Ana Bicanic

I enjoyed this trip . A trip with varieties. Our two drivers/main guides were both good. They were friendly and helpful. The highlights for this trip for me are the Mount Bromo sunrise trip and the blue flame hike the following morning. But for the blue flame hike, too bad I did not walk fast enough . By the time when I got to the spot, the blue flame burnt out already. If we started 30 minutes earlier or if we skipped that morning refreshment, I would be able to see the blue flame. Hopefully the tour organizer would consider this point so that other tourists who love to see the blue flame would not miss it.

The 3 cruise days trip to Komodo National Park was interesting too. I enjoyed the beautiful coral reefs, sunrise and sunset there. The cruise crews were good.

For the day trip to Nusa Penida, I wish they could provide us big towel so that we could have it to cover our body when we were going to our next snorkelling spot. It was a bit cold after we got out from the water after snorkelling. Or they told us before so that we could bring our big towel.

Overall the trip was great. I enjoyed it. Thanks.
Ling

From arranging the destinations to solving the minor issues through the trip, Ana has been helpful and responsive. We probably should have taken her advice and took advantage of the free/rest days in between ... While we're seniors in relatively good shape, the hikes to Bromo / Ijen are strenuous ones. It might be a good idea to give future participants a heads up, e.g. set expected arrival times for various stops up Ijen so they would know if they could make it on time to see the blue flames.

Saiful was great for the portion around Yogyakarta - helpful, informative and courteous.

Nyoman went all out - including the birding trip to West Bali NP and the attendance at a Ngaben. From taking us to the laundromats to retrieving the glasses from the monkey at Uluwatu, Nyoman is attentive and more than helpful. And he takes the time and effort to explain the Bali culture and attractions. My wife and I are more than pleased with his assistance!

Revan was simply great throughout the Komodo cruise. He is knowledgeable and goes out of his way to help us - whether it's trekking up the hills or guiding us during the snorkeling trips.

Trip to Nusa Penida was a complete waste of a day - poor infrastructure, average snorkeling, no sightings of Rays after a long rough ride and finally had to turn back from the beach because of traffic. And the communication from the drivers/guides were lacking ...

VW day was less than satisfying - after getting over the initial excitement of riding open top, we're sucking fumes the whole day. The guide speaks little English and provides no explanation of the attractions. Could have used our own driver/car to go to all those destinations.

The Balinese day provides varieties and was a lot of fun.

The long stay at a relatively isolated hotel in Ubud was a bit inconvenient. But the staff and the services provided at the hotel are more than adequate.

Hotel Review

Arkamara Dijiwa Ubud

Bali

The hotel was great, but the location was too secluded. We couldn't easily walk to restaurants or explore the local area. It was nice for peace and quiet, but not convenient for exploring.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Experience Balinese day in Sidemen

Indonesia

This was a fantastic experience. We spent the day learning about the local culture, visiting rice fields, and more. It was a great way to immerse ourselves in Balinese life.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Sunrise Trek to Mount Bromo

Mount Bromo, East Java

The trek was challenging, especially for our group in our 60s. Our guide was optimistic about our abilities, but we had to start at 3 a.m. and some of us couldn't make it in time to see the blue flame. I wish our guide would have managed our expectations better or suggested an earlier start for those of us who are slower.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Experience Snorkeling in Menjangan

Pemuteran, Bali

Snorkeling was a great experience, but the equipment was subpar. Despite the equipment issues, the variety of things to see, the high visibility, the warm water makes snorkeling at Menjangan a superb experience.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Experience Nusa Penida snorkeling- Manta Point + Mangrove tour

Indonesia

This was a disappointing experience. The ferry ride was chaotic with tons of people waiting and multiple ferries departing. The drivers did not speak English well and the location was overwhelmed with tourists. The roads were congested, narrow, and bumpy, making the trip uncomfortable. The snorkeling was supposed to include a manta ray sighting, but the rays were a no show that day.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Dear Ana and the Kim Kim team. What an amazing adventure trip we had to Malaysia and Indonesia! No tour operator could assist us from Africa and we came across Kim Kim on the internet who connected us to Ana. We did some research as to what we wanted to see and learn about and experience on our adventure getaway, and with Ana's guidance and patience and working through many options, we finally settled and decided on version 9! Starting in Kuala Lampur and visiting the Batu Caves, the Aquarium, the Kuala Lampur Bird Gardens to name but a few things. We then travelled to Bukit Lawang where we started our jungle trek to Gunung Leuser National Park. To see the fauna and flora and experience the jungle with all the different primate species and birds, reptiles and mammals. Orangutans, Thomas Leaf Monkeys, Gibbons, flying lizzards, dragon lizzards, squirrels, butterflies to name but a few. Hearing the sounds of the forest. Camping by a river was just amazing. Then proceeding onwards to Betestagi and climbing Mount Sibayak Volcano and seiing the sulphur vents. To Lake Toba and Samosir Island and learning about the Batak peoples. Then visiting an orchid farm on the way to Medan with hundreds of species of orchids. Making our way onwards to Flores Island to catching our private boat trip to Rinca and Komodo Islands to see the great Komodo Dragons around the Flores sea. We went snorkeling with turtles and the abundant underwater life around these islands. Then onwards to Gili Meno to slow down and take a rest. Stopping over in Bali to experience the culture of the peoples of this island. Learning about Luwak coffee, visiting an amazing local art gallery. Then back to Kuala Lampur. Our getaway holiday trip involved learning about cultures and peoples and seeing amazing wildlife. Eating the most amazing food Malaysia and Indonesia had to offer. We would not have changed anything on our travels and every step was well organised by Ana and the Kim Kim team to provide a hassle free holiday. Absolutely nothing went wrong throughout our travels!
A huge thank you to Ana and Kim Kim as well as all the guides who picked us up at each place and taught us so much about the land and country of Indonesia. To the guides at Gunung Leuser National Park, Atte and Sudhar, to Zulkifli who showed us around Sumatra. To Agung for showing us around Bali. To Yuris who guided us on the boat to Rinca and Komodo and showed us the wildlife wonders underwater as well as on the islands. Truly, this was an amazing adventure and Indonesia and Malaysia are amazing countries to explore and have an adventure getaway!
Thank you.
Wynand and Petra

Ana did an amazing job planning and executing out trip to Indonesia! Our driver, Wes, was wonderful and took very good care of us. He really went above and beyond to make our trip special! All of the hotels that Ana suggested were great. The 4 dat private cruise thru komodo National Park was an absolute highlight! All of our connections went smoothly! It was truly an awesome trip!

Our trip with Kim Kim was very well organised - first Borneo with our lovely boat crew and great guide Johanes. We have no bad comments here we loved every minute but it may be worth mentioning to other western travellers how basic the facilities in the boat are as some may find this off putting.
Next to Tanah Lot - after the mix up with hotels, we were very happy. Then Ubud - what a great hotel - a real hidden gem and so central for the town.
The Komodo cruise was great also but again facilities are basic and I think, if you want to avoid complaints, this should be stressed. The crew and guide here were fine but not as friendly as in Borneo
Jimbaran was our next stop and again, after changing rooms twice - the first time the shower didn’t work, the second room, workmen were working in our wall with kango hammers. We were then upgraded and very happy with the Villa 😊
Ana has been available to us throughout the trip for any problems - even when she was on leave so again, we can’t praise her enough.
Most of all, we wound like to state how absolutely Amazing our Bali driver was. He has always been on time and reliable, listened and changed itineraries at the last minute when we have wanted to, kept our luggage for us while we have gone on 4 day trips, queued for hours for tickets while we enjoy looking at something else and taken us to specialist shops at our request. He knows the island ( and roads/shortcuts) so well and is great at recommending what to do If anyone is thinking of a trip to bali, I can highly recommend him. Thank you Subrata Yasa for making our trip so fantastic 🥰

Hotel Reviews

FM7 Resort Hotel Jakarta

Tangerang, Banten

Great for an easy one night stop over and

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

A little noisey

Bali Agung Village - CHSE Certified

Seminyak

Good bar and restaurant here and a pool big enough to swim in

Authenticity & Character

Location

Right near beach

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Artini 2 cottage

A hidden gem !

Authenticity & Character

Amazing character place

Location

Right in the Center but quiet and peaceful

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Artotel Sanur

Sanur

Great location for airport

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Private cruise trip in Komodo National Park

Labuan Bajo, Indonesia

We expected very basic facilities but the doors to cabin and bathroom did not shut and there was no comfortable seats. Borneo did it much better

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Puri Pandawa Resort

Needed 2 room changes for simple problems the hotel would have been aware of

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Experience Borneo Cruise Day 1

Indonesia

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Experience Borneo Cruise Day 2

Indonesia

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Experience Borneo Cruise Day 3

Indonesia

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Experience Borneo Cruise Day 4

Indonesia

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Experience the Tanah Lot trek

Tanah Lot

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Experience Ubud VW Safari Car Tour

Ubud, Bali

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Experience Rafting in Ayung River

Ubud, Bali

Only downside is the 600steps down to the river and 300 back up !!! Some people may not make this and spoil the whole experience

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Sunrise trek to Mount Batur

Indonesia

Definitely not for the faint hearted !! This is a very callanging walk/climb

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Komodo Cruise Day 1

Indonesia

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Komodo Cruise Day 2

Indonesia

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Komodo Cruise Day 3

Indonesia

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Visit Taman Ayun Temple

Indonesia

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Visit Goa Gajah Cave

Indonesia

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Komodo Cruise Day 4

Komodo Island

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Experience Nusa Penida snorkeling- Manta Point + Mangrove tour

Indonesia

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Visit Bali's Most Beautiful Beaches & Explore Uluwatu Temple

Jimbaran, Bali

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Experience Sunset Cruise and BBQ

Indonesia

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Amazing trip to Bali with a perfect balance of cultural sites, activities, and pleasure time. I really loved this tour and would definitely use this tour company again.

Ana connected us with Shanti Travel driver Nengah Suarma, and he was amazing. If not for Nengah, the trip would have been very different. Nengah was a safe driver, who was also knowledgable, smart, and possessing of amazing English language skills. Nengah was enthusiastic every day about seeing us and taking us to places we guessed he had been to 1,000 times before. He was also very flexible about any day's planned itinerary and was able to help us shape our travels in the moment to get the most out of our visit to Bali. I highly recommend Nengah Suarma as a driver and local guide.

Planning our Bali trip with KimKim was super easy and Ana was super present with us as we had questions/changes. This was our first time in Bali so we relied on Ana's expertise in planning. The lodging was excellent. We were pampered for sure. Highlights were massages and an Indonesian cooking class. the VW tour we took was great. Wayan was a great guide and we had a great day. Highlights were a coffee tour and the rice terraces. All the drivers were prompt and knew where to go. At times, we needed to advocate for what we wanted/didn't want to do, but they were flexible. I am not sure we would climb Mt Batur again (at 3am), though it was beautiful to watch the sunrise (bring 2 jackets!). Nusa Penida was also spectacular for snorkeling.

The trip was very well organised overall. There was good communication and documentation collection before I left for Bali, (such as pre arranging the visa on arrival ), good. My driver (from the airport up and to Ubud and Sanur ) was Supartha who was friendly, helpful, knowledgeable and reliable. He always made sure I was clear about everything and double checked arrangements through Whatsapp . The VW 'Safari Tour' driver was Agul. He was great and nothing was too much trouble for him in terms of me wanting to stop for taking photos wherever and whenever I wanted.

My main concern is the Mount Batur trip that was planned for me. I had already made it clear that I need to knopw the level of difficulty for this trek and was told that it was doable, even for my age. In reality, in my opinion, it was not. There were hords of people, which already made the pathway clogged and put pressure on me to keep moving, (so that those behind me to make progress /pass by) The climb, after around 2.5 km, left the road and became very steep and rocky, a scramble up loose rocks. This was not easy and I felt there was a real risk of tripping and causing injury;-many walkers were falling and grazing themselves in front of my eyes. I decided not to continue, although my guide tried to encourage me to continue, but kindly without forcing the issue. So, in the end, I sat on a rock for almost two hours, halfway up with the guide and several others who also could n't make it.
There are not guide ropes or warnings about saftey on this path. In future I recommend you clearly state that this walk is for fairly experenced trekkers and will be challenging. (I have trekked a lot in the UK in rencent years, and I would say this is far harder than described in by Kimkim).
If I knew about the climb before hand, I would have cancelled this part and looked for an alternative activity-This part of my trip was a waste of money and time.

The trip to Nusa Penida was enjoyable and to snorkelling with manta rays was truly memorable and amazing.
However, this trip was not exactly as stipulated in my itinerary as it was a group tour and not private as I had thought. There was no mangrove trip either, as outlined originally. I let this be known to Ana who was apologetic and arranged a free compensatory dinner in my hotel in Sanur, which I kindly accepted. I later enquired to do the mangrove tour myself from my Sanur hotel, but I was told this trip is not running now, since Covid - I would have thought KimKim tours would have known this, if this is in fact true.
Thank you for the trip and I hope the feedback is useful.

Hotel Review

Artini 2 cottage

The place is very nice and extremely relaxed. I found the rooms more basic than I had hoped, but comfortable. The noise from others in adjecent rooms is an issue, one can hear every word spoken by the occupants in the rooms next to and below. I would tell your guests that this could be anissue. The pool was very nice and so was the gorgeous setting for the cottages. Breakfast was poor in my opinion as the taste was not good, the sausages were disgusting and the curry I ordered was tasteless. I did nt tell them this as I did want to upset the staff. A nice place overall, but not as good as it looks on the internet!~

Authenticity & Character

stated above, although I will add the staff were VERY helpful and friendly.

Location

The breakfast -taste/ food quality and choice. The Balinese styled cottages are a bit run down and basic. The furniture is old, although I guess it is part of the style and authenticity of being in Bali.

Staff

Just their seemingly genuine willingness to please. Such that it would be difficult to complain to them face to face.

Cleanliness & Comfort

The breakfasts need some improvement. Some upgrading of the rooms.

Activity Reviews

Experience Ubud VW Safari Car Tour

Ubud, Bali

Please see previous comments.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Sunrise trek to Mount Batur

Indonesia

I have already posted in my general comments

Quality of Experience

Pre advise your guests on how hard this is.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

organised and reliable, plus friendly.

Transport

Experience Nusa Penida snorkeling- Manta Point + Mangrove tour

Indonesia

I already made my comments in the generla comment section.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Nathan Salenna - the Best Guide Ever!

We had a wonderful amazing eye-opening tour of South Sulawesi, with a guide who really took the time to explain the culture & the things we were seeing in rich & sensitive detail. We saw so much & ate so well, and we loved our Driver - Opa - we couldn't have asked for more from our relatively short time on the island. We are already talking about going back in two years to see more of Sulawesi!

Great times in Bali/Lombok with the local driver and guide services helping us make the most of it.

Ana and the team at Shanti helped us plan and book a phenomenal trip through Bali! She had all the local knowledge needed to help us customize our itinerary to our interests and prioritize activities that worked for us. She set us up with amazing local guides, including our driver for the week (Rusna!), a trail guide on Mt. Batur, and a guide through the highlights of Ubud. Most importantly, she was an on the ground, local contact available throughout our trip to answer questions and help us with any changes. Highly recommend the KimKim custom planning experience broadly and Ana and her Shanti team specifically!

Hotel Reviews

De Moksha Eco Friendly Boutique Resort

Tabanan

Gorgeous grounds, great food, and exceptional staff. Loved it!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Beautiful, scenic grounds but not located near other amenities. Felt isolated.

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Arkamara Dijiwa Ubud

Bali

Beautiful grounds, super helpful staff, and comfortable room. They provided a shuttle to central Ubud during regular hours and had special agreements with approved taxis that they could book on our behalf in off hours. The front desk was always accessible via WhatsApp.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

La Joya Biu Biu Resort

Jimbaran

Gorgeous, cliff side location. Drinks and extra amenities were a bit expensive compared to other places, but overall experience was positive.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

A/C in our room was hit and miss and the room was definitely "rustic."

Activity Reviews

Experience Ubud VW Safari Car Tour

Ubud, Bali

Superb driver who customized the day trip to our interests...and also took fantastic photos (an unexpected bonus!)!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Sunrise trek to Mount Batur

Indonesia

Tough climb with gorgeous views!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Visit Goa Gajah Cave

Indonesia

This was a super super touristy place. As one of our first popular temple visits we did, we weren't aware and equipped to stop a guy from coercing us into a tour and insisting on payment at the end. We felt trapped in a guided tour we didn't actually ask for and in a show of performative religion that didn't feel respectful to the actual roots of the place.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Visit the UNESCO Jatiluwih Ricefield

Indonesia

One of our favorite stops on the trip! An absolutely gorgeous walk through rice terraces with scenic mountain views beyond. We would have loved to spend more time enjoying this place!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Our trip to Indonesia was a true reprieve from the stresses of regular life, a perfect vacation. Our KimKim specialist Ana organized several lovely events for us but also maintained a comfortable flexibility, listening well and helping us refund things when our energy wasn't up to the big tasks. In particular, our driver throughout the trip, Parma, was one of the kindest, most splendid humans we have ever met and want him to get as much praise possible for hosting us so well. The Komodo Island boat cruise stood out as a spectacular highlight of the trip (we saw Komodo dragons, Mantas, turtles, soft coral, and unreal sunsets). Our guide Tony also stood out as a spectacular and knowledgable friend.

Ana was outstanding. While planning, she listened to us and what we had research and helped us with local knowledge. Despite the 15 hour time difference, she was quick to respond.
Once we arrived, she met us at our hotel to welcome us and confirm our schedule. She was available during our whole trip for random questions, even as small as bug spray brand.
She was kind and communicative. Our trip was much richer because of her help.