Bali is my life? Not really!

At first, I've decided not to blog about the Bali trip since YC already posted up all the photos. I felt no point for repetition... But it's my long awaited break from all the pile up stress of event after event over the past few months, I felt I don't do my blog justice! hahahaha... so here goes... we start off! yeah! so happy to be breaking away for a few days! Here, we are walking to the Air Asia plane. As usual, the Air Asia flights are the ones at the end of the longest walkway!

of course we must take picture in the plane! hhahaa...

We used this voucher system from Kel because apparently it's very worth it lah but then I feel for our setup, it was not so good as the unit we are staying in is a privately owned unit in the midst of the resort. Hence, we could use the pool and the spa but not the operator or the housekeeping services provided by the hotel. Worse is, I can't use the hotel wifi! sigh...

but it's a suite unit so plenty of space for us and even cooking facility which came in rather useful later... me and jocelyn stayed in the room and yean ching insisted to sleep at the sofa in the living hall to feed the mosquitoes! haahahah...

on the first night, upon arrival, we have no food to eat except at this gerai serving masakan padang.. which was not nice at all. I hardly ate anything because it looked really weird and they serve weird animal parts which I'm do not fancy.

the driver was being 'nice' because he wanted our business for the next few days. he want to help arrange for a driver for us. highly recommended his cousin who turned out to be a jerk who wanted our money and after that highly recommended his good friend with 'good english and good car' but does not understand a shred of English I spoke to him. And I don't think I have 'that bad' English! hmph!

I got this thing with drinking water. The last time I was in Bali, I drank the locally bottled water and got a sore throat instantly. So this time I'm more careful to not choose the cheapest water.

This is like little cabana spaces at the side of the pool for guests to sit and relax or read. We only pass it in the morning on our way out and pass by it at night after the pool is closed, on our way back to the room. hahaha...

I think this is the first day out! see the excited faces you can guess already! hahaha...

we didn't want to visit a lot of the places because it's all idol worshipping practices. The two dances that are famous in Bali are both idol worship dances to call about their god so we decided not to skip visiting those as well. I think the driver/guide was quite baffled with us as we decided not to go the usual tourist route but of course we did not explain that those are all idolatry for us! hahahah... .

first stop, the silversmith! I guess we all didn't expect to buy anything. the first shop we went, the designs were gaudy and old-fashioned and so overly elaborated that we took a 5 min walk, came out took a group picture and left.

Then, we went to another silversmith, Prapen. We did not have any high hopes as we were quite put off with the first shop already. BUT.... I did. We were waiting for the staff to cut the chain shorter by one inch. cos I prefer shorter. The staffs like can't understand why I want to cut it shorter.

and this is the necklace i bought for myself. I also bought another longer more expensive chain necklace for dinner.

i also really like this earring but it's was over my budget so I asked the staffs whether can I just buy one instead of a pair? since I usually only wear one side. hahaha... he was like...??!!!!??

Next, we head to lunch! I wanted Jaws and Ching to try the famous Babi Guling meal and so the driver took us to Ibu Eka's shop which is supposedly the most famous babi guling restaurant in Bali. good thing it's an open air concept shop because the smell of porkiness is way bad. I mean I expected it since I know Bali is not that clean but I think it kinda hit it hard for the two of them. ops... one thing is they don't clear the tables of the leftovers after the guests leave, making the smell linger at the place.

this is the Babi Guling Special meal... Rph 30,000 each!

then, it's shopping time! yeah! we each bought some dresses. but there was not enough cash to buy the whole ubud so it was a lot of window shopping. see the colourful plates? I love the purple ones and the colorful ones in the middle but then it doesn't go well with my apartment setup. my mom is very chinese so I didn't buy any also.

we were choosing gifts for PC/Kel and Juliet/Michael. This door signposts were really colourful and cute and PC got the one crafted with the cat with long eye-lashes and Ju got the dragonfly in purple tones... Ching was writing down how much she owe me for it! hahahaha...

We leave Ubud when it started drizzling. We raced out to find out van. He told us to call him to check where he parked. We called and called but can't get through. When we finally found him, he was chatting on the phone... even after picked us up. I was pissed with him and the moment he hang up, I whacked him terus for making us run here and there in the rain! He did not apologise and show no sign of remorse! And by the end of the day when he realised that we did not have enough money for the next day, he straightaway told his cousin that he can't fetch us the next day. Which was better for us cos the pak cik that came the next day was way much better and took his job more seriously that we were so pleased with him that we gave him all our RMs as tips!

After Ubud, we wento a few other factory outlets. Ching wanted to get a bikini but was shy. I bought a pair of shorts, a pair of glowing pink nike shoes! Both I love!

Ching's new sundress and Jaws' new sundress but it think it's for her sister. She was just trying it out. But the dark blue dress is for herself! Doesn't she look good in it? We encouraged her to wear to the beach the next day!

Jude wanted the Bali pants so Ching got it for him. Not sure what color he would prefer so we got the realy colourful one!

Next morning, Widya (former Eaglepoint-er when she was working in Malaysia), came to join us to the beach! We were kinda broke so it was maggi last nite and maggi this morning! I just got up not long I think. The 'look' says it all!

One thing I was disappointed was I did not manage to do all the water activities. I have thought that I wanted to do the water sports and the banana boat but didn't manage to... =(

This was the first beach we went to.. call Nusa Dua. We should have stay here but we decided to head over to the other beach call DreamLand that everyone told us is a must to visit. So, we took a picture and left...

We were all wearing swim suit under the dresses thinking that we would be playing in the sea and all but.....

but the beach was sooo crowded that we didn't manage to slot ourselves in and also they charge us just to use the beach couch and on top of it, it was 'air pasang' time so no point going in also.

So we were just sitting there waiting for time to pass, staring at the other ppl.

we had khong guan crackers with smasched egg! courtesy of Chef Jaws! She's clever lah! ahahha...

one of the photos that I think was brilliant!

fooling around...

DreamLand beach was really not much of a dream... it's shorter than the Nusa Dua beach, making it more crowded. and there's no water sports here.

Teh Sosro. Local sweet tea for Indonesians. We were just sitting there chilling while Jaws went to stand at the beach.... letting the waves crash in on her...

Then, we went to my nightmare place. Uluwatu. The scenery is beautiful but it's filled with monkeys. I told them they should visit just to see the place but for me, I will sit in the car. The poor driver had to sit outside because I refused to leave the van. I took a nap in the van and when they came back, we went to toilet and bought jagung. When we came back to the van, there was the rascal monkey sitting right next to the van eating jagung... freaking me out!

We then left to Jimbaran Beach. The whole stretch of beach is not occupied by resorts but by restauranteurs. They sell romantic seafood on the beach. I personally feel the concept is great IF the beach is cleaner! hahaha... the sea water was MURKY black. I don't think it helps with the appetites. But then again, most people will eat during candlelight dinner time so they won't be able to see how murky is the sea!

This is another brilliant shot that I super like!

On my left hand side, there sat a table of 8-10 pax of the model-like ang-mohs! All handsome and gorgeous! hahahaa... yc was like... cuci-mata there...

Widya came the next morning to do facial for each of us. starting with Jaws at 8am, Ching at 9am and me at 10am. She did a double cleanse, scrub, massage, mask and then application. No spa for us but she did for us. THANKS! hahhaa...

Other tables were decorated with seafood dinner. Ours was fried rice, spaghetti and fried noodle! ahahhaa...

This couple was strolling lovingly right to the front of our table and sat down for a beer, gazing out into the sea. mmmm... Ching can't resist the shot!

We came back and thought there's still time to jump into the pool! I didn't wanted to swim so I took their photos and hurried off to shower so that they can use the shower when they come back. But they came back soon after because the pool guards came back to tell them to come out because he just infused chemical to treat and clean the pool! haaha...

The hotel which we stayed.

We head straight to Kuta (the town near to the airport). I saved up some rupiahs to buy slippers! and I really bought slippers - like 5 pairs assorted colours!

We walked to Kuta beach which was surprisingly quite pleasant compare to the Dreamland. Should have just come here in the first place.

We were walking down the road and I turned around to tell them something and caught her taking my photo and she caught my expression! hahaha.. classic!

We went to Discovery Mall for lunch at the restaurant that I went before. But this time the place didn't look as good though.

Our diver parked right in front of the sling shot game! oh wow!

This is our last meal at the airport. Not too good food but at least can pay with credit card! yeah!

Pineapple chicken salad. I like!

The Sunday after we came back, me and Ching decided to go to Bumbu Bali just to eat Balinese food to our satisfaction!! Again, when it's just two of us, we usually end up over ordering but it was really good food! hahahah... i like!

Right at the airport, we saw the signage - Bali is my life. I think I've got to say that after two times there, I don't think it's my kind of life! Malaysia is not perfect but it is still home and familiarity. I can drive myself around without having to depend on annoying drivers! =)