The Perfect Way From Bali To Nusa Penida (Best And Cheapest)

Posted on September 22, 2019September 22, 2019 by dev

I just did an amazing trip to Nusa Penida from Bali and I want to share the best (and cheapest) way to do it with you guys!

The Breathtaking Kelingking Beach, Nusa Penida, Indonesia

How To Visit Nusa Penida From Bali

You’ll have two really good options. Head to Sanur Beach in DENPASAR first of all!

You can see that boats usually start early and finish early. Do not expect night boats.

TIMETABLE

Firms	Sanur-Nusa Penida	Nusa Penida-Sanur
Crown	08.15, 11.15, 15.15	09.45, 13.45, 16.45
Sugriwa	08.30, 13.30	11.30, 13.30
Merlin	09.30, 13.00	11.00, 15.00
Bali Eka Jaya	16.30	08.30
Gogun Express	08.15, 10.00	14,30, 17.00

Two Best Options To Reach Nusa Penida

1. The ultra-budget option or the 2. cheap timesaver option will make you go from A to B properly, and I chose the 2. option, because it wasn’t more than $10 difference in total. I was in a bit of a rush and I didn’t want to miss the incredible opportunity to go to Nusa Penida and explore the island, but at the same time I didn’t want to get wet in a speed boat, so I chose to go with Gogun Express from Sanur Beach in Denpasar. Super comfortable seats and the other providers all charged the double!

Perfect Travel Tip For Booking Your Ticket

With Gogun Express you can go for around to 150.000-200.000 Indonesian Rupiah ($10-15) with return ticket and it’s a fast boat. Secure your cheap ticket by getting a local person to book your ticket, because the ticket sellers usually put the price HIGHER for a tourist, so I just asked a random guy if he could book my ticket and he helped me without any problems. Most Indonesians are very friendly!

I used that trick a lot too when traveling in Africa: Read: How To Avoid Travel Scams In Africa here!

The option I took will take you 45 min to reach Nusa Penida with Gogun Express, or you can go ultra-budget with the public boat called ‘Jukung’. Jukung will cost you around IDR. 50.000 one-way and will take around 90 minutes. I wanted to maximize my day on the island, so I went with the fast option.

Keep In Mind’s

Jukung (Public) Boats: The ultra cheap tickets can be sold out if you’re not there early or are unlucky.

Fast Boat: Fast boat tickets to Nusa Penida sell out fast too. It’s very unlikely that you’ll find a ticket if you just show up 10 minutes before the morning boat.

Speed Boat: If you go with this super fast option, you can avoid being splashed on by sitting at the back.

Safety: If the weather is bad, don’t take the boat. The ocean can get vicious, and sunken fast boats aren’t unheard of.

With good weather, just go to Sanur Beach and get moving!

Getting a local to buy my ticket as usual. Or at least get them to ask the price first for you as a foreigner

Arriving in Nusa Penida – What To Do?

You can choose to go on a expensive tour with a Tour Company in a car, but the roads are narrow and bad for cars, so it’s not really enjoyable. My local friend in Denpasar told me it was some of the worst road he’d seen in Indonesia, so he wouldn’t recommend renting a scooter, but I don’t agree with him on this. He hasn’t traveled so much neither, haha.. You should definitely choose the cheaper, more adventurous, more fun, more free way to explore Nusa Penida – rent a scooter for a full day! Yes, the roads are not the best, but there’s not a lot of traffic, so if you have a little bit of experience on a scooter it won’t be a big problem, though the last part to the Kelingking Beach is a little challenging. You can do it though!

You can rent a scooter for a full day in Nusa Penida for IDR. 70.000 ($5) with fuel. Absolute bargain!

Car With A Driver

In Bali cars are too valuable to trust the tourists with so they will usually come with a driver. They are the slower and costlier way to travel in Nusa Penida but also safer. It costs around 500,000 IDR per day. You can ask your accommodation to fix you one or you will find drivers looking for costumers at the ports.

Scooter With A Driver

If you want a scooter’s affordability and practicality but you don’t trust your driving skills, you can ask the owner to drive you around. Prices are usually around 120,000-160,000 IDR per day, but you can’t be sure to find a driver always.

Beautiful driving around Nusa Penida island. Nice temples on the road

Best Things To Do In Nusa Penida

I drove around a lot of the island, and got lost several times, just finding myself ending up in cool places. I really enjoy driving out in the wild once in a while, without Google Maps set on a specific location, just see what happens, and Nusa Penida has so many hidden treasures. The best places to go in the island on the west are however Broken Beach, Angel’s Billabong (only 50 meter walk from Broken Beach) and the spectacular Kelingking Beach. If you have time take the stairs down and check out the beach from below.

Monkeys chilling on top of Kelingking Beach. Go down the stairs and see the beautiful beach from below too!

The Road To The Famous Kelingking Beach, Nusa Penida, Indonesia

You’ll have to drive for around 50 minutes on your scooter on the West Coast of Nusa Penida to reach this fairy tale alike beach. There will be a few signs on the way, but not many and you can easily get confused on the way. If you have an Indonesian SimCard, I recommend using Google Maps and use your Airpods while driving for the perfect guidance to reach the destination.

The locals were also very friendly and helped me reach some other stunning places on the island, though it can get quite remote at certain places with few people. You can always ask them too!

Most boats arrive at Jungutbatu in Nusa Penida, close to Lembongan island. Here is the location of the famous beach

Enjoy Your Trip To Nusa Penida

Landscapes are really cool and changes all the time in Nusa Penida. A lovely and adventurous place to drive a scooter and it’s honestly just a lot of fun exploring the beauty of the island on a scooter, because you can hit all the interesting corners and small villages. I was back 4.30 pm and had a power nap on the beach, before my comfy boat with Gogun Express went back to Bali. What a nice day.. Get ready for adventure!

Enjoying the beach in Nusa Penida.. Still haven’t met anyone with more white hairs on their legs than me

“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” There are experiences that open up not just your heart but also your mind, and traveling to Nusa Penida does that. So many amazing views, so get ready for adventure!

Goodbye Nusa Penida! Doesn’t get much prettier than this spot

Guys, definitely do Nusa Penida when doing Indonesia. Stunning sights here, honestly couldn’t imagine a better start for my country number 125. I bet you’ll love it too, if you didn’t go already of course.. It’s slowly getting more popular, so JUST GO!

Have you been to Indonesia?

Gustav

gus1thego.com

What Is It Like Visiting Brunei?

Posted on September 19, 2019September 19, 2019 by dev

Brunei is a tiny nation on the island of Borneo of 0.4 million people, surrounded by Malaysia and the South China Sea. Brunei is known for its beaches, bio diverse rain forest, Mosques and oil reserves.

Brunei, the size of the star, my country 124

Heard Different Opinions About Brunei

I heard a few different opinions about Brunei, before it was finally my own time to visit this tiny nation and have a look at the country with my own eyes. One of my travel friends told me it was his least favorite country and a country he had some really bad experiences in. He told me he didn’t want to revisit the place at all! I still came here with an open mind as always and wanted to make my own impression.

Love or hate Brunei? Lots of different opinions about this tiny country

The Sultan Of Brunei Isn’t The Most Popular Guy On Earth

Yes, we can’t neglect talking about this guy when talking about Brunei, because he is the most influential man by far in the country. The Sultan of Brunei who wants gay people stoned to death and who lives a lavish lifestyle with £19k haircuts, it’s even rumored he once paid Michael Jackson £13m to sing for his birthday. With a personal wealth of £15billion, the Sultan of Brunei is the second wealthiest monarch in the World, behind the King of Thailand, and he has been on the throne since 1967 and ruled the country.

Recently the global community has boycotted staying in some of the Sultan’s Hotels around the World, because the Sultan of Brunei wants gay people stoned to death. He has actually brought in a law to punish gay sex with death by stoning.. But like with any other country with bad leadership, I think it’s unfair to say a whole population and country is a sh*t place, because of one ‘Man in Power,’ who makes some super retarded laws and comments. There’s a big difference between the leaders of a country and the people who live there, and I think it’s an important distinction to make, yet I still obviously thought a bit about these stupid things the Sultan has done before visiting the place. Hard not to, right?!

What Is Brunei Like To Visit?

Brunei has some of the most beautiful mosques in the World

1. The Mosques

Jame’ Asr Hassanil Bolkiah Mosque, Brunei

Brunei’s mosques are well-known for their beauty and elegance, and after 124 countries I can assure you of the fact that Brunei has some of the World’s most picture-perfect mosques. Traditional and futuristic elements are perfectly blended in the architecture of these mosques. For example, the Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque, which uses a mixture of Mughal and Malay elements in its design. It has carpets from Saudi Arabia and chandeliers from Britain. The Ash-Shaliheen Mosque in Brunei looks like a mosque in Marrakesh, Morocco, and the Jame Asr Hassanil Mosque looks like something taken out of a Hollywood-movie. The country also has mosques that stand on stilts on a river!

2: World’s Biggest ‘Water Village’

Kampong Ayer, World’s largest settlement on stilts

Kampong Ayer, in Brunei’s capital, is the world’s largest settlement on stilts. Kampong Ayer literally translates to “Water Village” in Malay, and it’s quiet easy to visit the village.. Plus you can do it cheaply! You can just go to the Habour Front and negotiate a cheap price with some of the many locals, who are boating around most of the day in the capital, Bandar Seri Begawan. Kampong Ayer is called ‘Venice of the East,’ but forget all about paying 100 euros for a boat ride here, unless you want to of course. You can go for less than $10 usually, it depends on the person in the boat, but a must-visit place surely!

It’s really cool to walk around the water village and see the way the locals live here, you’ll actually find around 3% of the country’s population on these stilts. Fascinating!

The Population

Other travelers told me people were rude in Brunei, and I was actually attempted scammed on a long boat ride through the mangrove in Brunei, so I had to jump off the boat in the middle of the jungle and make my way out, more about that story later, but one bad experience obviously won’t make it or break it for me.

The feeling in Brunei was different than I expected. I was picturing a country with people who weren’t especially welcoming to outsiders, a country with extremely strict rules, etc. I guess I was expecting Brunei to be as sterile and “orderly” as Singapore, while also somehow feeling like a major Gulf city.

What I found was the opposite. The people were very warm and welcoming. Everyone was informal. I didn’t feel like I was in a police state, the capital and the country side felt very Southeast Asian. There was a lot of natural beauty and no other tourists.

Can You Travel To Brunei In Good Conscience?

I don’t like “supporting” countries with ridiculous laws like earlier stated. At the same time, I think there’s so much to learn from visiting a place you have a negative impression of, and finding out that it’s nothing like what you were expecting.

That’s not to discount some of the horrible laws in place, but rather to say that it’s worth separating out the laws created by a non-democratically elected Leader from the people who make up the country.

In terms of the destination as such, Brunei is a pretty country, yet it’s not the most exciting place on Earth, but I had a great time here. I did all of TripAdvisor’s Top 5 in Brunei, and I’m sure you can find better Top 5’s elsewhere in other places, but there still was something charming about this tiny country!

It was an interesting experience. Goodbye Brunei, my country 124.

Gustav

gus1thego.com

10 Weird And Interesting Facts About Somaliland

Posted on September 9, 2019September 9, 2019 by dev

I went to Somalia a few weeks ago and spent nearly a week in Somaliland. Here’s 10 Weird and Interesting Facts about Somaliland you probably didn’t know anything about!

1: Somaliland was an internationally-recognized country for 5 days

Despite the local government’s declaration of independence in 1991, Somaliland is not an internationally recognized country. It is a self-declared republic that has been seeking recognition since.

What makes this most interesting is that, for a brief period of five days in 1960, when Somaliland became independent from the UK, the country existed as an independent state. However, it then agreed to join the rest of Somalia who had been under Italian rule until then to form a greater Somalia.

2: Mobile payments are more used than anywhere else

Holding 500 Somaliland Shilling. 8,000 Somaliland Shilling = 1 USD

Somaliland pays one the lowest rates for mobile calls in the world. Furthermore the mobile payments in Somaliland are so important that they are estimated to account for half of the transactions and they are made in US Dollars. Bill Gates even claimed: “Somaliland is a sort of a country and it is sort of not. It is very small, but it is phenomenal. As a percentage of GDP that goes through cellphone-based money they are the highest in the world.” There are 3 reasons why mobile payments are so high in Somaliland.

Firstly, the Somali currency, the Shilling, is constantly devalued and suffers from inflation, so it is less and less valuable every day.

Secondly, the amount of counterfeit Shilling is so high that the World Bank estimates 98% of the currency is fake.

Thirdly, the exchange rate of the Shilling is about 8,000 per US Dollar, so you only need to exchange 100 US Dollar to become an instant millionaire.

3. It’s the desert, but when it rains, it floods

Inside a private home while the rain pours down in Hargeisa, Somaliland

I was very confused when it started to pour like crazy and the ground became absolutely drenched and flooded. I thought Somaliland would be similar to Djibouti: desertic and dry. But Somaliland is a bit greener and it does get a lot of rain, even if the soil is not particularly fertile. I have never seen as much rain as my 2nd day in Hargeisa, the capital of Somaliland. My shoes were totally wet walking around in 5 centimeter water in the streets and I had to run into a private home to escape the heavy rain.

4: Drive on the right, steering wheel on the right

Driving on the right with steering wheel on the right. What was even more crazy was my driver on this pic had no legs

Cars in Somaliland drive on the right hand side of the road but have the steering wheel on the right. This makes for the very weird situations of the passenger seat being next to the oncoming traffic.

This would probably mean that the cars used are imported from left hand driving countries, of which there aren’t too many, but some of which are neighbors of Somaliland. Here I was in a car with a Somali guy driving on the right hand side with a steering wheel on the right and the driver had no legs. How many of you guys have tried that?

5: Spaghetti with your camel, curry with your pancakes

Eating camel in the Golis Restaurant in Hargeisa, Somaliland

After having eaten crocodile in Zimbabwe and kangaroo in Australia, it was the perfect time to try to eat camel in Somaliland. Why? Of the world’s estimated 14 million camels, Somalia, a country of some 10 million people, has more than seven million – the highest number in the world. A big amount of them can be found in Somaliland, which is one of the best places to try to eat camel.

Camel meat is pretty healthy, it is very greasy, fatty and chewy and not the most pleasant to eat. At least not to me, but it’s an interesting experience. So is a pancake with curry! Somalilanders like interesting food.

6: Fast internet and free WiFI

You can’t compare the slow internet (close to no wifi) in the east of Ethiopia , where I was feeding wild hyenas with my mouth, with the super fast internet for African standards in Somaliland. I was very surprised to find decent WIFi in most hotels and restaurants in Somaliland. Yes, I lost my phone in Somalia, you can read about that story here, but I did have one day with amazing wifi before I was disconnected a week (with no phone) traveling around Somalia and Eritrea. Perfect, right? No seriously, the wifi is pretty great in Somaliland!

7. The Government has an annual budget of only 295 million USD dollars

Photo from my hotel, Hirad Hotel in Hargeisa

The Government has an annual budget of only 295 million USD dollar. Most infrastructure projects are paid by the Somali community through fundraising. No doubt less than 300 million USD dollar is a very low amount for a self-declared country of 3,5 million people.

8. Bring cash here

Bring cash. Preferably a stack of cold, hard, American dollars. The nation is not hooked into the global financial system in any meaningful way. Cash services are shaping up in Hargeisa, which has just started to launch a series of traditional bank branches and reportedly launched its first two ATMs in 2014. But you still can’t rely on these young banks and ATMs for all your financial needs. Also, Somaliland will try to milk a little money from you as soon as you touch down, charging entry, exit, and security fees at border control, often forcing you to change some dollars to shillings upon entry as well. So remember to bring a good amount of cash to Somaliland, mobile payments are for the locals mostly unfortunately.

9. Las Geel, earliest known cave paintings in Africa

Laas Geel, meaning ‘source of water for camels’, is a complex of cave paintings located 55 kilometers (34 miles) northeast of Hargeisa, Somaliland. They contain some of the earliest known cave paintings in Africa. Weird combination of cows in ceremonial robes that are accompanied by a giraffe, domesticated dogs, and humans. Laas Geel’s rock art is estimated to date to somewhere between 9,000 and 3,000 years BC.

10. First country to use Biometric Iris scanning voting system for elections

What a great nation Somaliland is. Here at the mountains called the woman’s chest before climbing them

Somaliland will be the first country to use Biometric Iris scanning voting system for elections, the most advanced voting register system in the world. A very progressive and innovative nation!

Hope You Learned Something New About Somaliland

I hope you learned something new about Somaliland after reading these 10 weird, but interesting facts. How many of these did you know before reading this article? Let me know!

Goodbye Somaliland! Can’t wait to come back here again one day..

Gustav

gus1thego.com

Follow me on Instagram @gustavrosted