Bali

[Hung Man 1808]

You can't book Lion Air online unless you have a Credit Card issued by an Indonesian bank.

That recently changed, or it did for my (non Indonesian) credit card. Just for the heck of it, I tried my Visa when checking flights and it went through to the Verified by Visa page (where you enter your password as a secondary security measure) and it was all good!

The new 737s aren't quite as new now, so we'll see how good the Lion Air maintenance standards in the next few years. That said, the plane's decor and seats resemble something akin to a commuter train.

If Mandala don't come back, I'll miss them.

[Member #2041]

Forget Mandala, it went broke last month and had to give its aircraft back.

Air Asia has four flights a day as does Batavia. The more in advance you book and pay the cheaper the ticket, generally. Fridays are often at a premium as Jakarta people go to Bali for the weekend.

Lion has good record for safety and comfort. 10 flights a day. Book on line.

Garuda is full service airline and generally more expensive but frequently runs promos in order to stay competitive.

You can't book Lion Air online unless you have a Credit Card issued by an Indonesian bank. Same with Garuda. In my experience, Air Asia doesn't have that problem. But because Lion Air has a lot of flights, it's probably not an issue to buy the ticket from the Lion sales booth with cash once you arrive at CGK airport. You won't be able to get Garuda's promo fares booking at the last minute this way.

Personally, I've flown both Air Asia and Lion on flights within Indonesia in and out of Jakarta. I found Air Asia to be better run, but both are adequate. I could buy my tickets in advance on the Air Asia website using my American-issued Credit card, but I had to buy my Lion Air tickets with cash at the Lion ticket booth in the terminal at CGK.

[Dazednconfused]

Certainly Air Asia and Lion Air do. As does Garuda, but it's not a discount airline. Probably also Batavia and Mandala. My choice, assuming comparable fares and schedules would be Air Asia.

Forget Mandala, it went broke last month and had to give its aircraft back.

Air Asia has four flights a day as does Batavia. The more in advance you book and pay the cheaper the ticket, generally. Fridays are often at a premium as Jakarta people go to Bali for the weekend.

Lion has good record for safety and comfort. 10 flights a day. Book on line.

Garuda is full service airline and generally more expensive but frequently runs promos in order to stay competitive.

[Member #2041]

What is the cheap carrier that flies from jakarta to Bali?

Certainly Air Asia and Lion Air do. As does Garuda, but it's not a discount airline. Probably also Batavia and Mandala. My choice, assuming comparable fares and schedules would be Air Asia.

[Amjeck]

Thing is, they land in Jakarta close to midnight, so you would need to hang around the airport until morning for the first flight to Bali, which should run you 75-100$ each way.

What is the cheap carrier that flies from jakarta to Bali?

[Member #2041]

Cebu pacific is running a sale right now, I looked at tickets an hour ago for May, and it is 200$ R / T. NO CHECKED LUGGAGE.

Thing is, they land in Jakarta close to midnight, so you would need to hang around the airport until morning for the first flight to Bali, which should run you 75-100$ each way.

PAL is going to start non stop service between MNL and DPS fairly soon.

If he's carrying-on a bunch of camera gear, he's almost certainly going to need to check a bag with his clothing and such. I have no experience with Cebu Pacific, but Air Asia's cheap fares don't include checked bags either, but they let you buy a 10KG or 20KG checked baggage allowance for a reasonable charge.

[1Ball]

Cebu pacific is running a sale right now, I looked at tickets an hour ago for May, and it is 200$ R / T. NO CHECKED LUGGAGE.

Thing is, they land in Jakarta close to midnight, so you would need to hang around the airport until morning for the first flight to Bali, which should run you 75-100$ each way.

PAL is going to start non stop service between MNL and DPS fairly soon.

Guys,

According to expedia and travelocity, I will have to pay a king's ransom to get to Bali from Manila this May.

Could someone advise me on the most intelligent and economical way of traveling between Manila and Bali?

Also, I'm a photography buff, so I plan to bring along some gear. Can a foreigner carry a professional camera around Bali without that nagging fear, as in Manila?

Thanks in advance.

Gumby.

[Manfield04]

I know that I should RTFF but is there anyone who could help me?

I'm planning to visit Bali for three weeks in July / August of this year. Can anyone suggests good girl friendly budget hotels in the Kuta region?

Thanks

[Member #2041]

Have you tried looking at Cebu Air from Manila to Jakarta? After that there is a myriad of budget airlines plying the Jakarta to Bali sector.

I would agree that the cheapest way would be to fly from Manila to Jakarta, and then get to Bali from Jakarta. One caveat is that you will find that few if any of the discount carriers that serve Indonesia can accept Credit Card payments from banks outside of Indonesia. One that can is Air Asia. I would also state that IMHO, the degree of professionalism exhibited by Air Asia dwarfs that of Lion Air.

One other thing to research is that you can fly Air Asia from Clark to Kuala Lumpur and then from KL to Bali. But you would need to overnight in KL each way to do it. But you could probably do the whole round trip for 300-400 US.

Air Asia is a reliable and very inexpensive airline that services Bali from several major Asian hubs, including Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, and Jakarta so if you can get to any of those hubs cheaply out of Manila, they will be able to get you to Bali for for probably under $100 USD each way from any of those hubs. As I pointed out, you could also fly Air Asia from Clark to KL, and then KL to Bali, but it would require an overnight each way to do it reliably.

In my experience, one can pretty safely carry high end photography gear in Bali. But getting it to Bali safely might be another story entirely.

[Ozztraleearr]

Guys,

According to expedia and travelocity, I will have to pay a king's ransom to get to Bali from Manila this May.

Could someone advise me on the most intelligent and economical way of traveling between Manila and Bali?

Also, I'm a photography buff, so I plan to bring along some gear. Can a foreigner carry a professional camera around Bali without that nagging fear, as in Manila?

Thanks in advance.

Gumby.

Have you tried looking at Cebu Air from Manila to Jakarta? After that there is a myriad of budget airlines plying the Jakarta to Bali sector.

[Gumby2004]

Guys,

According to expedia and travelocity, I will have to pay a king's ransom to get to Bali from Manila this May.

Could someone advise me on the most intelligent and economical way of traveling between Manila and Bali?

Also, I'm a photography buff, so I plan to bring along some gear. Can a foreigner carry a professional camera around Bali without that nagging fear, as in Manila?

Thanks in advance.

Gumby.

[MasterF]

I really appreciate this kind of report. Thanks for that!

You mentioned Ubud. So did you stay there in a hotel or did you just go there by taxi to stay with the German guy in his house to party for a while? So Anica new him and his place and took you there?

Did you first book Anica from the 11X for a day? What price did they ask for? Did she ask later for money or did you just give her some good "tip" later (which I would prefer since in this case no pimp could profit on that money!).

Planning to visit Bali again in February and would like to expierience something like this as well!

Cheers, Wikki

I just did a day trip to Ubud to this German guys private villa. Anice I met on an normal visit to 11x, payed 400 first time for 2 hour inkl. Room, offered her 300 if we started to meet in private and she agreed to start meeting me private and for the party I gave her 400 to share with her friend

[John Aldrich]

Hi guys,

If I bring porn on my laptop, and it is hidden deep in my hard drive without the original movie name, do you think I will get caught, do they check laptops for porn?

Don"t have to worry. They are not going to check you even if you bring the porn cD's with the labels on, as long as you don't look like a drug peddler.

[Matty Boy]

Hi guys,

If I bring porn on my laptop, and it is hidden deep in my hard drive without the original movie name, do you think I will get caught, do they check laptops for porn?

[Blood Yamo]

I think I had the same girl, Very sweet and innocent looking. I just went with the flow and wore the panties and she gave the very good sensual massage, lot's of asshole attention etc. And kind of incorporated the panties into the deal, weird, but very pleasurable.

Finished up with a strange happy ending, just kind rubbed it but never really gripped it or anything.

Makes me wonder who the hell came up with that idea and who trains the staff.

Went by body arum massage, the place with the infamous "beer massage" I thought the girl they brought to do my massage seemed *way* too young, cute and balinese to be rubbing dude's assholes all day for a living, and sure enough, she kept insisting I wear those paper panties they give you sometimes at the non-happy ending kinda joints. Finally I asked to see the manager, who pretended like she had no idea what I was talking about when I told her I'd been coming to the place for months for their "special" massage (for those of you who don't know, for ages this place specialized in "sensual massages" that involved a lot of asshole rubbing) the receptionist kept asking if I remembered the name of the girl who did this for me, and I think they maybe could have hooked me up with the usual, except I couldn't remember a single name from the 5 girls who've massaged me there.

I don't suppose anyone has the name of a quality service provider from that place I could use to make a reservation there next time? Without a name I think I'm just going to get the run-around again if I ever go back.