Seminyak is a very nice area of Bali that I haven't seen mentioned in this thread. The best restaurant/club in Bali is Ku De Ta in Seminyak. Beach party during the day and very nice restaurant/bar at night. It's like a Miami hotel party. I found Kuta to be a trashy place -- beaches were dirty, bars were gross, and tourists were looking to do things on the cheap. I much preferred Seminyak and Jimbaran beaches to Kuta. Ubud is good for a day trip if you like the spiritual/Hindu/yoga thing. The elephant park is OK, but not a must-see. The Balinese massages are very good. Obviously there are many Australians there -- Bali is to Australia like Hawaii is to the US.... except the rest of Indonesia is poor and dirty, whereas the rest of Hawaii is quite nice. Overall though, Bali is a really unique place and a great vacation spot. btw -- traffic in Bali is very bad. It's the worst I've ever seen actually and I've traveled the world. Plan ahead for this. It can take an hour to go 1 mile during the worst of it.
I wouldn't call Java dirty. There are many great places to see in Java. I agree that most of Sumatra is pretty poor and dirty, but Java has not as much. On my trip to Indonesia I spend as little time as possible on Bali, since there are a lot of tourists there. And i'm not one to go to a club all night and party (those years are behind me). The culture is beautiful, and the 2 days I spend at Bali (I had to go to Bali because it was the best place to go on the plane to Flores) were actually very nice. VOA you can also see if you want to go to places on the east part of Java. There are some nice nature reserves there. Unfortunatly most great paces in Java are to far away. Mount Bromo: is beautiful, but a bit far perhaps. Baluran national park is also nice. Meru Betiri: Is also nice, good way to see sea turtles, But I expect you can see enough of them in Australia. But also a far trip. Ijen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ijen) is actually very nice, and doable on a day trip of Bali, it is a place very popular for Dutchmen and also French, but most other tourists ignore it. But I enjoyed it, it is beautiful when there is a clear sky.
Went to Bali like in 2008 or something, it was nice. Apparently they have 2 sets of prices in the markets, one for locals (Indonesians) and another for foreigners. Found that out from a friend. I hear that if you want to bargain, bargain like Korean tourists. They low ball like crazy... Mauri would be proud. Also if you're going to go anywhere by taxi, use Bluebird. They're the most trustworthy brand in the country. However I'd rent out a motorbike if I were you, they're very cheap... that is if you're not there with kids. I ate dinner at Jimbaran(sp?) beach and the sea food was straight awesome. I mean... damn awesome. Kuta was meh. Can't tell you about prices there since I went with family and I didn't pay. That's all I remember, I was sick 50% of the time due to motion sickness.
I don't have anything to add to my previous posts in 2007 since I haven't been to Bali since then. Renting a motor bike is OK and let's you get around but as I said be careful about the International license scam.
Geographically, Indonesia is one of the most interesting, fascinating places in the world. The people, however are low class and trashy, even the American immigrants I've known. Expect a lot of touts.
Love Bali, try and get up there twice a year for a couple of weeks each time. You just check out Scratch restaurant, it is run by a Canadian bloke and the best steak I have ever had, real nice guy as well. The restaurant is located around the corner from the prison in Kerobokan.
was in bali last december, it was great...relatively cheap and the beaches are incredible. do take some medication for diarrhea though, especially this time of the year.
