Lombok & Bali tips

Anyone been to Lombok, Indonesia and Padang Bay, Bali that may have some tips for tours/things to see and do? We are on the Rhapsody of the Seas - Sydney to Singapore Nov 24, 2007 and these are 2 of the ports of call. Any advice appreciated.

Padang Bay is mostly for SCUBA and snorkling. There is, I think, a semi-sub there, too. The sea life is ok, but nothing spectacular. Certainly nothing like the Great Barrier Reef. I would strongly urge you to hire a local driver and see some of Bali's sights. The local version of Hinuism is unique and intersting. The terraced rice patties are picture postcard lovely.

Lombok is very quiet. The tourists there are mostly young beach types. There is a unique local religion there but the island is mostly Moslem. Not a lot to do, but there are some plesant beachs.

Trivia: The Wallace (the joint descover of Evolution along with Darwin) line which seperates Asian from Australian animals runs between these two islands. The divide is not as great as was once thought, but it is still considered "kinda" true.

Paul

I was recently in Padang Bai and had no idea that they even had SCUBA or snorkeling there. I took a ship-sponsored trip to Ubud and Mas and had a great time. I guess it depends on what you are looking for.

Ubud is a lovely "village" and home to many incredibly talented artists (I bought two beautiful oil paintings for $70.00 U.S.) and Mas is a "village" of woodcarvers. Some of the carvings have to be seen to be believed (e.g. enormous (and I mean enormous) intricately carved statues - who buys them I don't know since they are truly huge, but oh are they gorgeous). I simply bought a small carved elephant to add to my elephant collection but had I had the time I could have bought so much more.

Just be aware of the vendors at the pier. They are loud and irritating and can be obnoxious. They don't mean any disrespect but, as our Port Lecturer advised us, they are simply a very vocal society. Just smile politely and say "no thank you" and for pete's sake keep on walking or you will end up like I did with $10.00 worth of very inferior Batik:D . If you want the real Batik you have to go to Java. Yes, I did go to Java (Semarang) and yes, I do have some really, really nice Batik to show for it.

I'm going back to Padang Bai next year and I can't wait.

Valerie :)

I very strongly agree with Valerie's suggestion for Ubud and Mas out of Padang Bay. The drive is lovely and the town is very picturesque. But, be aware that it is just starting to become touristy. Some exceptional art work available in Ubud and Mas, including carvings (e.g. Balinese masks). But, watch out as quality can vary considerably. Also, there are some terrific restaurants in the area, although I cannot recall any specific names at the moment. If you have the time or inclination to arrange a private car rather than take a group tour, you will have a better chance of following your own interests. Also, you can get to places when tour buses or other groups from the ship or other tours are not there.

Padang Bay itself is not much in my opinion and I agree with the suggestion of avoiding the vendors in Padang Bay itself.

By the way, most Balinese are polite to a fault. It is a beautiful area and you should have a wonderful time.

We just returned from the Oceania cruise. Stopped in Komodo (must use ship's exccursion), Bali (had a tour for 4 for $40.00 with http://www.yourbalidriver.com) and a tour for 10 to Bororbodur through (www.javatourismexplore.com--$70 per) Both tours were great.

St. Pete

Our son, DIL and grandchildren currently live in Jakarta. They recently visited Lombok for 3 days. Here is an edited excerpt from her blog. I hope this is helpful.

So, we decided to go instead to Lombok, the island east of Bali. We had heard good things about it, that it was beautiful with nice beaches, and quieter and less built up than Bali.

Lombok is indeed quieter than Bali. This is a good thing in general, except that it felt slower in a bit of a sad way. There were still hawkers, and they seemed a little desperate for business. Streets were pretty bare and shops opened late. But, it is low season and it was a holiday, so this might not be a very good assessment given the time of year. It's also not as unique as Bali. The Hindu religion gives Bali much of its flavor and since Lombok is predominently Muslim it didn't exude that extra color. On the other hand, the beaches are more beautiful and less crowded. We saw some gorgeous postcard-perfect beaches. And they were totally undeveloped and empty - just beaches that butted up against people's farm land or where local fisherman docked their boats. Lombok is also somewhat mountainous, so the views really were amazing.

We spent a half-day touring around the island near Senggigi. There's a lot to see actually, like Mount Rinjani and Kuta, but we elected to stay closer to our part of the island so we would spend less time in a car. One of our destinations was the "Monkey Forest", which consisted of a roadside stop where we could feed monkeys peanuts (or bananas, which oddly enough they seem to really like! Who knew, monkeys like bananas). I think the word "forest" is taking it too far; they were quite civil and polite monkeys - unlike the monkeys we've come across in Bali. Those Bali Monkeys, they're so naughty. Bad Bali Monkeys, Bad! (okay, I've had way too much coffee today) I fed some of them peanuts as well, and always tried to give them to the pregnant monkeys or the new moms. We also stopped by a traditional Indonesian market on our drive, which was similar to the markets you find all over Africa.

We also visited a Hindu temple called Pera Muru and the Water Palace, which was a pavilion-like building in the middle of a man-made lake where the king would conduct business. We then headed to a pottery making village (in Bali and Lombok villages specialize in one craft, so especially in Bali you see shop after shop of the same thing). The pottery is special to Lombok so the designs were different than most of what I see around Jakarta. And that concludes our busiest day during our vacation.

Padang Bay is mostly for SCUBA and snorkling. There is, I think, a semi-sub there, too. The sea life is ok, but nothing spectacular. Certainly nothing like the Great Barrier Reef. I would strongly urge you to hire a local driver and see some of Bali's sights. The local version of Hinuism is unique and intersting. The terraced rice patties are picture postcard lovely.

Padang Bay isn't for diving. All liveaboard diving ships to Komodo Marin Park and the surrounding area leave from there. Padang is the port for Bali. Do the sightseeing. Ubud is very nice. It is hot!!! There are restaurants called Dirty Duck in Ubud at the both ends of town. Have lunch there. Duck is the Bali speciality and it's wonderful.

There isn't much in Lombok. The quality of craft isn't much there.

Anyone been to Lombok, Indonesia and Padang Bay, Bali that may have some tips for tours/things to see and do? We are on the Rhapsody of the Seas - Sydney to Singapore Nov 24, 2007 and these are 2 of the ports of call. Any advice appreciated.

If you go to Bali the shopping and restaraunts are in Kuta and Legian you can shop until you drop here. there are water sports in benoa.

Any tips about resorts in Bali? How to pick?

Any trash to talk about any mediocre resort?