Bali - May 2006

Planning a holiday? I highly recommend Bali. It was nothing like I expected. It was so much more than I expected. The people are wonderful except when they're in your face trying to get you to buy bangles at 'morning price' or 'lucky price just for you' or get a manicure (which costs only RM8). When you wave your hand to refuse, they repeat their name several times so that when (not if) you change your mind, you'll know who to look for. We (Bala and I) arrived at Ngurah Rai airport around 2pm on Monday. Paid RM60 for the airport-hotel transfer. Checked into Casa Padma Hotel (above) in Legian, freshened-up and set out to explore Kuta Town. The architecture is beautiful, unique to Bali alone. Their culture is very different and so interesting. There are little altars in every store, restaurant, pub and home. Every morning, the Balinese make offerings to their Gods in the form of small square trays weaved from coconut leaves. The trays are filled with flowers, food offerings like biscuits or rice. They burn insense and pray over the trays. You have to be wary not to step on one as they are littered all over town. There are quaint restaurants and hotels everywhere. One thing Bala and I were determined to do was have a traditional Balinese massage. While walking through town, we stumbled upon Roses Spa. They offer a 4 hour couple spa treatment for Rm240. That's not an offer you can resist. So we kicked off our shoes, well more than just our shoes and there we were, in bliss.... The spa includes whole body massage, body mask and scrub, facial and a head massage plus a dip in their jacuzzi, which was beautiful but freezing cold, no hot water unfortunately. Traditional Balinese music is very soothing but after a while it can get very hypnotizing. Four hours later we found ourselves in a trance-like state and hungry as hell. Several meters away from Roses Spa is Ketupat, an authentic Indonesian restaurant. Bali is famous for two dishes, Babi Guling and Bebek (duck), both of which we didn't try. Ketupat is an impressive restaurant lit up by candles and decorated with traditional Balinese art and crafts. Tables are either located within the main restaurant building, which is off-set by a tempting swimming pool or tucked in little romantic corners around the shady compound. The food is expensive and not extraordinary. I believe the dishes we ordered were not their specialty dishes. I prefer to give them the benefit of the doubt, because the place is worth visiting just to indulge in the lush atmosphere. The next morning, we rented a car and driver to bring us to Ubud. A small market town to the east of Kuta, an hour drive away. On the way, we stopped by a batik factory and silver work shop. Small privately owned art galleries are everywhere. The works are beautiful but not cheap. You can bargain on most items down to 30-40% of the starting price. When you buy stuff from the ladies, they wave your money over their stuff. This they believe, will bring them good luck. Superstitious lot. After getting all the goodies we were in search for, we left Ubud and made our way to Tanah Lot; a temple built within rock just off the coast line, North of Kuta. When the tide is low (as it is in the picture), it is possible to walk to across the rocky sea bed to the temple. No entry is allowed. If you look closely to the bottom left corner of the picture, you can see an indent to the rock. Within the walls runs a stream of fresh water. To receive a blessing, you drink water from the stream and a priest from the temple will recite a short prayer and adorn you with rice on the forehead and a single jasmine behind your ear. Quite interesting. From Tanah Lot we planned to make our way to Uluwatu, another temple. This place is famous for its magnificent sunsets and the 'Kecak', a traditional Balinese dance. As bad luck would have it, we didn't get to enjoy the sunset and 'Kecak' because our driver got the timing wrong and we could not get to Uluwatu in time. Oh well, there's always a next time. So we headed back to the hotel to chill at the bar and whack some balls. I do believe my game has improved. My first drink at the bar was Bintang Beer, Bali's locally brewed beer. It was light and bitter. Not one of my favorites. However, they make a damn good Bloody Mary. Dinner was at an Australian owned restaurant down the road from the Casa. I got the impression that before the bombings, this place was wild with diners and not somewhat deserted like it is now. Other bars and restaurants suffer a similar fate, just surviving. On the brighter side, Indonesians make a killer nasi goreng. They serve it with a bulls-eye, two sticks of satay in sweet peanut sauce and their famous keropok ikan. De-licious!

The third day we took it free and easy. We walked around Legian, down to Kuta, stepped into Hard Rock Bali, bought some t-shirts. It was drizzling. Once the sun decided to reveal itself again we slapped on some sun-block and headed to the beach. Kuta beach is nothing like I expected. It was quiet and and relaxing. Beach umbrellas and deck chairs can be rented. People were surfing and sunbathing, some getting massages or manicures and pedicures but other than that there was very little activity. I could sense that there was a time when this beach was bustling with people and alive with activity but after the bombings, no more. Bali has not healed, its so sad. Look at how clear and blue the sky is, its amazing.

The memorial built at the bombing site in honor of the bombing victims.

Our last morning in Bali was spent hanging out at the beach. Taking it all in, keeping the memories. We left for the airport at noon for a 2.30pm flight. We got ourselves checked in, had a quick McDonald's lunch which sucked by the way and boarded the plane. As it was about to take off, the pilot tells us they have some technical problems with the engine. Get me out of here! We end up stranded at the airport for 9 hours. Dinner was in a box, Garuda Airlines inflight food. Thanks to Air Asia, now everyone can fly, LATE!