More pics at my FB.
At Uluwatu Temple
On top of Kintamani
Seaside dinner at JimbaranHii I'm back from paradise. And I need to tell it before I lose steam. We just came back from Bali for our annual honeymoon. Boley ke panggil honeymoon? Anyway, it was a 4 days 3 nites trip starting last Thursday. Our flight was at 8.45am and we arrived at 11.50am. Just nice. The weather was great throughout. Sun was shining and no rain during the day. We stayed at O-CE-N Bali Hotel fronting the beach at Seminyak/Kuta area. The hotel was very contemporary tho not so suitable for family with small kids I think. Anyway, after checking in we went for a walk at the shops area nearby. We didn't get anything cos most are selling clothes and accessories. I love the bangles but it's too big for me. Ciss.. Later we head to Jimbaran for sunset dinner by the beach. The food was glorious. We had grilled crab, prawns and squids. Sedapnyeeeee.... After dinner, we went for a walk in Kuta. Got some tees from HRC.. mana lagi kan. Up to date I already have 4 Bali HRC tees. Iwan bought the first 2 in 2008. Then, it was sleep time for us.
Second day, we went all the way to Kintamani. We didn't go down to the lake area since we're short on time. After taking some pics, we head down to a temple near the President's Palace. It has a natural water spring that the locals believe is holy and has medicinal properties. Peoples were taking their bath at the kolam air pancur. Afterwards, we went to Monkey Forest, had lunch at Bebek Bengil and visited the Raja Ubud's palace. We made a stop at Sukawati art market. I had a headache at that time and feeling quite nauseous so we didn't go far. Just to a few shops at the front and side before leaving. The plan was to go straight to Uluwatu but we only made it out of Sanur area when all the bebek came flying out. I think it was the effect of wearing contact lenses and eating to much. I always get headaches from wearing contact lenses especially on a sunny day. Plus the journey up and down the mountain while sitting in the back doesn't help. Another reason to justify Lasik hehehe. Anyway, we went back to the hotel and I managed to get some rest. Towards sunset we went for a walk at the beach and decided to head to Jimbaran for another seafood dinner. This time we had to wait for an hour before the food is ready. Ramai giler org.. Luckily, with the view and breeze no temper flew. Kalau kat KL dah lama kena maki ngan Iwan.
Third day, we had already arrange to go do some water sports at Nusa Dua. We were thinking of Jetskying and parasailing but when we got there, they show us the whole list of stuff to do and we ended up picking parasailing, flying fish, donut and...... scuba diving. This time we had to parasail alone and they did it in the middle of the ocean where the water was only up to the thigh. No running and landing on the sand which is a good thing for me. But I was nervous all the same cos it meant I have to pull the chute on my own and I wasn't too sure abt that. But all went well and it was great fun. The flying fish was basically a ride where the pull you with a speed boat and the balloon thingi u're laying on would fly from the surface up to 5m high. That was ok too but the last ride was terrible. We were pulled on a donut shape balloon a la banana boat only that we were on our back. The waves was choppy so we end up bumping up and down hard. Sakit pinggang. Rasa cam nak melayang pon ye jugak. I was still feeling a bit under the weather from yesterday's episode but since it's just a bit uncomfortable I continued with our next program.
We had a crash course on basic diving skill. The instructor took us to the ocean and we had great time diving. There were a lot of fishes but the coral was in a bad state since most of the tourist including us who dives at the area are beginners/first timers so everybody was touching the corals for support. We only went 8m deep for about 35 min before I had to go up. Once in the boat only did I feel the full impact of how unfit I am hehehhe. My breath was shallow and chest constricted. I threw up once we got to the beach. We had lunch just to get something in my stomach. Not that I ate much anyway. After that was my fav time, Spa time. We went to Thalasso spa. It's within Grand Mirage hotel compound but still in Nusa Dua area. We finished at 5.45pm and barely had time to go to Uluwatu before the kecak dance started.
Fortunately for us, we arrived ard 6.20pm so we still had over 30mins of kecak dance left. We also managed to capture the scenery of the temple and cliffs which was absolutely breathtaking. We then had dinner at GWK area. It's a cultural park where they planned to built a really huge statue. Over 150m if I'm not mistaken. But it's not ready yet. Only parts of the statue is done but it's still huge. Then we went back to our hotel for some drinks before calling it a day.
Last day in Bali, time does fly when you're having a good time. We checked out at 11am and went to Legian to pass the time. We visited the memorial of the Legian bombing victims. After a brief walk down the road and couldn't find anything interesting to shop, our guide took us to UC Silver at Sukawati. Just my kind of place hehe. I wanted to find some silver jeweleries but couldn't find anything nice at the street shops but at UC it's like THE place to go if you want some silver. Granted, the price is a bit more but with the design and quality I think it's worth it. I got myself a ring and a pair of earring. Actually, I've been lusting over a Balinese ring since I saw it on a friend's finger. Akhirnye.. baru puas hati. We had to make a move to the airport and made just in time for a quick lunch and some looking around at the shops in the airport. We landed at KLIA just before 7pm and thus ended our short trip to Bali.
Bali is great and we are already planning our next visit which I think will be before the year is over. It's def not enough to experience Bali in such a short time. Iwan is really loving the dive and I think he is contemplating to go for more. Only time would be the obstacle. For me although it was great I don't see myself going all the way to get the cert and all but who knows. I might just accompany Iwan if he decided to do so.
Ps: On a diff note, we are thinking of getting an entry level DSLR. I'm not really into photography and stuff and neither is Iwan. But we have a couple trips lining up this year and we hate the fact that our compact can't do anything with the glaring. Or can it? I dunno.. never really do more other that point and shoot. I don't fancy anything too bulky since we don't want to carry akin to a rock on our necks. Or maybe should I just borrow from my photog friends? But it would be an inconvenience ehh? Maybe there's a feature on the compact that we never explored? We are using Sony T series but I forgot which one hehehe. See.. I don't even bother to find out the model.. That's how bad I am.
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