Lombok and Bali Trip Oct - Nov 2021

[GF99/99]

Could well be the right time to visit Indonesia before the crowd return.
3 days of quarantine is NOT that bad to endure.

Hate to brake the bad news to you but the crowds have already started. I am down in Southern Bali right now for a couple weeks to enjoy the food and visit some friends and I can tell you its pretty busy down here comparted to last year. Traffic is crazy now! most restaurants are full, most of the Seminyak night clubs are up and running. Lots of "digital nomads" "influencers" "day traders" and locals tourist have flooded Bali.

Went for breakfast at Crate café this morning and the parking lot was jam packed with scooters and every table was full.

Last night down by Corner House and La Favela

 

[Indah]

Hate to brake the bad news to you but the crowds have already started. I am down in Southern Bali right now for a couple weeks to enjoy the food and visit some friends and I can tell you its pretty busy down here comparted to last year. Traffic is crazy now! most restaurants are full, most of the Seminyak night clubs are up and running. Lots of "digital nomads" "influencers" "day traders" and locals tourist have flooded Bali.

Went for breakfast at Crate café this morning and the parking lot was jam packed with scooters and every table was full.

Last night down by Corner House and La FavelaView attachment 691947

Shocking! Especially looking at the current situation in Europe.

 

[Centrals]

Where are the crowds came from? Local(Indonesian and expat) or overseas?

 

[Wisnu]

Where are the crowds came from? Local(Indonesian and expat) or overseas?

Mostly locals.
We stayed near Kuta on our last night in Bali. We visited beach walk mall in Kuta beach, very crowded!!
We had to wait for a while to be seated for dining at Japanese grilled restaurant at this mall.

 

[AlMitch]

Hate to brake the bad news to you but the crowds have already started. I am down in Southern Bali right now for a couple weeks to enjoy the food and visit some friends and I can tell you its pretty busy down here comparted to last year. Traffic is crazy now! most restaurants are full, most of the Seminyak night clubs are up and running. Lots of "digital nomads" "influencers" "day traders" and locals tourist have flooded Bali.

Went for breakfast at Crate café this morning and the parking lot was jam packed with scooters and every table was full.

Last night down by Corner House and La FavelaView attachment 691947

The reason I stay as far away from Kuta as possible!

 

[Dan]

Hate to brake the bad news to you but the crowds have already started. I am down in Southern Bali right now for a couple weeks to enjoy the food and visit some friends and I can tell you its pretty busy down here comparted to last year. Traffic is crazy now! most restaurants are full, most of the Seminyak night clubs are up and running. Lots of "digital nomads" "influencers" "day traders" and locals tourist have flooded Bali.

Went for breakfast at Crate café this morning and the parking lot was jam packed with scooters and every table was full.

Last night down by Corner House and La FavelaView attachment 691947

I guess Dave Smith needs to see it by himself, before writing this article,

Indonesia Is Reopening, But Bali’s Tourists Haven’t Returned

Quarantine, confusion, and red tape dash hopes of tourism reboot in Bali.

thediplomat.com

“In the first four weeks of Phuket’s “sandbox” experiment to reboot tourism in July, 14,000 international tourists arrived on the Thai island, generating $25 million in receipts. Crucially, that included $6.5 million in salaries for locals working in restaurants and hotels.

But over a month since Bali reopened its international airport on October 14, and Indonesia authorized the arrival of fully vaccinated tourists from China and 18 other countries, not a single international tourist has flown directly to the island on a commercial flight. The number of advance hotel reservations from international visitors is also zero, whereas a month after reopening Phuket had 110,000 room nights booked in advance.

“Our hotels haven’t received any bookings from international tourists,” the head of Bali Tourism Board Ida Bagus Agung Partha Adnyana told the Bali Sun. “I think that so far we’ve been targeting the wrong markets for Bali’s tourism reopening.”…”

Your post sounds like Bali doesn’t need foreign tourism. The domestic tourism is good enough.

 

[Ray and Pam]

Just noticed your dive buddies "tag along tang" in post #4, first pic.
I used to carry a small plastic horse in case someone wanted to get a pic of a seahorse.

 

[Dan]

Hope the VLT will be established soon. Heard they are working for same arrangement with Aussie too.

Not with these guys, I hope.

 

[matts1w]

The reason I stay as far away from Kuta as possible!

That ain't Kuta. Kuta is a literal ghost town now. As much as Kuta made my skin crawl, driving through there is very, very depressing. I am honestly not sure it will ever recover.

I have read some speculation it will kinda rebrand into the center of Chinese tourism in Bali. Meanwhile, Seminyak/Canggu will be the new, reimagined Kuta/Legian/Seminyak. Or something like that.

 

[Wisnu]

Love that close up face shot of the colorful mantis shrimp. Looks like some amazing times. I'm curious about something, given that you spend considerable time in forested topside areas. Did you see much wildlife of interest?

Sometimes when I see a foreign land like that, I wonder whether they have cobras or other potentially dangerous wildlife to be mindful of when walking around outside in rural areas. I like snakes, so to me, cobras would be a feature, not a bug, but still...

certainly there's wildlife in the jungle / forest - but for this trip, is not our objective to sight them. We didn't see snake on this trip; and as far I recall, on previous trips too - no cobra or other venomous snakes. Lizards and monitor lizards are very common.
Probably we didn't not notice, or they moved away from our path as we use trekking pole to "tell" them we're coming.
However, I have seen cobra, python, and other snakes at home, in the corner of a friend's garden, sewer and other locations in or near community.