Bali Trip -17/02/07 - 20/02/07

Hello Bali...
After waited for like 3 months for the trip, the day finally arrived.
We were not that excited to go though, as i was having flu and we have work pressures. (Knowing we have to come back to work today, that is ).

We started the journey at 12noon on Saturday, 17/02/2007. Philo and her bf, Rajesh came to pick me up, and then we went to pick up Aisyah at her home. It was in pouring rain and Philo's car had aircond problem. :) We went to KLCentral and had lunch, then board AeroBus to LCCT, KLIA.

It was our first time boarding Air Asia and we had mixed feelings. Lost as we didn;t really know what should we do. But of course, being smart, we did the check in without much hussles.

The Air Asia Logo


All smiles-walking towards our plane


The 'Air Bus' to Denpasar, Bali :)

It was the longest flight! 3 boring hours, and we didnt get to sit in a row, three of us. We sat in a triangle and hence, we cant talk much during the journey. I took my flu medicine and went to sleep almost whole the way. Touched down at 7.40pm, the check out was quite smooth and we went out to search for our tour guide.

He, of course, didnt come! So we search a few times for a man/woman that have my name on a card/paper.. to no avail...


Looking hi and low for the tour guide :(

Finally, we made a decission to just use a cab to the Kuta Lagoon Resort, our hotel for the four days we are in Bali. The trip was pleasant, the cab driver being very polite and giving us advises and tips. But of course, his advises made me scared too.
We arrived at the resort, which situated at the heart of Kuta, a good location, i must say. We reported about the tour guide who supposed to transfer us to the hotel, and the receiptionist told us that they didnt received our bookings at all. I was angry the agent in KL, but luckily, they accepted our stay voucher and sent us to our room so we can refresh ourselves.


Our luggages, when we arrived ...

It was a 'Bali' room. With it's 'attap' ceiling. We freshened up, put our bags away, and gets ready for our first night out in Bali. We walked along the Kuta Roadside. And omigod... u ever being honked by cabs whole of your way? ever being asked 'from Malaya? which part of Malaya?'over and over again? u ever have people saying Salam to you whole the way? We had that... that night, and whole the time when we were in Bali. It was first something that brought smile to our faces, but hell.. we were so bored of beeing asked of the same thing everytime.

Our first destination was of course, the food place. Bali... with majority of it's population are Hindus, is not a good food place for Muslims. I found it hard to get food here. I was so wanting to eat things like lontong, ice batu campur and everything Indonesian cuisine can offer, but i cant do it in Bali. So, we went to search for shops that have Halal Sign. We found two though, next to each other, and we eat our dinner.

Then, we walked ahead, heading to Kuta Beach, where the HardRock Bali is located. We sat there sipping our drinks and watched the live band, which wasnt that great. Then we walked back to our hotel and had a good chat on the balcony of our room, over looking the swimming pool.

The next morning, we had breakfast and then set out to tour Bali. As the tour guide wont be coming (it was sunday and the receiptionist promised to follow up on the tour guide on Monday).. we rent a car and a driver and we went for our tour.

We missed the Barong and Keris Dance as we started our tour at 10am. The Barong seems to wake up so early :P. We skipped and went to Tohpati to see the traditional batik paintings. I didnt buy anything there as it was a bit too expensive. Bali's tourism has gone down after the bombing in 2002, making life's difficult for Balinese and they marked up the prices to make due.

After Tohpati, we went to celuk to see the gold and silver smith. We stopped at Batuan, and checked out some Balinese paintings. I bought two paintings in Batuan. The price was whopping high, but i think we bargained like a pro :P. We got almost 60% off things everytime. But they are still rather expensive, i must say.


Aisyah and one of the staff at the painting shop.


Our paintings being wrapped... 2 paintings for Rp300,000.00.. wow.. we R art lover :)

We continue our tour to Ubud, the place that we wanna go, stopping at the Monkey forest, where there is Ubud's ancient king palace and art market. We shop till we dropped there. With bargaining and walking away with smile. Just imagine, things that was sold for Rp300,000, we bargained until it was only Rp50,000. Tell me about bargain power. I sometimes feels bad, as i know they are poor, but i still want to bargain till so low :(

The tour continued. We went up to Kintamani, to see the still active volcano and lake Batur, stopping first as Tegallalang, where there's a terrace padi feild. It took our breath away...MasyaAllah..


The terrace padi field .. Amazing huh...


The farmer that was frustrated when we dun wanna go down to meet him.."maaf pak.. sudah mahu pulang".

We went up to Kintamani and had lunch at the terrace, over looking the still active mount Batur and the Batur Lake. It was cold over there, and as what Aisyah said.. "The most expensive lunch". :) it was a buffet, and it was Rp73,000 per person. But the scenery, worth every penny...


Mount Batur from our dining table


Lake Batur


Bali's satay


Our stomachs are fullll...


Aisyah after lunch. Can u see the lake Batur behind her? wowiee..

After about an hour there, we started our journey back to Kuta, stopping on our way at tea and coffee plantation. We were served with Bali coffee and cocoa. Drank with some cinnamon powder.. woow... new things learnt!!


Processing coffee,the traditional way. This untie is roasting the coffee beans.

Philo - served with coffee and cocoa.

The journey back continued, and we had like 20 minutes nap in the suv. By the way, we travelled in a Kijang (Indonesian's made suv) and our tour guide for the day was a man called Komang (means number 3 in Bali language). The trip cost us Rp290,000 - for the suv, driver and fuel.

We stopped at Mas, place which is popular for it's wood carving. And then head back to the hotel. I wanted to see Kecak and Fire dance, but because we were so tired, we decided to just go back to the hotel.

Later that night, after light dinner we went to check the SPA @ the hotel. We utilised our free 10 minutes spa voucher and had our legs messaged. Then, we went out to the street again, this time we walked for a few minutes and went for CD/DVD shopping. I bought 3rd Season of Gray's Anatomony and Aisyah bought the 2nd season. It was cheap.. Rp10,000 per DVD, and of we buy 5, free 1, but 10 free 4. We got 4 free DVDs that night :).

Second day in Bali.
We started the day with the breakfast and went for our SPA appointment. It was my first 'real' SPA as i went for Spa before, but never let them to message me :P
We first had our milk bath. I took it with Aisyah and it was refreshing. Then it was a full body message, and finally, we did facial. Aisyah said she fell asleep and even had a dream. That was funny. But it was such a refreshing 2 hours!


In front of the Spa centre


hmm... so nice


The milk bath 'tub'

We went back to our room, feeling sleeping + refreshed :).
We watched some tv and decided to stay in the room until four o'clock, before we go walk to the beach. But the phone rang at 1.50pm and a man asked for me. It was our 'missing' tour guide and he said.. 'ive been waiting here since 10am'. We were like.. ok.. we'll meet u downstairs.. give us 5 minutes.

And we rushed and finally met him, a guy named 'Ketut' - which by the way, means number 4. Balinese called themselves with their number in the family :
First child - Wayan
Second child - Made'
Third child - Komang
Fourth child - Ketut (I am a Ketut, fyi)


Our tour guide - Ketut

Well.. apparently the receiptionist had done the follow up and confirmed on our visit, hence Ketut came at 10am to the hotel, and tried to call us in our room, but as we were at the Spa being messaged, the receitionist cant find us and told him that we were out. And the loyal Ketut waited there. I was touched by the loyalty, really i am. So we told him that we've been to all over the place and we skipped so many of the supposed to be tour. We went to Ubud again though, as we wanted to do more shopping.

It was a blast!! We went taken to Ubud market where we found cheapest things! and we again bargained like no body's business. The secret is... to ask for the price from the owner. and then ask for the lowest price and dont budge. I got one painting (cats) for Rp75,000! And i love it! Ketut was behind me all the time. And he whispered that i was a very good bargainer. He hadnt seen Aisyah! ahahaha


One of the painting's shop owner - she's soooo sporting!

After we finished our money.. ehehe... we went for another Spa! This time it was free, courtersy of the tour, and we went to Jinbaran. It rained, but it was a good trip and we chatted with Ketut all the way there.


In front of the Spa centre @ Jinbaran


Aisyah in front of our spa's room


Time to go back to the hotel guys!!

I was searching for 'roasted corn', but it wasnt in the season. Ketut asked if i want to go to his village, but i said no, as we were tired already.

So we went back to the hotel, had dinner, and i forced the girls to go with me to buy some more DVDs. I really want to buy the complete set of Prison Break. It was consisted of 21 DVDs. It costed me Rp130,000, meaning i only pay for 13 DVDs and ill have the rest free, but i bargained again and got them for Rp120,000. went back to the hotel happy and went to sleep early. 8.40pm.. and it was a long night... Fajr was early. The sun rised at 5.50am..

Third day in Bali...
Basically today will be our last day in Bali.
We went for breakfast, and then came back to our room to pack up, then took a nap till 12noon. Prayed zuhur and then gets ready. We then checked out from our room, put our things at the receition, as our airport transfer will only be at 5.30pm, and then we went for last shopping. It was the hottest day! And we walked to Kuta Beach, stopping at the shops along the way.


The Beach...


Wish i can go swim :)

The beach is a surfer's place, but i didnt see a lot of them. As i mentioned earlier, the tourism had gone down after the bombing. We spent like 2 hours there, and went home using a cab (we bargained on cab fares too!!)

Had lunch at the muslim shop and then walked back to the hotel, freshen up at the washroom and waited for Ketut to come and transfer us to the airport. He said we looked tired, i looked sad. yeah, i was sad to leave :(


At the receiption area, Kuta Lagoon Resort.


Our luggages, going home :P

We arrived at the airport, and did all the necessary and went home with mixed feelings, well, at lease i have the mixed feelings.

Bali... a memorable experience. Come back again? May be yearssss later, i dunno :)


Ketut Aisyah - a Balinese, still wont let us go..still wanting us to buy some of her goods... haiyaa.... ehehehee