Bali: Nakular Familiar Inn

Nakula Familiar Inn

Jalan Nakula No. 4
Denpasar, Bali

Indonesia

Price: 175,000 rp/a night with air conditioning, ceiling fan, & cold water shower

If you're looking for a place to stay in Denpasar, I would recommend that you check out Nakula Familiar Inn. It is set right off the street, but once you step inside the gate and into the courtyard, you forget the narrow streets and bemos screaming by, because you are surround by lush flowers, palm trees, and the beautiful buildings of the family villa. Each room has a private bathroom, and an enclosed balcony. The room we stayed in had a ceiling fan, as well as air conditioning - I do so adore having options! I believe hot water showers may be available, but I'm not certain - we didn't pay for that particular feature. Breakfast was not included in the price, but I was happy to pay for what was offered - choice of eggs, banana pancakes, cereal, fruit plates, juice, coffee and tea. The staff was friendly and helpful, and I enjoyed my stay there. Unfortunately, I don't have pictures of anything but this view from the balcony at sunset, but it was a lovely place to stay, and a nice introduction to Bali.

The have a website (kind of a rarity for places in Bali) here: http://www.nakulafamiliarinn.com/ that has useful practical information (how to get there, the price, etc.) in English and, for the intrepid traveler, in simple Indonesian.

For more posts on Denpasar, click here.

On the back of Bemo

After two nights, my friend and I headed out of Denpasar towards Padangbai. As the one of us not quietly dying of bronchitis, I was in control of the travel details. I got instructions from the owner of our homestay. We were to take a bemo (a small van) to Ubung, for 5,000 rp. From Ubung, take a blue bemo to the bus station, 10,000rp. Take the bus to Padangbai, 25,000 rp.

Armed with this knowledge and a small map, I walked us towards the main street, checking periodically to make sure that my friend was still walking and breathing. On the way, it began to rain.

I hate the rain.

When we reached the bemo stand, a small wrinkled man in a baseball cap flagged us down.

"Bemo?" he gummed at me, "My brother is driver, he will take you. Where do you go?"

"Ubung" I said the word slowly, tasting the syllables to make sure I was saying it right.

"Aah..." he nodded, "Ubuung? 50,000 rp."

FULL STOP.

My eyelids lowered in disgust. 50,000? Seriously? That's 10 times what the actual price. I mean, I expect to hustled. I expect mark ups. But TEN TIMES THE PRICE has me ready to chew bullets and spit curse words. It's the principal of the thing.

I waved him off and headed towards another driver.

"Hey! Hey!" He followed me. "This way. My brother is driver. This bemo, this bemo."

"Not for 50,000." I said. We got into another bemo. "Ubung? 5,000." He nodded. "Let's stay here." I said. My friend, breathing shallowly, agreed.

We had just crunched ourselves into the seat when the first guy reappeared. "Hey!" he said, "This bemo, second bemo. My brother is driver. He is first bemo. No waiting."

"How much?" I said, "5,000?"

"Yes, yes." he nodded. We followed.

There were moments on the trip where I bargained quite brilliantly. This was not one of them. After we arrived at Ubung, we hopped out and I paid the guy, 5,000 for each of us. He looked down at the money, and pushed it back at me.

"50,000" he said.

I stopped dead, and my nostrils started flaring. The other drivers, hovering like bees to see where we wanted to go next stopped too, gaping. The man beat his palm, gumming his displeasure.

"50,000!" he said again.

"You said 5,000."

"Noooo" he shook his head, giving me a look that expressed how sadly mistaken I was. "Not 5. 50!"

"The ride costs 5. I know the price."

"No, no, 50!" He insisted. "I tell the truth with you. You are my friend, I tell you true. Good price, good price."

It was raining, my glasses were all spotty. My friend was sick and I wanted to get moving as soon as possible. People were watching, but not helping. I knew I was beaten. I shoved 50,000 rp into his hand.

"Here."

He grabbed my hand to shake it, smiling. "I tell the truth with you. You are my friend." It took all of my reserve not to whip my hand backwards and slap him. He hustled me big time. He knew it, I knew it, everyone watching knew it. No amount of smiling and hand shaken was going to change the fact that he took advantage of us because we were foreign and female. The other drivers looked at each other with uncomfortable side-eyes.

We got into a blue bemo to take us to the bus station. He, of course, wanted 30,000. I sighed and agreed. Once we got hustled by the one, it was only natural to expect everyone else to take a shot.

At the bus stop, my friend hopped out first, dragging her red suitcase on the wet pavement. She turned to me for instruction but before I could open my mouth we were set upon.

"Where to do you go?" A smiling young man with lush black hair smiled at me.

"Padangbai."

"Bus?"

"Yes, please." He guided me to the door. It was then that I noticed my friend had been taken hostage by another bemo driver.

"I drive to Padangbai" he had her suitcase held tightly to his chest, like a prize.

"What? Wait...my suitcase!"

What the heck is going on here? I was so puzzled I just gaped. The driver walked and she followed, hanging on the handle.

"Wait!" I told her, "we're taking the bus!"

Thankfully, the young man came to the rescue. He talked to the driver, who was petulant about losing his fare. "No, take bemo!" He looked at my friend like she had stepped on his puppy, still hanging tight to the suitcase. The young man managed to extract us from the bemo driver and put us on the bus. Which was only 25,000 rp, just like we had been told.

Finally, we were on the road to Padangbai!



For more posts on Padangbai, click here. For Denpasar, click here.

Watch out in Bali!

This is what the drainage system in Bali looks like. Each place I visited was riddled with these gaping holes in the ground, and the unsuspecting tourist, looking around at all the sights could easily tumble right in. In fact, I saw that happen one night to a guy I met from Finland named Samu.

We were walking around Ubud at night, and someone said, "watch out for the hole in the ground."

Unfortunately, Samu is a selective listener who chose that moment to zone out and

BAM!

Straight into the hole.

Thank goodness he wasn't hurt or soaking wet, because I nearly pissed myself laughing at him.

The first taste of Bali (Denpasar)

Taxi hide-and-seek

As I mentioned previously, my friend came to meet me at the airport. She surprised me, actually. Our plan was for me to find my way to our hotel, Nakula Familiar Inn, on my own. I had the address and simple instructions, and was mentally gearing up for navigating the balmy night, still wrapped in a sweater and long-johns, when I saw her.

I was happy to see her, but even happier when she told me that she had a cab lined up. How wonderful, I thought, to have my arrival go so smoothly. I'll be able to kick back.

In hindsight, I can't help but chuckle at my optimism.

It turned out that the driver who brought my friend to the airport had was waiting to bring her back. She tried to pay him and he refused, insisting she find me and return.

Which is fine, except I took forever to come to the gate.

Which is fine, except she wasn't actually in the cab waiting, but had to walk a ways.

Which is fine, except the airport is swarming with identical cabs.

Which is fine, except the driver gave her his cab number, but not any way to actually contact him.

Which is fine, except that when we finally managed to locate the cab, he wasn't in it.


I think this is the point where I totally lost my patience with the situation. I mean, how were we supposed to find this guy? He parked in the middle of the parking lot (we had to hunt him down my car number), and then was no where to be found. No one knew him, we couldn't call him, and he didn't show up.

Did I mention that my friend was sick?

Did I mention that I was wearing long-johns in the middle of summer?

"Screw 'im" I thought.

My friend is a much kinder person than I am.

"I have to find him!" she said, "I have to pay him, at least."

I was hot, sleepy, and achy from the plane. And worse, I was beginning to stink from sweating into my winter clothes. I was all for leaving the man to face the fruits of his own stupidity.

We ended up leaving the fare for the ride to the airport wrapped in a receipt, tucked behind the windshield. It was a conciliatory gesture on our part. I couldn't quite bring myself to believe the money would be there long enough for the driver to actually find it.

We took another taxi and headed to our hotel.

The next morning around 10:30, the driver showed up at the hotel to track down his fare. He waited for us, he explained. He had walked around the airport trying to find us. He needed to paid, he said, because the money belonged to his boss, not him.

I sympathized, truly, but I couldn't help feeling that the man was a bit dim. I mean, who walks away from a fare? Not only the fare, but the actual car? And who waits till 10 track down their money - oh wait - money they owe to their boss? We could have been long gone by 10 in the morning. Several guests checked a few hours before he showed up.

Well, we paid him. Guess I shouldn't say we - my friend forked over the cash for the ordeal. There comes a point when its better to shove money at a problem to make it just be over. The driver had her write out a note that said she paid him, took the money, thanked us, and told us to call him if we needed to go anywhere else.

As you can probably guess, we never placed the call.


For more posts on Denpasar, click here.