In Reply to: Making turns whilst driving posted by 81mwd on Wednesday, 29. August 2007 at 13:39 Bali Time:
Filo is right in many ways and your Balinese driver can show you how its done. I had a driver named Brocky who did a u-turn on the Sanur bypass in heavy traffic in front of 2 (or is it 3?) lanes of on-coming cars, trucks and motor bikes and they all just pulled up and let him turn in front of them. Not sure what rule that one was but no-one seemed surprised or upset. He just said "in Bali, nothing is problem".
I also hired a car and drove to the east and north coast and loved being able to drive in my own time. We found some really nice places by meandering along and taking some random turns that a driver may not be interested in taking you. Ever heard of the temple at Melanting? Probably not, because I have found they have their preconceptions about where the bules want to go and this place was off the track.
I would recommend self-drive for anyone who is confident and not susceptible to stress. Go with the flow and if you're not sure a shrug and a smile will get you through. Oh yeah, and for added peace of mind make sure your travel insurance covers the excess on hire vehicle insurance as the standard contracts we saw were US$1000.