Holiday - Bali (I)

To Bali we went. :) We were contemplating whether Bali or Phuket, but we chose Bali instead, after hearing so much about how nice it was. Besides, it's also our first anniversary trip, or in plain words, second honeymoon. :) We took the advantage of the NATAS fair in Spore (equivalent to MATTA fair in Msia), and after so many rounds of comparing the best prices (we were there for 5 hours?), we chose the package by Garuda Airlines (ya, Garuda, I myself can't believe it was Garuda). Haha. Package was S$378 with 3D/2N at Hard Rock Hotel, Bali free upgrade to Deluxe room. It was too short, so we extended another two nights stay, thus, 5D/4N. People said it was rather expensive, but mainly because it was Hard Rock Hotel, 4*. And we did compare with AirAsia, also Hard Rock Hotel, same time of flight, and length of stay, and it's still more expensive, (and to think I'll be flying a low cost-carrier, shouldn't it be much cheaper? Plus, think of the inconvenience for me to go all the way up to KL when Bali is south :P). And guess what, no regrets staying in Hard Rock! It's a cool hotel, and I think those of you music freaks would love it. Or at least, I think my brother would. Hehehe.

Brief background of Bali
Capital : Denpasar
Ethnic Groups: Balinese (89%), Javanese (7%), Others (4%)
Religion : Hindu (93.18%), Muslim (4.79%), Christian (1.38%), Buddhist (0.64%)


Day 1: 2nd November 2007
Left the office at 4pm, and went to Changi Airport before 5pm. Flight was at 7.15pm. Was praying real hard when the plane took off and landed. Both ways. After hearings lots of news about this airline, it scared me, but you know what? It was quite good. Their take-off and landing was much more stable than the other airlines I took, such as Korean Air (The worse of all the airlines I took), and KLM (Dutch Airlines). The two above was in a Boeing 747, huge plane, but very bumpy. Thai Airways is also quite good, and for Garuda, it was a smaller plane, 737, but stable, and food was not bad too.

Upon arriving at the Ngurah Rai Airport in Bali, we were flooded with loads of people carrying signs for pick up to the hotel. I had to slowly walk up and down the lane to search for our names, or at least, the hotel sign. Finally we found, "Hard Rock Hotel, Bali". *phew*. The journey took us about 2 hours and 27 minutes, no time difference with Singapore. And about another 15 mins to the hotel from the airport.

Note: Ensure you have arranged airport transfer pick-up with your respective hotels. Else, ask the tour agency for a rough estimation of fees if get a cab/car rental from the airport.

Finding for our names/ hotel name. So hard to find!

I have to admit that we were rather impressed with the hotel. It had a centre-stage thingy the minute you step in the entrance, then you move to the side to go to the reception counter to get keys and what not, done there. It has a live band, playing every night without fail. In a way, we were fortunate to be upgraded to the deluxe room (in the Garuda package) because it's the furthest room away from the centre stage. If we stayed in the standard room, most probably will be disturbed by the noise made at the centre-stage. We went round the hotel that night after dropping our bags in the room.

Note: Before checking-in, make sure you request for the free stuffs that is in the package, such as free upgrade of room, free t-shirt, so on.

Our room

The place is huge. I can't believe that Hard Rock owns such a big piece of land. It has a huge free-form pool (a real pool, sandy pool, decor pool, and so on), Hard Rock cafe & Hard Rock Megastore. And it's right in the middle of Kuta, opposite is the beach, walk beside it, are rows of designer shops, massage parlors, and shopping haven.

At the inner entrance of the hotel

Day 2: 3rd November 2007

Next morning, we took our breakfast at the hotel, and headed off for the streets around the hotel. We had the Lonely Planet book with us, so we just walked along the beach and started searching for the famous rojak. It's found just opposite the entrance of our hotel. Later did we know it was Javanese rojak, not Balinese. We also walked along Poppies Gang Lane, Jln. Legian and Jln. Pantai Kuta. Bought 2 pairs of those comfy 3/4 pants, Jason bought a painting, yes, everything has to be bargained. Bought some gifts, and off for some more sight-seeing.

Red dotted arrows. The streets we walked around Kuta area.

One thing we observed was, we see more "ang-mos" (whites) than locals there. It's really like a cowboy town, them with their surf boards, and on the scooters, topless (guys lah) and ladies in bikinis weaving in and out of the road. Hmmm... So much for scenery. I didn't quite like it in Kuta. Too much things going on for me. :) But for those of you who like nightlife, this, is, THE place.

We stopped over at Made's Warung for lunch. It is said the best place to taste local food there. Imagine, I thought it was really a warung, but no... it's rather a nice restaurant. Prices are reasonable too, but not the actual warung we wanted to go to. Juices there are super kao.By the way, In Bali, there are 4 "rankings/ nicknames" they give for the firstborn,2nd-born,3rd-born, 4th-born male child in a family. First: Wayan; Second: Made; Third: Nyoman; Fourth: Ketut (Hey, what are you laughing at?) So this Made's Warung, most probably belonged to someone who was the 2nd male child in the family. You see lots of this over the place, like Ketut's Warung, or Wayan's Place, things like this. If you have a 5th male child? Then the cycle goes again, starting from Wayan, and it goes on for Made (6th child), so on. Interesting eh?



Lunch @ Made's Warung

Basically, in the evening, we went to the beach to catch the sunset, and also to test the camera. :P After dinner, we went for massage. Full body massage, for 1.5 hrs. Finished at the stroke of midnight. Hehehe. Body aching after that. Phew!

Enjoying sunset together

Note: You have to beware of all those people who come and bug you to buy stuffs at tourist hot spots, such as beaches, and places of interests. Don't get dooped. Be strong. Acc. to the locals, it's a scandal. Just using these women & kids to get their money.

For more pics: My Multiply

Posted in: , on 14 November 2007 at at 7:01 pm  

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