Bali: the journey continued… FIRST day on the island of Gods!
Monday 23/5/2005
1100 --- Flying from KLIA to Ngurah Rai with AirAsia… then the plane delayed for 30mins.
Trying to grab the plane!!
My point of view, tata Malaysia.
Hi Bali! 1430 --- Arrived at Bali, so so so hungry, still we decided to go to Kuta first. So we grabbed a taxi (Rp. 25000 abt RM12) to Kuta. The driver offered to find us clean home girl for “service”… such a pimp!!
1500 --- We checked in to Bali Sandat Inn at Poppies Lane II, recommended by the taxi driver. Cool room, 1st floor, with balcony overlooking the inn’s swimming pool, queen size bed, fan (no aircond), with cold water. Many mat sallehs hanging around the pool too. Room for 2 pax Rp. 90000 abt RM40.
1530 --- We were so hungry, but yet we didn’t eat, but wasted no time to find a motorcycle to rent so that we can catch the sunset at Tanah Lot temple. We got the motor just around the corner for Rp. 40000 abt RM16 a day.
1600 --- We digested the map a bit, asked for directions a bit, off we go! On the way to Tanah Lot we managed to stop at a small restaurant for a quick bite. The restaurant looks very much alike to our malay economic rice stall. So our lunch cum hi-tea with big portion of rice and meat and coke cost us Rp. 5000 abt RM2 each. CHEAP! But very salty, not good!
1740 --- We reached Tanah Lot, just on time to catch the sunset that would happen around 6pm. So lucky we bumped into their Full Moon (Purnama) Festival, so we got our chance to be blessed by the pendeta (priest) there. They put rice on your forehead and a bunga melor on your ear. Ticket to enter Pura (temple) Tanah Lot: Rp. 3600 abt RM1.5 each pax, blessing donation Rp. 5000 abt RM2 each.
You got to like the sunset here, check out the beautiful colors, and ppl fishing here. the splashes of the wave were big.
Now, see the difference between foreign female tourist and local woman. the tourist was imitating "lady in red" and walking really casually on the beach, while the local woman was busy carrying her offerings up the temple.
Here come the ceremony, where the priest will put pinches of rice on your forehead as a blessing... i have my turn!
Now this is the pendeta, the chief priest here. friendly guy he is, very down to earth and chatted with us. the joker behind him can really tell jokes... hahaha... either he is super friendly, or he is memang hyperactive... :P
After the prayers the families headed home. see how gracefully the lady walked. :) this is the way to train supermodel!! wuahahaha!
Now this is the temple, in a shape of a turtle. when high tide, the whole temple is floating on this island, which really look like a turtle. this temple is called "the temple of the sea-king" for the obvious reason.
2100 --- Backed to Kuta, but we were lost trying to find Poppies Lane II… asked around, people are friendly in Bali, they will answer you with a smile. It happened we bumped into 2 Indonesians who worked in Malaysia before, they were too friendly… at the end of our conversation, they asked us if we wanted to buy “ecstasy” from them… damn! So we reached our room safely, and without any drugs!
2115 --- We were hungry again, so we went out hunting for food. But I was attracted to a store selling clothes. I was looking for short pants since I didn’t bring any. So finally after much bargain, me and Alex bought a surfer short pants each for Rp. 35000 abt RM15 each. Then we stopped by MBA (a travel agent) to asked for Mt. Batur (a volcano) hiking trip… very expensive! Will cost us around USD55 abt RM210 each pax for that day tour. So we decided to ask around first. We managed to find another agent on the main road, the guy Edwin sounded very promising and attentive beat us with a price of Rp. 335000 abt RM140 for both of us. Of coz this did not include the entrance fees to Mt Batur and the trek guide fees lah, but still it save us more than 50% compared to MBA, so we decided to go for it and paid the deposit of Rp. 100000 abt RM45.
2230 --- We stopped by a convenient store called “OK” or Circle K (similar to 7-11 here), we bought 2 Indomie instant cup noodle mee goreng, 2 Bintang beer, TimTum and mineral water for dinner. That cost us Rp. 31000 abt RM13.
2245 --- We found a very budgeted homestay at Poppies Lane II that will only cost us Rp. 40000 abt RM16 for 2 persons inclusive of breakfast!! WOW!! What a steal! So we decided to come here to stay the next night.
2300 --- Indomie is good. TimTum is better. But Bintang beer is GREAT!!! So under the full moon, at our balcony, we cheered to our 1st day at Bali.
2345 --- We couldn’t sleep, so we decided to check out the nightlife there. We hopped on the bike, drove around, surprise!! No club!! However, we just went to the Kuta beach, lazed on the extremely soft fine sand, enjoyed the cool breeze, full moon, sound of the waves hitting the shores, listen to my favourite Frank Sinatra’s jazz numbers with my MD walkman. It was definitely heaven!!
0100 --- It’s time to go meet Mr. Chow. Sweet dream! So here’s my first day there. Great day, won’t you all agree?? Well, wait until you read my second day’s entry. The world’s ain’t always beautiful!!!
Total spending 1st day: Rp. 383200 abt RM160 (each pax RM80… not bad for the 1st day)
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