Anyone been to Kualar Lumpur or Bali ?

[Blackbeetle]

Hi
Off to Kualur Lumpur & Bali in October.Any advice, tips or just general chat about your experiences there would be very welcome.

[anniecat]

Have been to KL. Fab city, lots of temples etc to look around/ chill out in. Great china town and loads of modern shopping malls and bars etc. the Sri Devi curry house in the Brickfields part of town is the place to go for a good banana leaf restaurant. Mutton rice; Rice, mutton curry, chutneys and a couple of popodoms costs about �1.20 and they keep re-filling your banana leaf untill you've had enough!
If you want to splurge eating chinese at the Ritz Carlton or North Indian at the top indian restaurant in town the Bombay Palace 215 Jalan Tun Razak will not break the bank. Costs are similar to what you would pay in England.
If you haven't booked accomodation yet, you might be interested to know that if flying with Malaysia airlines you can book accomodation in malaysia out of their 'Malaysia Stopover' brochure, good prices and a massive choice of places around malaysia and all prices include transfers and breakfast! e.g. in KL for about �66 a night you can stay at the Ritz Carlton complete with your own butler who serves you breakfast in bed each day, polishes your shoes and does all your laundry for free! and if thats not enough there are complimentry snacks and drinks in the Club lounge all day.
most travel agents don't seem to be aware of this so just contact your nearest malasia airlines office and get them to send you a copy.

[Blackbeetle]

Thanks Anniecat...great info.We're flying with Malaysia Airlines and will be staying in KL for 4 days and then on to Bali for 10 days.Can't wait for the bargains in KL !!!

[wilsonjenny]

We went to Bali over Christmas and New Year for two weeks. Stayed at the Sanur Paradise Plaza Hotel in Sanur. Loved the island and its people. They are so friendly and will do anything for you. You do get hawkers on the beach trying to sell you the usual trinkets, barter and buy if you like the look of it, but they don't seem to mind if you don't. The beach sarongs are a good buy. If you have a chance get one of the local people to take you on a tour of the island and the beaches. Ask to go to Dreamland beach. It is not on any of the maps (or it wasn't when we were there). It is excellent and the only way you can get to it is by car. There are beach bars along the beach, so don't stop at the first one you come to. The Balinese people are in dire need of tourists as numbers are down because of the bombings. There are security guards on all of the large hotels and some roadblocks where all cars and buses are checked over. Lots of good restaurants to choose from. Wine is not plentiful - the most reasonable we found was Jacobs Creek Charddonay at approx �15/bottle. Beware of the cheap DVD's - they cost about 60p and you get what you pay for. The CD's sold on the beach were OK though. Any other questions - let me know.

Have a good holiday :thumleft:

[Blackbeetle]

Thanks very much for your info...looks as though I'll have to find another tipple as I only drink wine!! ccasion1

[andyblue07]

the place sanur on bali is a dump. its full of stray cats and dogs with puppies. i travel the world 5 to 6 times a year and i will not return to bali. we arrived at bali the taxi and porters nearly fight so they can take your suitcases. then we saw the roads which are atrocious the pot holes in the road are frightning and the rubbish is just left at the side of the rd. we stayed at inna grand bali beach which is quite nice and the people are nice. the hotel looked after there own part of the baech but as soon as you left the confines of the hotel the beach is littered with rubbish and cats and dogs and sometimes someone trying to sell you something will follow you for ages even when you say your not interested they carry on following. when you come out of the hotel and start walking about you nearly fall down holes in the pavement and you would seriously hurt yourself and its not one or two theres loads of pot holes. we had to laugh and accept bali is a very poor country and cant afford to keep it clean or do roadworks. its a real shame because bali could be beautiful but its a shambles. its so dirty and in most places the smell of stinking egg is unreal sorry bali 1 out of 10

[wilsonjenny]

I've travelled the world also and I certainly didn't find Sanur a dump. It is third world and so you can't expect it to be as upmarket as say, Barbados or Antigua or as pristine as Singapore. I didn't notice a smell of bad eggs and the potholes in the road were not unduly noticeable to me. If you think the roads are bad in Bali you should go to Mombassa!

Sanur may not be the best resort on the island, but it is certainly better than Kuta. There are better areas such as Nusa Dua but you are more isolated.

[Bat2105]

Hiya

I've been to KL 3 times and Bali twice. In KL i'd recommend going up the Petronas Twin Towers, its best to get there around 10am in the morning as it gets quite busy in the afternoon and there is a limit of how many people go up each day, and its free by the way. Another thing i'd say is to use the MRT to get around its cheap clean and there are stations clearly signed all over the centre. Shopping is another must, all the malls (there are loads by the way) are brill but it really depends what your after, i tended to go for the independent shops rather than the mainstream as they have some really cool clothes for next to nothing (expect to pay around �4 for tops and not much more for skirts jeans etc) Branded trainers are also cheaper, I got a pair of Nike Air Rifts 7 years ago for �11 and they were �120 in the shops over here!, last time I went (2 yrs ago) my mate ended up buying 5 pairs to take home!

Bali is a wonderful place (i'm planning on moving there for a minimum of 6 months next year) and would totally disagree with the comments about Sanur, its a great place with great people. Its full of quality bars and restaurants that offer great service for next to nothing!. There are tons of things to do in Bali, one tour I would def tell you to do is the elephant safari and white water rafting (you can combine them or do them on 2 separate days) you can find more info about this if you google bali adventur tours, which are a really reputable established company, think we paid aroung $55 for the combined trip (4 yrs ago now tho), which includes everthing plus insurance. In Kuta you can take surfing lessons for next to nothing. You can take day trips to Nusa Dua, but I found it to be very isolate and quite 'resort like'.

In both place food and drink is very reasonable. A large beer (660ml) is around �1, local wine is around �7 bottle and imports are more expensive at around �12-15. A 2 course meal should never set you back around �5-7 per person.

Where are you staying by the way and I could give you more detailed information.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

Regards
Beth

[Peaches]

Hated the dump.Bag snatchers everywhere. Motor cyclist snatched bag right off my back outside Rennaissance Hotel/ Police didn't want to know. Hotel were good though. British consul told us it happened to her twice in 18 months. Had to stay 3 more days to get passports and had to buy new air tickets as Malaysia airlines wouldn't transfer them. Total cost was �3000 in tickets, extra hotels, passports, cash, 2 mobiles, medication , glasses. etc. etc. etc. Nightmare. Then hotel Manager decIdes to tell me it happens all the time. Complained to Malaysia airlines on return to London about lack of co-operation and they had cheek to tell me it happened to one of thir staff when they went to a course in KL. Went to Egypt 6 months later and spoke to a lady whose sister had same but was pulled under car and on life support machine so at least it only cost me a holiday and �3000.. Lynne Whitbread