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。。