on Komodo, but if you go to Flores you can get a fisherman to take you to Komodo and Rinca from Labuanbajo. Rinca is actually better for dragons. You can go for a couple of days and sleep on the deck of the boat.

Bali is very touristy and the least enjoyable island in Indonesia. Try Sumatra, Flores, Java, Kalimantan and Sulawesi for more out of the way experiences.

This is way off topic, so PM me if you have any questions.

[cejx]

danbailey80, on 03 June 2011 - 07:03 AM, said:

Bit of an odd thread this one but bare with me....

I'm off travelling in Indonesia late July for 6 weeks. I was wondering if anyone of these forums could recommend somewhere with a similar chilled, music, arts vibe to glastonbury....I've heard Bali and particularly the Gili islands are amazing.

Any tips from like minded people would be appreciated...

The Gili islands are off Lombok and you need to either fly to Lombok or get a boat there - and then a further boat to Gili.  They are primarily now set up for diving.  I wouldn't say there is an arts vibe, but it is pretty chilled.

Bali is a shit hole.  don't bother.  Malaysian or Indo Borneo are also amazing and a bit more off the beaten track.  If you fly to Jakarta, get the train right through Java and then you can fly from Yogyakarta - visiting the amazing Bora Budur temple.

[danbailey80]

Cheers guys - great info - may PM you nearer the time if ok...Thanks again Dan

[emmmmma]

The Gili Islands are not good. They're extremely touristy, as is the mainland of Bali. I would recommend going to the smaller islands. One, which friends of mine run a dive school on, is Nusa Lembongan. It's beautiful and chilled out. It's not really music/arts oriented but it's extremely relaxing.

I used to live in Indonesia if you have any questions...

[andypandy]

Bali is not that bad if you head inland to places like Ubud. I would definitely recommend visiting Lombok, which is an island next to Bali and about the same size. It is not nearly as touristy. If you can, go to the capital of Lombok called Sengiggi. There's a place called the Happy Cafe open day and night. Happy it certainly is with amazing bar staff who we made friends with so easily (Joy and Mann to name 2).

You can visit the Gili islands from Lombok to snorkel or to stay over. Gili Trawangan is the largest, very chilled and seasonal mushrooms are available.

[bamber]

Bali is like this, If you go there with the attitude a tourist, you will find a tourist island, but even in the very heart of Kuta amidst all the traffic and Chaos of Jalang Legian  or in the heart of the vast city that is Denpasar, or out in the diverse and varied country landscapes, you will find true paradise, but it comes from your heart, not your chaotic or stunning beautiful surroundings.

The most important thing to know in Bali is that it is very spiritual place, quite unlike anywhere else on earth as far as I've seen, but you must find time get to know the Balinese and their religion and not shut it off as so many visitors do. This is actually very easy as the Balinese are incredibly open which is not always so in Indonesia, so there are no excuses. It really helps if you learn a little Bahasa which is a very simple language, and if you really want to impress, a few word of Balinese go down very well indeed.

If you have the right attitude you will see more smiles and smile more in a single day in Bali than you will in year in London. You can not approach the place with a bad attitude as you will be found out by the spirits which pervade everything.

If you like to party all night it is all there in Bali too, but forget early starts, Nightlife means night life, the international beautiful people are everywhere but the scene shifts and slips from place to place much like the spirits that surround everything.

Sadly the march of Islam has diminished somewhat the traditional spiritual traditions in much of the rest of Indonesia, though that is by no means a absolute statement, seek and you will find beautiful people and places. Most areas are pretty secular by the standards of other Islamic countries. Sadly you should avoid places like Aceh where more extreme Islamists in power have gone mental

Parts of  Lombok, the Gillis, the Mentawai are indeed jewels though most are very much more developed now than they were even a few years ago, though isolation is not what it sounds like you are looking for. The south coasts of the big Islands of Java and Sumatra have Jewels too especially the national park in East Java, though will need deep pockets to vist there.

I no nothing of the the non-Indian Ocean parts of Indonesia by the way, so all this is biased to the South coast

[izcuje]

Let me know if you decide to drop by neighbouring Malaysia and need a free tour guide

[devonhammer]

bamber, on 03 June 2011 - 03:50 PM, said:

It really helps if you learn a little Bahasa which is a very simple language, and if you really want to impress, a few word of Balinese go down very well indeed.

This is going to sound really picky and I hate myself already, but...

Bahasa means language, Bahasa Indonesia means Indonesian. We learnt Bahasa Indonesia by playing snakes and ladders in bars (you only got to move if you correctly translated a random phrase). The locals thought this was great and gave us new and better phrases (good night became sweet dreams which became wet dreams to much hilarity of the lads who told us). After about three months we could hold down a conversation, it really is that simple. The other advantage is that if you go to out of the way places the locals don't speak Bahasa Indonesia any better than you and so you don't get complicated sentences at 100mph (Flores has something like five local languages on its own).

The Bali question is down to what you want to get out of a trip. They have McDonalds, Hard Rock Cafe, millions of Australians and nice people, but out of the way islands still have nice people, so why search around Bali? Having said that, visiting out of the way places isn't for everyone and Bali is beautiful with beautiful people.