Since I have already posted my travels to Thailand: Krabi, Koh Phi Phi and Phuket.. I am going to show you my pictures and videos of my travels to Denpasar,Bali. The travel took place last year from 20th of August to 24th August 2007.
As usual with my partner. Ade, we embarked on a journey. A journey which got us more interested about travelling. We booked tickets from Garuda Airways with the help of my friend, Raedah, who worked in a travel agency at Bugis. She got us quite an affordable price including accomodation also. It cost a total of $360 if I'm not wrong. We planned for a five day trip to Bali.
Departure Hall at Changi Airport, Terminal 1
We were at the Burger King trying to ease our hunger before boarding. Our flight was at 6:55pm. We have loads of time so we decided to take a walk at the retail shops. I bought one whole carton of Marlboro which cost at $22 only. DUTY FREE! I remembered vividly while waiting for our plane. A Caucasian man came up to us and was surprised he talked to us in Bahasa Indonesia very fluently. He thought we were Indonesians. He even told us he has a house in Bali and the place is relaxing. We told him that we were on a holiday. Does he have any motives??
After a one and a half hour flight, we finally reached Denpasar, Bali at the Ngurah Rai International Airport. It was already nightime. As you can see from the looks of Ade's face, he was really tired. I'm still active and got the cheek to record a video.
Upon alighting the plane, we still have to wait for a bus to send us to the terminal. I just love airplanes ever since I was a kid. Quite noisy in the bus from the footage. We have to find our personal driver by the name of Pak Madi as he will be the driver sending us to our hotel. Driving from the airport to Kuta is only just a short ride except for its traffic. As you can see, the roads are very narrow. There are also lots of retail shops selling surfboards, wears and very nice accessories. Finally, we reached our hotel at the heart of Kuta, Legian. It's called Matahari Bungalow. Our room is located on the first floor facing an open space where there is serenity and calmness at night. Soothing gamelan music can also be heard from a distance.Sounded eerie playing at night but actually very relaxing. We settled our stuffs before going out to buy some late night snacks.
Introducing our stay! Nice right? That is our room on the first floor..
Morning! Rise and shine! We head for our morning breakfast at the restaurant just across our room. Orange juice, bread and fried rice..It taste so great with the chilli padi. We planned where we want to go after this. First stop, Kuta Beach.
Leading our way to meeting Pak Madi, the driver
In the car with Pak Madi, we told him where we want to go for the whole day. The video footage here shows the landmarks that is popular in Kuta. Showing the popular nightspots, Embargo, the statistical monument where the Bali Bombings took place just across the road.
The beach! I'm so fascinated by the beach. The waves are not really that big at Kuta Beach. Maybe it's suited more for beginners who just started surfing. I know I'm wearing the wrong clothing to the beach but hey, it's just a stop. After that, we are going to another place much more cooler.
Ade took this picture with his camera while I'm recording
Landing both my feet on Bali's soil
Pledging my loyalty to be a firefighter..haha
Colourful scenes in Kuta Beach
Have SOSRO Ice Tea when you are thirsty!
Looking at how excited I am visiting the beach. The footage shows people learning how to surf. Ade even took a photo of a group of Japanese dudes. We actually wanted to take a picture with the two ladies but eventually we were not psyched up. Comparing Singapore's view from East Coast, there are totally no ships here in Bali. The water is cold though and quite windy. After walking around, we ate traditional Balinese 'Rojak'.
Off we go, to another location! Next we went to Ubud to visit the Sacred Monkey Forest. This cool and dense swathe of jungle, officially called Mandala Wisata Wanara Wana, houses three holy temples. The sanctuary is inhabited by a band of grey-haired and greedy long-tailed Balinese macaques who are nothing like the innocent-looking doe-eyed monkeys on the brochures. As told by Pak Madi, the monkeys are very ferocious if you never hand their 'goods' they want. The weather was cooling with light showers. So Pak Madi told us it's not a good time for us to visit the place as the monkeys were not visible.
Next destination we headed to was Kintamani..It was quite a long drive to me though. Let's say around 30 minutes or so. Along the way, the view of a location caught my eyes. It felt so calm and peaceful when you are at that place. The pictures are right below. You are looking at a paddy field.
A bit foggy because of the weather
Me and Ade taking a pose
Pak Madi told us a lot of interesting facts and stories about the island while driving us to Kintamani. Only then I knew that Kintamani is high above ground and you can view an extinct volcano. The temperature suddenly starts to drop and its COLD!
Reaching at the destination, it was really foggy,misty,windy and cold. We went to have our buffet at this restaurant just at the edge of a cliff. Too bad, the foggy weather covers the whole view of the volcano. I just can't see anything. The buffet lunch was simply amazing. A lot of choices and umph umph..DELICIOUS! Costing for only 70,000 IDR and that's only like S$10! All you can eat! The footage above was taken at the toilet of the restaurant. I just wanted to show people the misty weather at that point of time.
Can't stand the cold...
Courtesy of Pak Madi
Great view of the paddy terraces
Another view of the paddy terraces
Me viewing the terraces
After the buffet, Pak Madi stopped us at another location. There was a village and a shop selling batiks. It was a peaceful and serene place. We took a few pictures and Ade bought a piece of batik meant as a souvenir for his mother. Then, we headed back to our hotel. It's already night time and we felt hungry. We went out and dined at this simple 'kampung' restaurant and it's so damn cheap. Their sambal belachan was superb I tell you. Smoking Dji Sam Soe, a popular cigarette which does not sell in Singapore, was so satisfying after a great meal.
Walking along the streets of Legian is actually straightforward. Rows of pubs, restaurants and discotheques are plenty. Many different people I see on the streets like Japanese, Italian, French and Arabic. You just can't take your eyes off when a group of foreign ladies walk-by.Mamma Mia!
Standing in front of the statistical monument
Chilling at Crusoe's Pub having a try of Jungle Juice
Nightlife at Kuta, Legian is one the most popular tourist spots. There is Embargo, Bounty, Apache and Paddy's Club to name a few. Throughout the night, we just browse through the places and visited branded retail shops like Quiksilver and Roxy. Have you all heard about 'magic mushroom'? It's a mushroom which gives us hallucination and it's kind of like a 'laughing gas'. You can either eat with an omelette or mixed them with juice drinks. Me and Ade was walking when this Balinese guy sitting alone said, "Magic mushroom?" I wanted to try the stuff so I confronted him and he told me the price was 150,000 IDR and that's S$20. So expensive for that stuff but it's worth it. The guy's name was Andre and he was a cool dude who have piercings on his face. He mixed the mushroom with juice drinks and I drank that while chatting with him. Ade drank a bit and you know what's the result? We were all laughing like mad!
Another day, another adventure. Ade loves water sports especially diving so Pak Madi brought us to Nusa Dua where there is a whole range of water sports from jetski, parasailing and snorkeling. The package is quite expensive though so Ade went on without me. It costs 350,000 IDR equivalent to S$50. I became a camera man instead shooting videos of Ade's experience. In the footage, you can catch a glimpse of Pak Madi.
Ade was so excited when he tried parasailing as he comes down after getting a bird's eye view of the area.
How it looks like at Nusa Dua
After the adventure, Pak Madi drove us to Jimbaran Beach for a seafood delicacy by the beach. It's near to the airport as you can see the airport runaway from here. It's preferable if you have dinner at Jimbaran at night.Perfect for couples especially.
The view of Jimbaran Beach
Both of us began to feel very tired after the meal. The day ended early and we had a rest back at our hotel. Not at the same Matahari Bungalow hotel but another hotel just a few blocks away. More cosier and much cheaper for a night's stay.
It was the second last day of our trip. It was a day for us to do a bit of shopping. We ate at McDonald's that day. A meal costs around 47,000 IDR. Almost the same as the price in Singapore. Most of the time we visited retail shops and browsed some T-shirts.
Passing the time, we visited Kuta Beach again. The Mee Bakso Jawa we ate was really nice. One advice to those who wants to visit Bali is not to give any chance to peddlers as they are quite persistent. I was the victim. One of the peddlers offers to massage my legs . Want to know what happened? View the picture below with me being massaged by two old ladies. That was a lesson to be learnt.
This is what happened..
This video is just to show how they make a temporary tattoo on my buddy, Ade. Many interesting designs you can choose from the catalogue.
Beginning of night time, we decided to go to one of the discotheques as the next day we are leaving. Before that, we entered an antique shop selling all kinds of sword and weapons.
With an ancient dagger
With a samurai
After our shop visiting, we went to Paddy's Club. I think the cover charge was 50,000 IDR with a bottle of Bintang beer free. The club was fully air-conditioned and quite spacious I must say. We also ordered 'Jungle Juice' as you can see from the picture its a tumbler with different mixtures of fruit cocktails and liquer.
Arrangement: Welcome to Paddy's Club
Presenting Jungle Juice
As the crowd began to pick up, sexy dancers grooved at the podium. The music played was also not bad from trance, house and RnB. I was addicted! Ade moved around the club and took pictures. The time was getting late. I had fun dancing to the beat but we have to get back and rest for our flight to Singpore the next day.
Checking out from our hotel, a different driver brought us to the airport. Thank you so much Pak Madi for all the tours. It was still early as our flight is around noon. So we ate at a restaurant, the last Indonesian food before our departure. Ade was not feeling well as he complained of stomach problems.
I just love Balinese gamelan music..so relaxing..de-stressing. Having a cup of tea before moving.
This is how it looks like in the the interior of Ngurah Rai International Airport. Looks small.
The gateway to Bali!
Nothing better to do so I took a video to record the last moments of the time here at Bali. So that is all for my adventure. I hope you guys love and enjoy reading my posts. Hoping to share my next travelling experience for my next trip. If I have the chance to visit Bali again, I would of course. Cheers!
It was like a picture from the old days. It's been a while I never met this fellas..
