We went into Kuta a couple of nights, which was fun. During the day it's Bali's biggest beach, and very popular with surfers. It's also very popular with touts, who will try to sell you things incessantly. During the evening it's where all the nightlife in Bali resides. The main strip of bars, souvenir shops and cheap restaurants wouldn't (or shouldn't) rank as a trip highlight for anyone, but as you walk further in either direction the strip gets more interesting. To the north in particular, there are quite a number of good home decor shops. And around the Oberoi hotel, there's a very cool restaurant called La Lucciola (see photo), an outdoor Italian restaurant/bar right on the beach. The food is pretty good, very cool atmosphere and it turns into quite a party at night.

86. Nusa Dua

Left the friendly embrace of Amankila for a very long drive to Southwest Bali, into the not so friendly embrace of Amanusa. Amanusa is located in a peninsula that juts off the bottom of Bali, sort of an appendage that grows off the big city of Denpasar and the airport. It's cut off socially as well as geographically, as it's a strictly tourist zone, with all the big chain hotels throwing up posh resorts, and nobody allowed to be here except hotel guests. So it really has nothing to do with Bali, but people probably make too big a deal about that. Most islands in the South Pacific, the Caribbean etc. do the same thing, with tourists confined to the beach resort strips. But Bali does have a lot to offer culturally, and it would be a shame to come here and confine yourself to Nusa Dua. But spending part of your Bali holiday here makes perfect sense, as a great battery charger. It's also very close to Kuta, which is the big party strip, sort of Bali's answer to Thailand. (It's also the part that got blown up by terrorists a few years back, but it's recovered somewhat since.) There are also a few special temples within driving distance from here, some great golf courses if you're into that, but mainly it's just a strip of Hiltons and Four Seasons, so you wouldn't want to waste all your time here.