Photos from March 2013. It's a really belated update.
We took KLM Royal Dutch Airline.
Quite cool.
Loved the window seat.
Our flight is in the later afternoon, and we only reached the hotel at night.
The arrival terminal is crazily packed with people. Finding our guide is not easy, all the people waiting outside and all the signs they put up. Only after some time did my friend found her name on a sign behind a few walls of human flesh.
Be wary and careful of overly friendly locals in the airport, who would offer to help you with your luggage and give you a suspiciously warm welcome. When my party and I reached the airport, they came onto us very enthusiastically and eager to become friends, shaking hands and all and I had thought that Bali is such a welcoming place.
Which much to my horror and betrayal of the fast friendship, they took hostage of our bags until we give them the tips they want then they let us leave the terminal reluctantly when we did not give them as much as they had expected. My friend said to be especially careful if you are exiting from the first class or business class check out counter, because you'll be the first groups that are targeted since they know that you are richer.
Such an traumatizing experience we had encounter the first thing we landed. This experience immediately made us super alert and wary to people who were friendly to us. What a horrible way to start a holiday. =[
Checked in late at night, the streets were asleep by that time so we couldn't take a walk around. This hotel is a few turns away from the main street and it's up on a steep hill. On our way here, we saw that the path was in total darkness. Wouldn't have gone out even if we wanted to. Besides, we are so tired and just explored the hotel and rest for the day.
We stayed in Amaroossa hotel, in Nusa Dua. It was a very new hotel and we really like it here. Even their Hotel car is so new.
Very spacious and everything is new and pretty.
Their bathrooms are also very spacious and clean. Really like the bathtubs.
They also said they have a rooftop bar, which I'm not sure if it is ever open. But the night sky is very beautiful. As the hotel is built on a small steep hill in Nusa Dua, during night time, it is further away from the street lights and you'll be able to see the myriad of stars clearly.
The very cool part is all the rooms on the ground level have their very own mini pool.
You can see it from the bathroom too.
Since my Thailand trip last year, whenever I see a bathtub, there must have to be a bubble bath. And after all these time, I have been trying to perfect my bubble making skills. Looks like I finally mastered it ^^
And there is also a pool in the center of the hotel. Even though it is so pretty, I find it a little awkward as the pool is closely surrounded by the lobby and the cafeteria.
Always love buffet breakfast. ^^ My favorite part of staying in a hotel. (My second favorite is the bathtub)
The food is quite limited. And we were trying to be understanding.
This is after all a new hotel, they are probably still trying to gauge how much they should cook in order to feed all their customers and at the same time minimizing waste. The head chef came out to greet us and had also ask us for feedback on the first morning. Can really see their effort in trying hard. =]
I think the effort is something worth complimented for.
The pool view from the restaurant. But it doesn't really look like a restaurant to me. more like an eating place.
Rooftop in the light. An absolutely beautiful view of the clear blue morning sky.
Although it was very hot and humid, the good weather just makes me so happy.
We went for the beach activities. Para-sailing and banana boat ride is strongly recommended.
Really regretful that I don't have any pictures to show you how fun it is, but it is really such an adventure.
The para-sailing ride took less than a minute. They'll attach you to a para-sail from the shore which is tied to a speed boat. And the speed boat will drive out of the sea as you take on the wind and glide in the sky. You can enjoy the breeze that is for you and you alone, enjoy the bird's view of the glittering waters and enjoy being closer to God. It was so exciting, for me. Then the speed boat will drive in a circle and make sure you land back to shore.
But for my case, I don't know why the speed boat had made a sharp turn on the return trip, and for a few seconds I wasn't gliding in the wind, I felt the para-sail floating, dropping out in open sea. Oh my God! I didn't know how to swim. Suddenly, the cute and pretty doll-like houses on the shore doesn't look that cute anymore. And I looked down the waters that looked so close to my feet, checked that there weren't any sharks or the likes (I got to be sure, you know). I saw that the sea was crowded with green seaweed stuff, and I was praying that me and my life jacket will not get tangled and dragged down into the currents by those wicked sea plants.
Well, I was quite in a panic to think like a normal person then, but in the end I got down safely. Landed on the shore. And after I made sure that I was safe on earth again, I'm pretty sure that I was still quite high up, hanging in the air just now. My friends on safe grounds did not notice anything weird when I was still up there. Yup, it sure was fun.
Another fun activity was the banana boat. It is literally a situation where your life is in your hands. For me, that is. You are not attached to the boat by any safety device, the only link is you hands and maybe your legs if you clamp onto the boat tight enough. They drove rather out to the sea as well, where the waves are wilder and seems more fun. I remember I was screaming a lot, not sure if I was crying or laughing, but I sure was loud. The guy leading us in front seems to assume that we were really looking for more fun, he started jumping on the boat making it bounce even more. Oh Lord. Should I have kept my mouth shut? I don't know. But was so glad and relief when it ended. Back on safe land, so tired holding onto life and I could feel muscles forming.
We started playing on the beach in the morning. not sure if it is because of the angle of the sun or too much excitement when we just reached, the waters were really sparkling. Bling Bling pretty beach. =] The only down points are the way-too-strong-and-cancerous-but-still-life-giving UV sun rays (as you can see, I am in a love-hate relationship with Mr sun), and the baked-all-morning hot sand beneath our feet. I had to walk through the sand bare footed, but in my head it's like how the Indians walk on burning charcoal for their cleansing ritual. Are you trying to cook your feet? And there I was, waiting for my turn for the para-sail, jumping on the hot sand like how a lived prawn would jump on a hot BBQ pit, a very kind and thoughtful local who was working there used his feet and pushed away the top layer of hot sand and told me to stand where the newly revealed still-damp sand was. I was really touched by his thoughtfulness and genuine care but before I've got to thank him, it was my turn to take the winds. This experience had sort of overshadowed the incident at the airport, which had allowed me to appreciate the genuine welcoming spirit of the people here.
I was also very amazed by their ability in mastering languages. Bali is indeed a tourist mark. They can explain the things you ought to know in any language in the world. (Probably!) And I was really amazed, Chinese, Japanese, German, all sorts of tongues that I do not know.
We also went to turtle island. And when I first heard its name, it never came to me as a island filled with turtles. My imagination is more cartoon-like, like the whole island is on a giant turtle shell or something. I seems to be in full retard mode and had lost my common sense when I was here. Strangely, this island also have snakes, bats, owls, and some other that I can't remember. Weird.
Lady in photo above is Sheau Ping and the guy in photo below is Gordon. Thank God for their great company through the trip. Did not have to worried about anything when I'm with them. =]
We had our lunch at the seaside restaurant, washed off the sand in their pool, though I'm pretty sure we aren't actually supposed to do that. Lunch deals are very affordable and delicious.
Love their chili. So great to have a meal after such a tiring morning.
This tuna soup seems to be like miso soup to Japanese. They serve this everywhere.
The site was up on a cliff. Even with the altitude, it was still so warm and humid, full house and packed like sardines. The air wasn't any better as well, no sign of fresh air. But they have an amazing sight of long waves dragging themselves up to the shore. And beyond, it is just sea and sea and more sea. A small piece of God's stunning creation. Hello, Mother Earth.
To be very honest, I didn't know what was going on through the dance. Okay, maybe just a little bit. But the dance moves from the ladies were so intricate down to the smallest toes and lift of the eyebrows, and the male performers were heavily clad with thick masks and costume in the sweat pouring weather, and also accompanied with the voices of men; young, old and older, which is mainly the part that I don't understand. The very tribal vibe gives off a great difference of culture experience and if you are interested in the culture aspect of this land, then surely you should come and take a look.
Not forgetting that there is an amazing sunset here. As if it was a signal to start to show, the perfectly round sun turned red, settling down into the far horizon and pulling up the blanket of clouds as if it is going to bed. It was by far, the most beautiful sunset that I have ever seen in my life. in my opinion, the sunset alone, is enough to make people visit this cliff.
I asked the guide, and he said that this is the pacific ocean. I'm still very doubtful though...
For dinner, we wanted to have some of their ever so famous seafood. I mean, with a pretty beach like that, the seafood must be amazing right? Well, not to what we had expected.
It wasn't bad, but it wasn't any good to be worth commenting for either. Our high expectations and the ripped off price had probably killed the enjoyment of our food here.
2 case scenarios. 1. It is just this shop that isn't good. 2. Basically, seafood here are not good as we have expected them to be. I don't know, you can decide. Anyway, after this night, we don't plan to eat seafood anymore. Instead we went to restaurants selling Japanese and Korean food, which, very much to our surprise, revived our taste-buds.
Local push carts selling steams corns and peanuts.
Our second morning in Bali, we planned to go to the Waterboom park. =]
What else would be better to compliment to Mr Sun than the beach and water parks?
My favorite is still the lazy pool.
Like I said, we stopped eating the local seafood, in fact, we stopped eating their local food altogether. They have some very decent affordable Japanese cuisine here.
After that we tried looking for the night market, which we had absolutely no luck in. We really should have taken a cab instead on walking. Our luck seems have dropped down below negative when we encounter some bad money changer.
Be careful of abnormally high exchange rates at a home based money changer, the one we came to was clearly not the professional one. But we went anyway, lured by the high rates. The shop is probably originally a tailoring shop but they had a money changing board outside to display the rates. The man behind the counter was very honest looking, to be truthful, I don't think he was able to cheat us with our money. He told us to wait as he did not have enough change for us, so he's gonna get some from his neighbor. And when he came back, he brought a friend along. This friend looks mean. (Sorry for judging.) But something in his looks just made me super alert, by God's grace, we avoided getting cheated and there wasn't any scratch on us as we let the place.
We had wanted to change S$100, and in Rupiah that is more than 700K. So the money changer's friend laid out the money on the counter and let us count the money together with him, and he gathered the money back behind his counter, in which he had dropped several notes and gave the remaining to us. Praise the Lord, God's timing is just so right that he made me see the notes falling out of the liar's hands. We recounted and recounted a few times and the money changer feigned innocent but he kept doing what he did.
Now, Sheau Ping must have been very tired from all the playing and walking, she was outside the store taking a breather. In the shop, there are 2 men that looks healthy enough versus a guy who was much younger then themselves and a little girl who is practically useless in a fight. Then Gordon shocked the hell out of me and banged on the counter and raised his voice saying something like 'you-better-not-mess-with-me'. Oh My God? Please do not try this if you are alone, or if you are a girls group. Not that I don't have faith in God to protect you and not that I think ladies can't defend themselves but don't just throw yourselves into possible danger. It was at night, in their territory, who knows if they have more back up, who knows if they have knives? Thank God that nothing happened to us, in the end they called off the deal and chased us out of the shop. Quite funny actually, now that I think about it. And after that we went to a proper building with a very decent money changer.
The second traumatizing encounter, from the airport incident. Just when we became more friendly to this land, our wariness shoot up to being super alert again. I guess Bali is strongly involved with the good and bad tag of war. Not that the bad is pure evil, just that the way some of the people tries to earn their living isn't very right. I shouldn't even be judging the way they live their lives, they might have their reasons that I do not know off, but... What else can I say? God bless them and may God have mercy on them.
And the tea that I wasn't able to identify. Though I wanted to buy some back home. =[
Compared to booking with a local driver for the whole day, we rather take the taxi. I think the company is called Blue bird. (booking details in photo below)
We stayed in Nusa Dua and have seen many in Jimbaran and some in Kuta as well. The driver uncle we met is very welcoming and down to earth, a proud driver of 30 years. How I wished that we have known him on the first day so that we could have him drive us around. Anyway, His name is Edy (+6281338905669) if anyone is interested.
Last day of our trip, we lunched at a Korean BBQ house. It's called sama-sama (Isn't it Japanese?)
You can try and take note because sometimes, the restaurant provide free transport if it is the same area or if it is near enough. Why not saving in transport fees?
My friend is a good cook! All I have to do it eat =]
L'Atelier Parfums et Creations.
Sheau Ping and I did some research on the net before coming, and we found that they have a perfume making workshop nearby in Jimbaran. We were so excited making our own blend of scents, even though I don't wear perfume. It is a girls thing. At the end of the workshop, you can bring back a bottle of your very own blend, and we were informed that they will keep our perfume formula in their database. So you go back home and wanted to buy some more, you can order from them online. Isn't that cool?
On our way back, we have been passing by this temple very frequently. It charmed me the very first time I saw it. Even from afar, the details are so impressive. And not just for this temple, some building we past by on the road all have similar style. Their culture are so deeply infused with the architects and it is really interesting to me. Very unlike the straightly lined up block of houses and apartments in Singapore.
Thank God for the trip, and for keeping us safe. Thank god for the company and letting me have the opportunity to see more of the world around, seeing how people are living their lives in another part of the world that is so big.
I pray that if you are going to Bali too, have a safe trip. And that you would enjoy your time there.
God bless you.
