Bali Public Holidays 2011

Bali Public Holidays

****NB - Bali Public Holidays 2012 is now online!!!****

With 'Nyepi' fast approaching I thought I would post a list of the main public holidays in Indonesia / Bali this year.   I should add that 'Nyepi' is special for Bali as tourists cannot leave their hotel complexes, go out on the street or do any kind of activity - the Balinese Hindus believe it is the one day of the year when bad spirits pass through the island so everyone must stay indoors so as not to 'attract' the spirits and make them want to stay. They even go so far as to shut down the airport for 24 hours - the only place

Ogoh-ogoh in Kuta, Bali

in the world to do so, I have read.  But don't worry if you are booked in a hotel - they should provide all your food free of charge on the day (which this year is Saturday 5th March, or at least so I've heard - you should check with them when making a booking!

Another thing I should add about other public holidays (because for Nyepi nobody is allowed out) is the tendency for the traffic in Bali to be absolutely crazy and gridlocked around the Kuta area as many families drive over from Java and swamp the roads.

I also found the school holiday period of late June / early July to be terrible for traffic last year, especially around the Tuban area where it seemed to be gridlocked every day for the whole month the kids were off school.

All Islamic holidays also mean an exodus of people from Lombok / Java to go home and spend the holidays with their family - I would recommend against getting the ferry to either places a day before or after any islamic holidays (especially Idul Fitri / Lebaran, which marks the end of ramadan).
                                            Here's a video I filmed of some of the procession....
                       





So here is the list of all the main public holidays to be aware of, courtesy of www.sgholiday.com;

There has been an official announcement from Indonesia government regarding 2011 public holidays. The following Indonesia holiday calendar 2011 is based on the announcement.

List of Indonesia Public Holidays 2011
Kalender Hari Libur Nasional Indonesia Tahun 2011

Tahun Baru Masehi
International New Year’s Day
Saturday, 1 January 2011

Tahun Baru Imlek
Lunar / Chinese New Year – 1st day of 1st month of lunar calendar
(read about Chinese New Year 2011)
Thursday, 3 February 2011

Maulid Nabi Muhammad SAW
Mouloud (Birth of the Prophet) – Birthday of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad, falls on 12th of Rabi’-ul-Awwal of Islamic Calendar
Tuesday, 15 February 2011

Hari Raya Nyepi (Tahun Baru Saka)
Bali New Year – Balinese “Day of Silence” that falls on Bali’s Lunar New Year. Nyepi is primarily a Hindu holiday
Saturday, 5 March 2011

Wafat Isa Al-Masih (Jumat Agung)
Good Friday – Date varies; this is the Friday before Easter Sunday 2011, which is the first Sunday after the first Paschal Full Moon following the official vernal equinox.
Friday, 22 April 2011

Hari Raya Waisak
Vesak Day – Buddha’s Birthday, usually is celebrated on the first full moon day in the month of May
Indonesia Hari Waisak 2011 
Tuesday, 17 May 2011

Kenaikan Isa Al-Masih
Ascension Day
Thursday, 2 June 2011

Lailat al Miraj
Ascension of the Prophet
Wednesday, 29 June 2011

Hari Proklamasi Kemerdekaan R.I.
Indonesian National Day – Celebrating the country’s proclamation of independence in year 1945
Wednesday, 17 August 2011

Hari Raya Idul Fitri / Lebaran
Eid al-Fitr – End of Ramadan. Symbolize winning from the evil after 1 month of fasting.
Tuesday, 30 August 2011
Wednesday, 31 August 2011

Hari Raya Idul Adha / Hari Raya Haji
Eid al-Adha Feast of the Sacrifice / Kurban
Sunday, 6 November 2011
Monday, 7 November 2011

Tahun Baru 1432 Hijriyah
Al-Hijra Islamic New Year according to Islamic calendar, falls on 1st of Muharram
Sunday, 27 November 2011
Monday, 28 November 2011

Hari Raya Natal
Christmas Day / Boxing Day
Sunday, 25 December 2011
Monday, 26 December 2011

Happy Indonesia Holidays 2011 !

http://sgholiday.com/2010/05/indonesia-public-holidays-2011-calendar/

Bali Public Holidays

Bali Street Food: Martabak

Bali Street Food: Martabak

This is going to be the first post of many covering Bali street food available all over the island. A full list of posts is now available here - Bali Street Food

I thought I'd start off with a favourite of mine which I haven't long discovered: 'Martabak'.

'Martabak' is a thick type of pancake that is sold in many roadside stalls around Bali and ranges from 8,000 IDR to 12,000 depending on what fillings you choose.  Fillings range from cheese, banana, chocolate, peanuts, coconut and other various things you might expect to find in a pancake.  Savoury options are available but I have never really looked as pancakes for me are strictly a sweet dish!


The best places to buy one are (and you probably know this already) always the one that makes it fresh, which is generally most of them but there are a few which might try to give
you the one that has been sitting there all day!  Ask them to cook it fresh or go somewhere else.

Chocolate Martabak 

When I say 'thick pancake' I mean thick!  It's generally double the thickness of a normal pancake and is then folded over and put into a box for you to take away.  Don't try to eat a whole one in one sitting - one 'martabak' is ideal for 2 or 3 people to share but is generally too heavy to polish off alone - a friend of mine who tried said it was a 'heart-stopper'!


Of all the Indonesian street food I have tried, 'martabak' is definitely my favourite as it is generally fresh and it's pretty hard to go wrong with one.  Recommended if you are in need of a cheap, stodgy dessert! Enjoy!



Bali Street Food: Martabak

Where to buy a Go Pro camera in Bali?

You can buy a Go Pro surf camera in Bali for 2 million Rupiah ($220 US approx.) for the standard 5MP version or 3.6million Rupiah ($395 US approx.) for the HD version. These are available in '526 Foot' surf shop on Sunset Road in Seminyak on the main road on the way to Canggu / Kerobokan.
 

You should see it on the right as you are going West out of town, there is a giant poster of a guy riding a SUP adorning the wall. I can also tell you that it has lots of epoxy surfboards in the windows and big Tuflite / Surftech adverts outside.  I also find it a great technical store as they offer such things as SurfTech rental as well.    Good luck!  See map below to help you!

View Surf shop to buy Go Pro Surf Camera in a larger map

Here's a link to the shop's website - 526 Foot Surf Shop

I see they recently have put up an online shop - here's the link to the GoPro page - 526 Foot Surf Shop Online Store: GoPro

Cheers!

Where to buy a Go Pro camera in Bali?

How to Survive a Long-haul Air Asia Flight!

Having recently 'survived' a long-haul trip with Air Asia (Bali - UK in two legs), I thought I would share a few tid-bits of information for anyone else out there considering the same.

First things first, Air Asia is a budget airline just like Ryanair in Europe or Virgin Blue in Australia; they keep costs down by cutting back on all 'non-essential'  details ('non-essential' in this case is their definition which might differ in meaning to that of an average passenger!).  Expect to
have to pay for bottled water, this is particularly bad as the air-conditioning on the plane and the altitude increase dehydration so it can be a serious problem.  Demand a 'cup of water' from them at the back of the plane and they will give it to you begrudgingly.  A pretty big short-coming I think you will agree, especially as you are only allowed 100ml max liquid allowance in any one container to carry on yourself.



Second, all in-flight entertainment is non-existent; no TV screens in the backs of the seat in front of you, no screen at the front of your section of the plane, nothing.  However, they do offer you a portable media player which costs about $10 US but the batteries only last 6 hours!! Not ideal for a 14 hour flight (KL - London).

Also, I would highly advise pre-booking your food (which is part of the order process).  I did and was very glad for it - the lady in front of me didn't and at meal time was told 'I'm sorry we don't have any other food left, is a doughnut OK for you?'.  I don't think a doughnut is really enough to keep you going on a long flight so definitely reserve your food as to save money they attempt to bring as little on board as possible and you will not be guaranteed any.  It is also more expensive to buy it on the plane than it is online, if you needed any more convincing!  The quality of the food itself was surprisingly good; it tasted fine and was comparable to most other airline meals I have had, much to my amazement!  You can also stock up on sandwiches and other snacks at the airport as they didn't stop me bringing through a muffin, fruit and other sandwiches.  As I was going to eat them all on the plane, I can't see the problem with it!

At the airport itself, with online check-in being possible and self check-in obligatrory (I think) it was very easy; there is someone waiting to help you with the check-in procedure and, at least when I went, no queues to speak of.  The whole check-in and bag drop process took me no more than 5 minutes for both flights which I thought was pretty good!  However, this may not be the same for all so do not take this as a rule of thumb!

If you are planning on taking a surfboard, Air Asia is definitely not the carrier for you; you will get charged an extortionate amount - a far better idea would be to buy a board in Bali and then re-sell it if you are intent on or can only afford to fly with Air Asia.

All in all, it wasn't the best experience but it was what I expected with a few things exceeding my expectations (namely the queues at the airport and the food) with others being just as I thought they would (the drinking water situation).  If you choose to go long-haul with them, try to hydrate yourself as much as possible before, take on as many snack foods as you can and maybe a pack of playing cards or some kind of board game set as it does get very BORING! If you don't pay a lot in terms of money, you certainly pay for it in other ways!

Cheers,

Steve


How to Survive a Long-haul Air Asia Flight!

Bali to Lombok by Ferry - the Backpacker's Way!

Recently I did a quick island hop and went over to Lombok,  Bali's neighbouring island.  Due to the small distances between the two and the cost of ferries, this is much easier than you might think.  The ferry takes between 4-6 hours depending on which ship you happen to take.

Firstly, I should note that I took the ferry, which is an interesting voyage to say the least.  It is around $3.50 per person one way - very reasonable. If you plan to go by motorbike
, it costs 86,000 IDR ($8 US approx.) one way for one person  and one motorbike.  However, if you plan to take a rental car, it costs a lot more - it costs around 550,000 IDR ($50 US approx.) for the car alone.  Here is a link for the full price list (although I think it's a bit out of date and prices have gone up slightly since) PUBLIC FERRY TO LOMBOK

Therefore, it works out about ten times more expensive to take a car than a bike!  This is something worth considering as most rental companies don't want you to take a car over there anyway and say that their insurance does not cover this.  However, I should add that all rental companies I have spoken to DO NOT offer insurance as we it know it in Western countries - they have told me that if I damage the car, I pay for the full cost (sounds like good 'insurance' huh?!)

Frequency of ferries is not a problem as they leave almost every 60 minutes 24/7 so you literally just pull up when you want and not have to wait too long (well, at least most of the time!)

An average ferry crossing - definitely not the worst! Copyright Lonely Planet

I mentioned earlier that it takes between 4 and 6 hours per crossing - this is largely due to the varying quality of ferries used on this service.  On my trip, the outward journey meant I was sat on the floor propped up against a railing (outside) for the whole time but on my return journey however, I had a comfortable reclining seat in an air-conditioned lounge room with a TV!  This is just the sort of thing to expect when taking the ferry - you may get lucky, you may not!

Getting to the ferry is quite straightforward from Kuta and takes about 1hr30 on a good run on a bike or probably around 2h30 in a car.  Here's a map below to help you out!  Follow signs to Sanur, then follow the coast road all the way on the signposts for Padangbai (the ferry port).

Directions from Kuta to Padangbai (the ferry port) - 1h30 - 2h on a motorbike, traffic depending.

View Larger Map

As the ferry takes a relatively long time, I would highly recommend bringing on board with you a large bottle of water, a packed meal (buy one before you get near the port as there are all sorts of people selling rubbish food to tourists like yourself!) and a windbreaker or jacket of some sort, especially as you might be outside the whole time! Both ferries I went on had a small shop but this was much more expensive than buying  food & drink from anywhere before the ferry port but I would say buying from the onboard shop is better than buying from the guys in the video below!

Just before departure, it can be chaotic as lots of sellers try to push cheap and nasty food on unsuspecting travellers - avoid it by bringing your own! 

Avoid travelling around any Islamic public holidays as, with there being many from Lombok who live in Bali, a lot of people go home for long weekends, etc. and this makes for potential unpleansantly long queues.  I recently travelled just before the celebration of the end of ramadhan, known locally as Idul Fitri or Lebaran.  I was warned not to travel at this time (3 days before & 3 days after September 10th each year) as the queuing can be horrendous - I was lucky but don't think it will always be quiet, it really is a matter of chance and, as with so many things in Indonesia, you never know until you go!

Know before you GO!!!

It is definitely an adventure but once you get to Lombok, you won't regret it as there many wonderful things to see and do seemingly a world away from Bali, get over there!

Selamat jalan & hati-hati!

Cheers, 

Steve

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