Motorcycle Riding at the beautiful Bali

Bali (15th July - 22nd July)

It has been like 15 years since I last stepped foot into Bali.
I have just decided to go for a week getaway there re-visiting the beautiful beaches.

I booked a bungalow near the six beach at SGD110/night, which was a very convenient location in Seminyak. Convenience stores, restaurants and all kinds of shops are right there the moment you walk into the main street. It even comes with your own personal pool in additional to the big public ones outside the main area.

Bali is known for their slow traffic, especially in the busy tourist areas. That is largely due to that the roads are really narrow. Most of the areas are only single lane. If a taxi in front decides to stop and pick up a passenger, the rest of the cars waiting behind will all have to stop. Travelling 1 km by a taxi can sometimes take you 20mins on a busy road. So, most tourist will rent scooters instead as an effective way of moving around.

Found a motorcycle rental shop beside my hotel. Decided on getting this Yamaha SMAX. It's a 200cc and it is powerful enough to beat the average scooters you see on the street. The suspension is much better than those typical scooters. Very comfortable to pillion a passenger as well and it has quite a huge underseat storage to store your personal items. They do provide helmets but they are rather old, I dont care anyway and just used them. Can safely put it on the bike and nobody will even bother take it.  After some bargaining, it's rented at 900k IDR for 7 days, which works out to be about SGD13/day, quite reasonable. 

Unlike some other countries, you do not have to deposit your passport with them. They will just take a picture of your passport and return it back to you. Before riding off, I suggest taking a video of all the scratches/dents/defects together with their staff so that you can prove that they were already there before you take over the scooter.

The shop did not ask for my International Driving Licence(IDP) when renting the bike. I guess there are lots of tourist riding the bike around without a valid licence. However, there are police stops in a lot of places and they will lookout for tourist and stop them. The police will demand to see their IDP. If one cannot produce the IDP, the conversation will end up bargaining on the bribe. Depending on how rich you look, it typically goes like 20k-40k (SGD2 - SGD4). I got stopped once and they let me go after I showed them my IDP.

No, they do not provide phone mount, which proves to be invaluable tool to navigate through their traffic using Google Map. Otherwise, you may find yourself stopping often and checking your directions on your phone.

I am always equipped with a phone mount for my overseas rental. The one I have can be easily mounted using the bike's rear mirror. Do bring one along if you are planning to rent a motorcycle overseas. The phone can be charged using a power bank while you are riding. You can put the power bank in the small storage compartment under the handle.

You typically travel at speed of about average 40km/hr. This is due to their road condition and cars travelling at this speed in front of you on a single lane. The fastest speed I have clocked there is 70km/hr on an expressway. So, while it is very tempting, try not rent those big bikes, it will be very frustrating riding them at this speed. Still, comparing to driving a car there, a scooter will get you to your destination so much faster because you can squeeze between the jammed cars.

Do remember to bring your sunglasses because their helmets are unlikely to have a hood. You can opt to buy a new helmet there, but that would mean that you will need to lock them up in the bike. Also bring all the sun protection for your face and arms. As for me, I bought a cheapo tattoo sleeves from the road side as my arms look burned after one day of riding.

It's quite an enjoyable trip going to all the different beautiful temples, cliffs, restaurants, beaches, sunsets at your own pace .... I would love to do it again next time. 

I have brought along my DJI Mavic Pro drone there as well. Here's the video I have taken with my drone in case you are interested.