~ just the two of us ~

It's our second time back in Bali.. this time it's not just the two of us.. but seven to nine of us! All thanks to Andry, we managed to get good and cheap accommodation... not to mention.. BIG one too.. :) The main highlights of this trip was, the activities.... Jason & I said that the next time round if we ever go back to Bali, is that we want to experience the white water river rafting... and Andry suggested para-sailing last minute as well. So, I'm pretty satisfied we did these 2 while were in Bali. The rest, was bonus. :)

the living hall... the sofa can be turned into a bed at night...where at least 2 guys slept...

the kitchen... can cook here, gas stove, frying pan, cups, plates, utensils all provided...

the master-room where 3 guys slept...

the 2nd room where Yibs & I slept...


Para-Sailing @ Tg. Benoa Beach

I volunteered to be the 1st among us to go. Check out the red & blue gloves. It's to tell you which one you need to pull the ropes to make you "stop" and slowly "drop" down.

Strapping me up, ready to go...OK, I kinda admit I was abit nervous at this point of time.. hahaha..

About to land.. can you see I'm trying so hard to pull the rope to make it land at the correct spot? At this point of time, I didn't want to stop.. I wanted to go another round.. the view from up there was just to spectacular that I had no time to "swallow" everything in just yet.... But, all good things must come to an end.. *sob sob*


Visit to Tanah Lot

Yibs & I entertaining ourselves at the small bazaar before reaching the Tanah Lot entrance.. Pretty hats, ya?

A group pic at Tanah Lot


White Water River Rafting (Payung Adv)

Yibs & I at the river, getting ready for action! We got a special price for this rafting, not as advertised at their website.. Thanks to Andry.. :)

Bliss Spa

We had chocolate bath after the massage.. My skin was extremely soft and smooth...we had green tea scrubs.. :)

At the famous Kuta beach... once again, after 1.5 yrs..:)

Re-visiting after 1.5 yrs.. just that we're not staying here.. :P

FOOD, GLORIOUS FOOD!

1st meal upon arrival, Ayam Betutu

The chili was stinging! But it was superb!

NASI PECEL

This is mine.. hmm... super-cheap right? It's just about S$1.30! So much of food! I don't mind eating this for economy rice everyday... tastes good!

Suckling pig, or famously known as "Babi Guling"

You get to eat every part of the pig. The ears, the TONGUE (see the rolled one?) the skin, the meat, so on.. Gross, but the fried skin actually tastes good. Hahaha. Like "keropok".

"Bebek" is duck in Indon language. Don't ask me why it's called dirty duck.. More famously known as "Bebek Bengil".

The Bebek Bengil dish.. can be served with fries or rice.. :)

The food spread at Bebek Bengil; Bebek Bengil x3, Nasi goreng (thumbs up for this!) x2, Nasi campur (nice!) x2, Gado-gado x1, assorted drinks (mixed fruit juices, ice blended).. yummy!

Last but not least, we bought lots of indo-mee for supper @ the hotel. Hehehe.

So, this ends the whole trip we had in Bali.. it was a goooooooooood and long-awaited trip...
Thank God for AirAsia too that they just recently opened their new route from Spore direct to Bali.... Awaiting for the next trip..... have to look at budget airlines promo.. I know some of them from the group will be going to climb Mt. KK in June, and some having a road-trip to Australia.. All thanks to budget airlines... Hehehe... Shall we start planning for next year? *wink*.

Posted in: bali, cell, chit chat, cool stuffs, food, friends, Happenings, travel on 5 April 2009 at at 12:01 pm 0 kay-pohs  

Nice wedding decors....

After that, we left for Padang-Padang Beach. But before that, we found this cafe, called Jiwa Juice in the Lonely Planet book. The driver have no idea where it is. But we passed by it, (looks like a residential place) and he realised! The juice there is extremely kao, yummy. Hehehe.

The beach is small and rocky, not known to many people, unless you're staying around that area. So, it's more like quieter, and private. Nice. The water was crystal clear, unlike the ones in Kuta, mainly because of the waves, and overcrowded area. After that, we went to Nusa Dua Beach for original Balinese rojak. Nusa means " island, dua means "two". The beach is in between two islands.

After that, we were off to Ulu Watu. Ulu means "at the end", Watu means "temple". So, yeah, it's right at the tip of the southern part of Bali, and it has one of the famous temples there. And the view there was really breath-taking. The temple sets on the cliff, just over the sea. We had to walk up to the cliff, walk around the temple and took many pictures.

Note: Beware of monkeys. They grab your specs, bags, anything they can get their hands on. Even pull your hair!. The tour guide will usually warn you on this. Don't worry. Also, wear pants below knee length, as this is a temple, so they will ask you to wear a sarong to cover up. :)

There was to be a Kecak dance at 6pm-7pm. We asked our driver what is the dance about. He said something about Monkey god thing, good vs. evil. So we passed that. I think you would have realised that we didn't take any pics of temples or whatever. Wanted to avoid going to temples and of that sort. :) And so, yes, hungry, we headed for a nice dinner at Jimbaran beach! Woo hoo!

Note: Balinese people, majority Hindus, go to the temple and offer sacrifices every 210 days. That is also when they celebrate their "birthdays". Stronghold in Hinduism. For those who goes there for mission trip, need to study more on their cultural & religion. :)

Jimbaran. That was the second place the bombings in 2005 took place. And it was at one of the beach restaurants. :) The place we went to was Lang Sum. While eating, a group of musicians were going round the tables to sing. They stopped at ours. Can't remember the first song they sang, but the second one, Elvis Presely's Can't Help Falling in Love with You. It moved me. It's really nice, with the seconds and all. *phew*.

After that, we headed straight back for Kuta. Tiring day, walking a lot. So slept quite early. That was when I heard the loud thunder. I seriously thought was bomb. Jason was hanging around the hotel place at the time, and he suddenly came back and asked me to start packing my clothes and stuffs. I told him it's just thunder, but he said he didn't believe it. Besides, I could still hear them playing music, so it must be nothing. We were worried sick. We got out of our room, went to survey the hotel.. all normal.. asked one of the bell boys.. they said it's thunder. *phew*. Slept well that night. :)

Day 5 : 6th November 2007

Last day in Bali, slept in awhile, went for breakfast, and arrange to go for a full body spa. Took a cab to Galuh Spa. For US$25 (230k Rp), we get at least a one hour massage, body clay mask, scrub, and another layer of mask (cucumber) and flower bath. Not bad right? It was nice. After that, we headed for the airport. Bye, bye Bali. We'll come again. To Ubud. Hehehe.

Posted in: bali, travel on 16 November 2007 at at 2:04 pm 0 kay-pohs  

Map of the places we went to

Ladies doing the waxing using "canting"

Next, we went to Celuk famous for its silver and gold "factory". There, you can see a few of the workers, intricately fixing the silver ornaments, be it earrings, or pendants, or necklaces. First, they use the flux to stick the silver to it, after that, it's soldered or baked in the oven. Reminds me of solder ball attach. The balls are almost the same size too. Ahh.. I miss Assembly process!

Sticking some balls to the ornaments

After that, we dropped by Mas, famous for its wood carvings. It's pretty amazing how they can carve things out of a single block of wood. We saw three monkeys with the see-no-evil, hear-no-evil, speak-no-evil. But it was rather expensive. I guess, it's a tourist attraction, that's why the tourist price. :)

A guy carving a nice shape :)

We went to the taste some coffee after that, at Tampaksiring. The place is nice, they make it in such a way they plant as many kinds of trees as possible in one place, easy for our viewing. The famous one is the Bali Coffee. It smelled so fragrant when the lady was roasting it. They even have vanilla tree, yeah, it looked like long beans hanging! Also, they grew ginseng, beatle leaf (sirih), cocoa. And the freshly brewed coffee smelled so nice, and sitting on the bench, over-looking the mountains/jungle was such a sight. Not to mention, cooling too, opposite of Kuta.

Jason and his coffee

Next, we headed straight for Kintamani. This is a semi-active volcanic mountain. But you're able to see people living on the outer side of the volcano. The dark and black area, still has no one staying on it. Our driver told us that behind the volcano, you can see more houses. But, it's weird. The volcano still has gases and what not in it, and the last it erupted was in 1963. Imagine how fertile the black soil is there. But another risk would be, would the people have enough time to run to safety if it ever erupts again? I doubt so.

Kintamani on the background

On the way down from Kintamani, we stopped by along the way to catch the beautiful view of rice terraces. It was such a lovely site. We took panaroma pics of the mountain and also the rice terrace. But, it wasn't as green as it should be because it's nearing to harvesting time. So you can see it, in yellowish green. But whatever, it's such a nice scenery. There's a sense of calmness and serenity there. One thing I'm amazed is at the irrigation system of the rice terrace. Where do the water come from? From the rainforest above it. Cool right? I think you can see lots of these in Phillipines too. We took a few pics there, enjoying the cool climate, and quickly packed because it was really cloudy.

Rice terrace. Beautiful if can see all around.

Next, we were on the way to Ubud Village. The driver stopped us along the Monkey Forest Road, and we walked all the way to the Central Market which is at the end of the road. There are so many shops along the road, mostly selling paintings. Nice. Better quality. After that, we dropped by the TukMak restaurant to say hi to a friend's dad. But he wasn't around. Ubud is famous for babi guling (suckling pig) . But we didn't try it, and Jason regretted for not trying it.
We moved on to the Central market. And my, it was a lovely sight! There are lots of colors in the things sold there. Didn't managed to get anything, as we were kind of in a rush. It drizzled when we left. Ahhh.. But Jason & I both left with a nice feeling. We love Ubud. It's slow-paced, something like Malacca. And scenery is nice. Our driver, from Ubud told us the next time we come, should spend more time in Ubud. Can rent bicyles and cycle along the rice terrace, and visit the monkey forest, or market! We could do white river water rafting too. So, next trip to Bali will just be in Ubud, and covering northern Bali, Lovina. :) Anyone want to join us? eWic!?

Nice colors eh?

Hotel pool at night. Very nice!

More pics on Multiply.

Posted in: bali, travel on 14 November 2007 at at 7:12 pm 0 kay-pohs  

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: bali, travel on at at 7:01 pm 0 kay-pohs