Bali 2015 - The island of the Gods

Namaste. This will be my first entry, inshaa Allah.

Initially, it was Mady's and my idea to go to Bali before Farah and Nad decided to join us. So we booked Malindo flight from Kuala Lumpur to Bali and Airasia from Bali back to Kuala Lumpur. (Worth MYR 500 total per person, seriously we can get cheaper actually). We booked Grandmas Hotel in Seminyak for 3 nights. I had issues before the trip, sampai nak cancel trip (hehe) konon-kononnya. One of the reason was due to ash clouds in Bali (from Mount Raung volcano in East Java)  yang banyak kali caused the airport in Bali to be closed. So I called Malaysian embassy in Bali (effort!) and Malindo air just to confirm about the condition in Bali. I went to Kuala Lumpur on the 23rd July and overnight at Mady's place.

24/7/2015

We went to KL Sentral at 0600 hours and took a 0640 hours bus to KLIA 2. We met Farah at the airport, checked in and our flight departed at 0920 hours. The flight took about 3 hours and alhamdulillah we landed safely at Ngurah Rai airport at 1225 hours. Our guide, Alif (+6285253005807) took us to Malioboro restaurant for lunch. We had nasi ayam tulang lunak. Memang sedap gila and we can eat the tulang ayam as well. Ish, macam jin la pulak.

Next, we went to Nusa Dua beach to watch water blow.

Water blow nampak biasa-biasa dalam gambar but trust me, you gotta see it for yourself.

Lepas tu, Alif took us to Pendawa beach. Mula-mula I thought tempat tu kuari sebab nampak batu-batu putih. Alif kata tu semua batu kapur.

 First time tengok laut dari tempat tinggi, and the view is just so amazing :)

We left this place at around 1630 hours and headed to Uluwatu to watch Kecak dance and to catch sunset. We paid IDR 100000 upon entrance. We did not go to the famous cliff, tengok dari area temple je sebab takut lambat ke kecak dance. Well, no words can describe the breathtaking view of Uluwatu. Cantik amat!

Actually we are not required to wear the kain to enter the temple area as we wore long pants tapi kitorang pakai jugak nak acah acah tourist. Hehe.

Outside the worshiping area

Around 1800 hours, we walked down to the small audi to watch the Kecak dance performance. It is performed by a group of men yang buat bunyi guna suara mereka sendiri. I was so glued watching the performance. Entah kenapa tapi catchy gila bunyinya. Hehe.

Later,after the performance, we went back to the airport to fetch Nad yang baru sampai from Jakarta. Lepas tu we went to our hotel to checked in (2 rooms). The room that Nad and I shared sucks. AC working on and off, lampu toilet rosak and the shampoo provided by the hotel is bloody smelly.
We took shower, solah and went out again for dinner. Jalan kaki je dekat2 area hotel. I had shrimp spaghetti. Restaurant tu okay2 la tapi live band dia nyanyi lagu rock metal ke apa I tak tau la.

25/7/2015

Alif fetched us at 0840 hours and we went to watch Barong dance.I tried to focus but I just can't. I personally think it is not as interesting as Kecak dance. Next, we went to Kintamani which took 3 hours from our place. We were so lucky because today was their 'eid' celebration which is called Hari Galungan dan Kuningan. What makes Bali so special is that this 'Island of Gods' is so rich with culture. During this Hari Kuningan, every single woman wears their traditional outfit; baju kebaya with kain batik whereas the men wear sarong, their traditional white shirt and udeng (something they wear on their head). There were panjur along the roadside as decoration.

Perarakan Hari Galungan dan Kuningan

Balinese women waited in front of their houses with 'sembahan' to get blessings.

Panjur 

 We reached Kintamani in the afternoon. We had lunch there, facing the volcano and the huge lake next to it.

This place is so cool and breezy, I don't feel like leaving this place :/

Lepas tu, kitorang pergi ke Tegalalang Paddy Terrace. Sambil-sambil lepak tepi bukit, we had lemongrass juice and milk tart. Sempat beli 2 helai seluar goboh2 kat sini.

Benar kata orang, bila di Bali semua masalah pasti hilang, maka nikmatilah ia seadanya.

On our way down, we stopped by the roadside to see Julia Robert's villa dalam cerita Eat Pray Love. Before that, kitorang lalu di area rumah Ketut Liyer :)

Sorry for the poor quality photo. This is the 'eat pray love' villa.

 Later that night, we went to Kuta area (one of the most happening area in Bali). We had dinner at Jamie Oliver's Italian and I had spaghetti nero there. Service memang tiptop. We went to Hard Rock Shop next to it and later to Hard Rock Cafe which is located not far from the hard rock shop. Dapatla sehelai HRC tshirt berharga IDR 380000.

26/7/2015

This morning, Alif took us to Anomali cafe for breakfast. This is a hipster cafe and memang cosy betullah. coffee pun sedap.

Then we went to Bedugul temple. The image of this temple can be seen in their IDR 50000 note. Tempat ni kecil je but cantik untuk ambil gambar. Anyway it is located about 3 hours away from Seminyak. These are some of my favourite shots.

Seriously, I learned how to jump today :)

I managed to buy 'udeng' for IDR 35000 here. It is the thing that Balinese men wear on their head :).
Next, we went to my most favourite place in Bali - Tanah Lot to watch the sunset. This is one of the place yang bila tengok depan mata rasa macam nak nangis sebab speechless habis. Hehe. So these are photos in Tanah Lot:

OMG. I'm in love with this photo

With locals in Tanah Lot :)

The girls and I, and my 'udeng'

Ni lah Tanah Lot temple yang sampai masuk dalam mimpi punyalah nak sangat pergi sini.

My favorite place

Hidup ini harus dinikmati, bukan diperbudakkan oleh kerja. -Alif, 2015.

Alif told us not to go further to the temple because if we do so, we will have to pray there. Patutlah semua yang turun dari temple ni akan ada beras kat dahi :)

Watching sunset :)

With the rest of these people :)

Later that night, we went to Kuta again. We had our dinner at Hard Rock Cafe. To my surprise, Mady, Farah and Nad planned to do early birthday celebration there. (I wasn't in mood because I just read news about earthquake in Bali that time).

I was so embarrassed that I need to go on stage, nevertheless I think you guys are sweet haha

Thank you so much, may we will be travel buddies for next trips :)

27/7/2015

Today is our last day in Bali. We walked to Seminyak beach and had our breakfast by the beach itself :). Nad went surfing (they will teach you to surf then let you surf on your own) and Mady and I went back to hotel spa for massage and body scrubbing.

Breakfast by the beach with awesome people :)

That colorful cafe behind us

Not the nicest beach in Bali, but it is still beach yow

After that we checked out from the hotel and Alif took us to Krishna to buy souvenirs. There are lots of local and cheap body/skin care in the store as well. After that, we went to airport to catch our flight at 2120hours. We bid farewell to Alif and paid him IDR 1.5 million (he actually only asked for IDR 1.32mil) and we gave him extra tip because of his 'tip top' service. Hehe. We reached KLIA 2 at around 0020 hours the next day.

Overall, this is one of the best trip I've been to and I won't hesitate to settle down here if I have to as I think I'm already in love with Bali; the places, the food, the culture and even the language. Travelling teach us 1 thing for sure; to embrace differences and to respect others.

So that's all for now. Can't wait for my next trip this October. Okay, thanks and chio!

p/s: Alif  (+6285253005807) can also be contacted via Yanto +6281236540997. They will give you good price and good service, inshaa Allah :)