And wtfish to myself for not taking picture while having breakfast! #@$(*&(*!!!!

After breakfast, all of us walked to Kuta beach with the intention of taking a very nice group shoot there. Almost of us wore the white shirt we bought at Sukawati Market and I realised that Jess and I were almost identical in clothing! Haha!

Finally reached and stepping on Kuta beach!

When we reach Kuta beach, we were very disappointed. We expected to see clean, white beach but all we could see was piles and piles of rubbish! Apparently, the month that we went there weren’t right as it was the rainy season and the waves was so rough and choppy that month the sea would ‘vomit’ out all the rubbishes to the shore.

But we applauded the hard work of the Balinese people as they religiously sweep and clean the beach everyday to clear of the rubbish. Imagine if this happen in Batu Ferringhi, probably no one would even bother to do so except for a clean-up gotong-royong like once every 3-4 months? -.-”

Nevertheless, we still took a lot of pictures there.

All can only swim at the area bordered by 2 red flags. Otherwise, face the risk of being swept away by strong undercurrent or being hit unconsciously by rock. Don’t say I never give warning ah!

Like a small child, I went about to look for a wood twig and wrote my name on the sand to leave a temporary footprint on the beach.

Satisfied, I added in Sat’s. Then we took picture of our names with our foot in it. Lololololololol!

And I took picture of AL writing her name.

One thing good about visiting the Kuta beach during this season is able to watch people learning surfing! We saw a group of people trying to surf at that time and those with super LONGGGG lens took few closed up pictures of the surfers.

I on the other way, had to take the ‘whole’ picture of the surfers as I mounted wide angle on my camera body.

Somehow I got bored with shooting the surfers in whole; I turned my interest to a dead puffer fish. See, closed up shoot! Lol!

Then we explored a little bit more by walking down the beach. Off and on people would just jog passed us; local started preparing their stall for the day; some did offering on the beach.

After that we walked back to the hotel. Along the way, I saw a beautiful dress hanging at a shop and I went in to enquiry about it. We haggled a little, and when Emily said she wanted to get one too, we offered her an attractive price at 200.000 Rupiah in total. The shop owner finally agreed and I left with wide grin on my face. Why?

Because Sat paid for the dress! Yippee!

While we were haggling prices with the lady shop owner, the group split up. Some went directly back to the hotel; some went for a little exploration in Kuta. After securing a good deal, we stopped by McDonalds again because someone needed his fix. Lol!

Seeing that we have about 2 more hours to spend, we wandered around Kuta too. And we stumbled upon a marketplace! And there are like plenty of souvenirs and T-shirts which I feel like buying but couldn’t because I have no money. Sat eyed on a Bintang shirt there after much bargaining, the price is still high for that type of quality. But knowing that that’s the least price the lady could offer, we got no choice but to comply. Of course if we feel it’s not worth it we could walk away, but since that’s the last time we could shop in Bali (who knows when will we come back again) Sat just paid her the said price.

Situated opposite the street market, there’s a posh looking souvenir shop which offers goods at affordable price. The goods sold there are of good quality and it smells good too even though I know the smell probably came from the incense/joss-sticks offered by the local early in the morning. Lol!

4 of us spent quite some time in the shop. After realizing we had little time left to shower and pack up; we quickly paid for our stuff and walked back to the hotel.

Once reached at the hotel, we saw Lasker and Elise happily sipping their welcome drink by the pool. We totally forgot about our welcome drink which we haven’t claimed yet! Sat immediately went to claim them from the cafeteria. When the drink came, all of us toasted for the smoothness of this trip and the rest continued talking and giggling while I feasting my eyes at the angmoh ladies who were sunbathing at the lazy chair while drinking. Lol.

Then it was the time to go. Sadly, all of us went up to the rooms to have a quick shower, packed our bags and then gathered at the hotel’s lobby after checking out. Yoga was waiting for us there and all of us followed him to the van and off we went to the airport.

Everyone was feeling sad to leave this beautiful country. Along the way to the airport, we quickly collect tips for Yoga and the Mr van driver for their excellent services. We then passed to them when we’ve arrived in the airport. Before saying goodbye, we took like more than 10 group shoots together with Yoga and Mr van driver in front of the van.

I seriously don’t know how many shoots were taken as David set his DSLR on timer and it just clicked away! Lol!

We then went in to check-in, paid the airport tax of 150.000 Rupiah (my rate at that time was RM55.50) and in return, they gave us a very nice looking sticker! Heehee!

My bag weighted like 10.8kg! (I foresee for my China trip next year my bag’s weight will be nearing 15kg)

We had lunch at one of the airport restaurant where Sat and I shared a meal. Paid like 4USD for it. Pff!

After lunch, we walked towards the boarding hall. In front us (Sat and me) were a group of Indians who were arguing with the AirAsia’s stewardesses because they were not allowed to bring in a bottle of CK perfume into the plane. Since the CK perfume bottle she got is the big bottle (75ml), the stewardesses on duty obviously didn’t allow them to board the plane with the perfume. Apparently they claimed that they bought the perfume at the airport and that’s why they couldn’t check the perfume in – or they claimed so. Lol.

In the end, the young Indian lady just threw that bottle in the dustbin, and all of them entered the plane with long, black faces.

Both Sat and me was like wtfish? Lol!

We both agreed that later someone would just take the bottle from the dustbin and use it since it’s new. We thought the lady should just open up the bottle and pour out the content into the dustbin. It’ll be like – if you don’t want me to bring it in, then nobody else will allow using it. Lololololololol!

The flight back home was a smooth one. We reached LCCT on time and then boarded our next flight to Penang 2-3 hours later.

For this trip, I’ve spent like probably RM1,800++ for 6 flights, a 4D3N Bali tour, accommodation in Yogya and Jakarta, food, souvenirs, transportation around and unforeseen expenses like D60 battery. Lololololol!

Hooray! Finally the chapters of Indonesia trip are done. Now I can open a new ‘book’ and probably could start writing them next month! Anyway, if you missed out any of the posts, please do click at the links below.

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The journey to Legion Street somehow felt shorter. Probably the chat we had in the van made it shorter. I remembered us talking about the dessert we had in Yogyakarta, ronde to Yoga and Mr. Van driver.

We even asked them if we could find ronde in Bali since we were sort of carving for it. Sadly, ronde could only be found somewhere in Java especially in Yogyakarta as it’s a Javanese dish. Hearing that, we felt fortunate for able to try a local specialty in Yogya!

Mr Van driver revealed that he knows how to make that and revealed that it’s actually easy to do!

The moment our van entered Jl. Legian, we were excited and can’t wait to explore this street. The area is bursting with live as the whole street is aligned with pubs, shops, clubs, and restaurants on both sides!

Yoga briefed us on the bombing at Legian Street in 2002 and little did I know that the van actually stopped right opposite one of the bombed locations. I felt eerie looking at that place, even though the place is fenced with zinc board. A red banner hangs at the zinc board speaks of peace and criticises the act of bombing.

We got down and I was super fascinated with the colourful laser lights dancing shown from the top of the restaurant (where the van stopped at) onto the pavement. I think I did take pictures of the lights, but I can’t find them in my folder. Hmm.

Yoga then let us to explore the place on our own and even gave us direction to walk back to the hotel as he and Mr. Van driver will only meet us the next day. He even asked us to walk to the end of the street to have a look at the memorial of the 2002 bombing which is situated just few steps away.

So we did. We bid them goodbye and walked towards the memorial. The memorial is beautifully decorated, but somehow I felt eerie looking at the memorial. Right now, when I’m writing this, I managed to find the logic behind the eerie feeling. The memorial is built exactly on the bombing site, the Paddy’s Pub (source from Wikipedia). No wonder I never feel like taking picture of the memorial despite how beautiful it is.

We were indecisive on where to do. Since most of us have different interest on where to go, we decided to split up. Sat, Ailing, Emily and I decided to Touch&Go the shops in Legian. Major of them settled for barbeque ribs as recommended by David’s friend in one of the restaurant there. Another gang disappeared not long after that. We didn’t manage to bump into them, so we have totally no idea where they went. I was told later, they did exploring like what we did, but went back to hotel earlier.

Exploring Legian is fun. There are many things to see. We bargained price for souvenirs with the street vendors.

We got cute magnet fridge here!

One of the unforgettable was to walk into one of the dark alley to change money. -.-“

The story is like this. We wanted to change money as we brought USD with us. As we were walking, we stumbled upon this wooden chart at the street showing good exchange rate with an arrow pointing into the alley. Didn’t know why, we just walked into the alley and found the shop. However, the shop doesn’t look like the normal money changer booth. It’s has a high long counter and best of all, there’s nobody in the shop.

Just when we were about to walk off, someone saw us and shouted for his friend. Then two entered and asked how much we want to change. We asked them how much Rupiah we could get for 100 dollars. They punched the calculator and showed us the amount. Something just prompted me to take my ipod and calculate the rate back. I found out that the rate is LOWER than the chart showed in front. I showed to the rest. Then all of us felt potongstim and quickly walked out of the shop.

We continued walking until we reached a mini-market. All of us walked in since Sat was thirsty. At the end of the shop, there’s a “Money Changer” sign. So we asked the cashier and someone walked in. We asked for the rate. The rate is not that favourable too, but it’s better than the one offered earlier. We wanted to change USD50 only, but we were told they only accept USD100. We were dumbstruck, but eventually agreed. The guy went in to get the money.

However he took quite long that we felt potongstim and left the place.

This place is super happening I tell yo!

We stopped by a tour operator booth to simply check out the price and the activities offered. Then we asked them on where we can find a money changer booth. They then advised us to go for the legal money changer booth, as most operates illegal ones and they charged certain % for commission.

Hearing what they said made us finally realised why the amount showed by the dark-alley-money-changer-shop is lower. They included in commission fee, thus we get lesser than it should be. The guys at the operator booth asked us to look for the ones that show NO COMMISSION! They even pointed us a legal one which is located at the left side of the road upon turning right at the end of Legian Street.

With no idea where it is, we thanked them and then continued walking. Little did we know from Legian, we’ve reached Kuta. We couldn’t find the money changer. Hmm.

We would have continued walking towards the Kuta beach if someone didn’t suggest returning to our hotel to put our backpacks first. So we did, walked past the shop lots bearing big brands along Jl. Bakungsari and stopped abruptly at the Nike shop to check out the price. True enough, the price is slightly cheaper but nobody seemed to be interested in getting the goods there so we walked out of the shop with the salesgirls looking at us pitifully (it’s very hard since they gave such a good customer service), promised to check them out later after putting our bags.

We never came back.

After dumping our bags in the rooms including my camera gear (which explains not much picture of where we went after this sentence), we headed towards Kuta beach; smartly avoiding the Nike shop by taking the street opposite the shoplot. Lol.

It was windy when walking on the road along Kuta beach. Our initial motive was to look for a pub to have a drink, but we can only come across high class pubs/restaurants. Kuta Beach Street is so unlike Legian Street where one can find abundant pubs and restaurants like the Pub Street in Siem Reap.

But we managed to spot a McDonald’s outlet there and my, it was crowded! All went in for ice-cream and the ice-cream was slightly cheaper there. 5.500 Rupiah (RM2) for a double twist of vanilla sundae. Mm~

Done with the ice-cream, we walked a few steps further before deciding to walk back to our hotel room. We took our own sweet time walking, enjoying the strong wind coming from the Kuta beach. We laughed, giggled, cracked jokes nonstop. My, I never felt so relaxed before.

On the way back, we bumped into Daniel, David and William. Apparently they’re looking for a little massage at those massage parlour. Since we spotted few at Kuta beach, we suggested them to go there.

Believe it or not, we… or should I say Sat stopped for another round of ice-cream! It seemed like he couldn’t resist the temptation of MCD ice-cream. But before that, we stopped by Circle K for some beers and drinks. The store is something like 7/11. Beside the store is an ice-cream parlour. Can’t remember the name, but I remembered craving for its sorbet. Weird night craving in Kuta. Lol.

While Sat enjoying his ice-cream at McDonald’s outlet in Kuta town, the rest of us were having beers. I don’t really like beer, but just want to try their local beer for once so I bought it. Lol.

Once finishing the beers, we continued walking until we reached a tattoo parlour in front of the hotel. We contemplated awhile before entering.  Ailing and Emily decided to ‘tattoo’ themselves with henna ink. After agreeing on the price, Ailing sat on the ‘dentist chair’ (Lol) and the man with thousand tattoos on his body started putting henna on her wrist.

I don’t understand why tattoo parlour owner has lots tattoos on their bodies. It’s like a trademark thing is it? Hmm…

After Ailing’s, it was Emily’s turn. While Ai Ling and I waited for the guy to finish up Emily’s henna, Sat went out to the cybercafe to revive his iPhone back. His iPhone was super troublesome that time but luckily it didn’t give any trouble at Philippines. Keke!

Both Ailing and Emily were happy with their henna, but they were told to only take bath after an hour later. So we hang out at the hotel pool area; enjoying the silent of the night. Half of me felt like sleeping at the lazy pool chair but other part of me was worried over Sat’s safety. I have totally no way of contacting him or knowing where he goes. All I can do was to keep assuring myself that he’ll be safe and sound.

Soon mind began super tired and all agreed to head back to the room. I quickly showered and crawled to my bed.

Glad to know Sat came back soon after I konked.

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Along the way, there are many statues greeting us. One of many is a wooden statue of a man saluting, and I couldn’t help taking picture of him. He sure looks handsome here. Teehee.

Carefully balancing myself against the very strong wind, I walked there with the rest, occasionally grabbed someone for stability, I think I’ve developed fear falling onto the sea while on walking on high place with strong wind blowing against me; which I shall call it “strong-wind-at-high-place-phobia”. Super long, I know. Lol.

The view is just breathtaking. I couldn’t find a better word to describe, but I think one should visit Tanah Lot to see it themselves, and then they’ll know what I meant. Of course, if the person is not into nature or doesn’t know appreciate such beauty, then it might be a waste of time to them la. Bleks.

We took group photos here with fantabulous view.

Yoga then led us to another place. We walked along the stone path with garden fence guarding us from falling off the cliff.

Then he stopped, turned to face us and said, “This is a good place to take picture of the temple”, and he pointed in the direction behind us. We turned. Immediately all of us lift up our DSLR and shot. Lol!

Then we continued walking.

There’s one part of the walk where we could feel water droplet carried by the wind. Yoga fasted alarmed us, telling that the water droplet is not clean. It came from the drain nearby. Immediately all of us gave wtfish look, cover our lens with lens cap and walked faster.

Walking uphill, we reached another temple. While walking towards the temple, we could see the temple that we went earlier on our right; while on the left is the famous Temple by the Sea.

We weren’t allowed to enter this temple, but there’s a small path leading to the back that promises even more fantabulous view.

After that, we went all the way down to the main course, the Temple by the Sea. Along the way, I snapped many interesting things.

Yoga advised us to walk slowly as the bedrocks leading to the temple are slippery and wet and have many holes. I myself almost fell into one of the holes. @_@

But once I stabilised myself, I found myself looking at the beautiful gift from mother nature.

Even David agreed so with me. Haha!

If I’m not wrong, we did take a group photo here too with the big gigantic waves slamming against the bedrock as background. But I don’t remember using whose camera. Haha!

I was walking and simply snapping around, suddenly I heard someone gasped or shouted. Then I turned. I saw the guys helped Aaron up to his feet. Everyone then went to him. His knee bleed. @_@

Someone passed him a bottle of water to rinse his wound. I overheard that when Aaron fell, the only thing that’s up in the air was his hand holding the DSLR. I was like whoaaaa!

Yoga told us about the popular temple. The temple is built on a rock, thus explained the bedrocks around the temple. Besides being popular for strategically located by sea, the temple also holds a unique, unexplainable story. The temple as we know is surrounded by the sea water; but underneath the temple, inside a cave, freshwater can be seen gushing out of the ground. This phenomenon is magical, or the people there claimed so.

And that explains too, the very long queue of people coming out of the cave.

As much as I wanted to see the freshwater myself, but I was told that I can’t enter the cave, as the place is holy. -.-“

I was like, since when freshwater gushing out is holy? But since I’m in foreign place, and I don’t want to upset their god with my action, so I just look from afar. Moreover, the long queue was quite potongstim.

Sensing us got bored on the place with nothing much to take, Yoga then slowly walked out of the place. We ensued.

While crossing a small bridge on the way out, we saw 3 children sitting and playing water coming from the drain on top leading towards the sea. I didn’t realise that the water is actually from the drain until Sat highlighted it to me. Eww!

Out of sudden, the topic of tranny came out. I can’t remember how it started, but I think Yoga asked what’s ah gua? All of us laughed. Someone explained to him.

Yoga then told us in their language, tyranny is called bencong. Maybe it’s spelled differently, it’s pronounced as ben-zhong.

And we laughed out real loud and hard. Then we looked at David, and warned him NOT to name his future son, Ben. Or else he’ll be a laughing stock in Bali. We all then laughed.

Can’t believe we have this funny-word-session with guide on each trip. In Cambodia, Siya asked about the meaning of langleng. In Bali, we were laughing out head off about ahgua and bencong with Yoga.

I can’t help to wonder what word will be next in our coming trip. Lol!

We were laughing all the way out of Pura Tanah Lot. As the sky was getting dark, the place was still full of people. Throngs of tourists were pouring in; we had to wade through the sea of people to get out of the place.

Despite having people coming in my direct, I managed to take few photos on the way out. Especially if I see interesting things! Lol.

Like the artistic decoration. Or a night creature.

And maybe a well-known shop in the local shops.

I was feasting my camera lens with all the colourful, interesting things when suddenly Yoga took a right turn. I looked up. We’ve reached our restaurant for that evening. Dewi Sinta Hotel, Spa and Restaurant.

This hotel, tucked away from busy street, is truly a hidden gem. Even though we didn’t have the chance to stay or look around the hotel, but while walking towards the restaurant, we could feel the luxury of the hotel from the interior design of the hotel, decorations and also the choice of colour.

Yoga asked the hotel staff for medicine for Aaron’s knee. He went in and took out a first aid box and attend Aaron’s wound. After that the hotel staff showed us our table and we made ourselves comfortable at the table.

We were presented with a plate of spring roll as appetizer; with then followed by a bowl of soup.

The rest dishes came after we finished our appetizer and soup. All quickly took pictures of the food and only attacked the food once everyone has satisfied with the amount of photos they took of the food.

One of their significant dishes is the red sate burnt over the small charcoal. That dish is heavenly! It came with 8 sticks, to be shared by 4 people. I ate one, and kept aside the other one to be savoured later after finished eating.

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I think I fell asleep. If not mistaken, someone woke me up when the van stopped at the side of a busy road. Everyone got down and took their bags along. Blurry, I took my small bag and Sat’s camera bag as he took his and mine big backpacks. We crossed the busy road, walked into a small alley, and turned right into a paradise.

Yoga led us to the hotel lobby which is on the right. The lobby is special – the most unique lobby I ever stumbled upon. The Balinese lobby, as I call it – consists of stone stairs, cushions, pillows and a big wooden coffee table.

Lazily, I sat at the cushions and leaned against the puffy pillows. I suffered from the temporary heat stroke when we walked to the hotel and although I was very grateful for the cooling effect from the stone floor in the hotel lobby, the heat is still unbearable and I had to whip out my foldable fan to cool myself.

Sat and Yoga settled the room registration and then passed us our room keys. Yoga gave us a time to meet up and then all of us went to our room to freshen up.

If I tell you that I was at daze and blur from the sleep and heat stroke earlier, I can tell you that I was immediately cured the moment we walked out of the lobby towards our room. The long swimming pool in the middle of two 2-storey buildings is too fantabulous! I wish to drop all my bags down and just jump into the pool! It’s simply too irresistible!

All of us got the rooms on the first floor of the building on the left side. Our room was still being cleaned when we went up there. So we hid in Ailing’s and Emily’s room to get away from the heat. The room is cosy, and cooling at the same time.

10 minutes later, we were finally able to enter our room. Once got into the room, we quickly took pictures of the room and went shower. Then we dashed out of the room to the lobby where everyone was already waiting.

Checking back my pictures, I don’t know why I didn’t took any pictures of the hotel lobby, restaurant and the pool area! I totally loveeee this place, yet there’s not much pictures! *sulk*

After that Sat led us all to the Kuta beach. I don’t know how he knows to get there, but I was super happy to be in Kuta as it’s a fun place to be! There are plenty of shops to look around; plenty of handsome guys and pretty girls for the eyes feast on; plenty of food to eat! Even though I were only in Kuta for less than an hour, but I already liking this place! Lol!

We reached the famous Kuta beach but we didn’t walk towards the beach. Instead, we were walking along the street opposite the beach to where Yoga and Mr. Van driver were. It was windy and there were sand flying into my eyes! Urgh!

The moment we saw Yoga and Mr. Van driver, we quickly got into the van.

Our van left the busy, tourists-packed spot, towards the outskirts. Our next destination is not that near; yet not that far too. The entire journey was somehow made pleasant by the view of the picturesque paddy fields despite the occasional bumpy ride due to the uneven red road. I couldn’t stop taking pictures of the scenery out there as they’re simply too beautiful!

We even passed by the famous Le Meridien Nirwana Golf and Spa Resort which was said to be surrounded by landscaped paddy terraces only and have its own golf course. I was like whoa! Whoa! not because of the golf course, but for the hotel is in the middle of paddy fields. Must be pretty serene and relax waking up to the sight of paddy fields and fresh air in the morning. <3

After about 30 minutes of numbing our butts, we reached our last important must-visit for the entire trip, Tanah Lot. I was super duper excited as I wanted to see this beautiful temple with my own eyes. So to be finally there made me somehow quite nervous.

The moment we passed by the entry toll and into the parking bay, we were astonished to see the amount of people there. The parking bay is full of buses, vans and cars too. Mr. Van Driver drove the van out of the parking bay and turned left into a quieter lane and stopped at somewhere near the makeshift stalls selling drinks. In front of us is an entrance.

We got down and walked in.

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Woke up early in the morning – got ready and went down to have breakfast with Sat. The earliest birds, Lasker and Elise were already there when we entered the hotel’s open restaurant. Ordered their Indonesian breakfast and both of us hogged the hotel free wifi and did facebooking, check emails, twitters while waiting for the food to come. Jess and Steven came later, followed by the rest.

Food came (no photos again cz I didn’t bring any camera with me) and I ate them up pretty fast as I was hungry. Then we went back to our room to pack our stuffs and gathered at the hotel’s open lobby. I went around and took final few shoots before one of us suggested on group photo.

Since everyone loves this place and loves taking photo, who can say no to this suggestion?! Haha.

All of us boarded the van and we left Sri Ratih Cottage for our next destination in the morning, Goa Gajah. Along the way, we saw an accident. Actually I didn’t notice it, but Sat was pointing and forcing me to turn my head back and snap the off track jeepney. Heehee.

It was a happy, sunny day. I loveeeee taking photos of the outside world while on the move.

I’m not going into detail on Goa Gajah since I were not allowed to enter(Pffff!) and what I did was playing games on iTouch and camwhoring. Muahaha!

Then I got bored and started taking pictures of the area.

And this time, the cow didn’t come early to accompany me (pfffff again) and I felt the wait was longerrrr than yesterday which was rather potong stim. The van driver left the van soon after everyone got down, so humbug!

About nearly an hour later, the rest came back and off we went to the other destination, a silver jewellery making centre. Along the way, like usual I took many pictures while I think I should put them up here.

I don’t remember the name of the shop, but once we got down a man (the centre’s guide) greeted us and started talking to us. We were led to the shed where a man was making something related to the jewellery. Sorry, I don’t really remember what was he doing as I was in the toilet when the guide was talking and I was busy ‘talking’ to a dog in a cage once I got out of the toilet stall. Haha.

But I did take few pictures of the process. I think he was making a pendant.

The picture above abit blur – but don’t care la. Hehe.

Then the guide took us to their gift/souvenir shop. Inside, I couldn’t light my eyes of many, shiny, beautiful jewelleries. I thought of getting one or two, since the price is not that expensive. But then I thought of my purse. The amount of money in my bag.

And my hope dashed.

I could only look around, feast my eyes with those beautiful things and left the store immediately. Sat looked happy knowing that I walked out without buying anything and he sort of ‘console’ me. Lol.

Everyone then went back to the van and we went to the next stop – Sukawati Local Market. Before getting down, Yoga did tell us that it’s okay to bargain to about 70% of the said price.

No pictures of the Sukawati Market since I was busy bargaining instead of snapping.

Acknowledging that, we quickly got down and walked straight to the end of the market. There are ladies from the far right shop calling us to have a look at their products. Someone asked for price, and true indeed the price dropped slowly. Few of the guys were already picking up the design of the shirts they wanted.

Since we just reached there, Sat, AL, Emily and I decided to scout at the inner side of the market. We realised they’re all selling almost similar stuffs, so we stopped at a stall owned by a tall lady and asked for the price of a T-shirt. She offered lower. We went back to the gang and told them about it.

Then Sat decided to try his luck by asking the ladies of the shop if they could counter offer what the tall lady’s price.

Out of sudden, one of the ladies got so angry (or probably agitated) and shouted at Sat back. She said in Bahasa Indonesian, “I already offered you very low price. In fact, every stall here will give you the same price. If you don’t like, then don’t buy here. Go other place!“

Immediately four of us gave the WTFISH looks to her.

Feeling angry for her at yelling at my boyfriend, I scolded her back – “Why are you shouting? We’re only asking for lower price. If you can’t offer that price, just say no. No need to shout like that.“

And she kept hissing and pulling long face that we decided, that’s it – we’re SO NOT going to buy anything from her. So we walked back to the tall lady’s stall. I’m unsure if the rest bought something from that shop or not, but all I know is all 13 of us bought plenty of stuffs from the tall lady because she’s charming and couldn’t stop smiling and the best of all, she jokes too!

That’s what you call top notch customer service!

Because of that, we closed deal to about millions of rupiahs with her! I could see everyone was looking at her with green eyes. She was grinning from ears to ears and when we passed her money, she counted with a big smile on her face. I teased her on able to make a kenduri for her village soon for her new-found good fortune and she just laughed and nodded her head.

When we left her stall, we purposely walked to the shop and flashed our goods to the lady shouted earlier to sort of ‘give’ her a lesson for screaming at her potential customers. I don’t know if she realises that she lost a big business that by us flashing in front of her, but I hope someone tells her about it. Haha.

Yoga asked us on the goods we got since we showed up with many bags and big broad smiles. I can’t remember if we did tell him on the shouting incident. Hmm.

It was a long journey to Kuta, but we didn’t feel that since there are many things to see along the way. One of many is the monument park. The Upt. Monumen Perjuangan Rakyat Bali. Our van slowed down and stopped at the side for photoshooting.

We didn’t get down since we didn’t have the time to do so. So we took pictures from the van itself. That time, I wish I had telelens for zooming. T_T

The picture is senget but don’t care laaaaa! I know that I can straighten it at Picasa but I’m lazy! Bleks!

Just when I thought of taking another nice shot of the monument, Yoga asked if everyone is done with photoshooting and someone yelled yup! and Mr. Van Driver maneuvered his van back to the busy road. -.-“

Yoga then spoke again, asking us if we were feeling hungry. That time it was about 1 in the afternoon. Or was it 2.

But I know that I felt hungry the moment Yoga spoke about lunch. Haha.

Yoga then told us that we were going to stop by a restaurant along the way for lunch. I was joyful as I felt like biting (food) something soon. So yay!

Our van turned left suddenly and stopped in front of a white minimalist concept restaurant with high glass windows. Expecting to dine at a normal restaurant, I was seriously at awe and disbelief. Never would I be expecting to have lunch at such restaurant on a trip. Even my Japan trip a year ago, we ate at either the hotel restaurants (since it’s included and provided by the hotel) or normal looking restaurant tucked somewhere in the outskirts or hidden somewhere in the building built underneath an overhead bridge.

Like usual, we were greeted warmly and led to a very long table. The restaurant is spacious, the ceiling is very high up and the wooden chairs and tables colour complements the white wall and the high glass windows. In the middle of the restaurant, there are long tables with many spread of food – if I’m not mistaken.

Barely 5 minutes of warming our butts against the chair, the ever-smiling waitresses came to us with menu for drinks and placed a glass of water in front of us. Seeing the glass of water, we didn’t order any drink (yeah, we’re super kiam siap! ) and the waitresses presented us our food soon.

It was Indonesian food again! Whee!

But somehow the taste is different from the one we had in Ubud. I finished up the food pretty fast as I was hungry. Some of them were talking and laughing while eating. Some jokes were pretty funny that I ended up laughing too.

Few girls went to the toilet and came back praising on the toilet design. Curiously, I went to the toilet too. I wanted to bring my camera there, but it would be too weird to do so. So I just went empty handed. True enough; the toilet is so mind-blowing. It’s one of those open toilet concept (as in open up, not mixed gender ah!), with waterfall at the front of the entrance, open wall at the side of the washing basin, overlooking greenery. Obviously the toilet stalls are closed, or else there’s no privacy when doing business. Lol. The washing basin is made of stone, and if I’m not mistaken, there are pebbles at the inner corner of the floor beneath the washing basin. I’m writing all this down based on my memory, so please correct me if I’m wrong. Haha.

Mental note to myself: Bring camera to toilet if the toilet is beautifully designed. Haha!

We left the restaurant soon for Kuta after I came back from the toilet.

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The guys were conspiring on jumping into the pool at night with beer by the poolside; which made me all green eyes as I wanted to join too! Hmph! But I let my pool temptation slide by doing the I-hear-no-evil-meditation-thingy. Haha.

When all of us arrived, we got back into the van and off we went to the dinner place at Panorama Bar & Restaurant. We were supposedly to have dinner at Lasmi Restaurant, but the tour agent owner changed that for us.

The van pulled to a stop in front of Panorama hotel.

I wasn’t expecting us to dine at a hotel’s restaurant on a humble backpacking trip, but we did! We walked into the restaurant with the restaurant staffs warmly welcoming us in and led us to our table.

We weren’t that happy with the arrangement of 4 people per table and asked if we could combine them up as we love to eat together on a long table. Unfortunately they can’t, so we’ll just accept the arrangement.

Beside the restaurant, there’s a beautiful lotus garden and a lovely pool! I went crazy upon seeing the pool and how I wish I could jump into that wonderful pool!

On the right side of the pool, there is a white two storey building dedicated for spa purposes while on the other side there is a gazebo. All of us left our table and went photo shooting around the places. It was totally beautiful!

A 3 storey building at the far left is where the guests of Panorama Hotel stay. I did a little research on this hotel and seems like there are only 33 rooms in this hotel – which is good as one would get attentive care from the hotel staffs.

After taking satisfying amount of photos, Sat and I walked back to the restaurant, just to find out that the staffs had arranged us to sit at 2 long tables where each can sit up to 8 people.

We chatted a little bit before the food came. A wooden tray consists of a squarish plate of rice, a bowl of soup, small plates of sweet sambal (I loveeee that even tho I can’t take spicy stuff!) and onion+chili salad, oval plates of vegetable and prawn crackers (if I’m not mistaken), 2 tempeyek and 2 sticks of satay which tastes like otak otak (totally LOVEEE that one!) and a big chicken drumsticks with black sauce over it. Mm mm~

And yes, they gave us a pair of chopsticks and spoon. Lol!

If only the food is not that salty, then it would be perfecto! I don’t know why all the food I tasted in Bali is salty. Is it because the Balinese loves salty food or is it because they have this impression that the Chinese from Chinaland loves salty food that’s why they purposely made the food saltier. I’m not sure how true is that statement of Chinaland people’s love affair with salt but I was told that some restaurant would do so if were to told beforehand that the Chinese are going to dine there.

But the thing is we are Malaysian Chinese (with a Chindian with us) and we don’t really love salty stuff, so that salt thing would never go well on us. Haha. Never the less, I finished up everything offered to me as I was so hungry but drank glasses and glasses of water after that.

Our table was noisier compared to the other one as we would yap and then laughed nonstop! It was only when I realized that the other table was actually waiting for us to make a move, I quickly jabbed Sat at his thigh and then all of us left the table and walked towards the porch.

I don’t know how long we sat there, but we were the last customers to leave the place as the place was absolutely empty except the staffs at the cashier talking and occasionally looking at us should we need any help.

On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at the convenient store to get snacks and drinks as they planned to have party by the pool. Some even bought beers and cocktails to suit the mood!

I on the other hand was eager to visit those beautiful shops located along Jl. Raya Ubud. But our van sped past them, leaving me feeling curious on what’s selling inside those shops.

As we were reaching our hotel, we saw many people in traditional costumes walking down the road on our right. I assumed there’s a temple nearby there but I can’t be sure as our van then took a left turn and soon stopped in front of our hotel.

We got down, bid Yoga and Mr. Van Driver goodnight and went to our respective room as getting the keys from the receptionist.

30 minutes later, the guys were in the pool swimming around, laughing and talking quite loudly while we girls sat at the lobby area surfing the net!

I frequently updated my FB status and chatted with friends via Fring using Sat’s iPhone as my iPod touch was low on battery. Ailing and Emily on the other hand was online using their Nokia phones and Jess was blogging (I was impressed with her determination of blogging on the spot!) from her HP Netbook.

Now, who said girls aren’t gadget savvy?

Elise then joined us and we talked and giggled nonstop on various topics until I felt tired and retired to bed.

However, once I got back to the room I wasn’t feeling tired but feeling a little bit off mood (maybe due to menstrual) so I on the TV and watched their local channel… until I felt asleep. Haha.

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I stumbled upon priceless rubbishes!

Months after coming back from Indonesia, I finally cleared these papers off my bag to give way for the incoming papers from my incoming trip! I took a picture, placed them into a big envelope and put them in my memento box. I got a box full of stuffs – all collected from places I’ve been to

Ah, I couldn’t be more excited on my coming trip. 4 weeks to go! Can’t wait! <3

To read about the Indonesia trip, please click the links below.

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Oh well, I am not surprised with the amount of people there as the road is aligned with shops on the both sides! Even I would want to enter those shops just to check their goods out though I was almost penniless. Lol.

Mr. van driver turned left into a smaller road and stopped at the side of an open hall – I think the open hall is used for show performances since there’s a big stage there.

We got down from the van and crossed to small road to a high rise bricked wall with beautiful Balinese carvings.

We walked through the opened red wooden doors and wondered where we were as we saw in front of us is a beautifully decorated garden with a small stages for performance and musician.

Yoga explained to us that we were in Puri Saren Agung’s courtyard – which is the home of Ubud King; but now it’s occupied by the descendants of the last ‘king’ of Ubud.

Upon hearing that, everyone was excited and hoped to see the descendants or even enter the palace. To our hope and expectation, there weren’t anyone there except for us.

The stage – as he continued is where the beautiful dancers would perform legong dance every Monday’s and Saturday’s night.

It was Saturday when we were in Ubud but I didn’t know why we didn’t watch the show. Or I think I heard him wrongly – instead of Saturday, I heard he said Wednesday? Hmm.

So we did what we do best – take plenty of photographs at the courtyard.

There’s this one particular wall with a big carvings of Kali. Yoga told us on the story of Kali – which I can’t really remember now. I knew I forced myself to remember this story in my mind as I plan to write about it but now – I can’t as I already forgot!

Yoga gave us few hours to explore the place on our own. I wanted to walk to the famous shops and markets but Sat told me there wouldn’t be enough time to do so.

Since David suggested trying their babi guling at this famous shop, Ibu Oka opposite the Puri Saren Agung as recommended by his friends – I was thinking why not?

So all 13 of us walked into the restaurant – and found ourselves sitting crossed legs facing the wall at the side table. Initially we thought of waiting for the long table in the middle of the restaurant so that all of us could sit together, but we didn’t have much time to spare there. So we just grabbed whatever table that’s available.

The restaurant was so crowded and packed until there were customers standing outsides waiting for their tables. Luckily we were 1 minute ahead of them, or else we would be the ones standing outside. Lol.

We looked up at the BIG menu board on the wall and were thinking on what to order. Sat and I decided to share a plate since we were going to go for dinner soon. After all, we just wanted to try this local delicacy.

When the food came, we were impressed. It looked delicious, and we can’t wait to sink our teeth into the meat. Quickly I wiped the cutleries with tissue paper, scooped up a spoonful of rice with a small slice of meat and brought that spoon into my mouth… and bit them.

Delicious – the taste isn’t that bad. However I think this dish is rather overrated as many people claimed that babi guling is mind-blowing and a must to try. True, it is a must-try-dish, but no, it didn’t blow my mind away.

Maybe both Sat and I put such high expectation on this dish. You know, when expectation isn’t meet, disappointment and criticism ensued and one of the funny remarks was “char siew fan could win this hands down!”

We quickly finished our plate of babi guling and teh es – Sat ordered two as he was super duper thirsty, but I think he was addicted to that drink; went to the cashier and paid 44.000 Rupiah (RM16.28) and brought ourselves a bottle of 1.5 litres water (4.000 Rupiah = Rm1.50) from the convenient store next to Ibu Oka since our water supply was running low.

The store was playing the song I heard in Candi Mendut so when I was paying for the water, I asked her on it. She took out a CD from the display racks and passed it to me. She told me the song isn’t the Balinese, but Sulawesi. Then she pointed to another 2 CDs where she claimed they are the Balinese songs.

I turned to the back of the CD to look at the title – which then made me feel dumb as I didn’t know the songs in the CD, moreover the song titles! To make myself feel and look less dumb, I looked at the price. It was affordable, but I couldn’t bring myself to buy this as my Rupiah is running low. So, I passed back the CD to the lady, smiled and said Thank You before leaving out the store.

The rest joined us seconds after we got out of the store. Then we walked to the open hall as some of us wanted to use the loo, which is located at the side of the stage. While they relieving themselves, we took pictures of the hall and realized that we were being watched by the locals. Maybe we acted too jakun to get the ‘watch’. Lol.

Yoga soon came to us and asked if we were ready to go. Since we got nothing much to do and we can’t go elsewhere since we have time constraint, so we smiled meekly and said yes. While waiting for the van to come, I took pictures of the surroundings.

And then I couldn’t stop noticing the two ladies across the road.

Or should I say, I can’t lift my eyes of the white top they were wearing.

The white top they wore akin to our kebaya top, but I just feel that I had to own one. So, I asked Yoga where can I find that top.

Yoga looked at the ladies I pointed to. Then he said, “Oh, that top needs 2-3 days to ready.”

Surprised, I asked if I could get one off the shelf, and disapprovingly he said no. He said those types of blouse are tailor made and very comfortable to wear.

Saddened, I continued taking pictures of the surrounding until the van arrived.

Then we were brought to our accommodation for the night.

In the van, Yoga told us about our accommodation upgrade and even showed us where we supposed to stay (The Abangan Bungalow) as we were passing through that place. Then the van turned left into a secluded area and soon the van pulled to a stop after turning into left again.

We got down, took our backpacks and walked towards the lobby. We were greeted warmly by the hotel workers and Sat quickly went to settle our room registration. I was lazy to move about and just sat at the long wooden bench since my tummy cramped due to period. The rest were happily snapping away, and exploring the places.

By the way, the place we were staying at is Sri Ratih Cottage, a very nice looking hotel with great swimming pool.

Yeah, SWIMMING POOL!

I don’t understand why on earth the period has to come when I was vacationing?! I was super excited upon seeing the pool and then it hit me, I can’t jump into the pool! @#$&(*&!

Sat then passed us our keys to our rooms and Sat and I went to have our welcome drink first before going to our rooms to wash up for dinner.

And omg, the room is so nice! The room is spacious;. There were rose petals on the bed, very romantically done!

I thought only the room is spacious. Little did I know the bathroom is big too! It’s big that I think 20 people go in comfortably. Haha!

Since I stayed at the upper floor, there’s a balcony and the view from the balcony is fantastic (it overlooks the pool)!

To be frank, I wasn’t expecting all these as we were on a backpack trip. For me, to have a clean and comfortable bed is sufficient, BUT to have such a wonderful room in our trip is truly like a cherry on top of a sundae ice cream!

To be continued…

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]]> http://phingelicious.com/2010/06/indon-xvi-ubud-%e2%80%93-the-land-of-fine-arts/feed/ 2 http://phingelicious.com/2010/06/indon-xv-our-van-driver/ http://phingelicious.com/2010/06/indon-xv-our-van-driver/#comments Wed, 02 Jun 2010 15:14:45 +0000 angeline http://phingelicious.com/?p=1813 From Hotel Surya, our van went uphill to Jalan Raya Penelokan where we were told about the absolutely breathtaking view of Mount Batur and Danau Batur. Mr van driver pulled a stop at one of the look-out point along Jalan Raya Penelokan. Before getting down, Yoga warned us about the persistent handicraft sellers there. He told us only look and bargain for the good if we wanted to buy. Else, ignored them.

So we did. We got down and walked to a very narrow lane built on a cliff, behind a handicraft shop.

And my, the view is indeed beautiful. Again, every one of us can’t believe that we just climbed that mountain few hours ago! It looked so complicated, so untouchable, so unconquerable from afar. Yet, we managed to do so!

We took few photos there, I then realised the only thing that prevents us from falling off the cliff is the railing made of bamboo shoots! And the platform we were standing on and the buildings around us are further strengthened by the bamboo shoots also. So, imagine if Mount Batur explodes, the whole area might just give way like that! Scary indeed!

With nothing else to do, we got into our van where we were brought to a restaurant few metres from the look-out point. When we reached, we noticed that the restaurant name is Restoran Panca Yoga and playfully teased Yoga by saying that he brought us to his restaurant! Haha.

We were warmly greeted by the waiters and waitresses of the restaurant and were led to our table behind the building, overlooking Mount Batur and Danau Batur! The restaurant offers buffet lunch with variety of choices to choose from. I simply took a little bit of everything to try.

Having lunch with such a spectacular view is totally awesome! If only the weather was a little bit cloudy then it would be perfect as I had to wear sunglasses while eating because of the sun glare! Haha.

After a satiated awesomely lunch, we left Kintamani for next stop – Bangli. I can’t remember the route there as I fell asleep soon after Mr. Driver began descending Jalan Raya Penelokan. I only woke up when the van stopped. I looked around and wondered where we were. The place looks and smells like Balik Pulau.

Yoga led us into an orchard, where the rest took the opportunity to take pictures of the fruits. The whole place looks like the orchard behind my granny’s house therefore I didn’t take much – except for the fruits and trees I never seen before.

We then reached a hut and the aroma of roasted coffee was strong there. A man was seen stirring the coffee beans while the other supervising him.

The very fragrant roasted coffee beans. Mm~

At the side was an aged woman crunching the beans using a big wooden stick with the help from a younger girl.

A toddler was seen walking near the hut, barefooted.

Sitting behind the aged woman was a baby girl who has the most infectious smile! She couldn’t stop smiling and giggling – which made me so delighted! Her eyes are so round and beautiful and my, she made me feel like cuddling her but obviously I didn’t. Hehe.

Initially I was puzzled on why were we going through someone’s orchard and looking at the men roasting the coffee. Then only I know why. We were there to see the famous and most expensive coffee – the luwak coffee.

If you’re not a coffee lover and wondering what the hell is luwak coffee (like me), this coffee’s beans came from the civets‘ poo. Yup, you didn’t read this wrongly. The civets eat the coffee berries from the coffee trees and it’s time to go, the beans came out together with the droppings. Human would then look for the beans in the droppings, wash and clean them before putting them out in the sun. Then they would roast the beans lightly and finally brew them.

Hearing that, I couldn’t help but showing my tongue out. I can’t imagine how something in an animal’s droppings could be a luxury food to human! So I decided to try it when the rest asked about it. When we asked about the price, we were uber shocked – 30.000 Rupiah (RM11.10) for a tiny cup!

Someone then suggested on sharing a cup of coffee – since all of us JUST want to try the taste of the expensive coffee. We asked around on whom wanting to try, and ordered a cup from the person-in-charge there. He then started making one. If not mistaken, everyone’s eyes were on him; observing the way he made the coffee. Then he passed a cup to one of us.

It was AL who had the honour of trying first. While she took a sip, everyone looked at her eagerly and then asked, “How’s is it? Got smell like shit or not?”

I can’t really remember what she said, but if not mistaken she told us it tasted like coffee. Lol!

Next, it was my turn since I sat beside her. Carefully, I took a sip – and my, it was bitter!!! I think Nescafe Coffee is much nicer! Lol!

The tiny cup was ¾ empty only when it reached the 10^th person. So, we decided to go another round. Then we took out 3.000 Rupiah (RM1.10) each and passed over to the person-in-charge.

Besides the luwak coffee, we were given free samples of coffee, tea and chocolate drink too. After finishing the samples and the coffee luwak, we checked out their shop and slowly walked back to our van.

We got in our van and headed to our next stop – Pura Tirta Empul. I can’t remember the entire journey there as I felt asleep the moment the van was on the road. I guess the morning hike and the menstrual made me tired very easily.

Soon we reached the Gate of Pura Tirta Empul. I was extremely excited as I was dying to visit this temple when I did research on Bali few months ago. But I forgot the most important part – this beautiful temple also known as holy spring temple; is said to be so sacred that those having menstrual couldn’t enter.

So, I watched the rest entered the temple; feeling very sad and blaming myself for forgetting about this vital point. If I remembered, I would have got the ‘anti-menstrual pill’!

As the van moved towards the car park, I was trying my very best to hold back my tears by playing game and wearing sunglasses. I consoled myself with lots of reasons – from telling myself that ‘this-place-is-not-really-that-beautiful to ‘shall-go-back-to-Bali-again-to-visit-this-place’. Still, tears dropped without me realizing.

I quickly wiped my tears and continued playing game – putting my mind of this place. Then the van driver initiated a small chat. He asked if I would want to get down and look at the souvenir shops in front of us.

I shook my head and said no. I then asked him, if there are other temples that I couldn’t enter in the next trip. He didn’t answer my question. Instead he took out a laminated A4 map of Bali, turned to the other side and showed me the picture of Pura Tirta Empul. Then he passed the map to me where I gratefully took from him.

While the map shielding my face, I quickly wiped another rolling tears. I quickly calmed myself down and passed back the map to him. Then I continued playing game and listening to songs. He got out of the van to find his fellow friends.

One annoying thing I felt while waiting for the rest is a lady fruit seller. She knocked the van’s window plane to attract my attention and then asked me to buy fruits from her. I didn’t feel like having one, so I smiled at her and politely waved my hands – signaling No and then continued playing game.

5 minutes later, she went to the other side of the van and knocked again. A bit frustrated, I shook my hand and then concentrate on my game.

10 minutes from the 2^nd knock, I looked up to see her sitting on the pavement in front of the van. I looked at the fruits she was carrying – they sure didn’t look fresh to me.

Few minutes later, she came to the side, knocked and begged me to buy something from her but I pretended not to hear any knock or pleading. I couldn’t afford to waste Rupiah as I didn’t have much left. Moreover, I was in the sad mood, all I need is ice-cream. If she’s selling ice-cream I would gladly buy one from her.

Suddenly, I felt the van door opened and I looked up in alarm. It was my hero! Words couldn’t describe how happy I was to see him. ^^

I looked behind him, the rest weren’t with him. He told me that he purposely came back early to accompany me, fearing that I would be lonely in the van. I felt so grateful for what he did, but I told him he should explore the whole place so that he would know what to bring me to see next time. Then he laughed and I looked at the photos he took from his DSLR. The place looks so beautiful, just like the pictures I saw in the net. Haih. Ultimate sadness.

Seeing this, he took his DSLR off my hand and then talked to me. The lady fruit seller came again, knocking and pointing to her fruits and I let Sat declined her this time. Haha.

The van door opened again, and it was the rest. Sat got down and went to his seat in front, next to Yoga. The girls came in and told me that the place is not that fun, not beautiful, and not worth seeing. Deep down my heart I knew that they’re saying this because they didn’t want me to feel left out. Real nice of them to have such thoughts. <3 <3 <3

As the girls were chatting with me, I realised that our van already moved out of the Holy Spring Temple and going through remote kampong area. As remote as it looked, the place is actually famous for its puppet making. Of the 10 wooden huts, 7 are heavily decorated with puppets and puppet-making tools. Probably some huts are actually their workshops as well as their shops.

Mr. van driver steered the van downhill and then uphill (which made we felt like on a roller coaster ride) before entering into another village. Upon entering, I concluded the area must be famous for the glass craftsmanship as there are plenty of huts showcasing their works.

As I sat by the window on the right side, even though the sun was glaring at me I gleefully admire the pretty, colourful glasses that went by me… I mean as our van went past them until the van stopped. Then I turned to the left and there, the view of the terraced paddy field greeted me.

We got down our van, crossed the road before descending the stairs down to the look-out point. As much as I wish the view was fantabulous like the pictures I saw in the net, it didn’t turn out something like that. Sat then told me that we came at the wrong season, that’s why the hills aren’t that green. True enough they were just about to plough the land, that’s why so much brownness.

Just before the stairs down the look-out point, there is this pretty young child about 6-7 years old, begging 2 pretty looking foreigners to buy postcards. I could see that she begged so much until the 2 ladies pitied and finally got one stack from her. Happily, she let the ladies took pictures with her. Haha.

We took 2-3 group photos there with the help from Yoga and then left the place. The place is full of souvenir and handicrafts shops and I wished I have the money to shop there! I had my eyes on one of the things there, but I was thinking even if I brought enough – will there be enough time for me to shop since we had such a hectic schedule? Will there be enough space for my bag to carry back as the bag looked like it was about burst?

We walked a bit further up before boarding our van. We then continued our journey to the heart of Ubud.

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At the top of Mount Batur, I remembered peeking at my watch to see what time it was and how long we took to conquer this mountain. Unfortunately I can’t remember the exact time but it was somehow around 7-ish in the morning.

Everyone was in good spirit – there weren’t a sign of fatigue on their faces at all. Maybe it was the 2 golden retrievers that boasted our spirits by running around us playfully. If it weren’t for the dogs, I think most of us would have just ‘die’ off there. Lol.

‘Die’ in this term means sleep. Not ‘that’ die ya. Lol.

After resting for quite some time, the guides motioned us to follow them to the inner side of the mountain where the crater is. We then reached an edge where we had to ‘slide’ about a metre down the big rocks to get nearer to the crater. The guys opted to jump down (ego mah) while the girls with the help from the guide slowly climb and slide down. The two golden on the other hand, went down so smoothly like pros. When they got down, they happily wagged their tails and ‘waited’ for the rest of us to get down.

Once everyone got down, we proceed to the left and found ourselves in front of a big cave. The cave isn’t deep enough tho, but it can produce echo if one speaks considerably loud. Hehe.

I took 1-2 photos just to realize that I was actually taking photos of the rock. So I stopped and asked myself what the hell I supposed to look at there. Lol.

Then someone asked if want to take group picture there. Though didn’t know what to take, but we just blindly agreed and took 1-2 pictures there. Now I wonder we took group photo using whose DSLR at that time? Hmm.

Then we walked past the place where we got down and head towards an open field-like hill. In front of us is the crater/groove/mouth of volcano mountain where every 1-2 minute there would be hot steam coming out from there.

We sat there and had a relaxing time looking at the steam gushing out from the Earth and also the antics pulled by our guides. One of the guides took a banana from AL’s backpack and then steamed it in a hole that also gave hot steam out. After 10 minutes later, he took it out and passed the banana to AL. AL took a bite and he asked, “How is it? Good?”

She replied, “yums!” and everyone laughed. Haha.

From far we could see the shadows of few men walking on top of the higher ground. We assumed that they are David and Daniel so we waved frantically at them! And they waved back. But until now we weren’t sure if it was them that we see. Lol.

We walked back to the hut; patiently waited for the other 2 men to join us by playing with the dogs. Again the dogs helped the ease the waits as if weren’t for them, we would have just descend the mountain first as it was super windy. Not long after that they reached and the guides that followed them up told me that “your friends are strong!” and I laughed. Haha.

Soon it was time to go down. Since I’ve regained my energy back, I slowly hike down the hill on my own, without any help from the guide. *Super proud of myself for doing so* The process is indeed slower but I can now tell people that I hike down Mount Batur without any help! Hoho!

I was on high alert and the same guide that guided me up always offered his hand for support but I politely declined his good intention as I really wanted to do it on my own. Sat wasn’t sure if I could do it, so he was already either standing in front of me or behind me – just in case I slipped. Hehe.

There’s once I slipped because of the stupid rocks again – but he managed to hold me from behind. Then he teased, “No need help konon. Ceh.”

Then I told him, “Then let me fall la. Who asks you to help?” and showed my tongue to him. Haha.

The process of getting down is much more easier than going up. Probably it’s due to the fact that I could see where I was going rather than being pulled up like a cow. By 9 something we were already reached the foot of Mount Batur where the Balinese altar is.

I put my hand together and prayed for thanks and appreciation for their protection over us in Mount Batur.

One thing I regretted not doing was to take picture of the trail while I was descending down, as the pictures would be spectacular! But I can’t risk my DSLR as I myself aren’t a pro-hiker and I don’t know the trail well. Even my backpack was passed to a very strong guide to carry down as I know one small mistake and either I or my DSLR could go wrong. How I wish I brought along my Olympus digital camera at that time. At least the camera is small and light and not a burden for me to carry. Hehe.

Gotten used to the temperature up there, I felt warm that I quickly took off my windbreaker and jacket and kept it in my backpack. Then I took out my DSLR – stopped, turned 180 degree; looked at Mount Batur with overwhelming feeling and disbelief that I just conquer this majestic mountain.

Tried to self-take picture of me with Mount Batur which failed miserably. The cow behind me looks exceptionally blurry nice. Haha.

And he looks so darn handsome in the candid photo below. Kaka!

One of the best moments while walking back to our van was the breeze walk along the vegetation farm. Sat held my hand where I swing them front and back; feeling like 2 kids walking in our own world.

Everywhere we look were the green, the air was clean, it was windy – this hike is undeniably one of the best experience in Bali. It was a good way to see the other side of Bali and I believe I wouldn’t think of climbing Mount Batur if I were to go with my family or with my girlfriends. Lol.

My ‘guide’ who is actually a drink seller came and coaxed us to get Coke from him. -.-“

Actually he had asked us while hiking halfway down and we kept declining, saying that we will get once we reached the ground.

With no other excuse to say, Sat got a bottle from him. But the paktoring moment was gone as the two began to chat with each other. I was walked behind them, eavesdropping at their conversation.

From there I know that the drink seller is actually highly educated – in fact, his English is better than some of the Malaysians; but because he has to sell drinks because he couldn’t find a proper job in Bali. Also, he professed that he wanted to find his other half through this job. He was hoping to get an Australian girl as his wife where he could migrate and earn better living there.

You know, grass is always greener at the other side.

I took my own sweet time walking on my own pace, occasionally stopped to snap the vegetable up close.

I took so much time in stopping and looking around until both of them were no longer can be seen. There are half built buildings on both sides of the trail and I started to feel spooky and fastened my pace.

Our van driver waited for us at the car park area. I quickly walked to the van as my legs couldn’t take it anymore.

But once got into the van, I was quite shocked to see the amount of flies in the van! There were more than 20 in the van itself and we had to shoo them out!

The moment everyone got in the van, Yoga asked, “How was the climb?” and I remember shouted out, “Tiring!!!” Can’t remember what’s other responses but I think it’s similar to what I said la. Our van headed back to Surya Hotel. In the van, we were discussing to shower first or to have breakfast first. Knowing that next in the itinerary is to have lunch at Penelokan, Kintamani, we agreed on having breakfast as we were starving!

So immediately after reaching the hotel, we headed to the cafeteria and sat on a long table overlooking Mount Batur and Danau Batur.

A man came to us with 2 menus. Upon ordering, we then realised that Lasker and Elise weren’t with us that time. William voiced out that they’ve told him that they went to bath first.

Our breakfast came and it was the best breakfast I ever had! Everything tasted excellent when you’re hungry.

Then I quickly went back to my room, packed, showered and realised that my aunt decided to drop me a visit in Bali.

WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!! Why it came at that time?

Sigh. I felt so unenergetic after knowing that my period came. Total sadness!

Still, I pushed aside the sadness and quickly packed my stuffs. I simply threw all my stuffs into my backpack and then put them into the van with the help from Sat. I tried not to let the period dampened my spirit. After all, it came because I felt totally relaxed. Realising the door of the room is look prestige, I took couple of shoots on the door. See how we lock our door!

We took group pictures with our mansion as background. It turned out beautifully and totally different from the usual group photos we took. Haha.

Then we got into the van and left for our next destination.

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