onefinesunday 8 contributions
Singapore
Aug 14, 2010
My friend and I have just returned from our 8-day trip to Bali. This was my third time there and the first for my friend. Before flying into Bali, I had seek some help from TA's Recommended Driver's List to get hold of a local driver for our intended stay. So I came across
Sila and he had a very good record based on the reviews. I visited his website where he had clearly listed his fees and decided to contact him via email. Btw this was pretty much a random shot in the dark as there are quite a handful of drivers suggested in TA and they all had pretty good reviews.
We exchanged emails. I shared with him my itinerary and he recommended some feedbacks based on his personal experience in the business. For this trip, we wanted to do some snorkeling at Nusa Penida (south-east of Bali), some trekking and water rafting. He helped us arranged these activities and we had no problems at all.
As he is a popular choice with tourists, he's been booked most of the days during our stay. We only managed to hire his service for our first day in Bali. But this was short enough to convince me to write this review for all to share. For the rest of the trip, he recommended
Made (his team member). All the drivers in his group are family related; hence you can be sure that they all share the same passion with Sila. Made was very friendly although quite reserved at times. He's always willing to explain if you have any questions with regards to Bali and its culture. I picked up a lot of new things about the place during his service. He recommended us things to see/do; and warned us of things not to do. He helped us shape our itinerary for each day of our stay. Punctuality is not an issue at all. Last but not least, he's a very good driver so safety should not be your concern.
One thing to note is that most of the talking was done in Bahasa Indonesia as I'm born Indonesian. However, I don't think language would pose as a barrier as I've read other reviews on their English fluency.
Vehicle conditions are very good throughout. Sarong are provided in case you need one. Bottled water are supplied. Petrol and parking fees are all included in the fee so there's no need for you to fork out any money, except for entrance fees to attractions and your personal spendings. As an extra plus: You pay only at the end of your trip.
Quoted from Sila "Just enjoy first!" with a smile.
Overall, we were very satisfied and we highly recommend using their friendly private tour service for your stay in Bali.
Driver Rating: 5/5 - Excellent
Trip Rating: 4/5 - If not for the cloudy skies (which seemed to stick above our heads everywhere we went), our pictures would have been waaaaay better!
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g294226-r75115874-Bali.html
..........Sila- our driver as always was great, took us to all the normal spots, two things, we went to uluwatu for the fire dance, and we were amazed at the amount of people packed in, it was much nicer to go back here during the day , Tanah lot, was fine until a snake was spotted by my husband, he is petrifies of snakes, and so we had to amke a quick exit so he could calm down, well any excuse to stop me from shopping.
