What to do for five hours in Bali without much money

June 27, 2012 8:46 PM

I'm in Bali on a work-related trip, but my colleague is jet-lagged and has cancelled the stuff we were meant to be doing today. So what is a good fun or relaxing itinerary for the next six hours, without spending too much money? I'll just hang out in the hotel pool if all else fails, but maybe Metafilter can come up with a better plan?

I was kind of relying on her local knowledge (and fluent Indonesian) for getting around, so haven't looked up stuff to do (also wasn't expecting to have free time). Because it's work, we are staying in Denpasar rather than out in one of the touristy areas. I am currently in a hotel room here. I have almost zero budget for today since I got out my daily limit from an ATM and used it to pay for work expenses. I think I can scrape together about 100,000 IDR max. I have a credit card, but have had zero luck getting places here to accept it, so would rather not have a plan that relies on more money than this. I have to be back here by 5pm. It's now 11:42.

posted by lollusc to travel & transportation around Indonesia (8 answers total)

(Actually if I skip the dinner and drinks we were planning tonight, I can add another 200k or so to my budget, which I would be willing to do if it would help.)
posted by lollusc at 8:51 PM on June 27, 2012

Ask her what she was planning on doing, and go off and do it by yourself.

See also: http://wikitravel.org/en/Denpasar#See


But above all, get your clothes, bag and a drink together, then don't spend too much time thinking about it - leave within 30 minutes!
Better to wander around, find somewhere to eat, people watch and check out the architecture, than spend the next couple of hours in a hotel room.

100000 sounds like heaps. Taxi's and museums will be less than 7,000.
posted by Elysum at 8:51 PM on June 27, 2012 [1 favorite]

She was planning on working. We were meant to be working this whole time. So neither of us had planned anything fun. And now she's asleep so I can't ask her for recommendations.

Elysum, are you sure you aren't forgetting a zero on that estimate for taxis/museums? Our taxi from the airport last night was about 50,000, (approx = US $5) and my friend said that's pretty standard.
posted by lollusc at 8:58 PM on June 27, 2012

That is from the airport, which has a monopoly, and is further.

Sorry, I was thinking of Bembos, been researching recently, 7,000 for a section.
According to your address, if you can get 5 minutes (2km) up the road to Puputan square, there should be cheap things like 3000rp for the Bali Museum (Wikitravel is often out of date, you could ring and check the fee ☎ [phone]).
Make an offer to a taxi driver, just to get you to puputan, and hey, if they accept, all good.

Still, that and some cheap streetfood for 20k or so, you should be fine to wanter around for a few hours. :)
posted by Elysum at 9:17 PM on June 27, 2012

Yeah, Denpasar isn't really the best part of Bali. Last time I was stuck there for a few hours waiting on family, I went to the Bali State Museum, then took a taxi over the the Bajra Sandhi Monument.
posted by Burhanistan at 9:19 PM on June 27, 2012

(I should say the best part of that little excursion, along from decent exhibits and architecture, was seeing Balinese schoolchildren perform songs and dance numbers at a festival in the square next to the state museum, and then taking some pictures of kids playing soccer on the monument grounds.)
posted by Burhanistan at 9:24 PM on June 27, 2012

I'd get the hotel to organise a driver for somewhere like Seminyak where you can wander around and people watch, check out shops, have a beer and a cheap meal. Other options are Ubud but it will probably be more expensive to get there, it's in the mountains and you can check out the local artisans and see some amazing jewellery, arts and handicrafts. Then there's always Kuta but it's full of pushy locals trying to sell you stuff and drunk obnoxious Aussies (I'm Australian and I find them embarrassing). Depends what you like to do.
posted by Jubey at 9:57 PM on June 27, 2012

Thanks! Heeding Elysum's advice, I headed out before Jubey's response, although that sounded really nice.

I followed Elysum and Burhanistan's suggestion to go to the Bali Museum, which was quite nice (cost 11,000 IDR, in case anyone is reading this thread later for info). It was spoiled a bit by a man who followed me around obnoxiously trying to sell me everything under the sun, and by other men asking me annoying questions ("Where you staying? Where you from? Where you going next?") but the exhibits and gardens were lovely. I walked back and got myself nice and lost so saw a lot of interesting things, and tried random street food.
posted by lollusc at 12:41 AM on June 28, 2012 [1 favorite]