My Excursion

I was away to Bali last week. I enjoyed it very much, especially the company of my sister. =D

So I did finally jet off somewhere.

Until this trip, I realised that I hadn't been out of the country, for 3 long years, for a real vacation. (Hatyai, Thailand semua tak kira larh~)

But not before I get through the airport security and stuff. It was my first time dealing with the 100ml restriction and I was amazed with the amount of effort they put to enforce that. It's pretty funny though, it seems to me that they were too focused on checking/taking/dumping out water bottles rather than watching out for other gadgets that were more potential hazardous devices. iPod as a trigger that can detonate a bomb planted in a backpack? That'll be scary. Hehe. Sorry. My mind went a tad too far. But think of the possibility, ya know?

Luckily, there were no delays. It was drizzling when we were on the bus from KL Sentral to LCCT. Air Asia did a great job in cutting down delays, but you never mess with Mother Nature, no? Nothing is predictable =). Soon before we know it, we boarded Flight AK900.

Being on the 3 hours flight to Bali was somewhat boring in a way it's fun. It was an Airbus 320. No entertainment consoles built in to the back of the seats. I didn't bring my pods either. Camera was in the baggage compartment. I'm so lazy to move my ass to grab it and snap some pictures for you. Of le food.

I am sure that most of us have discuss about the price of food on AA flight in one way or another. Bloody expensive, yeah? Everybody knows it. But when you were deprived of water for quite some time, and it was lunch time, it got me a little disoriented. I think most people on the flight had second thoughts of buying food, but sis and I nonchalantly ordered nasi briyani and nasi lemak and a bottle of Spritzer. RM20. Smack. But when we started digging out happily on food on our table (I guess the smell is out haha), and I see passengers around me start to buzz the stewards and place their order. Guess everyone's missing nasi lemak already. Surprisingly, it was Good. Or was I hungry. I don't know, but it is GOOD. So pig out, sleep, poke fun, sleep again.

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Until, touch down!

[pictures of the airport soon]

The airport was one of a kind. They have Balinese structures everywhere, and little statues everywhere, either carved out of wood or volcanic stone. Very interesting, though sis find it a lil disturbing.

When we collected our luggage and exit the terminal, there's a whole bunch of people with placards with names on it waiting. I said, "Walaw..I wonder if my name was there. HAHAHA" It was so packed with Names, that I didn't even bother to look. I was thinking there shouldn't be any, cos I didn't arrange with anybody to pick us up from the airport. We hop on to the airport taxi and it cost us IDR40.000 (RM14).

Vira Bali Hotel was a nice as it was on pictures. I was awed. We were warmly welcomed and while waiting for them to prepare the room key, we were given a complimentary mango juice.

Reception Counter

Lobby - Waiting Area

I chose a hotel in Tuban, south of Kuta, for less hectic and less noise. It was within walkable distance to Kuta, so why not? I loved the pictures of the hotel during booking process. So why not? It was as good as it seems. I have no complaints except for the breakfast spread.

I grabbed a few brochures available at the information counter at the airport. Before the trip, I have done some research online, and made some arrangements to tour Bali. Of course, you can also do it when you get there, cos with the help of all the brochures and a few calls, you can get yourself a good deal. But I decided to do it before hand. I found this site on Google, BaliExplore.com. The founder of this website, Dewa Parwita, was the driver and guide. According to him, he started this and it soon became a family business. His workers were his family members or were related to him in one way or another. "Hard to find people you can trust." I agree with him on that.

Check out his website @ http://Baliexplore.com
Read his guest reviews and you will get what I mean.

Our first half day was spent on Uluwatu Sunset Tour. Before going down to the lobby to wait for Dewa, we were treated to a complimentary massage. Talk about Balinese hospitality. They know how to pamper you. =P After the massage, we went down to the cosy lobby and waited for Dewa. 10 minutes later, he called and said he can't make it for that tour cos he was far from Tuban and caught in a massive jam after the downpour, but he will send his cousin, Nyoman. We're fine with that cos we're on a happy holiday mood. And boy, those people that I had encountered here in Bali, were very polite. You can feel the sincerity when they apologize to you. It corrects things by apologizing. (works for Bali people only, Malaysians please ignore =P)

Along the way to Uluwatu which is south of Bali, there were alot of breathtaking sights. Just sit back and relax. There's only one government owned university, and as opposed to ours, their government university is far more expensive than private ones. Campus buildings are built Balinese style, and I wonder what the lecture hall looks like from within? Ask Nyoman anything and he could answer all my curious questions. Why are temple gates split into half? Why do people put marigold flower (marigold is a plant with orange flowers) in a paperbox at entrances? What is puri and how is it different from pura? And everything else. Hey, I'm one curious soul.
One-of-a-kind petrol stations. [pictures soon]

When we get to Uluwatu, the sky was getting dark. No sun, yes, you get that right. Ours was no sunset tour, it was Uluwatu Sunsetless Tour. Everyone must be modestly dressed to enter a temple, and also tie a sash around the waist. Those with exposed legs must wear a sarong.

But standing there with such a magnificent view upon me, that place reminded me very much of The 12 Apostles. The cliffs, the limestone stacks, erosion magic. Sound of the crashing waves, the wind, and well, fat monkeys. Believe me, I saw Michelin-like monkeys sitting around. No joke. Nyoman warned us earlier before entering that the monkeys here were a bit aggressive and asked us to take off our beads and watches, they snatch everything that is loose.

Take this in!

While standing at the cliff, taking in the view, all of a sudden, a girl screamed so loud my hair nearly fell off the cliff. One of the monkeys snatched her spectacles right from her face and took off, down the cliff.

Come out come out wherever you are...

Later a monkey snatched a girl's fluffy hair band, and chew on it. -.-" So don't say I didn't warn ya.

After spending quite some time trailing the walkways by the cliff, at the same time taking in the view of the Indian Ocean, and the sound of the crashing waves, we head off to watch the Kecak Fire Dance. It was one of the many trance-inducing exorcism dance. Characters in the Ramayana epic were fully decked out in their best costumes and headdresses along with errie looking masks. I loved Hanuman the white monkey. I liked his antics. Perhaps the most dramatic moment was when Hanuman was caught, bound and placed in a ring of burning straw drenched with kerosene, where he eventually freed himself and kick up sparks in the air and charging through the embers while fighting off the bad guys.

Hanuman

After the show, they invited the audience to take pictures with the characters. I waited in a so called line for a picture with Hanuman, but when people from behind start pushing, I fought them off to stay put until all of a sudden surge of shoving, I ended up outside the pack. -.-" Wtf~ Japanese. So F. I got so pissed, I walked away after taking a last look at Hanuman. The disappointment was there. It was raining heavily then, as everyone marched out in the rain back to their waiting cars. Sis nonchalantly blurted out that photo session are for tourists. Bloody hell, are we not? Anyway, she didn't have the patience to wait for me. So I was equally pissed at her. I kept quite the entire journey back north from Uluwatu to Jimbaran for a supposedly sunset dinner by the beach, but we were greeted by rain. Great. But once we got into the restaurant, we both lighten up. I can tell you that no matter how angry I sometimes get with my sister, we'll cool off in 20 minutes.

This as backdrop? Wtf.

IF ONLY IT WASN'T RAINING.
SIGHS. Jimbaran is a must-go for dinner by the beach. The entire stretch of Jimbaran beach was littered with beach side restaurants, with dinner tables set up by the beach. A must go. It
's Balinese style to grill everything. Not to my taste but I was adminring the beach so much that I forgot how bad/good the food was. But my seaside dinner was spoiled by droplets of rain. BAH.
Rice and seafood. But they serve french fries. So odd, and everything is so dry that we just pack off the big basket of fries for supper.

It was still raining when we finally get back to our hotel by 9pm. At first we planned to check out Kuta by night after the Uluwatu tour, but since it was raining, we just chilled at the hotel room, with french fries, sipping coffee.

Relaxing it was.