Bali

4th June 2009 (Thursday)

The clock struck 5:15pm on Thursday and I would need to go home, get ready, leave for dinner and be at the airport by 8:00pm. Where am I going? Well KL of course and the next day...Bali.

5th June 2009 (Friday)

Let's fast forward to Friday 3pm or so. The check-in line was crazy at LCCT. The system was down and everyone was queueing up but no one was moving and no one was manning the counters. After much back and forth, my brother finally found someone to process our boarding pass and all 8 of us rushed to the gate just as it was closing. Whew!

It was a little less than a 3 hour flight and surprisingly it went by quite fast. Before I knew it, we were touching down at Denpasar, Bali. Talking about Denpasar, I didn't even know this is Bali...when we were boarding, all I could think about was, why are we going to Denpasar? It was dark already when we landed and the time was only 7pm, after much waiting at the immigration, finally we met our tour guide and were heading for an Indonesian dinner.

I don't remember the name of the restaurant but the food was really delicious. An Indonesian rice set dinner. So after dinner, we went to our hotel Adi Dharma Cottage in Kuta town. A pleasant, old-fashion designed place which felt real cosy. As usual, 1st night in a new place...sleep was hard to come by for me but someone was already snoring away within 5 minutes while I tossed and turned. iissshhh...

6th June 2009 (Saturday)

The first morning in Bali started off early. We were leaving at 8:30am for a cultural show (Barong dance) that starts at 9:30am.

After this visit, we took a brief stop at a silver shop before heading to the volcano which was some what of a long journey too. Our tour guide, Pari, was really good and wow, he can really talk about anything under the sun. From history to different types of rice. There were many interesting things to see along the way, it seems like different locations specialise in different stuff like silver...along the whole road, all I can see were shops selling silver. Then came wood carvings and then stone carvings. I must say, there are A LOT of statues in Bali and they are beautiful. Almost every round-a-bout, there is a statue and a huge one too, mostly of religious statues or historical ones. Did you know, approximately 90% of Balinese are Hindus. I came across one really gigantic statue at a round-a-bout and luckily managed to snap a photo of it. Amazing stuff.

Finally, we have reached the spot that we can enjoy a breath taking view of the volcano. There were some young kids selling souvenirs to tourists like us. It was pitiful to see these young kids coming from poor families, out there on the road side trying to make a living.

After taking our buffet lunch overlooking the volcanic scenery, we made a stop at a coffee plantation and tasted some coffee, cocoa and ginger tea. I bought some too. When we were done with that, we went to a souvenir shop to browse around. Lots of handicraft stuff, key chains, wooden carvings and what not.

At about 4pm, we were taken to a market-type of place which sells souvenirs also, t-shirts, cheap stuff that we must bargain for. It was interesting to bargain. I'm no expert but I learnt a thing or 2 from there.

About an hour later of shopping, we stopped at a family's compound which houses several members of a family and the place was open for the public to visit and see their living conditions. As night falls, all of us took a walk along the road of our hotel and the Saturday night life there is lively. There were pubs, discos and lounges all packed to the brim. It was a really long walk and by 9pm or so, our feet were ready to cease functioning. So we went for a foot reflexology...at 60,000 rupiah for an hour. There were cheaper ones but this one looked more impressive. Worth it. Felt really good after that. At the time, the night life in Kuta had just begun. People were packing into pubs and so on and dancing and drinking.

7th June 2009 (Sunday)

Today, we were headed to Tanjung Benua to look at turtles and along the way, ride in a glass-bottom boat so we can see the corals and seaweeds and rubbish under the sea. The beach there, honestly, isn't very pretty. It just looks normal..nothing breathtaking but the boat ride was nice because it was windy. The wind blowing in my face was comforting on a hot day. When we arrived at the turtle farm, it was already getting cloudy. There were a number of animals there, cocks fighting, snakes, birds, bats and of course, giant turtles.

After that, our next stop was Tanah Lot to visit the temple and also for some bargain-shopping. Weee! Things were so much cheaper at Tanah Lot compared to the market we went the day before.

And the view..ahh..the view of the cliff was exhilaratingly beautiful.

Next stop, Jimbaran beach for a sunset dinner.

We spent some time playing with the water and writing nonsense with our toes into the wet sand. Then we settled down for a sumptuous seafood dinner whilst the sun set in the background.

By the time we reached the hotel and were getting ready to go for a walk along the shops of Kuta, I was already caught in a sneezing frenzy. Took a pill and slept like a baby.

8th June 2009 (Monday)

Woke up early today and feeling all cured and strong again, we were prepared for an exciting morning of...wait-for-it....water....wait-for-it...rafting!! The rafting cost about 230,000 rupiah which is about RM70+ and worth every dollar. The journey to the rafting station of Ayung River was a long and winding one. I was already half baked in the van from the sun shining in the window. We started the water rafting at 10am and it lasts for 2 hours down the Ayung River of 9km journey from start to finish. There were basically 4 commands we must know, forward pedal, backward pedal, stop and the important one, BOOM BOOM.

It means that's when the screaming and yelling starts. Seriously...it means when we are about to hit a rock or slide down the gap between the rocks like a mini rollercoaster. Man! Was it fun!

The whole episode finished after lunch and we headed back to the hotel for a short rest before meeting up at 4pm again to go to the Uluwatu temple for the Kechak Dance. A cultural, historical dance show performed by the locals.

9th June 2009 (Tuesday)

Today is our own time day. We are free to do whatever we like and it started off with Ding and I walking to the Kuta Beach to watch some hot surfer dudes. Well fine, I was watching the tight-ab-surfer dudes surfing (like I can help it! They are everywhere!). Kuta Beach has got a better view, it's cleaner and damn, it's hot.

Sticking my feet into the sand is like baking them. After I was done with all the oogling, we decided to walk to Discovery mall because our malfunctioning senses were telling us it's nearby. It wasn't. We never reached it by the way, so we continued walking, melting and walking...bought some stuff along the way and ended up in front of our hotel. Fate huh. After a short rest, we went for lunch at Mama's German Restaurant and then we walked somemore. Having given up on Discovery Mall, we decided to walk along the shops at Kuta and buy some souvenirs. I wanted to buy a fridge magnet and we ended up with Ding getting pulled aside to buy surfer shorts, Bintang singlet and we came out feeling a little bemused with all the persuading and insistence of the 2 brothers competing to sell us their whole shop.

Finally, we went back to our hotel at 3pm to pack up and check out at 4pm. We weren't leaving for the airport until 5:30pm so we went for another walk and stopped at a juice shop to rest and sit in front of their gigantic fan for about 45 minutes. Before leaving for the airport, Ding and I managed to squeeze in some last minute shopping where he bought an imitation Liverpool jersey for 60,000 rupiah and me, a black Man U Rooney jersey for the same.

That's pretty cheap considering we can't find one at that price back here in Penang. Then it off to the airport!

10th June 2009 (Wednesday)

We touched down in KL just after midnight, reached my brother's place and slept at about 2am. We slept and we slept till 10am. Ding and I were flying back to Penang on the 4pm flight and then that was it. That was the end of the vacation. Now I'm back to rot. I don't even look forward to go back to work. It's just so demotivating. But reality awaits right...

All in all, I had a wonderful Bali trip and did many firsts on this trip. My first foot reflexology, my first water rafting, my first real bargaining expose, Ding's first fake tattoo (it's fading by the minute), my first Japanese girl style hat(or so that's what I keep telling myself), my first experience of watching people surf in real life. It was awesome!