Bali Trip!

Yay, just finished all my replacement classes (sorry, students!), so it's time to talk about my Bali trip with Mama, Auntie Sam and my cousin Aidi! A little warning: this post has almost 60 pictures total! Sorry to take your bandwidth away, so I'll try to make the trip sound as entertaining as possible!

As usual, the captions are below the pictures. Here we go!

Day One

As I mentioned in my previous post, it's been a while since I took a trip. So I woke up first thing in the morning and was on my toes to start the trip.



I was really too excited!



Just like Singapore, we had to fill up some embarkation white card. Whoa, what's this? Purpose of visit: Official mission? Damn...



We knew we had to tick that one. (Thank god for the empty terminal counter!)



Aidi took this beautiful view when we were nearing Bali. Dunno why, but every time near landing time, my right ear would go deaf on me and I would writhe in pain. What the heck is wrong with me?! Someone, please tell!

Anyhow, when we reached Bali, we were... uhm... impressed. Impressed that Bali looked like Malaysia in the early 80s. Not exactly what was pictured in Bali travel guides.



What better way to greet us than to have Bali pictured in a Samsung TV advert!

The MAS travel package included a hotel stay and some breakfast. So a tour guide escorted us to our hotel.



The reception area was full of culture and looked really cozy. The hotel was way better than I expected. Cheers to the hotel in which I forgot the name! :P



We had only two full days in Bali, so we needed a tour package. Hence, the tour fee negotiation battle began!



The hotel room was really superb. This was where I spent my lovely honeymoon getaway... with Aidi =_=;; Thank god the beds were separate!



And wow, just look at the channel listings! They even have french, german, spanish and italian channels! But the best channel was channel 29, FashionTV. They had this segment called Midnight Hot where they would feature... uh, never mind...



The only downside to the room was the frosted toilet window. In the picture you can see Aidi pushing out his bowels with passion.

We arrived at night unfortunately, but we had time to do one simple thing... go to the spa! So they massaged me, scrubbed me (eh hehehe he heheeheh geli la), showered me...



...and put me in some flower bath. This was the aftermath. I was there, covered with flowers, almost-naked... mmm mmm imagine that...

Ok ok don't go! Read on!

Day Two



As usual, I woke up with full enthusiasm.



Had some aunthetic Balinese breakfast: sunny side up eggs, potatoes and bread!

After breakfast, we started our first full day in Bali.



Randolph and Yu San spent their honeymoon in Bali recently. Randolph told me that at every roundabout there's a beautiful statue standing in the middle. This was one of 'em. Truly majestic.

Felt like climbing the statue and pay homage to Shadow of the Colossus (remember Singapore's merlion pic?), but some Hindu monks might kill me on the spot.



We arrived in some place near the hotel to watch the Barong dance, a classic example of the fight between good and evil. The dance was ok, not as enjoyable as the kecak dance we saw later that day.



It was raining heavily, which lent some sort of nice atmosphere to the dance. The musicians sat in a separate hut next to the stage.

Then when the dance finished, the rain stopped! Black magic or masterful stage tricks?



Nooo Mama, stop playing!!!



Loved this lion. He would sometimes *kiap* *kiap* his mouth suddenly, with some knocking wood sound added to it. Damn cute.



After the dance, we went to this Batik museum in Ubud. Quite funny considering that we have a whole lot of Batik in Malaysia, but oh well, it's all part of the tour.



These two would make a lovely addition to my collection of anime figures!



They had ladies handcrafting batik outside the museum, and this foreign lady had the artist to draw straight on the white shirt!

We were about to leave, when suddenly a British chap wanted to show his art collection...



Will you look at that white moustache? Such a distinguished gentleman.



Also in Ubud was a shop selling silver, so we dropped by to see how the accessories were created. This guy was busy creating some ring/necklace.



And this poor dude had to work to cover his trip's expenses.

We left for Kintamani, a good 2 hours drive away. Had a really good sleep in the car. Suddenly, the tour guide told me that we reached a really good souvenir shop. So I ran in, eager to see what was in store...



....oooo-kaaaayy....



Aidi, always a good hunter.



Bali seems to like sex-related crafts a lot. Saw a bunch of sex-position figures, but this one had a a person with a stick going into... uh, another person with a stick =_=

Adrian, this one's for you! ;)



Thanks to the guy in the middle who gave us numerous discounts, we became happy shoppers.



And we have arrived in Kintamani, a semi-active volcano! Semi-active because there are still some nice hot springs up that mountain. The tour guide mentioned that you could wake up at 3 in the morning to climb up that hill and see the sunrise. Do not want.



We took a long downhill drive and visited a small temple. Forgot the name :P

The place really looked like some abandoned ruins in Stranglethorn Vale (sorry, non-WoW players!). So we wanted to explore further...



...but the tribal orc and troll scared us away.

The tour van driver drove past traffic like a leopard coz we were afraid we couldn't see the sunset. When we thought we made it in time...



The stupid sky blocked the sun! Rats!

Anyway, welcome to Uluwatu, a must-visit for the Bali traveler. It got quite dark, so we didn't have much time to explore around. We just went straight to the Kecak dance.



Oh great, just what I needed. A bunch of half-naked men.

This dance is quite cool. First, there's no music. Those men actually chanted like nuts, shouting CAK-KE-CAK-KE-CAK-KE-CAK over and over again, following the rhythm and mood of the dance. No prize given to whoever can guess why it's called the Kecak dance.

It was truly entertaining, and I dare to say that it's the best experience I had in Bali. Was even inspired to use their chanting for my next platform game!



One of the characters that I really liked was the white monkey. At first, he didn't do much, just disturbed the chanters here and there, and left the stage.

I was sitting on the second last row. Suddenly, a lady behind me shouted in surprise.



I looked behind, and saw the very same monkey just behind me! The freaking monkey sneaked up on us! Whoo, what an experience! Too panicky to take a good picture, so had to make do with this one.



The monkey then walked down the seats, even saying in English "Excuse me, going through" xD He then sat beside some gwailo, and happily chatted with him until it was time for him to enter the stage! That monkey's one charming dude.



Then the evil forces trapped the monkey with some fire wall. He got into a trance and extinguished the fire with his own bare feet!



Had to take picture with the hero. Damn his flees though.

Day Three

And the second (and last) full day in Bali arrived. Usually when people think of Bali, they think of the temples....



...and they think of the beaches! This is Nusa Dua, a beach for all youngsters who are into all those extreme water sports, like jetskiing, paragliding, etc.



My mom and auntie are not into those kind of things, so we took a simple boat ride. That's what happens when you travel with two old ladies xD kidding! kidding!



Our completely tak-jadi take of One Piece. Aidi just couldn't stretch his arms long enough! He should've shown that big wide Luffy smile.

The boat took us to a little place called Turtle Island, a little gimmicky touristy place to touch many types of animals that have nothing to do with each other!



C'mon Michealangelo, go to the camera. Haiyoh, faster la! Party dude konon.



I've got you now, Batman!



Aidi and I having some quality time together.



Name that PS2 game!



After the beach trip, we went down for some authentic Balinese lunch (for real this time!). That thing in the middle is the standing fish.

Standing fish huh? Kinda reminds me of that news guy in Spongebob.






After lunch, we went to yet another temple. Again, I forgot its name... ehek.



The tour guide told us that 2000 years ago the tribal men warded off enemies from this temple by building a few ion cannons (ok ok there were spotlights for some official ceremony).



The garden inside the temple was beautiful. It's a distant reminder of the zen gardens in Kyoto.



The Balinese greet visitors with their hands close together like this.



After that simple temple visit, we went to a more postcard-worthy temple. This is Tanah Lot. During high tides, you can see the beach submerged by sea water, so the temple would like it's floating on an island.



As usual, an obligatory picture of me and my mom. Man, I'm such a good son!



What better way to ruin the scenery than covering it with some silly dance moves.

Oh wait, there're some *under-utilized* sea shots. I guess it's time for...



Kung-fu Fighting... haiyah!



I delivered a well-timed (pathetically low) kick, while Aidi did... whatever that move was. He was most formidable.

But who won this epic struggle for supremacy? (= loser had to pay for dinner)



Rest in peace, Aidi. Rest in peace.



ANYWAY... my mom and auntie insisted on having Padang cuisine for dinner, so we ended up in this place. Just look at the number of dishes!



Four extremely full Malaysians in the Natrabu Minang restaurant.

Last Day



The guy on the left is our super-speedy driver. Beside him is our tour guide for the last 2 days. This was the last shot at the Denpasar airport.

And that ends our Bali trip! Soon after that, I had to rush to teach Advanced Digital Media class, trying to overcome the holiday drunkenness at the same time. :P

Now, back to work... bummer...