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About Bali

Om Swastiastu!

Bali is where we fell in love and began our story, and we want to celebrate our love with our friends and family in one of the most magical places on earth! Some of you may not know (😛), but Bali is a small island in Indonesia! There's more than just beaches in Bali, and we'll give you some recommendations for stuff to do in Bali.

Important stuff about Bali

🚨 Safety 🚨

  • Wear sunscreen.

  • Not to fear monger, but we want our loved ones to stay safe. In the past two decades, Indonesia had the highest number of reported incidents of methanol poisoning in the world. The source of methanol poisoning in Indonesia is most often caused by bootleg liquor, known locally as “miras oplosan” or Arak – a local illegally brewed coconut flower, rice and sugarcane-based spirit which can be purchased from unlicensed “bottle-shops” (source: doctorswithoutborders). Please educate yourselves on methanol poisoning, and as tempting as it sounds, try to avoid drinking from an unlicensed (often cheap) establishments offering a taste of the local Arak. Here is an article that may help you: https://travelaware.campaign.gov.uk/spiking-and-methanol-poisoning/

  • Don't drink tap water. Also avoid ordering iced drinks in general, as sometimes they use tap water to make ice cubes. If you want to drink water, ask for a bottled water instead (ask for 'mineral water').

  • Useful numbers (for international phones, start with +62 and then the number; for example: +62 112):

    • ​General Emergency: 112

    • Police: 110

    • Fire Department: 113

    • Ambulance: 118 or 119

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💷 Money matters 💷

  • Indonesia's currency is Rupiah. You will often see IDR and Rp used interchangeably.
    GBP 1 ~= Rp 22K; EUR 1 ~= Rp 19K. Be prepared to see lots of 0s in prices, and the prices are usually in the thousands. Sometimes,  you'll see a menu showing Rp 25 or Rp 25rb, which implies Rp 25,000 (rb = ribu = thousand).

  • Not a lot of places accept contactless payments (Apple Pay or Google Pay), so it's important to bring physical cards and cash. And even if most (upscale) places accept card payments, always have some physical cash on hand.

  • Indonesia doesn't have a tipping culture. Tipping is not expected, and is completely optional. They do, however, apply service charge (12.5%++) on top of Value Added Tax (11%).

  • Small establishments normally don't apply the service charge and Value Added Tax. For big establishments, expect the prices to be 'before service charge and VAT'.

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🚧 Other important stuff 🚧​

  • Ceremonial offerings, also known as Canang Sari, are a significant part of Balinese culture. When walking around Bali, you'll often come across these offerings placed on the streets. It's important to be mindful not to step on or over them, as they hold significant cultural and religious value to the Balinese.

  • Electric plug: In Indonesia, they use Type C and Type F plugs, identical to those used in many parts of Europe (not UK - even before Brexit).

Useful Phrases

The default language is Indonesian or Bahasa Indonesia. We do have regional languages, such as Balinese, but everyone in Bali and Indonesia speaks Indonesian. Here are a few Indonesian phrases you can use:

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  • Hi / hello = Halo

  • Good morning = Selamat pagi

  • Good afternoon = Selamat siang

  • Good evening / night = Selamat malam

  • Thank you = Terima kasih

  • You're welcome = Sama-sama

  • Help / please = Tolong

  • Yes = iya (ee-ya)

  • No = Tidak

  • No, thank you = Tidak, terima kasih

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  • I want to order a nasi goreng = Mau pesan nasi goreng

  • Mineral water (bottled water) = Air mineral (a-eer mineral)

  • Please don't make the food spicy = Tidak mau pedas (say it after the food; example: Mau pesan nasi goreng, tidak mau pedas)

  • Please make the food just a little bit spicy = Pedas sedikit (it would be helpful to also gesture this 🤏 as you say it)

  • Please separate the sambal from the plate = Sambal dipisah (say it after the food; example: Mau pesan nasi goreng, sambal dipisah)

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  • How much does it cost? = Harganya berapa? (Har-guh-ña bə-ra-pa)

  • So expensive! = Mahal sekali!

  • Can I bargain? = Bisa nawar?

Indonesian cuisine

With more than 30 provinces, each with vastly different cultures, traditions, and cuisines, Indonesia is so rich with incredible foods. There are so many mouth-watering Indonesian dishes beyond nasi goreng. From the famous beef rendang, gado-gado, satay (skewered meat), to the incredible selections of exotic fruits, such as rambutan, mangosteen, longan, dragonfruit, soursop, jackfruit, starfruit, snakefruit, cempedak, and the king of fruits / our version of blue cheese: durian. Indonesia would be one of the best places in the world to taste fruits that you're already familiar with, such as mangos, pineapples, or bananas - they are way sweeter and more flavorful in Indonesia than the ones in Europe (particularly UK!!).

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Indonesia also has a lot of options for vegetarians, but we just wouldn't specifically label restaurants or foods as such. However, there are a lot of vegetarian or vegan options in Bali with the idealization of Bali life. A few vegetarian dishes would be: bakwan jagung (corn fritters), perkedel (potato fritters), sayur lodeh (vegetable soup), sayur asam (sour vegetable soup), tempeh, pepes tahu (tofu in banana leaves), sayur urap (coconut + veggies salad), and tumis kangkung (stir-fried morning glory). A lot of people would consider gado-gado to be vegetarian, however it has peanut sauce as a main ingredient which may contain shrimp paste. Also a disclaimer: Vera has never found a truly authentic gado-gado in Bali - they're mostly westernized 😔

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It is a misconception that all Indonesian foods are always hot-spicy. A lot of our foods are in fact mostly sweet. When you order any food, you can ask the wait staff not to add any chili or sambal to your food. Alternatively, ask them to separate the sambal from the plate. Sambal is our version of salsa sauce - it's chili sauce with different styles, ingredients, and varying levels of hotness.

Here are a few examples of non-spicy dishes:

  • Satay (local spelling: sate): skewered meat, can be with pork (sate babi), chicken (sate ayam), goat/mutton (sate kambing), or mushrooms (sate jamur) albeit rare. There are many more variations of sate to mention.

  • Soto: a unique Indonesian soup/stew, with different variations and styles. Soto ayam (chicken soto), soto Banjar (Banjarnese soto), soto Manado (Manadonese soto), etc. They all have different flavors from one another.

  • Bakso: meatball soup

  • Bakmi ayam: chicken soup with noodles

  • ​Ayam Goreng: fried chicken

  • Bebek Goreng: fried duck

  • Ikan Goreng: fried fish

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A few dishes that Vera truly misses from her country (and these are usually not spicy, by the way):

  • Pempek Palembang: fish cake with vinegar sauce.

  • Soto Betawi: Jakarta-style of soto, which is some sort of soup with lots of spices (not chili spice, but the kinds of spices Indonesia was colonized for 🫡).

  • Coto Makassar: Makassar-style of soto.

  • Tongseng Kambing: spiced mutton or goat meat soup.

  • Martabak: Indian-influenced....let's say omelette.

  • Rawon: black beef soup from East Java.

  • Nasi Uduk: coconut rice served with an assortment of sides (protein, veggies, peanuts, and crackers).

  • Bubur Ayam: chicken congee, typically for breakfast.

  • Tempe Goreng: fried tempeh - so far she hasn't found anything remotely as good in Europe as in Indonesia.

01
How to get to Bali

Our guide on your visa to Bali, flights, and local transportation.

02
Where to stay in Bali

Our guide on where to stay in Bali. This is not in any way an endorsement.

03
Things to do in Bali

Our guide on things to do in Bali as well as outside of Bali.

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