Bali Trip 2009 – Part 1

I have been occupied once again and could not blog as often as I wanted to these days. Nevertheless last week I managed to do some background works for my blog fixing some spam protection problem and trying to integrate my facebook with my blog (still work in progress). Also last week I managed to visit Bali for the first time for 4 days which is supposed to be my last round of holiday until end of the year.

The island of Bali, Indonesia and is located south of the equator between Java in the West and Lombok and the rest of the Lesser Sunda Islands. Bali has an area of only 5,632 square kilometers and measures just 90 kilometers along the north-south axis and less than about 140 kilometers from East to West. It is small but traveling from south to north can easily take 3 hours + due to Macet (traffic jam) and super small roads. Bali is famous amongst Malaysians as ‘must-go’ tourist destination especially for newlyweds as Bali is always dubbed as the affordable and magical place for honeymoon.

Jiji and I was looking around Air Asia website for cheap flights to JB when I accidentally (yeah right!) stumbled into cheap flights to Bali instead so we decided to book it and managed to convince 2 other friends to come along! Ticket including baggage was RM98 per person for both ways. An amazingly cheap deal.

On 24th April, we boarded Air Asia Indonesia new Airbus A320 for the 3-hour journey to down south. I always prefer Air Asia Indonesia. They used to serve different in-flight meals (local Indonesian food) and have better and friendlier crew. But they have now standardized all the in-flight meals. Nevertheless the crew is still friendly and fun and I find “Kencangkan Sabuk Pengaman” (Fasten your seatbelt) very sexy.

I always like Indonesian language. Similar with malay but I think their language has more ‘umphh’ and as everyone regardless of race or religion speaks the language, it seems that the language is indeed reflective of their culture.

“Banyak kopor yang mirip….”

We were greeted by our tour guide the Agung brothers. For Rp 450,000 (RM120) per day, Alit Agung was our ‘pilot’ driving around his Toyota Kijang as well as our personalized tour guide. You can still get tour guide with van for Rp 300,000 ++ but it is usually limited to 8 hours per day but Alit allows us to stretch his time all the way till late night and he actually follows our own itinerary. It also includes Airport Transfer!

We left Ngurah Rai Intl Airport, a nice airport named after Gusti Ngurah Rai, an Indonesian National Hero who commanded Indonesian forces in Bali against the Dutch during the Indonesian War of Independence.

And checked in into our RM150 decent hotel, Samsara Hotel on Legian Street next to Kuta Beach. A good and friendly small hotel but could use some air fresheners as the room smells weird a bit. Nevertheless good private hotel with less people, good breakfast, nice staff and salty swimming pool.

Right after check-in, the five of us (including Alit the Tour Dude) started our tour and went straight to Uluwatu famous for 2 things, the Sunset Kecak Dance at the cliff and Furious Monkeys who are super good at stealing glasses, cameras, etc. BEWARE! If you want to visit Uluwatu, keep these stuff INSIDE your bag and hold tight to it!

Look very innocent…

…then it got into action and ‘attacked’ on this Japanese dude’s glasses.

The monkey wears it, plays with it and if the owner failed to give a packet of peanuts (which btw was sold by some kids…surprise, surprise!) within seconds the monkey will break the glasses into pieces. Gone.

Right pass the ‘monkey area’ is the Kecak Dance stage, just next to the sea cliff.

The Kecak dance is one of the most famous of Balinese dances. It has no musical accompaniment which is very cool as the rhythm of the dance is produced by the chanting ‘monkey’ chorus. Instead of music background, a troupe of over 150 bare-chested men serve as the chorus, making a wondrous cacophony of synchronized “chak-achak-achak” clicking sounds while swaying their bodies and waving their hands .From that chanting noise of “Cak-cak-cak”,then it gave the dance its name Kecak. The show started about 30 minutes before sunsets and ends when the sun is down.

The best character has to be the “White Monkey”. Really cool stunts, even jumped on top of me, step on the edge of my chair and make a great leap over many touris to enter the stage. Also a funny character at times.

And my favorite scene is the last scene. BURN THE MONKEY!

Excellent show!

Right after the show, time for our first meal in Bali, a romantic dinner in Jimbaran for me and Jiji. Nice row of seafood places (not that cheap) but literally on the beach and managed to get a table on the front row just meters from the sea.

While Jiji and I having the meal, a 4-piece moving acoustic band came to play 3 songs next to our table. Nice.

(yea, not much to share about the wild and crazy nightlife in Kuta! Hehe)

Day 2 begins with a quick stop in a Silver product factory on the way to Ubud. Alit reminded us to just browse and no need to buy anything. We believe this is a tourist trap, hence we just enjoyed the free manufacturing line tour.

These people are friendly and loud. Fun working environment I guess and they do enjoy visitors. A good short factory tour and I love this sign, cute. A friendly reminder.

Next stop was Ubud where we spent an hour visiting Ubud Palace and shopping at PAsar Ubud.

Ubud Palace.

Ubud Market

Bargain, bargain until we get into trouble when they insist us to buy… rule of thumb, better shop in friendlier Tanah Lot or Denpasar (more on this later)

While waiting for 2 of my friends to shop, I had some time doing what I like most when travel People Watching. I love how Balinese put stuff on top of their head. Good balancing!

But nothing beat this guy’s skill. On motorbike, with a BABI GULING on top of his head. Aduhhh spoilt my appetite for the rest of the day.

After Ubud, we made our way to Kintamani, making a quick stop at one of the best paddy view I’ve ever seen. Planted on hill terrace, this paddy provides one of the most scenic view of this side of Bali Island.

And finally we reached Kintamani after 3 hours+ on the road. A nice view of Batur Volcanoe and Danau Batur. Maybe me and Jiji were spoilt by Santorini but it’s nice anyway although not that spectacular.

After a ‘tourist trap’ lunch that sucks in Kintamani, we made our way back south heading to Tanah Lot and made a quick stop in one of the coffee plantation. Bali is also famous for its Kopi Luwak. Luwak is an animal called a palm civet, native to Java and Sumatra. The cat-like creature partly resembles a ‘musang’ and has a brown coat and a white belly. It climbs into the branches of the coffee trees and selects ripened beans. After the undigested beans pass through the animal they possess a unique flavour when brewed.

I was not feeling adventurous and I can’t take coffee so I passed on Kopi Luwak.

3 hours later, we reached Tanah Lot just on time for the sunset. Tanah Lot is famous for the floating temple and sunset and of course the market. The market here is cheaper and friendlier compared to Ubud. Always bargain and give super low price as a start.

And after a long and tiring day, what a way to end the day with just relaxing and watching the sun sets with hundreds other tourists. Damn I hate places too crowded with tourist.

Luckily I found a good private spot and just chilled out with my wife and take this superb photo.

To be continued next week….