Seminyak
Hotel Puri Wisata
With the tour over and four days left before I head home, we base ourselves at the Puri Wisata hotel on the border of Legian and Seminyak.
A quick internet search and access to a reasonable Indonesian dictionary help me understand the meaning of 'Puri Wisata'. Puri means castle, palace or place of worship, and Wisata means journey. So I guess they named the hotel to mean 'A palace at journey's end'. In reality - but keeping in mind you only get what you pay for - in this case Puri means 'Moth-eaten, worn out, run down, and in need of some serious renovations', and Wisata means 'Can I drag your bag to reception!'
But seriously folks, it is in a great location. There is a pub and a Circle K next door, and it is adjacent to a major intersection, so there are always plenty of taxis available; the airport is a lazy 30 minute drive away. Even though the streets are crazy busy, it is a cool, calm oasis from the hot and noisy world outside. Yes, it could do with a good lick and spit to tidy up the rough edges, but with free Wi-Fi and breakfast, a large cool, shaded pool, and friendly staff, $15 a night for a twin-share room is not to be sneezed at.
Although this is not my favourite part of Bali, it does make the last few days of the trip easier in terms of finding a variety of food to eat, access to ATMs, ubiquitous free Wi-Fi, Internet cafes, and the ability to do some last minute shopping.
We are about a 10 minute walk from the beach, which means that the hotel is quite a bit cheaper than those with an ocean front view. Although I like beaches - and there is nothing wrong with this one, it is a very nice beach, world famous in fact - it is not the beach per se to which I am not enamoured. It is what the beach has become - a 24 hour party zone. That, and the fact that you become a sitting target for touts attempting to sell you paintings, watches, sunglasses, wooden elephants, massages and the like which make this a type of living hell for me.
The cheaply provided umbrellas, and access to cool refreshing beverages do afford a level of luxury and comfort, but this is generally not what I look for in a beach.
That said, it has been observed by me and pointed out by others, that this is all highly concentrated in the Kuta-Legian-Seminyak area. Although some people who have not been to Bali - or who have, but have not ventured any further than this tacky tourist strip - may have a vision that this is all there is, or that all of Bali must be the same.
They are wrong.
The first two weeks in Bali were spent 'On tour', an organised mountain biking trip over 14 days. Eight riding days were broken up with a couple of rest days, one of which was used to access amazing snorkelling. The other non-riding days were filled with a climb up a volcano to watch the sunrise, river rafting, and canyoning. We found this a good way to do it for a number of reasons. There were no more than 2 riding days in a row - giving us a rest from the bikes. We saw a great deal of Bali - parts of which I'm guessing most westerners would not otherwise get the chance to see, and we spent time with two awesome locals - Ketut and Made.
Ketut - our riding guide - is a wiry mountain biking machine. If he can't climb up it, it can't be climbed. If he can't ride down it, it is probably a wall! He always warned us of tricky sections of trail, made an amazing clicking noise with his mouth to warn others of our approach, and was helpful in explaining Indonesian words, phrases, history, culture and geography. He is also a bike nut - he owns 10 bikes - so he is always up for a chat about bikes and parts.
Made was our soigner; he drove the team bus, set up and broke down the bikes for transit, organised lunch and other refreshment breaks, and was always ready to help in any other way. He was always cheerful, and constantly smiling.
These two made the trip. If Isabelle is the brains, these guys are the heart and soul of the operation.
During the tour we only had two days when it rained, and then not enough to spoil our fun. One riding day started with some light rain, but it soon cleared, and left the trails nice and tacky.
We saw cows - Indonesian cows are very short haired, rust coloured, and when young look like fawns - goats, pigs, chickens, ducks, herons, fish, water buffalo, snakes, geckos, lizards, cats and dogs. Most of which we ate at some stage.
We rode through jungle, vegetable fields, fruit orchards, cashew and clove groves, coffee patches, farmer's yards, lava fields, and streams and of course - rice paddies. We rode on or through dirt, rocks, mud, sand, concrete, tarmac, lava, and all the afore-mentioned animals manure (Hello AQIS!)
We had only one mechanical - a flat tyre on day three - and one stack each, neither of which required medical evacuation.
For me, this is one of the best ways to really see, and hopefully start to understand a place. Rather than stand there and look at it, do something in it!
For those playing at home we rode 280k in 27:26, ascending 3590m and descending 9792m
http://app.strava.com/activities/72498714
A quick internet search and access to a reasonable Indonesian dictionary help me understand the meaning of 'Puri Wisata'. Puri means castle, palace or place of worship, and Wisata means journey. So I guess they named the hotel to mean 'A palace at journey's end'. In reality - but keeping in mind you only get what you pay for - in this case Puri means 'Moth-eaten, worn out, run down, and in need of some serious renovations', and Wisata means 'Can I drag your bag to reception!'
But seriously folks, it is in a great location. There is a pub and a Circle K next door, and it is adjacent to a major intersection, so there are always plenty of taxis available; the airport is a lazy 30 minute drive away. Even though the streets are crazy busy, it is a cool, calm oasis from the hot and noisy world outside. Yes, it could do with a good lick and spit to tidy up the rough edges, but with free Wi-Fi and breakfast, a large cool, shaded pool, and friendly staff, $15 a night for a twin-share room is not to be sneezed at.
Although this is not my favourite part of Bali, it does make the last few days of the trip easier in terms of finding a variety of food to eat, access to ATMs, ubiquitous free Wi-Fi, Internet cafes, and the ability to do some last minute shopping.
We are about a 10 minute walk from the beach, which means that the hotel is quite a bit cheaper than those with an ocean front view. Although I like beaches - and there is nothing wrong with this one, it is a very nice beach, world famous in fact - it is not the beach per se to which I am not enamoured. It is what the beach has become - a 24 hour party zone. That, and the fact that you become a sitting target for touts attempting to sell you paintings, watches, sunglasses, wooden elephants, massages and the like which make this a type of living hell for me.
The cheaply provided umbrellas, and access to cool refreshing beverages do afford a level of luxury and comfort, but this is generally not what I look for in a beach.
That said, it has been observed by me and pointed out by others, that this is all highly concentrated in the Kuta-Legian-Seminyak area. Although some people who have not been to Bali - or who have, but have not ventured any further than this tacky tourist strip - may have a vision that this is all there is, or that all of Bali must be the same.
They are wrong.
The first two weeks in Bali were spent 'On tour', an organised mountain biking trip over 14 days. Eight riding days were broken up with a couple of rest days, one of which was used to access amazing snorkelling. The other non-riding days were filled with a climb up a volcano to watch the sunrise, river rafting, and canyoning. We found this a good way to do it for a number of reasons. There were no more than 2 riding days in a row - giving us a rest from the bikes. We saw a great deal of Bali - parts of which I'm guessing most westerners would not otherwise get the chance to see, and we spent time with two awesome locals - Ketut and Made.
Ketut - our riding guide - is a wiry mountain biking machine. If he can't climb up it, it can't be climbed. If he can't ride down it, it is probably a wall! He always warned us of tricky sections of trail, made an amazing clicking noise with his mouth to warn others of our approach, and was helpful in explaining Indonesian words, phrases, history, culture and geography. He is also a bike nut - he owns 10 bikes - so he is always up for a chat about bikes and parts.
Made was our soigner; he drove the team bus, set up and broke down the bikes for transit, organised lunch and other refreshment breaks, and was always ready to help in any other way. He was always cheerful, and constantly smiling.
These two made the trip. If Isabelle is the brains, these guys are the heart and soul of the operation.
During the tour we only had two days when it rained, and then not enough to spoil our fun. One riding day started with some light rain, but it soon cleared, and left the trails nice and tacky.
We saw cows - Indonesian cows are very short haired, rust coloured, and when young look like fawns - goats, pigs, chickens, ducks, herons, fish, water buffalo, snakes, geckos, lizards, cats and dogs. Most of which we ate at some stage.
We rode through jungle, vegetable fields, fruit orchards, cashew and clove groves, coffee patches, farmer's yards, lava fields, and streams and of course - rice paddies. We rode on or through dirt, rocks, mud, sand, concrete, tarmac, lava, and all the afore-mentioned animals manure (Hello AQIS!)
We had only one mechanical - a flat tyre on day three - and one stack each, neither of which required medical evacuation.
For me, this is one of the best ways to really see, and hopefully start to understand a place. Rather than stand there and look at it, do something in it!
For those playing at home we rode 280k in 27:26, ascending 3590m and descending 9792m
http://app.strava.com/activities/72498714
Great stuff Dave. Wish I had a look earlier..
ReplyDeleteMike McLean MTB Kerala