biggestbopper

IMHO, $50 a day for a car is rather steep (for Bali). You can easily find one of the many, many available car & driver/taxis for maybe half that for a full day. Plus you don't really need a car all the time.

A friend just got back from Bali where he rented a very expensive self drive car to go back and forth to his rented villa. He swears he would never have driven in Bali if he had known what it was like.

He also discovered, a few days into his stay, that a driver and car were part of the included services at the villa and that the driver was personally insulted by failure to use his services.

Jaimito Cartero

If you're just looking for a beat up taxi, you might be able to do $25. I've gotten late model nice vans (Suzuki APV mostly), with driver/gas for 400k IDR, which is $42 or so. I would be quite cautious on low end prices.

Travel K

It depends. If your baby is born healthy, I say go for it. I know lots of people who have taken their babies around that age somewhere overseas. Some where younger, some were older. Keep in mind - life with a little one is more complicated, especially with traveling. We try to keep things as simple as possible at our house, yet it takes us FOREVER to get out the door for anything longer than a couple of hours. When we do go somewhere for any length of time, we, as a couple, will have one suitcase, little miss will take one up just for herself.

Fizzer

[quote=Jaimito Cartero;20096512]Monkeys in Ulawatu almost seemed trained to steal glasses. Not so, in the Ubud Sacred Monkey Forest. QUOTE]

I agree 100%. No problems whatsoever at the Sacred Monkey Forest in Ubud.Lots of monkeys, all of whom were very placid.

Ulawatu was so, so different. I was advised to hold onto my glasses " because here there are very naughty monkeys" and I did ( most of the time). I let go for maybe 5 seconds to take a photo. In no time at all one jumped on my head from behind, grabbed my glasses and jumped into a tree overhanging a high cliff. Took a split second only I then had to watch ( hard because of my bad sight) while it chewed and bit pieces off the earpieces, nose pads and chewed on my lenses just out of arms reach. Saved by a tiny Balinese lady who normally sells peanuts to feed the monkeys, who without being asked climbed out onto the tree , where she spent a good 10 minutes persuading the little monster to exchange them for peanuts. I was worried and wishing she wasn't doing it because she was in a tree on thin branches, hundreds of feet up over the edge of the cliff and my conscience wouldn't be good if anything happened. Happily she got them back and I rewarded her because I was so relieved.
Ever since then I hate monkeys. They are evil, evil creatures

Fizzer

Don't know how to delete a mistaken duplicate post.

MSPeconomist

I was in Bali about two years ago and found some of the monkeys to be scary. The big ones have serious fangs. Mothers can aggressively "protect" their young. Some of them make sport of grabbing stuff from visitors, who when then pay a young native kid to climb and retrieve. (Maybe we should be positively impressed by the entrepreneurship here.) If you do go into the monkey places, try to hire a good local guide for your own party who will be responsible and look after you; follow advice about what aggressive monkeys to avoid and which ones are safer for interaction. We had a reassuring guide who watched over us with a slingshot at the ready to defend us if needed, but we observed some situations between tourists and monkeys that were not good. Be very careful not to bring food or loose items with you; leave everything you can in the vehicle to avoid problems.

However, beyond the monkeys, I found the statistics about rabies in Bali to be of great concern. There are lots and lots of stray dogs as well as wild monkeys and other wildlife. (I witnessed people hand feeding squirrels in my hotel compound, something I would never do at home.) Several hundred human deaths from rabies have been recorded in the last couple of years during the current epidemic. Any bite or contact that might involve saliva is of great concern on the island because dogs and cats are almost always not vaccinated, not to mention the wildlife such as monkeys, squirrels, etc. Part of the explanation for the high rate of human fatalities seems to be the lack of availability of rabies vaccine on Bali. Whether this is due to genuine supply shortages or lack of funding for locals through the Indonesian health care system is unclear, but the bottom line is that a bite or other interaction that might involve contact with the animal's saliva is a medical emergency requiring emergency care in a place like Singapore. This might be a more serious risk with toddlers than infants as toddlers are more likely to approach the cute little doggy or monkey than a baby would.

awardticket

Thank you. Every summer we go somewhere really far or cool, one summer was OZ and New Zealand, which was quite a trip from NJ and this past year we were in South America, and we don't wanna put it all on hold, at least yet as I have heard that travel with an infant is in a way easiet then when they are older as they sleep a lot.

Would there be any particular reasons that Bali would be either good or not good for an infant?

mapsgl

Agree with Jaimito

In Bali two months ago paid $45 for late model licensed Taxi who we hired for the day. We were at the Beach - Jimbaran Bay. He took us to Ubud and several places we wanted to see on the way there and back. His English was very good and warned us of a scam or two

There was a Police line stopping traffic on the highway to Ubud. They demand papers and license from him. So glad everything was in order...

No need to rent a car in Bali. (You need to be brave to drive there lol)

Travel K

I can't think of any from what I have seen. I am a bit concerned about the food and feeding my daughter while we are there, but I am just going to be extremely cautious and I am bringing a lot of food for her with us. It sounds like everyone drinks bottled water anyways, so there isn't any issues there about it being hard to get. I think the biggest concern for people is the travel over there, but obviously if you are on FT, that isn't scary for you. We are using miles and are not flying in coach, so I am not worried about the flight at all.

YVR Cockroach

Just be aware that the monkeys in Bali carry rabies.

I would not advise a day trip to Komodo as apparently more than a few people do this.

Jaimito Cartero

I'm aware of dogs with rabies, but have not heard of any monkeys with rabies in the recent past. Can you document confirmed cases?

YVR Cockroach

Sorry nothing from the U.S. (CDC in particular) but there are other sources. Should have qualified that the monkey warning was from a doctor at my local regional health authority's travel clinic. She also extended the warning to stay away from cats (and dogs) too, an to seek immediate treatment for rabies if bitten by cats, dogs and monkeys.

I don't think there's a human rabies vaccine so better to stay away from the critters.

awardticket

Are there any good resources to help me find accomodations in Bali? Took some books out of library, and did a lot of online searching, but have had trouble finding a suiable villa for our Bali stay. Looking for something nice in Ubud as well as Amed.

susiesan

Look at airbnb. com and vrbo.com. There are some villas in Ubud that I looked at. We are staying in a room at one that has 5 rooms, Villa Saraswati, but it doesn't allow children. There aren't many individual villas in Amed. I'm booked at Bali Bhuanna Beach Cottages. They have villa rooms as well as hotel style rooms.

awardticket

Airbnb is exactly the type of site I was looking for thank you!!