Indonesia

I loved my experience of Indonesia but I didn't much like the culture/most of the people I met - I know, what an obnoxious and privileged person I am. As a tourist/traveller, I know the deal I have to accept is to be hassled for money, but here it's more than that, it's to completely take advantage and be as rude as possible. I was grabbed in the streets of Kuta asking if I needed a taxi more than once; spun the lie that these trousers are higher quality than the cheaper ones down the road, only for it to tear within days; ripped off by taxi drivers who say they have no change. It's quite relentless, but fortunately not everywhere, from everyone.

I probably used "Terima Kasih" (thank you) about 5 times on my trip, and 3 of those times were on my last day because I was interacting with the locals at the food market. Other than that I can't think of any other Indonesian words I needed to know, it's quite shocking really.

My favourite part was Gili, I could have stayed there much longer. It was so chilled out and there was no pressure to make anything of your days - you could just relax. 

If I were to go to Indonesia again, I would visit a spa in Ubud, they're renowned for them and having spoken to some friends, they rated it highly and it was cheaper than I found elsewhere. As a general thing I've learnt, I know now not to book everything in advance too much - it worked out a couple of times but was more risky with the cheaper, basic accommodation.

My least favourite part was Jakarta, but that's an easy decision since we didn't do anything - let alone anything to have an opinion on!

Alcohol is really expensive here unless you want to go for the unbranded, local vodka (I wouldn't, there are plenty of stories about methanol poisoning etc if you just Google). We paid 400,000 IDR for either 70cl/1l (I can't remember but that's the point of alcohol right?) which at about £20 is more than I would want to spend at home.

Be aware that in Indonesia, the places are going to add tax and service charge, usually unknowingly - and this figure can range quite a lot!

Lamest tip ever: Budget for water. You can't order tap water here as it's not clean, and to keep yourself hydrated you need to drink a lot. It's absurd to think I will have probably spent at least £50 (probably more!) on water by the time I'm back home.

I found out that at most places, so long as you buy a drink/lunch you can use the pool. Which is a really great deal in some places where you save the money on your own hotel (minus pool) only to wander over to the nicer hotel, order a beer and spend the rest of the day there.

You should try to find the BlueBird taxis as they're the only ones that will use the meter. It won't be any cheaper than haggling but if you haven't got any idea of how long it might take to get to your destination, it's the most legitimate way, especially first time. Once you know how much a journey should cost, haggle with whoever you get. 

As an aside, always remember to have enough money to buy food on the plane/in the airport if you're likely to be hungry. I'm salivating at the time of writing...