My Bali Story~~

This could be the laziest year for me in blogging… or if I’ve lost interest in blogging and keep going to facebook instead… hmm.. I guess not. Just that I’ve been addicted to watching Stephen Chow’s movie collection I grabbed from Nelson and have been watching it every single night while taking off my dreadlock slowly.

Aiyer… Taking off my dread lock. How I look like now??? Still in progress la…

As you know, I have just came back broke from Bali although the actual fact is traveling to Bali is cheap… Just been over spending since end of last year and seems like the financial crisis doesn’t roll back as planned but I’m still hanging on and I believe rainbow comes after the rain. All I have to do is FOCUS. I am learning how to be stingy now… hehehe

Emm… what should I blog about Bali this time? Blogging about the daily routine is boringgggggggggg so I’m just going to feature the reason to visit Bali ‘The land of God’


TEMPLES

1st of all, the land of god doesn’t mean that there’s god all around the island but there ARE a lot of temples and strong religion Balinese. The only one I am interested to go is Besakih coz it’s like the mother temple of the Island and I feel refreshed and enlighten everytime I visited the temple plus after the trip to the temple, you can go to Kintamani to have a sip while facing the volcanic mountain.

.:The View of Besakih during ceremony:.

.:Ouch:.

.:Have a sip at Kintamani:.
.:The breath taking view of the volcanic mountain:.

The 2nd temple that I visited is the famous Ulun Danu temple by the lake in the middle of a mountain. Didn’t really like it coz it takes 1 hour 45 minutes just to visit the temple and it’s kind of small and besides the temple… that’s about it. However, sneaking into the strawberry farm is something to talk about. I never been to a real strawberry farm and eating it fresh from it’s plant before. That’s the kind of experience that stays inside me. It’s a strawberry stop but we walked direct to the back with Ngurah and he spoke in Balinese with a worker and the worker said we can plug some… so we did!

.:Me at Ulun Danu:.

.:Visited Strawberry Stop:.

.:Pluck and eat:.

The last temple I visited is at Tanah Lot…. It’s still as beautiful as ever and the people going to Tanah Lot for the sunset is more than the people who go to Sunday Market every Sunday morning in Kuching! I managed to meditate a little though until the sun set view was block by the cloud… hehehe

.:The crowd:.

.:One for the 80's pose:.

.:Meditating....:.

BEACH AND MASSAGE

The Beach of course is another thing. Learnt surfing and am sure I’ll be back for more.

.:Lisa my old time beach massuer:.

.:Heading for a free surfing lesson.... ate a lot of water though.. hahaha.. but I LOVE IT:.

Plus Tapa Spa is a massage place where everyone should heads to. Although it’s a little cramp when they have many guests but the masseurs are good and they charge 60K rupiah per hour = RM20? I even negotiated for 50K rupiah per hour and I tried it twice. The manicure and pedicure is only 35K rupiah = RM12++ each treatment. That’s when you are poor and feel rich. Hehehe

.:The Massage Bed and spa place:.

.:Manicure:.

.:Padicure:.

SHOPPING

Shopping is not the main point to Bali but they do have a Billabong Factory Outlets that offers great deal when they have sales going on. Imagine an Original Billabong Bikini for RM30++?

.:Billabong 3 storeys Factory Outlet:.

.:Sales mean Sales:.

However, every tourist in Bali usually will buy one of those BINTANG BALI’s t shirt or singlet. It’s really cool though. Hehehe if you ask the shopkeeper how much? They will come out with between 35K-45K rupiah and you can actually negotiate it up to 20K rupiah and if you are lucky, you get 15K. I think 20K rupiah is fair enough. Getting a top for RM5 and you still wants more discount? Hmm…. Don’t be such a cheapskate la…

I bought a tube dress for 30K when they offered 50K and love it so much that I regretted to buy more for sale. Huhuhu…. Even if I sell RM25, it’s going to sell like hot cakes! Must remember it next time… =P

FOOD

Oh ya… about the legendary Dirty Duck Diners Restaurant in Ubud.. I went to try it out.. I didn’t like it because it’s just a dip fried duck. =_=’’’ but the pork rib is something to die for.

.:A pose at the signboard:.
.:Bebek Bengil / Crispy duck:. .:BBQ pork rid that taste like 'Pai Kut Ong' in Kuching:.

Besides eating at Dirty Duck Diners, Jimbaran Bay is also a famous place to dine when you are in Bali. We spent 600K rupiah RM200 for the dinner with bbq lobster, fried squid ‘Cumi-Cumi’, fish, crab with complimentary steamed fragrance rice, soup and Kangkong. It’s a nice place for a romantic dinner if you are going for a honeymoon or something… It’s a very nice environment sitting by the beach and having musician singing from tables to tables.

.:The scene in Jimbaran Bay:.

.:Choose wisely:.

However, I still prefer roadside hawker food. The Nasi Bungkus rocks! 3.5K rupiah = RM1.25???



and the dinner at Warung Canggih’s Nasi Lalapan Ayam with the vege and sambal belacan still makes me drool whenever I think about it and it’s only 10K= RM3 per plate?

.:Ayam Goreng Lalapan aka Ayam Penyet (In Malaysia):.

Also not forgetting Nasi Goreng Babi.. and Nasi Goreng Special in Warung Sari Mertha.. their kopitiam are mostly called Warung... It's Indonesian style i guess..

.:Warung Sari Mertha:.

.:The Menu:.

.:Nasi Goreng Babi:.

.:Nasi Goreng Special (With a fried egg on top):.

.:Rojak Roxx:.

And not forgetting Babi Guling.. the talk about in Bali as it's the only part of Indonesia that almost everyone is enjoying Pork. It's actually suckling pig with a thicker hard crispy skin and the meat is juicy. YUMMY!

.:Babi Guling on display:.
.:Belum try belum tau!:.

TRANSPORT

You can choose to use taxi.... by the way, mostly VIOS for your airport transfer or either the hotel provides you with fre transfer. Renting a car is not a bad idea as it wil cost between 250,000.00 rupiah - 500,000.00 rupiah = RM 83 - RM166 depending on what car are you renting. with 250,000.00 rupiah, you can get a suzuki jeep or if you are lucky you can et a Suzuki MPV.

.:Taxis:.

.:Our transport for the trip:.

Besides renting a car, you can also rent a bike. It's 50,000.00 rupiah = RM16.66 a day.

.:Crazy Frog on the road!:.

What you should really do is to get a driver cum Tourist Guard cum security in Bali... A trip to Besakih + Kintamani + transport + petrol for whole car, it will only cost you 600,000rupiah = RM200 per car regardless how many people in the Suzuki MPV. That's Ngurah's price whenever he brings his guest o Besakih and a different price to other places. So far Besakih is the most expensive among the popular tour as the temple is about 2 hours from town. Tanah Lot is about 350K rupiah = RM117 per trip etc etc.

ANYONE INTERESTED, PLEASE MSG ME. I GOT NGURAH'S CONTACT NUMBER. HE SPEAKS MALAY, ENGLISH, JAPANESE, A LITTLE OF ITALIAN and BALI'S LOCAL DIALECT.

Just helping out a friend =)

ROOM ACCOMODATION
If you are not planning on a luxury holiday, do not stay at NUSA DUA. Coz it's for from the center of attraction and you will not get the general experience of being in Bali. However, you still have a choice whether or not to stay around Kuta and Legian Area. I always stay around Jalan Padma at Leagin. I tried Legian Village Hotel, Casa Padma and The Losari at Jalan Sahadewa just a stone throw away from Legian Village Hotel. Out of these 3 hotels I love Casa Padma the most as the room is beautiful and ala carte breakfast really starts my day fresh! However, the problem is ... the bethroom is too small as is almost the size of 2 public telephone booths... If people that doesn't mind the bathroom, go for Casa Padma! online booking can get a standard room for USD39. Besides, breakfast is an important element to start you day and bathroom.. if you are on an adventurous holiday.... it means just to clean yourself up!

.:The room..the matress doesn't sink when you sleep on it... brand new:.

.The Bathroom:.

.:Breakfast Menu:.

.:The BEST breakfast in Bali:.

.:Part of the view at Casa Padma:.

The Hotel that suits comfort will be The Losari. It's room is big and nice and the bathroom and it's amenities are like our 4 stars hotel in Kuching! Although the bed is not as comfortable as the one in Casa Padma, the room does preserve a better environment as it is actually bigger. For the breakfast, although it is not as great as Casa Padma, but you'll get a bigger stomach for the buffet style breakfast.. hehehe The room is about USD38 per night!

.:The room:.

.:Big Space:.

.:The bathroom with a bath tub:.

.:The Pool:.

.:Breakfast Buffet Line:.

.:Toast your own bread =P:.

.:Fruit juices that taste bit weird... different i mean:.

.:Coffee & Tea Section:.

WHAT TO DO NEXT TIME???

The next time when I get to visit Bali again, I will just stay at the beach and relax coz all the best part in the island… Been there, done that except for the submarine tour and bungee jump that doesn’t really interest me.

There are a lot of museums, zoo and safari to visit but I’m not a sight seeing person unless if I suddenly feels like it…

Maybe a visit to Ngurah’s Village at Nagara will be interesting… hmm…