Sunday, May 24, 2009
My first time to Bali...
...and i love it!
Overall, Bali is a great place for a vacation (at least a 4 days 3 nights stay). The weather was great, sunny but not as humid as Singapore and there are many places of attraction to visit (you can see some in my post here).
Bali is a tourist island therefore you wont feel out of place as Bali is packed with tourists even during the non-peak season. Our driver adviced us that renting motorbikes is the way to go during the peak season as traffic jams are massive during that period. It costs less than SGD 10 for a 24hr rental including gas. I doubt i'll ever do that though..i wonder if bicycles are up for rental :)
Most of the people there speak english (and even chinese haha - i heard this balinese woman speak and it was very funny) and there were many restaurants and shops within walking distance of where i stayed.
Everything in Bali is very much commercialised, just like Bintan and Tioman. Even while driving pass some villages, I saw paintings, stone carvings, wood carvings, kites and other stuff being sold. There is no doubt that the balinese are very artisitic people.
Kenneth and I took Valuair to Jakarta and met my mum there for an AirAsia flight to Bali. This flight was the noisiest one i had ever taken. There were babies crying, toddlers screaming, and more babies crying. My goodness. Anyway, by the time we reached Bali, it was lunch time. We took a taxi to our hotel, Discovery Kartika Plaza Hotel in Kuta, which was pretty nice.
Lunch was alright, Ken wanted to submerge himself into the Balinese culture hence the food he ordered and the obsession with taking photos of his food.
We went swimming, drank at the bar in the swimming pool but no playing in the beach as the sun had set and it was *brrr* cold.
Third temple. Went to this mountain top temple (infested with monkeys) where the view was spectacular and my mum's spectacles got stolen by a monkey. HAHA. the monkey headed straight for her and took the spectacles off her face in a split second. but she got it back for 30,000 rupiah thanks to the help of the ppl who fed the monkey to distract it.
Next day was Shopping tour plus volcano and rice terrace!
We also had lunch at the top of a mountain. The purpose was to view an active volcano, Mt. Batur and lake, also named Batur which was opposite it but it was rather cloudy that day.
There wasnt enough time for us to take a long walk on the beach. The next time we're there, we're definitely going to spend more time in Bali, bake on the beach and play some water sports.
Then it was back to Jakarta to my mum's house, a first time for Kenneth. Im sure he had so much fun with the movie marathon in my mum's house - 3 and a half movies.
Kenneth and I took Valuair to Jakarta and met my mum there for an AirAsia flight to Bali. This flight was the noisiest one i had ever taken. There were babies crying, toddlers screaming, and more babies crying. My goodness. Anyway, by the time we reached Bali, it was lunch time. We took a taxi to our hotel, Discovery Kartika Plaza Hotel in Kuta, which was pretty nice.
The view from the 2nd level. Can see the swimming pool and sea.
Lunch was alright, Ken wanted to submerge himself into the Balinese culture hence the food he ordered and the obsession with taking photos of his food.
We went swimming, drank at the bar in the swimming pool but no playing in the beach as the sun had set and it was *brrr* cold.
The swimming pool had a bar! We went there for a yoghurt shake and Bintang beer.
The next morning, we set off at 8.30am..sooo early...for our "Traditional Bali" tour organised my my mum and our driver!
We watched the Barong and Kris dance (Balinese traditional dance), in Denpasar, about an eternal fight between good and evil.
We watched the Barong and Kris dance (Balinese traditional dance), in Denpasar, about an eternal fight between good and evil.
I have to admit that even though the dance and costumes were interesting, it was boring at parts due to some talking and i had to keep referring to the description of the dance on the paper below to understand what was going on. However, i still recommend watching the dance (just once).
The band playing music for the dance
Here comes the Barong (a mythological creature representing good) although it looks kinda evil. muahaha
(Weird-looking) Monkey posing for the cameras
Dancers supposedly representing servants
The Rangda (a mythological monster) representing evil
Eventually good triumphants over evil and the Rangda is killed by followers of the Barong.
Went to some temples. Bali has 75% hindu and 10% muslim residents hence their temples are mainly hindu influenced.
First temple
Beautiful and tranquil temple grounds
Second temple (in the sea)
Third temple. Went to this mountain top temple (infested with monkeys) where the view was spectacular and my mum's spectacles got stolen by a monkey. HAHA. the monkey headed straight for her and took the spectacles off her face in a split second. but she got it back for 30,000 rupiah thanks to the help of the ppl who fed the monkey to distract it.
then another monkey went to this woman, climbed onto her back and removed her scrunchy from her hair. HAHA. she screamed.
Do you see the great wall of "China"?
We had dinner at the Bubba Gump Shrimp restaurant and market. Very yummy!!
Next day was Shopping tour plus volcano and rice terrace!
We set off for 2 art markets in Ubud which sold mainly souvenirs, paintings and clothing. Both markets sold the same stuff but the first one we went to sold them at more extravagant prices.
My bro and i bought 2 pieces of nice art...displayed in my house now.
We saw a rice terrace in Sayan which was beautiful.
We saw a rice terrace in Sayan which was beautiful.
Went to our fourth temple.
Holy water
We also had lunch at the top of a mountain. The purpose was to view an active volcano, Mt. Batur and lake, also named Batur which was opposite it but it was rather cloudy that day.
Photo of the lake from the restaurant. The volcano is on the left..but not in the photo
Our dinner at the hotel
Ken and mama with their food
There wasnt enough time for us to take a long walk on the beach. The next time we're there, we're definitely going to spend more time in Bali, bake on the beach and play some water sports.
Then it was back to Jakarta to my mum's house, a first time for Kenneth. Im sure he had so much fun with the movie marathon in my mum's house - 3 and a half movies.
posted by: kelly @ 8:42 pm
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