In Reply to: Bali Bike tour posted by nannynofriends on Tuesday, 9. February 2010 at 17:51 Bali Time:
I agonised over which company to go with and read both their web sites and all recommendations both on Tripadvisor and the BTF. I suppose I just felt that maybe Bali Baik got lots and lots of work so emailed Bali Bintang and they replied immediately with a discount for the online booking.
They were very accomodating. They picked us up 15mins later so that we could have breakfast at our hotel.
The coffee plantation was educational and thankfuly did not last overly long - just being honest.
The coffee and banana fritters at the volcano were inedible but that is not their fault. We were a bit unfortunate to have a guy in our group of 7 who insisted on racing ahead at every opportunity so I think we maybe had less of a group experience as Jack, our guide, had quite a spread of abilities to care for.
The operators were always there when we needed to be given directions and there were 2 support vehicles. We were encouraged to stop as often as needed to take photos etc It was a little bit "hairy" when we were on the main road for a small stretch here and there but it was all good. It rained for a short period but we had all been given rainjackets.
We are all so glad we did it - 40ks and only probably 100m uphill. It was great seeing the villages, saying selamat siang to everyone and seeing ther faces light up with approval that I had bothered to try and get it right. Lunch was lovely and we were back at our hotel by 4pm.
It was a great thing to do as a group of 4 friends.