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 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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The first few hundred kilometers were easy breezy walk on flat ground of tiny sandy ash dusts. I shone my torchlight to the side to see what was on the side of the path we walked – and very much to my surprise, there are vegetation like onions, potatoes, lettuces, chilies. I even saw snails! Haha. Didn’t know that the ash from the volcano is fertile enough to grow vegetable. Lol.

About 40-45 minutes of walking, I was starting to feel fatigue. I was like – my stamina couldn’t be that bad! I didn’t even start hiking up the mountain yet! I told Sat about this and he claimed that I was so because I didn’t eat the banana in the van earlier and started giving me a short lecture on how the banana supposed to give me energy.

Moreover, he said, if one walk in blindness (as in couldn’t see your path ahead) and only depends on other senses like what we were doing, one would use up more energy compared to hiking up during the day where one could see the route clearly.

True enough. So to make sure I didn’t overdrain energy, I shone the light further, carefully avoiding shining at trees as I was told that there are tree spirits especially in forest.

We then had to walk through high wild grasses at both sides and I was quite paranoid as I fear that there will be snake hiding there. But on the second thought, how could one find snake in volcanic area? The sulfur from the mountain would at least scare the snakes away. Hehe.

There is a small Balinese God altar at the foot of Mount Batur. Someone asked one of the guides on what why there is an altar there. We were told that the altar is to guard and clam the spirits of Mount Batur. Upon hearing that, I quickly paipai asking for their protection while hiking up Mount Batur.

Soon, we began ascending the mountain. It was quite chilly as there was cold wind blowing against and my legs began to get wobbly. Physically I was getting weaker and weaker but mentally I was strong. I could see myself hiking up the Mount Batur without panting and minimal help, but the truth was I can’t. By one and an half hour later, I called for a break as I couldn’t walk anymore and the guides encouraged us to walk a little bit more to the open field (with great scenery).

Finally I got the break I wanted. I immediately dropped down and drank water. Sat asked me to quickly eat the banana I stored in my bag. David passed me a bottle of Yakult to restore my energy (he claimed it would and it did!). Couple of locals that followed us kept asking if I wanted to have Coke – which I declined as having Coke while hiking is definitely a big NO.

Just as I felt better, the guides signaled us to start moving. I did feel energetic initially, but after few minutes later, I felt worst. I kept motivate myself to keep on going, keep pushing myself, keep telling this is the fastest way to get slimmer – but eventually I was mentally drained too.

There were few groups overtook us. They moved so quickly and swiftly – while the rest of us panting like mad. Half of me felt ashamed, another half felt admired their strength and stamina for able to move up quickly.

My legs were no longer strong that I slipped for stepping onto big piles of stones while climbing up. I quickly sat and checked myself. Thankfully there wasn’t any injury or bleeding on neither my palms nor my legs. I didn’t even feel the pain from the fall. Maybe it was due to the oversize windbreaker I wore, or plainly because I prayed for protection from the Balinese God earlier. Then I looked around – there weren’t any route behind me as the place I slipped is actually the corner edge and realised that I might fall off the edge. *Gasp in horror*

Seeing this, Sat asked me to let one of the local guides to guide me up. As much I wanted to resent on his decision, I had to agree with him as my legs were so tired and I knew I couldn’t reach the peak without anyone’s help. So the guide held my hand, just in case I slipped again.

I no longer had full control of my body by the time we hike halfway up the mountain. When the head of the guides called for 5 minutes break, I turned to Sat and collapsed onto him. Thankfully Sat was strong enough to hold me. Hehe.

By the way, collapse in this term is not faint. Okay? I didn’t faint nor unconscious at all.

Then Sat said, “Climbing up Mount Batur also wanna die d, imagine Mount Agung which is like much more complex and higher than this”

Like usual, I replied “Luan” and continued hugging him for support. Hehe.

As the sky began to get slightly brighter (not as pitch dark as earlier), I could vaguely see Lake Batur and vegetation farm we passed in the morning. Not to mention it was cold too!

5 minutes over, and we continued our way up. The guide urged us to move quickly in order to catch the sunrise. So we did. I mean they did and I was happily being dragged up. Haha. You see, I realised that my ‘guide’ (which later only I found out that he’s actually a Coke seller) is actually very strong, so I used minimal strength to walk and let him did the dirty job of pulling me up. Can say I was like a big stone and he was pulling the stone.

As the sky got a little bit brighter, I discovered that my guide was wearing SLIPPERS only! Shit, I thrust my life on someone who wore slippers! Though he is strong, I sort of panicked and began to see where my steps before placing my foot there as opposed to earlier where I simply step on the stones.

He must have felt the weight difference after that me doing so. Lol!

Off and on, someone would ask – “How far somemore to the top?” and the guides would say “one hour”; followed by “45 minutes”; then “30 minutes“; and “15 minutes more if you’re fast”.

When he said that, we could actually see the peak already. But because of the zig-zag route where we had to follow, we took 15 minutes to reach there.

The moment we reached the top I gave out a big sigh of relief and when I was about to look for a place to sit, that’s when the guide said, “not yet reach! Not here. Need to walk a little bit more!”

Devastated, I dragged my lazy legs and followed them to a small attap hut. There are 2 rows of benches there and boy were I happy to see those benches! I walked quickly (didn’t know where the energy suddenly came from) to one of the benches and glued my butt on it.

Out of nowhere, 2 golden retrievers came to where we were and started chasing 2 black dogs. They even cornered one of the dogs and barked at it. Only when the owner came out of the hut and yelled “Kiki! Oza!”; the dogs stopped barking, wagged their tails happily and ran around the owner.

Then I looked far. In front of me is Mount Abang and the Danau Batur (Lake Batur) The view was SPECTACULAR! Totally worth the energy climbing up there.

Then my ‘guide’ came to me – asking me to get a bottle of Coke from him. It was then only I realised he was actually a drink seller. I don’t really fancy Coke, I would rather drink water if I could but since he’s the one helping me up there, I asked Sat if he wanted to get one. He said yes (again, the same reason as I thought) so we got one.

That blardy Coke costs me 25.000 Rupiah (RM9.25). The most expensive Coke I ever drank on a mountain.

We took pictures and enjoyed the view. There was an Angmoh couple sitting at the small hill with blanket covered over them. It looked romantic and how I wished at that moment I have a blanket too as it was cold!

I was enjoying the view of Mount Abang and the Coke; and then another drink seller came to me and asked, “He (pointing to my ‘guide’) helps you up the mountain, do you want to buy him a drink?”

I was thinking, “Alamak. Damn expensive wei this guide”. Though RM18.50 isn’t much but that time I was running low on Rupiahs. 2 bottles means 50.000 Rupiah d. Huuhuu. But I still got him one since I was sort of indebted to him.

The wind would suddenly gush on us and I had no choice but to quickly zip up my jacket and the windbreaker and buried my hands into the pockets. Luckily Sat insisted on the windbreaker or else I would be freezing to death. It was very chilly up there.

The 2 golden retrievers are truly the unexpected highlight of the hike as they made the whole hike even more fun and happier. As most of us are dog lovers, we couldn’t stop calling their names, pat them, photograph with them, video them and even feed them food. Haha.

I fed the dogs with crackers that I brought along. Since the crackers broke into pieces, so I thought I should pour the crumbled crackers on the bench and let the dogs to lick them. Little did I know in the process of pouring, I shook the packet too hard that the crumbles fell on the dog’s nose tip. Poor dog couldn’t reach the crumbles.

Everyone laughed and teased me for ‘tricking’ dog into licking their own nose just to get the food. Lol.

One of the guides asked if we want to see the volcano crater and the hot spring, and guaranteed us an even more breathtaking view up there. Also, he told us that we could boil our eggs by dipping into the hot spring water for 5 min and then we could have our hard boiled eggs!

So, we asked where – and he pointed up!

That’s when everyone’s jaw literally dropped and unison-ly we said NOoooo!!!

From afar, we could see that there’s no way we could walk the super steep trail without having proper footwear. Especially Emily’s as hers totally open up while climbing halfway. Moreover the trail looks like one would immediately fall down the moment they start walking up. Lol.

But after awhile, two stronger men decided to give it a try. So we wished them LOTS LUCK and watched them making their journey up with 2 local guides. Could see that no long after they started ascending, the men quickly held on the guides for support. It must be very slippery then.

Our guides boiled eggs for us using stove instead of dipping the eggs into the hot spring as the hot spring water beside the small breakfast hut isn’t hot enough. Not long after that they passed us the eggs where I gladly took one to warm my hands first before peeling the shell off.

Eating the eggs on volcanic mountain reminded me greatly of the black egg I had in Japan. The only different is the one in Japan is cooked directly in sulfuric water source black (hence the shell turning black) while the one we had in Mount Batur is well, a normal egg!

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Moreover Jess and I kept updating ourselves with what we did few days before we met.

Our van pulled into a porch of a fine looking restaurant. Then all of us got down and Yoga told us that we were to have our dinner there. A young, pretty girl in Balinese attire stood at the entrance with a tray of flower on her hand.

One by one we went to her, where she would put a flower behind our left ear, regardless the person is a guy or a girl. Haha. I couldn’t stop laughing at the guys for they looked super duper funny with the flower there. Kaka!

We then walked out to the beach. It was sooooooo windy and cold! So cold that it made me feel like hugging Sat for warmth! Haha! But obviously I can’t do that la. Kakaka! The strong wind even blew the fresh flower placed by the young lady away.

And the saddest thing is there was no sunset because of the dark clouds. Argh… sedih!

Off and on I could feel sand coming into my eyes… until I couldn’t look directly to the sea, as the wind blew in that direction. 

We took pictures with fine sand threatened to hit our lens. For those with lens filters, that shouldn’t be a worry. But mine… I didn’t get any filter for my wide angle as I read that if put one it’ll cause a vignette effect on the pictures. So I don’t really dare to shoot that much there.

After a group photo with Yoga’s help, we went back to the restaurant for dinner. Yoga then spoke to the waiter and we were all seated on the long table. After the waiters and waitresses brought the food to our table, Yoga suddenly disappeared to nowhere and we enjoyed our dinner.

I wasn’t too excited on the dinner partially because I was told beforehand that the food there isn’t that mind blowing (was also told that it’s the view and the atmosphere that made it superbly romantic) and I was having minor sore throat at that moment.

As hungry as I was, I finished the entire meal squeaky clean! Lol. As we were eating, there were 3 amigos serenading the diners with their guitars and wonderful acapella renditions. The angmohs were so entertained that they joined in the singing as well!

Then I sort of asked Sat for a romantic walk by the beach. You know, like paktoring moment just the two of us for like probably 10 minutes?

But the cow seemed to not getting my hint at all; making me feeling upset. Merajuk-ly, I walked out and joined the rest who were busy photoshooting the night life at the beach while he sat there talking to the rest at the table.

I wished I could join them photoshooting too, but I didn’t have a flash (tho Sat did offer me his which can be mounted onto my D60); so I just sat at the wooden lazy chair, looking around, observing people and enjoying the sandy wind. Lol.

Soon, it was time to make a move. I did a quick dash to the toilet – their toilet is clean! Before that I passed my DSLR to Sat and he took few pictures on my behalf. Lol!

Then all of us got into the van and started moving to the North-Eastern area of the Bali Island. However, before that Yoga asked if we wanted to get some essential stuff for tomorrow’s very early breakfast. All agreed and we stopped by a local supermarket to grab few stuffs.

I went in, eye-scanned few stuffs but I quickly walked out as I felt a bit dizzy after that. Didn’t know why I felt so, but luckily Sat was there to accompany me for the fresh air. Sayang him for that. Hehe.

We got in the van 20 minutes later, and the van stopped again to grab a carton of water bottles for our usage. Our package included water bottles and bananas for us for tomorrow’s climb and because they couldn’t get that in the local mart earlier; they had to do another quick stop.

Our journey to Kintamani started at around 10. Initially everyone was talking, soon it became just few people whispering and at the end, Jess and I were the only ones awake and chit-chatting in the van.

If you asked me which road the van took or which area our van passed, I can assure you that I didn’t have any clue. It was dark, and there are no street lights except for when we passed through the town like Ubud (I remember that because I overheard Yoga/our van driver spoke about that).

Of the dark route we took, I remembered us going through a town where there are performances at the open gazebo. I was so tempted to watch the show that I almost asked Yoga if we could stop there for like half an hour. Haha. Still, I didn’t open my mouth as most of my counterparts were in Dreamland.

I also remember woods on both sides of the road where there weren’t any light or cars except for dogs running alongside. Fear that our van would hit the stupid dogs; I prayed that the dogs stay where they are and not try to suicide in the middle of the road.

Also playing in my mind were flashes of ghosts and faces and black shadows – my mind is very good at imaging things but don’t worry, all those weren’t seen. Hahaha!

I continued talking to Jess on future backpacking trip, our work, my Yogyakarta trip and her Singapore trip until both of us were tired of talking. Haha. Just when I was about to close my eyes for a nap, the van moved into a curve and went downhill.

Sensing the movement, I looked around and the van driver said there’s a lake in front of us.

I tried to look, but obviously I can’t since it was pitch dark out there and there aren’t any lights shown on the lake.

The temperature was getting colder and colder and I was aware that we were either at the highlands already or at somewhere near there.

The van then turned left and pulled a stop. Everyone woke up. We stopped in front of a ‘mansion’. Well, it looked like a deserted mansion in dark. Kinda spooky BUT I didn’t care so much about it as I need a bed so badly.

Yoga then went to find the caretaker, while we unloaded our backpacks from the van. Soon he came back with few guys, and we were led to our rooms. Basically, our tour agent booked the whole building for us – so the mansion belongs to us! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

There’s an insect in the room. The insect is the rare type – red in colour with nice motif on the back. I believe that one shouldn’t kill a living thing especially such a rare insect, so I sort of ‘escorted’ it out by using a paper. Not swept it out tho! I let the insect walked up the paper, took the paper out of the room and then let it free.

Man, I felt damn good after doing that. Haha.

The water is freaking icy cold! The heater took forever to heat up the water and I can’t afford to wait as I was very, very sleepy. So I just use the cold water to do quickly face wash, wiped body and then jumped to bed.

By the time I went to bed, it was already 11.30 pm and it was freaking cold! Brr~*

At 2.30 am, my alarm set on iTouch went off. Then I snoozed, snoozed till 3 in the morning where I jumped off the bed and quickly brushed my teeth.

I could hear everyone got ready and chatting outside the room when I got dressed. Quickly stuffed important stuffs like camera, water bottle, jacket, biscuits in my Nike backpack and ran out. Locked the room and got in the van.

In the van, Yoga passed us a banana each for breakfast. As I didn’t feel like eating anything yet, I kept the banana in my backpack which later I realised it was a very bad move. 5 minutes later, we reached our destination.

We were surrounded by the local, asking us if we want to get a windbreaker jacket with hood at 50.000 Rupiah (RM18.50) each. Sat feared that my jacket wouldn’t be warm enough for me, he decided to get me one. Haha.

The windbreaker was too big for me. Initially I didn’t want to get it, but Sat said, you’ll need it okay. Mai luan so much.” So I have to obediently wear it. Lol.

Yoga passed torch lights to those who didn’t have and then we started moving, not realising what’s in head for us.

To be continued…

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We quickly removed all our stuffs while heading to the next tourist attraction, Pura Luhur Uluwatu. I heard about this beforehand from LeeMay and Lisa when both of them visited me few weeks ago, so I brought along my contact lens and wore them throughout my visit in Bali. If not for their warning, I wouldn’t have brought my contact lens along and would walk around half-blindly. Probably just a quarter-blind as my eyesight isn’t that terrible. Haha.

Then Yoga turned to me and said, “Must remove your earrings too.”

Shocked I replied, “Huh? Earrings also need?” as I can’t imagine how the earring can be taken off easily.

“The monkeys could easily take it off without you realizing. They’re very quick!” he said.

I quickly took off both earrings and necklace; leaving only a much secured hair band to tie up my hair as I didn’t want the monkey to mess up with my hair.

As Ailing, Lasker and Steven wore specs at that time, they asked if there’s another way to secure their specs. Yoga suggested using rubber band, but since we didn’t have that so he asked them to hold on to their specs whenever they see a monkey coming near.

Steven suddenly asked, “what if they managed to get that from us? How to get them back?”

“Then you have to bribe them with food or something else for exchange,” Yoga said with a laugh, which made everyone laughed too.

Steven replied, “aiya… then we should have get the bananas just now!” and all laughed even harder.

Soon we reached the place and just as we were about to get down, he asked us to leave everything in the van if possible. So we did, except for the DSLR hung around our necks and wallets and passports where I put in Sat’s pants’ pockets.

The sky was quite dark at the time we arrived, and I was hoping that it wouldn’t rain.

We then went to the side, where those wearing pants or skirts above knee lengths need to wear sarong to cover their legs. The lady there didn’t want to give me a sarong initially because my dress is long, but after few persuasions, she wore for me! YAY! Damn happy that time.

Then we quickly took a group picture at the entrance.

We went in, where Yoga asked if we wanted to go to another place first which is on the right side. To go to the Pura Luhur Uluwatu, the famous cliff-hanging temple, one needs to take the left route. If choose to go to the right, one will reach the headland. We decided to have a look at the headland first. As we walked, we could see monkeys sit at the fence, ground; as though waiting to grab something from us. Haha.

At the headland, we could see stunning view of the ocean and Uluwatu temple from afar. The sea is so blue and rough; and I can imagine sharks swimming at the edge where the waves slammed against the cliffs as sharks love swimming at that area. I was very mindful of steps I took as I didn’t want to slip and fell into the fierce water. Still, strong winds blew against us, making me hard to stand steadily and quickly hold on to Sat for support. Keke.

The dark clouds approached with quick speed and soon we felt water droplet. It started to rain! We took few more shots and walked in quick speed to the main temple. However, as we were about to reach the gazebo situated at the bottom of the hill on the left, the rain stopped.

At the gazebo, I witnessed a monkey who wanted to grab the baby’s toy which hung at the edge of the baby pram. The mother saw the monkey coming, defensively immediately shooed the monkey away with her umbrella. Another guy with a stick saw it too and warded the monkey off the vicinity.

Thank goodness for their quick act, or else the baby might be harm.

Seeing that the baby was safe in the arm of the mother, we continued ascending the stairs.

While going up, I spotted a lady wearing 3 inches stilettos there! Shocked, I pointed this to the rest of the girls, and all of them went WAHHH, ai meh? Haha!

At the middle of the stairs, Yoga said, “This is a very nice place to take picture. Come, group photo here!”

Then we arranged ourselves in 2 lines and smiled at the camera. Suddenly, Yoga cried, “LOOK! BEHIND YOU!!!”

Startled, we scampered to few steps ahead and looked back. There was a big monkey sitting on the fence behind us. Yoga told us that the monkey was about to snatch Lasker’s spectacles!

But then when we looked at the monkey, he just selambanya sat on the fence, looking back at us.

We then proceed to the top of the headland, where we could see the famous temple. However it’s closed to the public and we weren’t allowed in. So we walked around the temple.

If not mistaken, this used to be bell tower or watch tower. Can’t recall already. Anyone care to clarify this for me? Haha.

From there we went to the other side of the headland for more outstanding photos.

Uluwatu is also famous for its Kecak Dance. If one walks along the stairs down, one will reach the ticket counter for Kecak Dance. The dance ground is situated further in; can be reached by walking along the stairs to the end.

We didn’t watch the Kecak Dance as it’s not included in the package. We could watch if we wanted to since we got the time to do so, according to Yoga. But he asked if we would want to witness the sunset at Jimbaran or the Kecak Dance; and suggest us to move now if we chose Jimbaran.

Hearing that, we made our way out as soon as possible, taking out our sarong along the way and passed them to the Yoga and boarded the van. Yoga dashed to the hut to return all our sarongs, dashed back to our van and immediately left off for Jimbaran.

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Some of us felt hungry as they didn’t have lunch yet (we had ours on plane0, so we went to this fine looking restaurant, Pawon Pasundan for Indonesian lunch.

We were quite phobia upon entering because of what we encountered in Mungkid, Jawa Tengah but since Yoga assured that the price is reasonable (which is true), we walked in and sat at a very long table for 13 people! The ladies came with the menu and slowly took our orders.

Since Sat, Emily, Ailing, David and I were quite full as we’ve dined on the plane; we just ordered desserts, deep-fry-flying-fish for ‘snack’ and oxtail soup which costs 10.000 Rupiah (RM3.70) each, if not mistaken.

Having shaved ice dessert on a sunny afternoon was heavenly. Though it’s something like our ice-kacang/mat tou lou, but we discovered an ingredient that no one in Malaysia has used.

That’s avocado! It was widely use here – see David’s drink – avocado chocolate drink thingy if not mistaken.

We continued our journey after lunch. I enjoyed feasting my eyes on the unique view that Bali offered.

Super duper excited upon seeing big McDonald’s outlet here! Niceeee! Made me feel like dropping by and order McNuggets! Lol.

Our van went into a roundabout where we could see monument of Hindu gods on a horse chariot. I love looking at monuments especially those placed on the roundabout – and I don’t understand why the monuments on the roundabout back in Penang are all ‘too artistic?”

Not only we could see monuments/statues at the roundabout, but at the front of a shop also we could find one.

We were lucky to pass through a university in Bali, Universitas Udayana on the way to our first destination. And my, the university’s compound looks bigger and the faculties are more scattered than our Universiti Pertanian Malaysia. It even has petrol station in the university compound.

Soon, we reached the entrance of GWK. Garuda Wisnu Kencana. Notice that here in Bali, they pronounced Lord Vishnu’s name as Wisnu.

Upon entering the park, one needs to pay the parking fee – but we didn’t have to pay anything since it’s already covered in the package. 10.000 Rupiah (RM3.70) for bus, 5.000 Rupiah (RM1.85) for car and 2.000 Rupiah (RM0.75) for motorcycle.

As we’re moving in to the parking bay, I could see 2 big hands located a quite distance. I asked Yoga on that, and Yoga said we’ll be heading there later, we see the head first.

I was like – huh? What head? @_@ – obviously I didn’t do detailed research on the places in Bali as much as I did on Yogyakarta. Lol.

We got down, and Yoga immediately passed us our tickets. Very well prepared!

A minute later, we were in the GWK Park and started taking pictures of the surrounding.

Then someone spotted a pigeon in a very discomfort position! We went closer, and my… poor bird!

We couldn’t imagine how the pigeon could injure itself to such position! Nothing much we could do to save it except for taking the obituary picture.

Suddenly there were two barongs (Balinese lions) walked by us, and immediately all cameras were focused on them. But they walked by damn fast, I took 3 pictures and they were gone!

As much as I wanted to slowly spend time exploring the place – there is a free henna stall, but we were advised to go up the stairs. So we did.

Off we went up to Plaza Kura-Kura, and we reached a tortoise pond. Unsure if there are real tortoises in the pond, we took few pictures there. Very nice pond – would love to have such pond in my house. Haha.

There is a bull next to the pond! Since I was born in the year of ox, so I took the opportunity to snap with the bull! That picture is with Sat. Lalala~

Then we went up the stairs at the side, and there we could see the head of Hindu god, Wisnu.

From far, it looked small… but as we walked nearer and nearer, we were dumbstruck with the size!

Don’t believe me? See the picture below. Compare the human and the statue. Ha!

Yoga led us to a gazebo located at the far left. He explained to us the initial project of the GWK Park. The aim is actually to build a GIANT size of Lord Wisnu sitting behind garuda, at the side of the park. Yoga pointed us the location as he spoke.

There’s a model of the whole project placed in the gazebo.

So now it made sense. I was wondering why there are hands, and half body of lord Wisnu; these were actually part of the whole monument.

But why the unfinished project? Why not completed them all?

Well, the fund stopped pouring in after the bombing of Bali in 2002 – he explained. With no money, nothing can be done.

Ah, true! The world is materialistic. I guess the fund stopped for fearing the money going into this project would be a waste, if the monument got bombed after completion.

After listening to this, I loathed those bombers even more! They killed innocent people, ruined all those beautiful things on earth, and now because of them, this supposedly beautiful got halted! Yishh!

Yoga then led us to the stairs down behind the statue, to another statue at the back – the head of Garuda!

Again, I was at awed upon seeing the statue, especially after I took a picture of it. The blue sky complement the Garuda, making the picture VERY NICE! So, we took a group photo there!

From there we walked down the stairs to the big walkway with gigantic blocks of limestone on both sides which give quite a dramatic feel. Somehow, everything seems so enormous there. Going here first once we reached Bali (apart from the lunch) is definitely a ‘gigantic’ way of welcoming us. Haha.

Slowly, we walked to the end of the walkway, there’s a lotus pond with a statue at the end. At the side, there’s a stair leading down to nowhere. But we kept walking as long as Yoga was with us. Haha.

Then we came to the statues of hands that I saw earlier. I don’t understand why the statues of Wisnu and Garuda were given proper location with nice decoration around them; while the hands – wild, overgrown grasses with limestone surrounding it. Even the stage for the hands looks unkempt, which sort of spoil the group picture loh.

While we were camwhoring with the hands, our van came over and parked right beside the hands. Felt damn privileged at that time as the rest of the tourists had to walk back to the parking bay for their transports. Kakaka. After that we went in the van and left GWK Park.

No, we didn’t get to see the Barong dance. Wuuwuu.

Our van stopped by a mini-mart before heading to the next destination where we went down to get something to drink. The heat was unbearable and could easily make our throat dry. Quick remedy for dry throat: a 1.5litre bottle of water + a packet of markisah justea for 10.000 Rupiah (RM3.70). Believe me, it works fantastically!

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