How Much Did It Cost?

Getting to Bali (airfare) was a little pricey, but once we were there, most everything was very inexpensive.  When traveling to another country and exchanging currency, it often feels like play money. This was especially true in Bali. We exchanged Japanese yen and got back a huge stack of big Balinese Rupia bills.  Millions of rupiah!

This is the equivalent of 10,000 yen or about 95 US dollars.  The red bills are 100,000! It was difficult to keep the zeros straight. I was constantly thinking, does it really cost that little?

 

Here are some examples of how much things cost in Bali.

Hiring a car and driver for an all day tour around the island – 500,000 rupiah

Ice cream bar – 8000 rupiah

Museum Puri Lukisan (includes a drink and dessert) - 75,000 rupiah

Arma Museum (includes a drink) - 50,000 rupiah

Neko Art Museum - 50,000 rupiah

1 hour massage at hotel – 70,000 rupiah

4 hour batik class (includes lunch, plus drink & dessert break) - 45,000 rupiah

3 hour batik class (includes drink and Balinese “cake” break) - 40,000 rupiah

Evening dance performances - 75,000 rupiah

Large pizza – 35,000 to 50,000 rupiah (depending on toppings)

 

Nice dinner for two, including drinks tax and service charge - 200,000 rupiah

Color post card - 3000 rupiah

International post card stamp - 100,000 rupiah

Large Bintang Bottle beer – 30,000 rupiah

We could never have done so much in Japan for so little money. Granted, Japan is expensive.  The downside is that the people in Bali are very poor and we were constantly approached by people wanting to sell us things or have us hire them or begging for money. We enjoyed our trip and had some great cultural experiences for very little money, but I was disturbed by the constant assault by the local people.