The Finale of Rockin' Bali (Day 4 of 4)

A Completely Idiot Ultimate Guide

JAN 19th

Going Shopping

I decided to get up early today as I've not so much time to do shopping the day before. I took fast breakfast as the taxi driver promised to fetch me at the Hotel lobby as early as 0830 in the morning.

Nothing much for today as I was taken to 2 places for shopping and I don't remember what and where were those places. Things that I can only remember were that at the first place, dicount were given to the local tourist, so I asked the taxi driver to pay the clothes I bought for me. 50%. So instead of Rp400,000 that I have to pay, I only paid Rp240,000.

At the second place, I was doing my shopping like crazy. Other than shopping, it was also an opportunity to talk to sweet and pretty girls there. I think I bought most of my things because I was able to those pretty girls. I even got the phone numbers of some of them as well. Hehehe...

Then, I rushed to a shopping mall to buy myself a bag, because my backpack is too small to contain all the things I bought in Bali. Then rushed back to the Hotel and packed up everything so that I can catch my flight. There's nothing much about the shopping because there's something more tragic happened.

Damages :: Severe

Departing from Bali

I was rushing all the way as all the other people that came with me has already be at the airport.

I was not there yet. The flight is scheduled at 1355 so at around 1245 I rushed out from the hotel and reached there at about 1300. As I reached there, I thanked the cabby driver and rushingly walking towards the check in counter. Before I was able to get into the check in counters, I was stucked at the security check. The metal scanner failed me everytime I walked through. At last, you know why?

It was my shoes. Damn it!

Then I walked around to look for the check in counter. I was wondering where was that Air Asia Counter. After a few minutes wandering around, I found the counter. I walked rushingly towards the counter and handing the counter person my bag.

"No more check in allowed. You are late by 10 minutes"

What? Oh gosh! I tried to ask her to let me to check in it was the fleet crew that disallowed me to check in. I'm so fucked up now! Aduh...

I was fell seated on the chair thinking of what to do. Checked out the flight schedules and saw this MAs flight at around 1850. I checked out the MAS counter at the outside, confirmed the ticket and the clerk gave me one hour to come back with the money.

Getting MAS ticket

I called Pak Made Yuda to fetch me and take me to the nearest money changer. I'll be losing a lot if I change it at the airport. The rate is ridiculous.

Then I paid for the ticket.

Look at the price there. USD208.70. Almost MYR800.

Damn it! Then I was waiting for almost 5 hours before the departure. I was so hungry but I was so broke of Indonesian Rupiah. I used all of them to pay for the ticket. So i waited, waited, and waited till my flight was called up for boarding. I was so thankful as they do provide food during the flight and i was comfortably sated.

I only arrived in KLIA at about 2190. Yay!

Damage :: Very severe!

Some Useful Tips

Cabby Driver :: First thing first. The 'supir' revealed! This is Pak Nengah Made Yuda. He should be 34 or 35 this year. His phone number is +6281338539872. Call him up for your booking!

Going to Airport :: Ensure that you don't come last minute. The security is tight and strict. If possible, you might wanna put all your important belongings into a sling bag instead of your pocket. Like me, I love having pants with a lot of pockets so that I can put everything of my impotant things are within my reach. It has become a habit that failed me through that metal security scanner. Even the cigaratte box didn't make it.

No where to go? :: Just ask the cabby driver. He is super nice and he knew where to take you. Just ask. This tip is good for those who have got no plan yet.

Expenses Cash to Hold :: I would suggest you to take at least MYR2k. Then you should also Pak Made Yuda where is the money changer with the best rate. He'll get you there.

Buying things :: Do not buy unless the price agreed is half or less than the price they offered. If you don't agree, just walk away and they will later approach you asking the price u want.

Rockin' Bali (Day 3 of 4)

A Completely Idiot Ultimate Guide

JAN 18th

It was a very fine hot day when I opened up my eyes. 9 o'clock and I rushed to the restaurant for the free breakfast. I was quite worried about the 'halal status' pf the food there, so I intended to get myself the cereal. They provided only the cornflakes. Luckily they do serve hot omelette.

On this fine day, I decided to get separated from whoever in the group. I was supposed to walk at the beach near the Tanjong Benua. Pak Made Yuda drove me there. I realy have no idea what is the place is all about. But as I reached the place, someone greeted me and offered a water activities like jet skiing, banana boat, scuba diving.. err what? Scuba diving?

I agreed straight away. As I have not so much Indonesian Rupiah, they agreed to accept payment in Malaysian Ringgit at the rate of RM1 = Rp2500. I took the scuba diving, wake board and visit to the Turtle Park. Everything for almost RM400. Cheap? I don't know.

Scuba Diving

It was kewl to be wearing the diving suit as I myself do not have any swimming suit or watersports attire with me. When I'm ready, we get on board of a small engine boat to get to the coral area. As we reached the place, i get ready with all the equipments and was asked to get into the water. As I get into the water, I felt a lil bit nervous and my breate starting to become unstable. Hahaha. Gue kaget pak! Later i realized that the water is not so clear and I'm starting to worry about the underwater camera pictures. I bet it's not gonna be so clear.

I was only able to dive in after the third attempt. The first attempt sucks big time. I feel like my lungs are gonna explode. The second one was failed as I felt like burping. I only made it to the coral after the third attempt. The only thing was that I cannot control myself from getting panic. But after sometime, when I see all the corals and the fishes, I forgotten to breathe already! It was so unbelieveable, that I actually in a diving suit, diving deep into the sea. One thing i hate about diving was that we need to bite the breathing nozzle all the time. It's very tiring to keep it bitten all the time.

You see it for yourself right? The pictures are not as clear as the crystal. I've got to actually edit the pictures myself. After 20 minutes, I was sent up, and the instructor carried on hunting fish for his dinner. Then I was sent back waiting for the wake board.

Wake Board

Shit. I thought it was easy. Due to the tireness from scuba diving, I was unable to let myself being pulled forcefully by the 180hp boat. I failed! Loser loser. Shit! Not even to get myself up!

Tour to Turtle Park, Tanjung Benoa

I was taken to the turtle park by a special boat. It has glass on the floor so that we can see what's in the sea. Amazingly, this place is full of seaweed. By the beach, there were a lot of dead/dried seaweed, and it smells like the sushi's seaweed. It makes me feel hungry. So the boat was unable to move fast. After sometimes, the boat driver allowed me take control of the boat. Kewl eh? Hehehe...

As we reached the park, someone greeted me and introduced himself as Udin. He tried to speak in Malay with Malaysia dialect but it sounds stupid though. He looked old even though he's only 24. He thought I'm younger than him. So well, he showed me around, as the place is not only for turtle but they also have other creatures like snake, owls, hornbills, bats and comodos; all the almost extincts creatures for breeding or reproduction. Hei tat was my first time doing all this.

Then, I was offered to buy drinks by credit as I didn't take my wallet with me. Udin also offered me to look around for souvenirs. I bought some. The souvenirs there are damn hell expensive. Then, we took pictures and the boat driver sent me off t the beach and for me to get ready for the next destination, Sunset at the Uluwatu Temple.

Activities Cost :: RM400
Damages @ Turtle Park :: Rp645,000 (RM258)

Comment :: I love this place. I would never imagine myself doing the scuba diving. And I do think it's cheap. In Malaysia, scuba diving only will cost you almost a thousand. New experience guys. Takkan nak sama macam orang lain je. Do something differentlah. I would recommend this place. YOU SHOULD TRY!

Sunset @ The Uluwatu Temple

I wonder sometimes, is there such cliff in Bali. When people went to Bali, they'll surely have that cliff picture. Oh now I know where. It's at the Uluwatu Temple. I put myself in the best position to take pictures there. The cliff is high. I'm scared of height too but i think it's worth it to fell down the cliff after my photo is shot. Hehe.. Hanya Bercanda (just kidding)..

In this place, they have the same Kecak Dance as the previous day. So i took a walk through the temple. One thing abot balinese is that they're religious people. Nice people and with high courtesy. They preserve everything, from their culture, religion, as well as the temple. They didn't allow people to enter their temple for nothing. I also wonder why the Malaysian let other than muslim to enter the mosque in putrajaya. Even though people are required to wear robe to cover the undecent clothing, they would still disallow people to enter their temple. I do respect that.

So I met this pair of Japanese girl. Hehe.. I just want to mention about them. Nothing much except i think their English are damn cute but stupid.

I think i like the top picture of the monkey very much. Oh yeah, they have monkey everywhere here so whenever you come by, make sure you keep everything tight. Do not hold your things loosely. These creatures love your wallet!

Parking Cost :: Rp2,000 (RM0.80)
Entrance :: Rp3,000 (RM1.20)

Comment :: I think i like this place. Maybe if you want to see Kecak Dance, you should ask your guide or driver to go here so you can do 2 things at once. Visit the uluwatu temple, see the sunset and see the kecak dance as well. But it was cloudy when we went there so I can see no sunset there. I love the cliffs view. Very nice! You should go.

Ikan Bakar @ Sharkeys Cafe

The journey in and out of the Uluwatu temple was quite long but I enjoyed the scenery around. Then I told the cabby driver to go to somewhere thatI can have grilled fresh seafish. We headed to this place named Sharkey Cafe. A cozy place where we can sit by the beach. Some customers were even it by the wave sometimes. That close ok! There were some exotic acoustical group of musician performing there. They are quite kewl.

But maybe, I was not meant to eat there. After 2 hours, I manage to get only the drinks. Food? Do not even mention about it. People who came much later than me have got their food already. After almost 2 hours, i asked the cabby driver to ask about our food. Even my selected fish was gone!

That's bad. That restaurant is stupid so don't go. I intended to leave without paying but, yeah, that's the fact, i'm too kind to do that.

Damage :: 2 mixed juice Rp20,000 (RM8)

Comment :: Don't go. They discriminate people. They prioritize the western people than us. You can try your luck as I heard that the food is good, butif you see so many people around, better find some other place. There were a lot of complains that night even from the westerners.

So i decided to have dinner at another Nasi Padang tonight.

Dinner at Nasi Padang :: Rp71,000 (RM 28.4)

Hard Rock Cafe @ Bali

We headed back to the hotel and i rushed to the bathroom to get ready. I'm going to Hard Rock tonite. How cool is Hard Rock cafe in Bali?

It wasn't that cool. At first, I went to the merchandise shop. Everything was crazily expensive and unreasonable. The staffs there were so arrogant, and thinks that they have the best paid job in the world. Other than being rude, they were discriminative. Anyway, I manage to get myself a Hard Rock T-shirt.

Then I went in, ordered coke and wait till the band dropped and walked off to the hotel. I'm so lucky to be able to see one of the Indonesian Idol finalist of 2006, wo sang very nicely. It was his birthday. Well then again, the staffs are discriminative. They treat foreigner better than us, the south east asianers.

Comment :: Ok, if you wanna have fun, carry on but the security are tight. Who doesn't like hard rock anyway?

Taxi fare :: Free for today. The cab driver asked me to pay him on the next day. Yahoo!

Rockin' Bali (Day 2 of 4)

A Completely Idiot Ultimate Guide
January 17th

I woke up a lil bit late just to find myself missed the breakfast that ended at 10AM. Oh yeah, Bali time is equivalent to Malaysian GMT+8 time. So, it's much easier to figure the time there, compared to Jakarta or the WIB time.

Zetty, did smsed me last night asking whether I'm in Bali and being very nice to provide me with her last time chartered cabby driver, Pak Yuda's mobile phone number. I called the fella and he says that the cab will be arriving in half an hour.

As this is such a sucky unplanned vacation, I don't really have any idea where to go. Based on some other travel agent samples of the list of the places they went to visit, i showed the list to the cabby driver, who is not the one that Zetty was suggesting, but his name is also Pak Yuda. His name is Nengah Made Yuda.

Mandala Wisata Wenara Wana
(Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary, Padang Tegal, Ubud, Bali)

He suggested we went to see the monyet first. It was quite a faraway place. We went through the only untolled highway there to get to the northern area of the Bali Island. It was quite a long journey. Luckily i'm a talkative person so I 'ngomong' a lot with the 'supir'. We passed the Sanur beach and went through this place where stone carving (pronounced ston-karr-ving) is the main economical activity. After one hour then only we manage to get to the wood carving area pulak. (pronounced wud-karrr-ving).

Please click on the image to enlarge. The first two top pictures were the pictures of the monkeys that I fed with the banana. In the middle were the pictures of the foreign tourist with the monkey. I took that picture because i do think that the tourists do looked like the monkey as well. Next to it was the picture of a pool that was said to be holy. I have no idea why but maybe because of the fish.

The 2 bottom pictures were the incident when I was bitten by the monkey that I was playing with. Hehehe. Takpe tak sakit pun. Macho.. (sebenarnya sakit nak mampos...!)

Entrance Cost :: Rp10,000 (RM4)
Parking Cost :: Rp2,000 (RM0.80)
Banana Cost :: Rp15,000(RM6)

Comment :: Quite an okay place. You should be extra careful with the monkeys. The male monkeys will normally chase female human. You should also come with foods.

Mount Batur, Kintamani.

Then we headed to a place where we can see an active volcano named Mount Batur. Being remote and high, the journey was quite refreshing with the view of the food orchards by the roadside and cold air. As we reached Kintamani, we entered the Batur Sari Restaurant to have our lunch, together with the 'Supir'. I enjoyed the Lunch buffet there, eventhough it wasn't that good in taste. You know, I'm quite fussy about food, and I missed my breakfast so belasah aje. I was quite full since, so later I took some pictures of myself there..

Before we leave, there were a few people trying to sell souvenir. Being too kind, I bought. Kesian diorang.

Entrance Cost :: Rp10,000 (RM4.00)
Parking Cost :: Rp2,000 (RM0.80)
Buffet Lunch :: Rp60,000 per pax (RM24)
Aqua Cost :: Rp12,000 per bottle (RM4.80 mahal giler air mineral)
Damage #1 :: 5 T-shirts for Rp100,000 (RM40 for 5 or RM8 each)
Damage #2 :: A set of 10 pencils for Farah Rp10,000 (RM4)

Comment :: The food sucks. The scenery was okay. Coutesy is good. Don't ask for fresh orange as they will actually send you cordial orange drink. Anyway, you should try all satay. And be careful of the merchants outside of the restaurant.

Ubud Hill Padi Plantation

We went down the hill and dropped by the place where the orchards were just by the side of the road. I asked Pak Nengah Yuda Made to stop and I bought Salakfruit and Markisa. Then we continued our way to Pasar Ubud.

Damage #3 :: Salakfruit & Markisa Rp35,000 (RM14)

On our way down, we dropped by to this place where we could see people planting the Hill Padi, which of a special breed of rice that is longer and bigger. I was interested to look at 'em ut all of a sudden I was crowded by a bunch of people selling items for souvenirs. It was all okay until i started to buy an item from them. Everyone of them now came to me. I was a lil bit scared when they started to pull my shirt and pushed me towards the cliff. Luckily Pak Nengah Made Yuda came to the rescue and we continue our journey to the Ubud Market.

Damage #4 :: A special made-from-wood basket Rp100,000 x 2 (RM40 x 2)
Damage #5 :: Wood Chopstick set Rp40,000 each (RM16)

Comment :: Do not buy things here. Expensive!

Ubud Market

This is where I bought a few more souvenir items for friends. I remembered I bought 3 piece of ashtray and more interestingly, I was shocked as I saw someone that I think looked like zetty. Maybe from this view but when I saw her from the back, yah, she really looked like zetty indeed!

Damage #6 :: 3 Ashtrays for Rp70,000 (RM28)

Comment :: Things here are damn cheap. Tips - Bargaining power is important. Do no show that you're desperately buying. Ask 50% of the price they offered. If you're not happy with the price then just walk away until they agree to the price you want!

Nusa 2 Beach

We were supposed to be going to the Kecak dance but as we arrived at the place quite early, Pak Nengah Made Yuda suggested us to go to the Nusa 2 Beach, just to look around and try the said-so-sweet-corn(tall). I took some pictures with the local tourist and the picture of the 'makcik' who sell the 'Jagung Bakar'. Before we left, I manage to buy myself a pack of 20's Dumhill hehehe.. It's really hard when you live in the world of kretek everywhere.

Entrance Cost :: Rp1,000 (RM0.40)
Parking Cost :: Rp1,000 (RM0.40)
Jagung Cost :: Rp5,000 each (RM2 mahal gak ni kan?)
Aqua Cost :: Rp5,000 each (RM2 air mineral 2 hinggit masih mahal)
A pack of Dumhill (the new one) :: Rp9,500 (RM3.8 hahaha best!)

Comment :: You can come here to have fun. A lot of people around. Safe place.

Kecak Dance Uma Dewi



I was excited as when we arrived at the kecak dance place, the car was scanned using the bomb scanner all around. Heh, that was rare! Even when I arrived last night, they didn't check for bomb at my body. Well, bomb is scaring the tourist away from Bali. The Pak Nengah Made Yuda told me that before the bombing incident, Bali was almost a heaven but now. Then goodlah, easy for me to come and travel also. Things were getting cheap and not so many people around.

The kecak dance is somekind of freak and weird. I don't know i just feel it that way. It was really something that I may hardly accept that was when Pak Nengah Made Yuda says that he's a Hindu. Then I realized that Hindu is the main religion in Bali. I do respect that sense, but it's just weird.

A friend said that he felt cold and all his hair stands (maybe his dick too) as they started with the dance. The dance is actually about Ramayana bla-bla yada-yada lalalalala-lalalalalala; very boring. I knew if i go out now, the 'Supir' won't be around. I was only energized when this one heroine that really awake me off my 'sleepiness', as at the end of the show, I just unable to stand taking a lot of photos with her.

Entrance Fee :: Rp50,000 (RM20)

Comment :: Boring! But worth the wait till the end. Oh gosh she's so pretty!

Dewata Minang Nasi Padang

After the show, we went off for dinner before heading back to the Hotel. This is a restaurant where a lot of the flight crews having their meals. It's very near to the airport and we were unlucky to see any stewardess around at that time. I was thinking to ask them out to Hard Rock is any. No luck! As I think we're getting so tired, I think we should go back to the hotel and sleep.

Dinner for 3 :: Rp45,500 (RM18.20)
Taxi 1 whole day :: Rp300,000 (RM120)

Comment :: Nasi Padang is nice. The cab driver is nice also. I'm gonna charter hi for the next day.

Actually the cab driver asked for only Rp200,000, as I've already filled in his taxi fuel tank with petrol worth Rp100,000 but I insisted to give him Rp300,000 as I think he's very nice. Anybody going to Bali, you should contact this super nice guy! He may get a bigger transportation if there are more than 4 people in a group.