Have been longing for a holiday trip for a while. Not until last week that I’ve finally realized it. With project @ work just recently wrapped up and also invitation from Windu who happens on holiday back home from France, I took a few days leave for a vacation to Bali. Erna, Didi, aunt Wang Kheng came along. Este n Credo also. A mix of family and pals holiday. Phew!
It was not a pleasant departure flight from Jakarta. Scheduled flight @ 16.10 was delayed by more than an hour. Lucky thing was that we managed to occupy the whole row for six of us on Air Asia, Boeing 737-300 aircraft. 1.5 hours passed after take-off at 17.30, we reached Ngurah Rai International airport after a hard landing greeted by some small screaming. The host Windu then escorted us to the hotel which we had booked before at Hotel Bakung Sari, just around 15 minutes from the airport. At first, quite shocked to learn that the way to the hotel was somehow narrow and creepy dark, only accessible by foot. Just realized afterwards that it is merely a short-cut to the beach actually. We were just taking the wrong way! Check-in and a simple dinner down the road nearby the hotel ended the day. Resting for next-day journey.
The first day journey in Bali kicked off at 9 after a quite OK American Style breakfast at the hotel. The first destination was Kuta beach, the famous tourist spot in Bali. Took couple of photos here and also had a temporary tattoo! Erna n Didi tried the funky small ponny tail Alicia Key alike hairstyle here. We were soon joined by Anta and his girlfriend Wisnu. Five musketeers in action… Following then was the trip to the memorial monument of Legian Bomb and GWK cultural park. Must admit that the park is simply awesome with spectacular stone carving and huge statue. Met with several Chinese tourist and had a little chit-chat with them who came all the way from Shanghai. It was funny that they requested to take a picture with us. Maybe to show family & friends back home that there’re Chinese in Indonesia :). Este, greeted as "Mei Nu", became the main attention with several rounds of one-on-one photo session with each of them. Should have charged them for Royalty, we joked to Este about it!
Having spent quite a time there, need to fill the stomach with some food. Jimbaran became the destination with Anta leading the way with his bike. We stopped over @ Dewata cafe and ordered the famous seafood. Not to forget grilled musell here, as per suggested by my colleague Eric. Courtesy of the owner, those musells were not charged. We enjoyed the meal quite well under the bright sunny day and sea breeze with view of Jimbaran bay and plenty of plane take-off and landing panorama. Perhaps due to hometown famous of fresh seafood as well, we didn’t think the foods were that awesome. Good but not Great! One thing to regret is that we should have taken meal there in the evening with view of sunset. More to regret, we never had the chance to see the hailed sunset in the next few days in Bali trip. Following the lunch, we paid a trip to Bali Art Festival in Denpasar. Bought Balinese style hat "Udeng" here and wore it all day long. Some stares at me followed by small laugther. We parted with Anta here and then proceeded to Singaraja, hometown to Windu. The trip took almost 2 hours. Having settled accommodation for sisters and aunt, I spent the night @ Windu’s house along with Este n Credo. As usual, recalling some old college memories and jeers and laugh at one another coloured the night.
The next day or second day in Bali happened to coincide with local festive of Kuningan. Had marvellous breakfast of Yellow Rice, the festive specialty. After a walking around the mini zoo of Windu’s house (wow.. birds, geese, hedgehogs, even bats are there… can you imagine), we started the Bali go-around!
On the way to Batur lake, we stopped over at a temple as Windu and family’s prayed. It was amazing to find out that there were actually two temples side-by-side inside the buildings. One is Hindu temple and another is Buddhist temple. We took the chance to pray there. Interesting to learn that religion and culture of the Balinese are so in harmony that there’s almost no direct border to differentiate which is religion way and which is traditional custom way.
When you’re travelling to one place, shopping is almost certainly one of the agenda. You may shop for souvenirs, local products, etc. You may visit some places or maybe approached by local people selling goodies just as us outside the temple. Knowing our status as visitors there (very obvious..), we were soon surrounded by people selling post cards, handycraft to clothes. One tip for those who’ve never been to Bali, just buying time with the seller. You can bargain up to 25% from the asking price. As soon as you’re about to leave, price will drop drastically, faster than what you can imagine.. faster than falling of stock price =). Post cards for example. The first asking price was 2,500 per piece. At the end, when the car was about to leave, the price dropped to 1,000 per piece. Horribly later on in Batur lake, the clothes price drop from 25,000 per piece to 50,000 for eight pieces! Maybe because of good way of persuasion and also found that the price was reasonable, bought a big plastic of goodies here. Funny thing was that at first, the local people were trying to sell me some goodies in Yen! Do I really look like Japanese ?
The next stop over was the holy temple of Besakih, the biggest temple in Bali. Since it was festive day, the temple was so crowded with local people who wanted to pray there and some tourists visiting one of main attractions in Bali. This place is so beautiful, well located on the hill with cool weather. "Must visit" site. After a fine buffet-style lunch nearby the temple, spending time continued with a trip to Sukawati market. Again here we can bargain much. A 45,000 asking price short can be bought for 15,000. One thing to remember though, we should not quote one seller’s agreed price to another seller. It’s a taboo! Some sort of oligopoly market.
We parted with Windu and family as well as Credo n Este after Sukawati trip and reaching hotel. It was a very great two-day trip well-guided by Windu. Thanks a lot Kriwil… =) Next time again… Este n Credo continued the trip to Singaraja to stay over there for one more night.
Bali trip would not be memorable without some water-sport activities. And we did that on the next day, third day in Bali. We hired a car with local driver from a travel agent and headed to Tanjung Benoa, ready for actions! Tried snorkelling for the first time. Wow! an unforgettable experience. First real experience was spectacular, much much better than seeing it on TV-screen. Seeing fishes swimming around you for food (we were equipped with bread for fish-feeding), feeling cool blue water, and viewing splendid corals… Too bad didn’t have much time to try parasailing n other activities. Following the snorkelling was a trip to Turtle island. Not much to see here, only turtles and some other animals. Don’t recommend this place unless you’ve never seen those animals before. Only suitable for those growing up in the big cities!
The next stop was Dreamland, a project of Tommy Suharto abandoned for quite a time. But looks like development of the area has now been resumed. Was highly recommended and must say that it’s true indeed. This place is very suitable for those who love to surf. The crystal blue clear water and white sandy beach will simply blow you away. Many caucasians surf here. Too bad didn’t bring any spare clothes to swim. Maybe next time.. According to the driver, Dreamland at first was well-known as "Sumur". Still in puzzle, he quickly continued with the answer. Well.. well, it stands for Susu Berjemur, aka nude beach. Woof.. But that was already history.
Last place visited that day was another temple of Uluwatu. With departure next day, we had to decide either to opt for Uluwatu or Tanah Lot. Referenced to Periplus recommendation, we chose the former. Don’t know what Tanah Lot’s like but think that the choice was not disappointing. Uluwatu temple is located up at the edge of high cliff, making it very unique. There are lot of mischievous monkeys here. We were warned before to take good care of belongings before entering the place. The warning spoke for itself. Not on us… luckily. Later on, one of them snatched hairpin from a Caucasian woman. Woof! Met one cute little baby girl here.. Didi, Erna n Aunt carried her for some moment while we were resting not far from her and her parents.Two young ladies were also on sight. Hehe.. too bad couldn’t manage to take a photo with them.
With no intention of watching "Kecak" dance in the midst of twilight, we decided to go back to the hotel as the ladies were planning for another round of shopping spree nearby the hotel. On the way to hotel, received a breaking SMS. Our flight next day would be delayed to 17.45. Big problem.. Air Asia… We had booked Jakarta - Batam flight at 16.05 at the same day for three ladies using the same carrier. Upon reaching the hotel, quickly called the call centre to lodge a complaint. Fortunately, they could arranged for a reschedule flight for Jakarta-Batam. With the ladies continued to walk around, paid a visit to nearby internet rental to check emails and as usual, performed one of the habit picked up a while ago. www.liverpoolfc.tv.
Last day in Bali, it’s time for picking up some local delicacies. We hired the car once again and went to Gianyar. Annoying thing was that the driver didn’t bring us to Rahayu, the famous delicacies shop. Instead we were brought to ulu-ulu shop which only switched on the light having seen our arrival from a distance. Must be of commission! On the way back to hotel from there, we stopped by for Babi Guling lunch.. Yummy…
It’s packing time!… Gosh, quite many luggages with us. Rush rush to airport to catch the flight. Credo came along to try for a go-show. Lucky him.. Could get aboard. No need to wait till his original flight scheduled at 1.00 AM
Arriving in Jakarta, it turned out to be that Credo’s baggage was lost. Phew! We parted here and waited for taxi. An awful experience with Express Taxi, one I have trusted. The driver didn’t want to use the fare meter but instead offered a certain sum of money. Another one was even worse. Didn’t make any comment but instead welcomed aboard another passenger behind the queue who was going to Depok, farther area than us. Planned to lodge a complaint but still haven’t done it till today. Ya sudahlah….. Get over it!
The bali trip was truly memorable and Windu’s boast of beautiful Bali seems to be true after all. This place is really a nice place to have a vacation. Looking forward to another trip ! Summer holiday is over. And now get back to work!
