Thursday, December 16, 2010

Bali

My wife and I always wanted to go and explore Bali. We heard so much of good things about this place. After long waited, our time to visit Bali finally here.
First, let me introduce our resort for the next four nights.

Royal Santrian, Tanjung Benoa.
This resort has all the exclusivity that we wanted. Huge villa with private pool, outdoor sunbed with dining table, separated shower, bathtub, daily stock of minibar, and finally, cozy and comfortable "BED" in villa itself. The services provided by the staff was also excellent. They always made us feel like home.

First tour was to the Island of Limbongan. Catamaran ride for two hours was enough to got us cooked under the sun. From the catamaran, we were transferred to a resort like stop over. The activities were leisure. We could just relax and enjoy the sea breeze, or join the free activities such as the snorkeling, banana boat ride, kayaking, and submarine boat ride. Lunch was also provided. Yummy. It was just what we need to fill up our hungry stomach after busy day at the shore. We finally left the island about 5pm.

Our second tour kicked off with a visit to Ubud. On our way to the peak of the mountain, we first stop at the place known as "Monkey Forest". Obviously, the monkeys are everywhere. We were advised not to disturb or touch them. While heading straight up to the mount Batur, we passed along the local shop where they are basically selling all the handmade items.Sadly, most of the show was closed due to their big festive season. Journey up there could be a bit tiring for some. It took us about 1 hour to get up there. Once we arrived, we head straight to the restaurant with a view of Mount Batur. We were told that this volcano was last erupted 30 years ago. Bear in mind that this volcano is still active!

Rain poured heavily in the morning before we started our third tour around Bali. Since the wet market are closed, our driver took us to the handicraft center called Krishna. This one seems to be a larger place to shop with a fixed price. Obviously, the art shop out there will allow us to negotiate on the price. According to our driver, the seller also know how to play their role. We might just buy things that could be very expensive even after bargaining with the seller. So the best thing is "fixed price shop". Right after lunch, we were rushed to the place called Ulluwatu. Again, monkeys are everywhere. But this time, they are not as decent as at the Monkey Forest. They are slightly naughty. They tend to be interested on the visitor's glasses, and other belongings. I once saw the monkey grabbed the glasses from the tourist and broke it into two.Fuhh.. what a naughty monkey! Once we were on top of the cliff, the scenery was beautiful. This place is famous for a spiritual temple as well. According to our driver, most Hindu will come to this temple and pray if there are having a big day.

While watching the sunset, we were presented with "Kecak Dance". Kecak Dance is a musical-drama of Balinese religious origin. The story is taken from one part of "Ramayana", Hindu epic about Hanuman (Monkey God) who helped Rama and Shinta. It is started with 100 men wearing checkered sarong on their waist, they sat down forming a circle and chanting the repetitive sound of "cak.cak.cak". Then the performers of Hanuman, Shinta, etc will appear as the story begin. There is no musical instrument used to go along with the story, only the chanting from them.
The performance last for about 1 hour.

We continued our day to the most famous place for a dinner - Jimbaran bay. Fresh seafood was the menu with super cheap price.

Our very last day at Bali finally here. Even though we were very reluctant to go back, things got to come to the end. We spend limited hours prior to our flight with shopping. There was this place called "galleria", a duty free shop. The prices are amazing. All branded items were sold at duty free price, which means it is cheaper than the place I came from. So we bought few items from Gucci and Belly. :D

In summary, our 5 days and 4 nights trip to Bali were full with new discovery. We learned a lot from the Balinese people. For those who would love to explore this island, it is highly recommended.



































































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