Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Exploring Bali Day 3: 090809


This is the swimming pool at our villa
To avoid having regrets of not visiting beaches in Bali, we decide to go to Semniyak Beach nearby our Villa..about 15min walk.. heard that Kuta beach was filled with so many people on the entire beach..and the traffic to Kuta, we saw on the previous 2 days was horrendous..going to Semniyak beach was a great choice in the morning.. beautiful sea, strong waves, dogs running around, people jogging..and people windsurfing..

Us caught in action
Us+Our Shadows+Beautiful Beach & Sky


Beach Therapy to our tired legs!
Carefree Dogs
My loyal Crocs

We met up with another tour guide from Bali Day Trip for our Day 3 adventures..
1st stop was to view Barong and Keris Dance..kinda expensive for this dance as compared to Uluwatu Kecak dance..This dance represents an eternal fight between the good and evil spirit in general..quite interesting too..lasted about an hour..


After the dance, we made our way to Ubud..so many shops selling arts and craft..pottery..sculptures..is really that Many until I cant believe it..but the artwork is very beautiful...if you intend to design your houses with Balinese style of furniture..you gotta come to Ubud to choose...is a heaven..haha
Ubud is very much touristy as we saw many Australians, French, and tourists from other ctys..shops look more established and expensive haha..

And we stopped over at this Ubud Market, also located near to Ubud Palace..


Ubud Market sells so many things..but the prices are much more expensive than Sukawati Market..haha..felt kinda glad to purchase our stuff at Sukawati Market haha..
Ubud Tourism Office
We cant really find good maps of Bali..heard that you need to purchase in order to get a good map haha..so remember to purchase a Bali map if you wanna explore alone or just use Lonely Planet..

We had lunch at this Ayu Restaurant..and tried many types of local food like Lewar..Yellow rice..which has this Jackfruit Curry cooked into something that looks entirely like meat..but to our astonishment..it is jackfruit!haha..amazing~



Siyin with her CHicken Lewar..
Yellow Rice

Didnt manage to try the Avocado Fresh Juice, heard to be very refreshing, but it was not in season at the current moment..

Pork Sate...in peanut sauce..super nice!
After lunch, we made a stopover at Tegalalang Rice Terraces to have some nice snapshots!

And moved on up the mountains to Mount Batur..
weather was so cloudy..what a pity..but the breathtaking size of the volcano still kept us in awe..and was also at this area where we encountered some very persistent sellers..
haha!
Mount Batur

Xiaoting and Siyn...targets of the persistent sellers while I was busy snapping away haha!


The girl looking at Mount Batur...
Me with Mount Batur..

The feel over there at Mount Batur was like in clouds.in Genting Highlands or in Cameron Highlands..very cool feeling..with mists of clouds surrounding us..and I was almost trapped in the toilet located at Mount Batur...ALMOST...cuz of the creaky door..teaches me a lesson:
To Stay Calm at All Times!

We went off to Spice Garden to see the different fruits and plants in Bali..and tasted Bali Coffee as well...

Young mangosteens
Coffee
Cocoa

And the famous Luwak Coffee and its origin..from the following civit-like animal

THat's its faeces..or rather intact-beans used to make the coffee!very expensive coffee lorz..I forgot the price..not allowed to sample it cuz it was too expensive!haha
We bought Bali flower essence at this place..good for relaxation..can be used in massage or for aromatherapy..

Our next stop was the Tirta Empul Temple..or the Temple of the Holy water..the Balinese split gate was also seen here..worshippers were seen here making offerings..and them bathing and praying in the main pool filled with koi and fed by sacred spring water from the fountains..

It was said that if you can see a white and black eel fish in the following pool..you are in LUCK! So many tour groups brought tourists to the pool to see if they are lucky enuf..but is not EASY to see..you gotta see both eels..

Worshippers praying and bathing in the pool..

The pond to see the black eel and the white eel..


Legs dipped in the pond

We had some shopping at the market near this temple..had some final shopping at reasonable prices..and made our way to Kuta region..to see the Bali bombing memorial site in Kuta..Kuta is like Bugis Street in Sg...filled with Billabong shops..pubs..restaurants..Polo Ralph Shops..D&G Shops..also look a bit like Holland Village..haha..

We requested the driver to bring us to a shop selling local food..he brought us to this shop along Legian Road to have this Nasi Campur..huge variety of 配料..chicken..pork..veggies..egg..wow..all at a price of 15000Rp..amounting to about sgd2..


After the dinner..we made our way to the airport..was 2h earlie when we reached there..and we saw so many tourists reaching Bali..currently is the peak season..
we checked in smoothly..having luffs at the waiting area of the pics we took..

The DFS area for shopping inside the airport was quite established and has much things to look at..all of us were very sleepy..so eager to enter the boarding gate at 0010 as stated on our itinerary..but there was huge confusion at the airport as a single gate handles all 3 planes flying off at around the same time..it was very disorganised and we only managed to fly off after a 30min delay..
totally appreciate Changi Airport hehe -_-

It was a refreshing trip to Bali this time..though we didnt try water rafting..no Bali massage..sigh..due to time constraints..we had lotsa fun tasting the different local food of Bali..discovering new tastes..and enjoying the mountaineous scenery of Bali..not just an image of the beaches..but also the village life and dance culture in Bali..

The hospitality of people in Bali is also worth commending.
I find the sellers are always with smiles and being very patient without being too pushy in asking you buy their stuff...We like that! It makes the bargaining experience very enjoyable and brought smiles and laughters after visiting a shop..

A new experience definitely!
。。真爽。。


Exploring Bali Day 2: 080809


Woke up at 7am for an early breakfast provided by the village and some photo-snapping of the beautiful accomodation before meeting Made..

We made our way to the 1st stop a Taman Ayun Temple..and along the way, we enjoyed some beautiful scenery..

Rare to see ducks..here is one =)
Me and Made the tour-guide cum driver

The scenic Taman Ayun temple appeared shortly in front of us..This is a famous Hindu temple in Bali..There are many multi-roofed towers..

More reasons to have photo-snapping at this beautiful royal temple!



The temple was surrounded by the "choir music" created by insects over there..



And I saw Crayon Shinchan-hand painted egg at this art craft store in the temple..Was so tempted to purchase but was put off by the hefty cost which I dun tink is worth the price..I think I should really visit Japan one day to discover the world of Shinchan there haha..but it was kinda a surprise to see Shinchan's creations anywhere but in Indonesia haha


Multi-towered structures behind us!


Entrance of temple usually look like this..

Then, we moved off to Lake Bratan..
Students seen marching along the way.
Along the way, we witnessed some ceremonies. Though not very sure what it is held for, but it was interesting and a rare occurence to encounter these ceremonies..

Great picture taken in the mountains!

As it was the strawberries season, we went to see the plantation and also bought 2 boxes of strawberries. They may not look very big but turned out to be rather sweet.. I personally preferred Korea strawberries as they were sweet and large!..but nonetheless, it was rare opportunity to encounter strawberries in Bali and we enjoyed munching them at night!

Lake Bratan views.Duno what is the occasion..there were many ceremonies..and there were many groups of people..playing different kinds of instruments..an ambience full of Indonesian music whilst by the lake..spectacular ambience..



Having fun on a swing..this is kinda interesting..



Ceremony




Women seldom carry stuff on their hands but balance them on their heads..very steady..
Our next stop was lunch!...so famished..this place which we had lunch was at the intersection which we can see Lake Buyan and Lake Tamblingan..very scenic though it was cloudy..



And this is our lunch!..very yummy..I liked the rice at Bali so far..cooked very fragrantly..and the satay was dipped in peanut sauce..
Our next destination is Gitgit Waterfall...magnificient waterfall that must be seen!




Vanilla fruits actually look like this!

This cute girl comes along to ask us buy bracelets while we were taking pictures at the Gitgit Waterfalls..

The waterfall is so beautiful..we can feel the cool water spray on us even standing at a considerable distance away from the waterfall..It was fun stepping into the cold waters..very clean water..and also a challenge jumping from one stones to another..




Many spices sold along the way to Gitgit Waterfall..
It was already 430pm when we finished Gitgit Waterfall..and it takes about 2h to reach Tanah Lot..the objective to go Tanah Lot is to see the sunset which happens at about 530pm.no choice..we have to forsake this option of visiting Tanah Lot..the floating temple..another must-see sight in Bali..here's one snapshot taken from the web..
gotta see this in the next visit to Bali
So we asked Made to bring us to buy some local produce..bought cuttle fish..and some crackers..super yummilicious..we asked Made where can we have some local food as dinner and he recommended us this night market located near our village within walking distance..

And so..we had Nasi Campur(pronounced as Cham Po) Ayam..the kangkong was very spicy and I cant take it..haha..but overall the food was great!


We also had this Es Campur(is basically like icekachang..filled with assorted jelly, atap seeds, fermented yam beans..ice cubes and bandung syrup)..quite refreshing but was kinda sweet.Es Campur
Us with the lady boss..very friendly..and even helped us to order Es Campur..

The night ended off with BINTANG Beer..tidbits bought at this local supermarket..and some mind-boggling activities like counting Rupiah..giving back what we owed each other...and getting so so so confused by the number of zeroozz of the Rp..haha!

Contact for Made Wijaya
Mobile: 081 236 29891
Email: wijaya7@gmail.com
Website: www.baliprivatetours.com