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Bali.

Saturday, April 24, 2010
1:02 AM

Ok-aaaaaaaaaaaaay.

Finally.

Finally, at long last, the last of the Bali photos have been uploaded.

Did you know, that blogger actually takes more than 15 minutes to upload 5 photos at a time?

Well, for me at least. If it's faster for you people using blogger than, hmp. Good for you.

Imagine. Over 200 photos. How many painstaking 15 minutes I took to upload them all.

Anyways, I'm very much still basking in the post-holiday bliss by being lazy (lazier than my usual self) and of course, poorer.

I should think that, that doesn't count as much of any sort of bliss though.

Hehe.

Oh. I enjoyed the cruise a whole lot though. It was soooo much more laid back and mellow than Bali.

More than half the time in Bali, my bones were aching and I was literally knocked out every night I returned to the hotel.

Must have been all the outdoor activities.

Just to let you guys know. I am not unfit. Simply, I tend to use my muscles for more important things.

((:

I have muscles okay.

So anyhow, I guess I should start touching on the trip instead of- my less relevant nagging.

Hehe.

Don't get sick of our faces okay.

You know we're all cam-whores deep inside. (:

Of course I had to start off with our red passports.

This is a power book okay. Taking us anywhere we wanna go visa-less.

Or maybe we sort of already do have visa like passes cause of this passport or- okay.

I'm not sure of the details.

But it's still a pretty good passport.

And. I guess anywhere's really not right too. What with North Korea and all that.

OKAY !

So we headed for check-in at Terminal 1 for our budget flight (cause we're smart people like that), and walked around for most of the time deciding on what to eat before finally settling down at Starbucks with like, a few moments before take off.

Ha. Okay. Maybe I exaggerate.

But we are pretty indecisive people.

Or maybe it's just me.

And here we are, here we are !

Excited to step into a country we've never been before, and seriously.

I expected a paradise with emerald waters.

I know la. You must be like, ' You think you going to Mauritius or something? Emerald waters. '.

Aiya. Doesn't hurt to over expect right.

Everyone's been fooled by catalogues and brochures before.

And after a couple of hours and being confused by the difference in time zones (there IS no difference in the time zone. i am suagu i know)-

We arrive !

Being all touristy by grabbing a bunch of the touristy brochures.

Hehe.

And as always, I was excited and apprehensive when we stepped out to spot our driver from the hotel.

There were like, more than 50 drivers clogged at the entrance waving A4 sized signs can !

And the only agreement I had with the hotel was a verbal confirmation on the phone 24 hours before.

-__-

Either ways. From the photo, you can tell our nice driver came on time and carried us safely to our "budget" hotel for the night.

8 nights there, and I only managed to decide on the hotel for the first night a day before.

We were looking for something really reaaaaaally cheap that didn't farm bedbugs and fortunately, we did !

Does it look scary from here, or what.

Hehe. Don't be so aghast la.

It's the nighttime mode on my camera.

Your face would probably look like that too if I used my camera in the dark of the night.

Ha. Haha haha.

Hm.

Turns out that the hotel wasn't that budget after all and, it was pretty okay.

Probably the cheapest hotel I've ever stayed in at about $70 per night but, the service was again, pretty okay, and everything else.

It looks better in the day, I swear. Lol.

And and and. We were also pretty certain that it seemed like we were the only guests in the hotel.

(can imagine or NOT???)

But the person there casually told us that we were not.

Cause there were like, maybe, four other guests checked in that night.

(: No. Not scary at all.

Hahaha.

By this time, we were pretty much dying of hunger, so we quickly got our driver to fetch us some place that was still open.

It was only slightly before midnight.

I suppose that's also because our first few destinations weren't exactly the city/town (their versions), so, less variety.

Waiting...

And waiting.

We were practically the only customers there and the were cooking for us- and us only.

I like this photo alot. (:

And my milkshake arrives !

His Balinese beer.

I don't know how everyone keeps drinking it. Probably cause it's like one of the one ones the serve there.

Haha. Support local campaign.

The hugeass and super heavy room key.

Don't think anyone would ever lose it.

And our food arrives !

Sooo hungry already that fellow still got time to slice patterns out of the chilli and don'tknowwhat.

See what I mean?

Haha. And this is my not so good omelet.

The other dish was nice though. Our first local fare.

And we head back.

Looks okay right.

So fast morning already.

Lol.

And fail. Didn't upload photos of the rooms in the daytime.

Hahaha ! Oh well.

And we're waiting in the lobby for our rip-off cab to come pick us up.

Excited to head to the next hotel !!!

I miss being fair.

And in moments, we head up to Ubud, which, if I were to rename it, I'd name it Woodlands instead.

The place's full of paddy fields, which, as much as I hate the outdoors (which you have to agree with me, mainly consists of grass, mosquitos, soil, earthworms, and more prickly grass and hungry mosquitos), were pretty.

Cows can be seen here and there, and hotels had tiny entrances, as big as 5 feet maybe to let the vehicles in, but unknown to the naked eye, majestic behinds.

The cab had to drive about 5 to 10 minutes from the tiny hotel entrance into the main lobby.

Didn't take any photos of the paddy fields or winding road sadly.

It was quite enchanting.

Lobby lobby lobby !

Hotel staff waiting to welcome us already.

Welcome drinks which I barely sipped.

I think. It was hibiscus tea.

The lady asked why we didn't finish our drinks and I could only smile at her politely. HAHAHA.

AHEM.

Digressing- again.

I coming to think that this is gonna be a really long post considering that I'm an hour into writing and have only come so far.

Think I'd better leave the rest to another day.

Why tell you guys this and not simply cease writing and continue another day you ask.

Well. Cause. I like it.

To showering and my much deserved sleep ! (:

************

Okay. I am back.

It's probably one scroll down to you but it's been more than a week for me !

Hectic times.

More on that another day.

So let me continue now.

We're at... we're at...

yes, Alila !

It's supposed to be a boutique hotel, but the structure itself it's pretty big, probably the biggest boutique hotel I've ever seen.

It's so so so beautiiiiiiifuuuuuuuuuul.

): I wanna go back there again.

Anyways. Photos to prove it's splendidddd beauty.

Very green place.

Toilet.

Very pretty room.

It was a very very green place. Can almost smell the dew. Hahaha.

The room was sooo comfy and so cold !

And don't be mistaken la. We each had one room to ourselves. Haha !

Very perfect little flower.

You can be sure I put it in my hair.

What !

I said it's perfect right.

Don't barf at my self-taken photos okay.

I like it, I like it, I like it.

The light from the sun was just nice !

And for your info.

These are only like, haha. Few out of the 50 shots I took. Ha !

The infinity pool that drew us there.

I thought it would be the most outstanding thing about the hotel, but turns out that the hotel excelled in alot of other areas.

The pool wasn't that- wow.

Still pretty nonetheless.

And we settle for abit of free tea before heading into the town because...

it started raining.

Little open window behind the bed that I-don't-know-for-what-also.

And the hotel ride comes along.

And we head to Ubud town !

They have figures like this everywhere.

And after alot of walking and fickleness in picking out the best spot for our dinner, we settle on this place.

Neeeeeveeeeer regret.

Gosh. I liked this sooooo much and stupid Ruizhang took one bite and go return his to the waitress.

):<

Don't like can give me right !

It's soooo yummy ! A little smelly though. (:

Another milkshake and. Another beer.

And this was our favourite part.

Aaaaaaaahhh. Probably the best Calamari either of us has ever eaten.

It doesn't look like much but. It was soooooo fresh and soft and wet on the inside. Haahaha.

Seriously leh.

And the outside. Wa.

Breaded and fried perfection.

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay better than the ones in Fish n' Co and dunno what.

Numnumnumnum.

Some local dish.

I didn't take a photo of mine though !

Aiya. but their mains aren't much to comment about also. So !

Moving on.

And it's another day !

Always have to rush eating hotel breakfast one. Always. Dunno why.

But the breakfast at Alila was seriously one not too be missed man.

Ala-carte can !

Not the usual kiasu mediocre buffet breakfast hotels carry.

My eyes were glued to the eggs, eggs, eggs, and Buttermilk Pancakes. Hehehee.

Hotel keys. I thought this was a very good photo leh. Cause I have a very good camera.

I don't care if it' just an amateur digital cam.

I don't care.

Glorious day.

Glorious breakfast.

Some greek omelette and scrambled egg.

Our very nice driver picks us up at like, 7 or 8 am sharp I think.

Can't exactly remember.

We're scheduled to go white water rafting ! and sightseeing.

Over here, ): we took aloooot of rafting photos with his underwater camera.

Unfortunately, the camera got washed away later while we were sufing in Kuta.

Who's fault who's fault???

Haha.

It's nobody's fault la.

Stupid strong current though.

But diedie must put a photo of it here.

It's called Ayung river and I had to climb like a half km mountain down and up just for the activity la !

Almost died there.

It's not that I'm unfit okay. It's cause of the slippery steps and also cause I'm but a young petite little girl. ((:

Hahaha !

I know it's not use but.

Use your imagination la.

My muscles ached for a good three days after this.

No kidding.

And after this trip, I realized that I do whine alot.

Hehe. Sorry la.

Kintamani mountain/volcano.

Think it's still active leh.

Luckily never volunteer and pay to go trek it.

Heng ar. Or else I think my fragile bones would shatter.

Next up ! Kopi plantation.

I think this is lemongrass.

I like it !

Smells exactly like P.S cafe in Dempsey. Hehe.

Trying out the coffee and cocoa and buybuybuy after that.

And for the finale, beachside dinner at Jimbaran.

It's only saving grace, probably the sunset.

I take gooood photos. (:

Hehe. Don't laugh at my photos la.

I wasn't acting cute.

Just pulling my skirt.

Another beer.

Another milkshake.

We're addicts.

And the food?

There was crab too but I didn't post it up !

I asked how it could be cooked cause I was a little turned off by all the grilled food and he was like, steam, cook with butter- and in my mind I was like-

oooh ! Butter crab (picture the Singapore's butterlishous kind).

And what came was a red crab sitting sadly on a pile of oil. -___-

Cannot fathom why they would think something like these can be served.

Everything just penggang can already. BOO.

Worse meal ever. Someore must keep chasing the flies away while trying to eat our horrible food.

Thank god for the view though.

Sunset.

I lovelovelove the last one.

It is pretty perfect yes? (:

And we're back.

In the library checking exam results.

And while we were driving in I saw this angmoh couple having a supposedly romantic dinner out on the dark paddy fields all alone beneath this wooden marquee.

I was like wa ! So good. Got romantic dinner leh.

Hahaha. As if. Cannot imagine how many mosquito bites their gonna return to their rooms with.

So. We tried to have a nice dinner/supper too.

With Bali McDonalds ! (:

And breakfast again. This time alfresco.

My first time trying smoked salmon.

And finally ! Buttermilk pancakes. Haha.

After we leave for Alila ):, the same driver from the day before comes to pick us up for like almost a two hours long drive down to Kuta.

After abit of talking, alot of napping, we arrive at Hard Rock.

They say, you sell your soul for rock n' roll.

Bleeeeh. I wish. Overrated place.

We check in, and head out to change someore money.

Starving, it was time for lunch !

Cafe near Hard Rock.

Hungry.

Iced tea for a change. (:

Milkshake with no change. (:

Craving for fries.

I like this mushroom soup. (((:

Beef lasagna that tasted nothing like beef lasagna.

And dory fish.

Pui ! What different genres. All the rooms looked very much the same lo.

We're millionaires what.

That's why can anyhow pui at things. (:

Hard Rock's centrestage.

Posing with the big amp and guitar.

And that ends our one day.

The next day, we finally meet up with John and the rest to go surfing !! Yaaaaaaayyyy.

Hahahahaa. Okay la. So maybe I wasn't all that excited. But the boys were though.

Hard Rock does have a pretty nice pool though.

Clement trying to catch a wave.

Guess someone did !

Hahaha. I gave up after like, an hour of lesson?

Not because I thought I couldn't do it okay ! But cause the sun was tooo hot and I was getting fried.

Do you have any idea how much some people spend on SKII??

No matter how I calculated, it just didn't seem to be worth it to be baked by the sun.

So, I sat out and waited in the shades. ):

Don't know what this is called, but, it was pretty cool ! (:

Wonder how it would taste like to run into it. Hahaha.

Can see?

Like some mini sand tornado.

And it was on this fateful day, Ruizhang's camera got swept away by the strong Kuta current.

Boohoo. Think it's probably swimming with the fishes now.

To think I stood in the waters for a good ten minutes waiting for it to be washed back. -_-

And the hungry us decides to take a gamble with this roadside stall.

Or in this case, beachside stall.

Meatballlls.

Nice leh. (:

Very comfort food like.

The poor horses by the roadside.

They stand there from day till night.

Where are the animal activistsss??

The poor things were all resting their hind legs in the same fashion. ):

Okay. Never mind.

We never do anything about anything. Me alike.

Next up. Dinnnner.

Who's cute?

Haha. With a flower in their hair.

Hibiscus if I'm not mistaken.

Ruizhang and I (or maybe just I) were pretty reluctant to head to Jimbaran for a beachside dinner again thanks to our last experience.

But it was lucky we did cause this attempt was soooooooooo much better !

Totally got ripped off by theother restaurant. Ka Pui !

Free something soup.

Overexposed shot again. Yaaay. (:

Calamari that doesn't look all that appetizing.

But it was pretty good from I remember. A tad salty though.

Erm. Melasti sauced crab? Think so.

Black pepper. WHY ALL THE PHOTOS LOOK SO UNAPPETIZING ONE HUH.

The very rare... plain rice.

Steamed fish with garlic? all over.

Salted egg crab ! My favourite !!!!

Slurrrpslurrrp.

Think my stomach's growling now.

Ho ho.

Salty tender bliss.

Grilled fish.

Bintang boys.

Haha ! It was so funny how he got ripped off buying this supposedly possible $5 singlet.

Can't remember how much he bought it at though. Haha.

And after dinner, the boys wanted to catch the Man U v Liverpool game.

I think we have captain on the screen. (:

Thereafter (haha, thereafter someore), we head to KFC.

Ordered this exotic KFC beverage. Some Oreo chip something.

It was pretty good. Cold. Chocolatey. Thick. Chewy.

Ya. And thanks to it, I think I was presented with a nasty throat infection for the remainder of my Bali days. Thanks huh.

Eh. Pardon my. It seems like I'm beginning to give a blow-by-blow (hehe) account of my holiday now.

But there's no other way to do it !

If I resume my naggy linguistic self, I'll never finish this post.

Never.

Our Aretha Franklin blind.

As good as having no window at all now. Gundus.

I thought the doorway was very... though.

What's that word again.

Hypnotizing? No. Okay nevermind. No time already. Skip.

Next day !

Time-to-get-burnt-by-the-sun-day !

We start out bright and early (think we were late for two hours. supposed to meet the guide at 9 and we ended up getting on the car at 11 plus. hahahaha), missed breakfast (again), so we settled for Dunkin' Donuts.

Nomnomnom.

And after alot of haggling with the water activities person, we finally start.

Flying fish !

Looked super exciting when we first saw it.

But. Turned out to be okayokay only leh.

Aiya. Not their fault. We're people who requires more to be adrenalized. Hehe.

Think I was still pretty fair then.

Eh ! I'm not kicking a fuss or being whiny okay.

): Just sad. Pardon me la. I won't be stopping anytime soon. Haha !

Our only group shot and all of us are pretty much in a mess. Lol.

Yay ! And I prepare to fly.

The sand was %@#&#$&@#%!%!$ hot and all the while I ran very sissy-ly around. Like shuttle run man.

Could have cooked a steak okay !

Hehe. Look look ! Running already !

And weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee ~ !

The others have their go.

So pretty ! (:

It was really short. Not THAT terrifying or like exciting as I imagined or hoped for it to be, but a real experience to remember no less. The corals in the waters were very pretty from the top.

Jet ski time !

The best activity hands down.

Eh. There's my then-white legs. ): No. Not stopping yet.

Johnathan.

Haha. Think each of us managed to stand awhile.

And awhile stands for a second. Or perhaps half of that.

Don't know why wake-boarders in Singapore can manage to balance for so long.

Maybe it was the choppy waves on the beach.

Clement. Looking pro huh. Aiyaaa. Two seconds only laaaaaa.

Haha ! No la. Heard he was better than all of us.

This one. Maybe. Too tall. So. Haha !

I know. I look incredibly stupiddddd and don't-know-what here but it's the only one in which I look the most pro !

So I don't care ! Don't laugh at my expression !

I stood on my first try btw. (:

The instructor was incredibly pleased and kept smiling and praising me.

But his smile slowly faded and I think he ended up getting more and more upset and tired as my turn went on. Haha !

Ming's turn.

Think we all got whiplashed until groggy already.

Very salty mee goreng at the island.

Old school bottles.

And we're back at the hotel !

Played some pool at the hotel's premises.

Two games and we're tired.

After the washup, headed out for a walk and a quick bite before meeting up with the rest.

Ended up having dinner at the place.

The super suppperrrrr cheap place.

Bored yet? (:

So cheap. Each of us ordered like 3 portions each. Lol.

A steak costs like. $5 there I think.

And we didn't exactly order so many cause we kiasu okay.

It's because obviously $5 steak is cannot swallow one. Haha ! Okay la. Still kiasu. Cause we bothered ordering it in the first place.

I don't remember what we did that night.

Hmmmmmm. Thinkthinkthink.

Okay. I don't remember.

But it's the next day already.

Saw this place on the first few days walking around and wondered why so many people eating there.

So in the spirit of kepo-ism and kiasu-ism, we head back to it and had breakfast there.

(yes. missed hardrock breakfast again. 5 mornings and we only ate there once. why we always like that one huh !)

Same menu someore. These Balinese huh.

Turned out it's cheap so alot of people.

Edible la but nothing much to commend about really.

And the street where the store is on huh. Crooks everywhere man.

Fooled by the sweet name. Poppies' Lane.

Think I've recited the moneychangercheat experience at least 293 times. So I won't repeat here.

You can ask me if you're curious though. I'd gladly repeat it again. Hahaha.

I'm auntie what.

After, we start our hot hike to Discovery shopping mall.

Ruizhang insisted he knew the way just by looking at the very simple-looking map. So.

Walk walk walk, sweat sweat sweat.

And what do we see? An oasis !

Haha. In the form of a dessert store.

Umumum.

And we're here thanks to someone's keen sense of map reading !

(think we ended up taking a u-shaped detour between the two points. hahahaha.)

Serene beach at the back of the mall.

And ! I look soooo pudgy here can ! Toitoitoi.

Who still dares say me skinny should have their eyes checked.

Beautiful cabanas.

After, we head to dinner.

Cheap food. Not much to comment about. Experience probably neither of us would ever forget. Searched for the place forever. Almost got a heart attack thinking a dog was gonna kill us.

After dinner, we change, and head the very popular Paddy's club.

Hehe. First time go clubbing no aircon one.

GASP. Don't be so shocked la. Sua gu you. Hahahaha.

Drinks drinks drinks.

It was pretty fun, and before 2 seconds was over-

Morning already.

Hunger stricken. Craving for something hot to soothe that alcohol infested inside.

Haha. And I don't know why this crazy boy's wearing shirts all the time there while the others are in singlets and t-shirts.

Someone's vaaaaaain~

What better than, Xiao Long Bao? (:

Sitting just next to our hotel. Weeehooo.

Won't give up figuring how to log on to the internet.

Think my tears almost fell eating this.

So hot and soothing and chiiiineeeeeese. Haha. Then. I missed Singapore already.

Another meal barely 15 minutes later

The prior was just a small snack can. (:

This is the supposedly very famous Warung Made that people kept saying we had to try.

Nasi Goreng special and- don't know what's theother one.

Thought mine was okay. He looked abit unhappy eating his. Haha !

And I saw a bunch of people slurping and scooping this white thing like it's some very delicious dessert.

So being a very curious person (and not a copycat), I ordered it !

Turned out it's yoghurt.

But me thinks it should have been called sour cream instead. Blerrrgh.

Walk here walk there walk here walk there around Poppies' Lane, and it's dinner time.

Headed back to the very nicely decorated restaurants sitting behind Discovery Mall for our final dinner there.

Someone's holding a wedding.

My milkshake... yet again.

Tomato and leek soup !

Cream of chicken?

Very-mediocre-calamaris-compared-to-what-we-had-in-Ubud.

Potato skins.

Erm. Something. Stew?

Cajun chicken with mash.

Baby back ribs.

Lamb shank.

Hehehee.

Don't know he so happy what.

Must be secretly in love with Johnathan. Haha !

Me making good use of their wedding decor.

And. We leave for the night.

Headed to Paddy's again. But no pictures for the night. (:

Our last meal's at Hard Rock Cafe. $40 plus for this plate of thing can.

I know it's cheaper in Singapore but still.

After brunch, we did a little shopping and lazed by the hotel pool for the rest of the hours.

Clement John and Ming left first and were nice enough to inform us that there was still airport tax at departure.

):<

Hahahahaa. We decided to pay with a credit card BUT. Turned out they don't accept it at the airport and we were already running late for our flight.

What happened you ask?

Well. Don't ask. It's 1am now and you know how I tell my stories. Haha.

Kuku airport.

I'm finally finished.

Great sense of achievement YES !

Think this should be my longest post by far. Haha.

Goodnight all you darlings.

To good company and great holidays. (: