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Bali

After reading many subpar reviews about the tourist overpopulation in Kuta, we decided to stay in a less popular, but highly recommended area of Bail – Kerobokan. We got very lucky with our host at Dana Guesthouse who took us on a very cheap, full day, private tour around Bali, along with one other couple.

It took us until the end of the trip to be fully convinced that the tour was in fact not a scam, considering how great it had originally sounded, and given our vast experience with scams.

The first stop of this tour was at a coffee plantation. Where – believe it or not – we actually got to try coffee FOR FREE! Didn’t even pay tourist/foreign/bathroom/entrance/exit tax.

Turns out the most famous coffee in Bali is actually Cat-Poop coffee. Essentially, the coffee beans get hand-picked by these cat-like animals called Luwaks. Once the beans have gone through the Luwaks’ digestive system and come out the other end, the still-intact beans are collected and roasted just like regular coffee. I was half expecting the tourguide to say “gotcha!” during her explanation, but she was either really good at scamming tourists, or this coffee was no joke.

Our actually free samples included some really good coffee, including white, chocolate and vanilla coffee, as well as various flavours of tea.

Our second stop was for lunch, at a buffet on the top of a ridge overlooking Mount Batur. We also got to witness that it is, in fact, possible to haggle down the flat-and-non-negotiable price of a buffet by half, thanks to the Chinese couple we were with.

The third stop was Tourist Central – the famous Rice Fields.

This guy makes his whole living by posing with the rice baskets and accepting tips.

Our final stop was the Monkey Forest

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