Little mini data sheet on Indonesia with some alternative stuff to do apart from women.
labuan bajo aka Komodo 3 days of diving – basically the only reason you go to this town is for the diving and the dragons. The town is a hot messy shit hole.
The manta rays are insane, and definitely a highlight of my trip. Lots of reef sharks and turtles with good coral life.
I dived with uberscuba who were good. Top tips , bring a reef hook and or gloves. If you are a nervous diver this not the place for you, the currents are strong, you will end up sucking air and shitting yourself.
Did three days of diving with Uberscuba:
Pros:
They have 3 boats (inc small speedboat)! This is important for me as I don’t want to get stuck on the rubbish dive sites with a bunch of try dives.
Kit was fine, boat was nice , but busy when snorkelers on board.
Guides really wanted everyone to get the best possible dive, and pushed hard. This was not always a good thing (see cons)
Dragon trip was great , and I would recommend.
World class diving and dive sites.
Cons:
We pushed too hard on one dive having being dropped miles from the reef , I think they thought the current would push on onto it , it didn’t. Ran out of air at 3m on a safety stop despite telling them at 50, 30 , 20 bar . Not a massive issue at 3m but not ideal.
Bring a reef hook and or gloves you will need them. A lot of people had cut up hands from holding onto rocks.
Some dive operators have live aboards but I prefer to get back on land for a hot shower and a meal.
Lodging : I stayed in a guest house called spring hill , which was in a fairly quiet location , easy walk down the hill , hellish walk back up , but taxi bike easy to find. No hot showers.
Food : tried the top 5 places on trip advisor and all were really rather good
Transport : taxi bikes , and multi cabs. Never pay more than 10k day or 15/20k night for a bike.
Rinca island to see the dragons was amazing, these little dinosaurs are incredible creatures.
I’ll update this thread with some diving screen shots from gopro when I edit them. I've dived all over the world this is in my top 2 places to dive.
Jakarta -5 days . What a shit hole this city is, after 3 days in Thamrin city area I thought I was going to have an asthma attack. Most of my dates were in Grand Indo mall , but traffic is a nightmare in that area so take that into consideration. GRAB , UBER , GOJEK , BLUEBIRD are the best taxi apps. On my return to Jak I stayed in an apartment at Central Park Mall , which had a nice park and slightly cleaner air. Bring ear plugs , there’s fucking mosques everywhere , I’ve travelled extensively throughout the middle east including Saudi , and I’ve never seen and heard so many calls to pray !
Things to Do : not much , but Dunia fantasi fun park was good , miss weekends as it gets busy, its kinda like a shit Disney land. WaterBomb Jakarta is an awesome water park that everyone seems to love. Malls , malls and more malls. The 4DX cinema in central park mall was really good with moving seats etc.
Girls I’m not really a bar person so I pipelined online before touchdown. In 5 days met 5 girls , 2 hot ones which I ended up bedding. Check out the excellent datasheet Irish put together for the low down on clubs and bars etc. There a lot of cute girls in Jak. I was brain storming business ideas over dinner with one girl, and I said what could I import to Jakarta and sell, her response was “white men”. The Christian girls 20% here have it hard in a predominantly Muslim population 80%.
I found the girls here hotter than the Philippines , not as good English but really cute in a lot of respects.
Bali – Avoid Kutu and go for north Seminyak near the ibis on petigent is perfect. I initially stayed in Seminyak Square which was just a bit shit , also I could tell my hotel security would cock block me so moved to a private villa. Got a great last min deal on Airbnb the place was insane and the chicks loved it. Met 3 girls from Bali , bedded 2. Hung out with them most of the week.
In terms of bars La Favela seemed popular, but the security guards nearly killed a tourist there for a non paid bill (apparently the bill was trumped up high) so beware.
Sky garden in Kuta is fun , good music , but full of bogans , insane traffic on a weekend.
Canngu bali is nice if you like a backpacker surf vibe , but you’ll need a moped to get around. The driving here is insane, they don’t care, nearly got knocked over when they drive down the pavements. One rice field road is called the road of death as so many tourists die going back drunk on bikes.
Things to do : Surf , day trip to Ubud is cool. Canyoneering with spirit and adventure tour was the highlight for me. Abseiling down a 250ft waterfall was incredible experience. Not cheap but well worth it. White water rafting and tubing is also available but not as fun IMHO. Quads and buggys looked like a good laugh if you are in a group.
So overall I had a great time in all locations. The diving was world class , the girls were hot and cute. I think I slightly preferred Philippines but Indonesia is still an incredible place to go. Make sure you just don’t go for the girls and actually see and experience some of the country.
labuan bajo aka Komodo 3 days of diving – basically the only reason you go to this town is for the diving and the dragons. The town is a hot messy shit hole.
The manta rays are insane, and definitely a highlight of my trip. Lots of reef sharks and turtles with good coral life.
I dived with uberscuba who were good. Top tips , bring a reef hook and or gloves. If you are a nervous diver this not the place for you, the currents are strong, you will end up sucking air and shitting yourself.
Did three days of diving with Uberscuba:
Pros:
They have 3 boats (inc small speedboat)! This is important for me as I don’t want to get stuck on the rubbish dive sites with a bunch of try dives.
Kit was fine, boat was nice , but busy when snorkelers on board.
Guides really wanted everyone to get the best possible dive, and pushed hard. This was not always a good thing (see cons)
Dragon trip was great , and I would recommend.
World class diving and dive sites.
Cons:
We pushed too hard on one dive having being dropped miles from the reef , I think they thought the current would push on onto it , it didn’t. Ran out of air at 3m on a safety stop despite telling them at 50, 30 , 20 bar . Not a massive issue at 3m but not ideal.
Bring a reef hook and or gloves you will need them. A lot of people had cut up hands from holding onto rocks.
Some dive operators have live aboards but I prefer to get back on land for a hot shower and a meal.
Lodging : I stayed in a guest house called spring hill , which was in a fairly quiet location , easy walk down the hill , hellish walk back up , but taxi bike easy to find. No hot showers.
Food : tried the top 5 places on trip advisor and all were really rather good
Transport : taxi bikes , and multi cabs. Never pay more than 10k day or 15/20k night for a bike.
Rinca island to see the dragons was amazing, these little dinosaurs are incredible creatures.
I’ll update this thread with some diving screen shots from gopro when I edit them. I've dived all over the world this is in my top 2 places to dive.
Jakarta -5 days . What a shit hole this city is, after 3 days in Thamrin city area I thought I was going to have an asthma attack. Most of my dates were in Grand Indo mall , but traffic is a nightmare in that area so take that into consideration. GRAB , UBER , GOJEK , BLUEBIRD are the best taxi apps. On my return to Jak I stayed in an apartment at Central Park Mall , which had a nice park and slightly cleaner air. Bring ear plugs , there’s fucking mosques everywhere , I’ve travelled extensively throughout the middle east including Saudi , and I’ve never seen and heard so many calls to pray !
Things to Do : not much , but Dunia fantasi fun park was good , miss weekends as it gets busy, its kinda like a shit Disney land. WaterBomb Jakarta is an awesome water park that everyone seems to love. Malls , malls and more malls. The 4DX cinema in central park mall was really good with moving seats etc.
Girls I’m not really a bar person so I pipelined online before touchdown. In 5 days met 5 girls , 2 hot ones which I ended up bedding. Check out the excellent datasheet Irish put together for the low down on clubs and bars etc. There a lot of cute girls in Jak. I was brain storming business ideas over dinner with one girl, and I said what could I import to Jakarta and sell, her response was “white men”. The Christian girls 20% here have it hard in a predominantly Muslim population 80%.
I found the girls here hotter than the Philippines , not as good English but really cute in a lot of respects.
Bali – Avoid Kutu and go for north Seminyak near the ibis on petigent is perfect. I initially stayed in Seminyak Square which was just a bit shit , also I could tell my hotel security would cock block me so moved to a private villa. Got a great last min deal on Airbnb the place was insane and the chicks loved it. Met 3 girls from Bali , bedded 2. Hung out with them most of the week.
In terms of bars La Favela seemed popular, but the security guards nearly killed a tourist there for a non paid bill (apparently the bill was trumped up high) so beware.
Sky garden in Kuta is fun , good music , but full of bogans , insane traffic on a weekend.
Canngu bali is nice if you like a backpacker surf vibe , but you’ll need a moped to get around. The driving here is insane, they don’t care, nearly got knocked over when they drive down the pavements. One rice field road is called the road of death as so many tourists die going back drunk on bikes.
Things to do : Surf , day trip to Ubud is cool. Canyoneering with spirit and adventure tour was the highlight for me. Abseiling down a 250ft waterfall was incredible experience. Not cheap but well worth it. White water rafting and tubing is also available but not as fun IMHO. Quads and buggys looked like a good laugh if you are in a group.
So overall I had a great time in all locations. The diving was world class , the girls were hot and cute. I think I slightly preferred Philippines but Indonesia is still an incredible place to go. Make sure you just don’t go for the girls and actually see and experience some of the country.
