The best human being (and driver/guide) in BALI

[Mrs f.]

We've got him Christmas Day and Boxing Day. He also asked me....I want to go to the Monkey Forest. Couldn't think of where else. Will see what his suggestions are

[cashmeremypuppydog]

2 hours ago, diddlydi said:

We are stopping over night on the Celebrity Edge. He has gotten back to me and he seems very nice. He is asking me where we would like to go and I have no idea. LOL . 

I have always wanted to go to Bali but don't know what to do when I get there. 

We have got 2 good days there. 8 am overnight till 5 pm the next day. 

Any suggestions will be appreciated. 

Dianne

P.S. My hubby is from Lintlaw Saskatchewan. Near Kelvington. 

Hello from hot Saskatoon (33C),

We are not complaining as we had a dreadful winter... I had to google Lintlaw as I am originally from Quebec. My husband is originally from Humboldt (140 km west of Lintlaw).

 

When we stayed over night while cruising on HAL, I organized a group of 8 and had Dewa toured us (he was the guide and another man was driving a bigger van). We slept in Ubud (I strongly recommend it to you) not to lose time. Plus, sleeping in Ubud is magical.

You could splurge and sleep VERY close to the rice field or just do like us, sleep right in Ubud. Because you never have been there, I would recommend splurging. Have Dewa drive you around until 4-5 o'clock and drop you off in Ubud. Experience Ubud and have him pick you up later (by calling him or arranging a set time)  to go to your magical hotel overlooking the rice field.

 

There is many things to do and you will have to be selective.. I will try to post some later. I know I posted the options in the past...

 

Let me know if you need more help.

The Canadians!😎

P.S. Dewa was really busy helping his cousin with his wedding... See photo below.

 

[cashmeremypuppydog]

No worries for the $$. Dewa can pay for you and you just reimburse him.

 

Plus, the pricing I have on this list are old (6 year old) so not accurate...

 

Have fun!

The Canadians!😎

Edited July 29, 2022 by cashmeremypuppydog

[Mrs f.]

Wow..loads of information..thanks.

any good places to eat?  Typical Balinese?

[cashmeremypuppydog]

Sorry I can’t help you with this one. Ask Dewa, he will know much better than me. 🍚

Dewa told me “A meal without rice is not a meal!”.  Am not so sure about that.😜

[Mrs f.]

Am so excited to spend time with Dewa!

[diddlydi]

22 hours ago, cashmeremypuppydog said:

Sorry I can’t help you with this one. Ask Dewa, he will know much better than me. 🍚

Dewa told me “A meal without rice is not a meal!”.  Am not so sure about that.😜

Did you go to any nice beaches? 

Di

 

[cashmeremypuppydog]

1 minute ago, diddlydi said:

Did you go to any nice beaches? 

Di

I must be picky but I can no say the beaches blew me away. However, we did not spend much time on the beach. Again, I am not helpful!

[Mrs f.]

We just had Dewa as our guide for 2 days.  Lovely young man. Very clean car.  We had such a good time with him.   We got to see so much in a short time.  I definitely recommend him!

[cashmeremypuppydog]

Fantastic! Can you tell us what you visited? 
We are still at home (cold with lots of snow) for another month before going to Uganda and Tanzania so you will us dream…

Thank you for sharing.

The Canadians😎

[IWantToLiveOverTheSea]

This is Ruth.  Nice to see some more action on this thread.  It's definitely Bali time in the cruise world.  People on a couple Facebook pages I browse for Viking and Oceania cruisers often ask for Bali information.  I've given Dewa's contact info by FB messenger (not publicly) to at least 4 or 5 people now.  Hopefully at least one or two of them will ask him to show them Bali on their pre or post cruise stay or just for a day. 

 

Canadians, that's a lot of wonderful info you gave mrs. f!  Wish I had seen that in  2019 when I was looking for info.  But the book on Bali I found at Barnes & Noble helped.  I did find, though, that ultimately my plans for touring turned out to be almost too optimistic, as that heat and humidity slowed me down a bit!

 

As for the beach question (Diddlydi), I only went to one beach in Dec. 2019, and that was Sanur.  It's about a half hour from the airport and less than an hour from Ubud.  From what I had read, it was more sedate/less party-oriented than the beaches closer to the cruise/ferry port.  I'm not really into beaches when cultural experiences are around, but my choice of spending our first night there was a good one. And I enjoyed my evening/morning at the beach, though like the Canadians, wasn't totally blown away by it.  We mostly just walked up and down the path, looking at things and marveling at these boats (first photo) ...And then the next day, as we drove up to Ubud, we stopped at a few places of interest, including Setia Darma Mask & Puppet Museum (see  collage; Goa Gajah's in there, too).

 

As for food, in Sanur we ate at the restaurant where we stayed (Segara Village Hotel, restaurant on beach).  The next day we were kind of tired from touring (in the heat) and just ate dinner at a nearby casual restaurant in Ubud.  I had researched an outdoor dinner place in the country that sounded great; but we decided to stay in Ubud.  During the day with Dewa, we let him choose the place, and that worked well.  I remember snacking at the restaurant at Jatiluwih Rice Fields. And my photos show we ate one lunch at Semar Kuning, but I forget where it was.  My spouse also wanted to go to McDonalds to see what it was like in Indonesia.  There was rice, no fries!   Oh, and hotels.  We liked our Ubud hotel, especially the location.  But it was very modest; maybe too modest for most cruisers.  But a cousin living in Singapore recommended Warwick Ibah in Ubud, though pricey.

Edited January 8, 2023 by IWantToLiveOverTheSea

[tocruiseguy]

On 1/7/2023 at 4:36 PM, Mrs f. said:

We just had Dewa as our guide for 2 days.  Lovely young man. Very clean car.  We had such a good time with him.   We got to see so much in a short time.  I definitely recommend him!

Hello, I am trying to find the right Dewa people are recommending here (we are stopping in Bali in April).  Is he on Trip Advisor, as there are 3 listed there and not sure which one, if any, is the one recommended?

 

Thanks.

[hallasm]

1 hour ago, tocruiseguy said:

I am trying to find the right Dewa people are recommending here (we are stopping in Bali in April). 

Dewa is a very common name in Bali

WhatsApp: +6285238493089 

Email: dgrock1140@ yahoo .com (Remove Spaces)

[cashmeremypuppydog]

Hello Ruth,

Nice to hear from you my CruiseCritic friend! I am so glad you have found memories of Bali & Dewa. Thank you for the great photos.  
I hope you are doing good… I wish you an awesome 2023 with lots of amazing trips.

The Canadians!😎

[Mrs f.]

On 1/9/2023 at 8:31 PM, hallasm said:

Dewa is a very common name in Bali

WhatsApp: +6285238493089 

Email: dgrock1140@ yahoo .com (Remove Spaces)

Yes. This is the Dewa we used.  We were really happy with him.  just got back last night.   Will try to pull out my notes in the next day or so and write where we went. 

[cashmeremypuppydog]

3 hours ago, Mrs f. said:

Yes. This is the Dewa we used.  We were really happy with him.  just got back last night.   Will try to pull out my notes in the next day or so and write where we went. 

That would be awesome!

Thank you for taking the time to share your experience with Dewa. He deserves it. The perfect guide/driver is an ambassador of a country and Dewa is an excellent one!

The Canadians!😎

[Mrs f.]

Looking at my photos from our 2 days with Dewa.

 

Dewa was waiting at the ship terminal when we got there. We found him easily.  Good English.  Very clean car.  We asked him to stop at a pharmacy for stuff since we had been caught in monsoon type rain at komodo pink sand beach the day before and hubby now had a nasty cough and scraped leg. No problem. 

 

It was now about 3pm....we had been late getting into port.

First stop was a traditional family compound.   We then headed over to a temple.  Turns out there was a performance by children going on....exquisite costumes.  Went to Tegenuden Waterfall. Then to see a Balinese performance with the fire dance.  

 

Next morning  we went to the monkey forest.  The one in Ubud. Absolutely fantastic.   On to the rice terraces. Then a royal palace. We had asked Dewa to have lunch with us at a Balinese restaurant.   He  explained that the one he chose was super careful and he felt we wouldn't get tourist tumy.  It was Semar Kuning. Beautiful restaurant.   We sat at the edge with the rice paddies. Loads of baby ducking soamed around.vFoodcwas superb. Some more temples.  Back to ship by 4pm.

 

I felt very comfortable with Dewa.  Sometimes my balance is a little off. Dewa was right beside  me, offering an arm to steady me.

 

I originally found Dewa through this cruise critic site. When I read about...the best human being in Bali tag, I was intrigued.  I contacted Dewa over a year in advance.  Very glad I did.  

[IWantToLiveOverTheSea]

6 hours ago, Mrs f. said:

Looking at my photos from our 2 days with Dewa.

 

Dewa was waiting at the ship terminal when we got there. We found him easily.  Good English.  Very clean car.  We asked him to stop at a pharmacy for stuff since we had been caught in monsoon type rain at komodo pink sand beach the day before and hubby now had a nasty cough and scraped leg. No problem. 

 

It was now about 3pm....we had been late getting into port.

First stop was a traditional family compound.   We then headed over to a temple.  Turns out there was a performance by children going on....exquisite costumes.  Went to Tegenuden Waterfall. Then to see a Balinese performance with the fire dance.  

 

Next morning  we went to the monkey forest.  The one in Ubud. Absolutely fantastic.   On to the rice terraces. Then a royal palace. We had asked Dewa to have lunch with us at a Balinese restaurant.   He  explained that the one he chose was super careful and he felt we wouldn't get tourist tumy.  It was Semar Kuning. Beautiful restaurant.   We sat at the edge with the rice paddies. Loads of baby ducking soamed around.vFoodcwas superb. Some more temples.  Back to ship by 4pm.

 

I felt very comfortable with Dewa.  Sometimes my balance is a little off. Dewa was right beside  me, offering an arm to steady me.

 

I originally found Dewa through this cruise critic site. When I read about...the best human being in Bali tag, I was intrigued.  I contacted Dewa over a year in advance.  Very glad I did.  

Dewa took us to Semar Kuning also.  Very enjoyable and very good food.  My spouse has a bit of a picky stomach too. But he never had trouble in Bali.  However, I've read that often it's simply because people eat too many of the abundant fruits served there - and also drink too much alcohol!

[cashmeremypuppydog]

Last time we were in Ubud, he took us to this restaurant by rice fields. I do not remember the name. We also had the little girl (Olin) we sponsor with Compassion. It was great!🤠

 

[IWantToLiveOverTheSea]

4 hours ago, cashmeremypuppydog said:

Last time we were in Ubud, he took us to this restaurant by rice fields. I do not remember the name. We also had the little girl (Olin) we sponsor with Compassion. It was great!🤠

 

Was it called Bamboo Kitchen?  I had that in my notes, no doubt obtained from something you wrote.  I didn't have time to visit, but my notes say something like "at the end of the Capuhan Ridge Walk, instead of going to Karsa Kafe, continue on maybe 5-10 minutes."  And it has now been reviewed on Trip Advisor, with someone saying it was a bit hard to find, "But there is a small junction near Sinar Spa (highly recommended) and there you walk into the ricefields, just a short pleasant walk.
The place is very cosy, with nice breeze. Lovely owner and really the best sate ayam and yummy peanut sauce during our two months stay on Bali."

 

 

[SolentSeawater]

Thanks for all the info, I’ve just sent Dewa a whats app message. I will ask him the name of his Canadian parents, but what is the correct answer? Looking forward to my visit in December.

[cashmeremypuppydog]

Dennis and Chantal 🙏🏻

[SolentSeawater]

8 hours ago, cashmeremypuppydog said:

Dennis and Chantal 🙏🏻

Thank you. It looks like someone has booked him for the day I wanted in December, probably on the same cruise as me 😬. 

[blomo]

On 2/3/2023 at 3:09 AM, SolentSeawater said:

Thank you. It looks like someone has booked him for the day I wanted in December, probably on the same cruise as me 😬. 

Dewa recommended this gentleman for our February Westerdam cruise. He was wonderful! 
Just on Westerdam now. Anyone looking for a wonderful driver guide for Bali can contact Mr. Putu alisputu46 at gmail dot com.He was willing to take us anywhere, explained many things and was concerned that we have a great time. Highly recommended! Tell him Fran recommended him! 😊 

[jmfdr]

On 1/9/2023 at 4:31 AM, hallasm said:

Dewa is a very common name in Bali

WhatsApp: +6285238493089 

Email: dgrock1140@ yahoo .com (Remove Spaces)

I want to give one more recommendation for Dewa (contact above) as a wonderful tour guide on Bali.  We spent a day with him (Nov. 19, 2023) off the Viking Orion.  Our experiences were similar to the activities and photos posted on this thread so I won't repeat.  We learned so much about Balinese culture and saw many beautiful sites with Dewa.  He is a delightful man, full of humor, considerate, thoughtful, and  knowledgeable.  We thoroughly enjoyed our day with Dewa.

Jan and Fred