Tuesday, May 02, 2006
4:08 PM

The Balinese Experience

After descending Gunung Rinjani, we left Lombok, the wonderful island, on the night itself. 3-hour bus ride, 5-hour ferry ride and 2-hour bus ride all over again, and then we reached Bakung's Beach Resort at Kuta, Denpasar, Bali. The lodging at Bali was slightly above budget for us, but within spending means. When we reached the place, we knew it was worth it. The hotel stay was def worth more than $20 per person per nite! It had the usual hotel facilities: aircon (though ours was leaking), balcony, bath tub, tv, fridge, swimming pool and breakfast, while I was expecting a cheapo budget hotel stay. Haha. The location was great too! 5 min ride away from the airport, in the heart of Kuta city, a touristic spot, and near other beaches as well.

My first day of R&R was spent lazing ard the pool, and then going jalan-jalan at Jln Kartika Plaza, Kuta. Such a long stretch of shops, narrow roads, haphazard traffic, friendly Balinese, rich Hindu and touristic culture, excellent service, desperate taxi-drivers and shopowners (of business; it was afterall off-peak season). I like the high security and safety record in Bali, esp places like Denpasar. Rarely do u hear of rd accidents and robbery in Bali, as compared to Jakarta. Despite this and beggar-free roads, I super hate the haggling and bargaining required of u when shopping, and the desperate shopowners bugging u to buy stuff from them. Sometimes, the friendliness and helpfulness juz makes u feel so guilty that u'll want to buy sth from them, no matter how useless the thing is.

The stuff there are super over-priced, though the Billabong, Ripcurl and Quiksilver stuff are slightly cheaper. But these stuff are pretty old stock, old designs, and rather ugly. Looks like beng and lian, unlike that found in Singapore. Besides, Singapore always have the best and latest arrivals from Aust. So din manage to get anything.

Guess what, dinner was at A&W. I really missed the curly fries and root beer float. But the chicken in Bali is much drier than that in Singapore. I suppose they run too much, or are not properly hydrated? Hehez... After a satisfying dinner was massage time! We went for Royal Balinese massage for 2 hours! 2 hours sounded crazy but it was damn shiok, and painful too. It was much needed after our trek esp. I nv knew my calves were aching until she rubbed them. And when it came to rubbing my thighs, back and stomach, it was quite ticklish. I wanted to laugh, but tried hard to suppress. Obviously, we zonked out after the massage and had a really comfy slp when we got back to our hotel.

The second day was spent at Pantai Nusa Dua, kicking off with banana boat! I was expecting us to fall into the seas, but too bad we were too pro, or maybe I shud say the turns were not abrupt enuf. I wondered how the driver made his turns in the waters cluttered with boats and jet skiiers. It looked really crazy.

Getting on banana boat!

Snorkelling in Bali wasn't that fun. There was nothing much we could see, or perhaps I had higher expectations after Redang. :) But turtle island was interesting! There's this place like a zoo/ nursery for turtles. There was even a snake, a bat, an eagle and other animals for tourists to take pics with. It was seriously my first time coming in close contact with turtles and a snake!

cute turtles

Finally came the moment we were waiting for... Parasailing and jet-skiing! Parasailing seemed a bit scary at first, but when u'r up there in the sky! wow! It was damn relaxing! You could see the shapes of the islands before u, the city of Nusa Dua, and the beautiful seas! 1 time was def not enuf! Jet-skiing was damn fun too! Very shiok! Then when we reached a more deserted area on the sea, the instructor asked me to drive the jet ski! I juz went at full speed, such that I was bathing in sea water. I had to cringe my face to prevent seawater from entering my eyes. Woo~

damn cool!

After a whole morn of activities, we hired a car to go shopping at Sanur where we bought really cheap Polo Ralph Lauren tops. Dunno y i bought a sarong, but I suppose I'll try to use it in seminars as shawl. We finally had our long-awaited seafood dinner on the beach at Jimbaran Bay, while watching the sunset! Quite romantic and nice! Had chilli crabs, garoupa and prawns for dinner. ooh! So satisfying, though not as nice/ fresh as Tmn Sri Danau at JB, or some of Singapore's tze char.

sunset dinner

our cheap PRL polos. shhh! dun tell anyone...

tent and bunk mates

The night ended with a fruitful sharing and snacking session among a few of us, which were to be kept within the four walls. hiaks... I'm glad to have good company for this trek, pple who understands and whom I can relate to. Have to say that this trek enabled us to see both the ugly and beautiful sides of some pple. This has been a wonderful experience in Lombok and Bali, unlike experiences in Jakarta and even Msia, where pple are out there to rip u off. So far, none like that in Lombok and Bali. Now back to reality in Singapore...