My Trip To Bali 2009.

The day had come.. I was very excited to travel. Nothing much that I'd prepared for my trip to Bali this time. I have decided to go there to shop, shop, and shop!! So, I brought 2 pieces of t-shirts, 2 pieces of shorts and my other necessary items (dreaming to bring home a lot more from Bali soon!) for a week stay there. But yet, my backpack is quite heavy.. don't understand why!

In flight AK 362 leaving at 1055 hours (lucky it is departing on time!). My seat was one row in front from Sulaiman's seat and next to him was a Mat Salleh. Since he was alone, I nicely talk to him so that we can change our seat.. and lucky, he agreed to do that. Thanks mate!

Since this is a morning flight, and it will take 3 hours journey, I decided to pre-ordered my breakfast (even after we had our breakfast at the airport) while making the flight reservation, I've clicked Pak Nasser Nasi Lemak..
Finally it is my turn, when the stewardess checked my boarding pass, there is no indication for the nasi lemak that I've ordered earlier! I was so frustrated.. and since Sulaiman & Idayu had ordered their breakfast, I ordered a nasi goreng.. the taste, sucks! When I checked again my ticket confirmation copy, I had accidentally clicked for nasi lemak order for my journey back from Bali! Sedih!!

Upon arrival at Ngurah Rai Airport, Denpasar, at the arrival exit, I saw my name on a paging board. Hmm.. the hotel did a good job after several calls and arrangements made (sometimes it was so confusing due to language spoken between us!), we safely arrived at Suriwathi Hotel, Legian Street (20 minutes walk to Kuta Town).

A small budget hotel but nice. We've stayed in a standard room (basic room with air-condition, TV, clean bathroom, wardrobe and make-up table) that cost at Rp180,000 (RM66.00) per night with continental breakfast. A very good deal! As we're sharing room, we only pay RM33.00 per person, per night. But their deluxe and superior rooms are even nicer (like a house!) and it cost a bit more. Since all of us not gonna spend a lot of time in the room, everybody agreed with the cheapest room rate! This hotel was very famous among budget traveler from Australia and New Zealand that stayed for a few months.

My room key.. room 206 on the second floor.

Once we arrived, after a short rest, we decided to walk around the area and do a bit of survey for shopping. But myself, since this is not my first time here, shopping is my main agenda! Did a few shopping on my first day of arrival.. love it!! Did some survey too, and I know what to spend my money on! :)

This is the Bali Bombing Memorial near Kuta town, on the right side of this memorial was the first bombing at Sari Club and on the left side was the second bombing at Padi's Club (both happen on the same night after a few minutes from each other). Glad that my name was not in the list behind me in this picture!

Our almost every night dinner.. McDonald's! This was at Kuta Beach facing the sea.. since most the food here is non-halal, only a few fast food restaurants are halal including Pizza Hut. To tell the truth, I don't fancy Indonesian food, so I did not look for halal Nasi Padang food stall. Their food tasted very different than ours even it look very similar! Yuckks!!

Our daily continental breakfast.. either toast or banana pancake. But we brought a long a canned tuna just in case!

Second day.. leisure day. Our group for this trip from left, Fuad, Acat, Yusnoor, Ruslan, Rahman, Mashita, myself, Izat, Zul (Mashita's husband, not in this pic) and Fuad sisters (not in this pic too!). Also Sulaiman and his wife, Idayu, Amir and his wife, Mas, Martell and Azlin and Alif (they stayed in a budget hotel in Kuta).

At Legian Beach, not very far from where we stayed. Nice and clean beach with a strong current and big waves.. also an ideal place for surfing and sun tanning!

Yippee! I love this place!! (cheap & beautiful!)

The gateway behind me was just been erected a few months ago in Kuta Beach, the most famous beach in Bali (this place was never sleep!) . A very traditional Balinese architecture.

The famous Hard Rock Hotel and Cafe in Bali. Very expensive here! :(

Waiting for our local lunch at Kuta Beach.. nasi bungkus and fried tofu. I notice the Balinese likes to eat mixed rice with noodle and cili padi is a must have in every meal.. weird!

This is the fried tofu with sambal (chili paste), soy sauce and cili padi. Fuad love it very much.. I've tasted it.. not bad!

Our almost everyday lunch.. Pizza Hut! Also located in Kuta Beach facing the sea, a good place to check-out the surfers (like what Fuad did!). A few blocks away from McDonald's and Hard Rock Cafe. By the way, the frangipani on our ears are the Balinese tradition.. so women (even the guy here in Bali are like this!).

Rented this bus to take us for our sightseeing & tours on our third and fourth day. Amazingly, it only cost us Rp1,100,000.000 (RM400.00 or RM25.00 per person) per day! Very cheap!!

Beside than shopping in my agenda while I'm in Bali, this time around, I wish to see more of their culture. My first cultural show I went in this visit, The Barong & Kris Dance on my third day in Denpasar. Barong Dance is about a lion and this is actually a Hindu epic show.. I love the female dancers as it shows a lot of character from their faces especially from their eyes. Very interesting. This is daily show and it cost at Rp80,000.00 (RM29.00) per person.

Barong with it's fans on stage!

Since Yusnoor & Izat was very interested in Balinese painting & art, after the Barong Dance, we were drove down to the art gallery. A lot of nice arts here but a bit expensive.. really not our choice!

Sawah padi (Padi Field). This is in a village area in Ubud about an hour drive from Kuta. The scenery.. unbelievable!

The volcano in Kintamani.. one hour drive from Ubud. Breathtaking! What else can I say..

Then to Coffee Farm, to see on how Bali Coffee was made. You know what? The coffee was eaten by civet-cat in the farm and it will defecate all the coffee seed eaten. It later been picked-up and dried under the sun for the next process of frying it. Later, it been blended to powder and packed. This kind of coffee is very expensive in Bali! Lucky I don't drink coffee!!

Fruits stall in Coffee Farm, trying the fruits (regardless how many numbers or time) is free, but to take home you have to pay. It means, we eat as much as we can then left! Here in Bali, mangosteen cost at RM16.00 (Rp40,000.00) per kilo!! Ridiculous!!

Sunset in Jimbaran is the most event that I've been waiting for. If you're lucky enough, during the sunset here, the sky will be purple.. just like during my sister's visit last year! It was so beautiful! Besides than that, over here, you can have a sunset seafood BBQ dinner on the beach.. very romantic! But we only here for the sunset.. not with the dinner!! :(

This how the Hindus in Bali pray. They called this as 'sajian' (offering) to their Dewa (God). When you're in Bali, you will see this almost everywhere, every morning and every evening.

Taking a group photo before departing back to the hotel after the sunset. I had the most beautiful photo shots by personal photographer, Rahman here.. bravo to him! :)

While on the way back to the hotel, me and Acat stopped at Kuta town and went to the factory outlet for Quiksilver, Reef, Rip Curl, Volcom & Billabong in Denpasar town. Great bargain, I shop a lot here!! Very cheap (almost everything is 50-70% discount!)! But even if you went to their own boutique, the price is about 30-40% discount from prices in Kuala Lumpur!! Isn't that cheap?!
Dinner time! This is the only place we had our local food.. the food court in Kuta Beach. The food was good and quite cheap. There's a lot of halal sign here but in the menu, I saw 'Kodok Goreng' (fried frog). Self explanation!

Fourth day of our trip, second day of our sightseeing & tour.. the first stop was at Krisna Wholesale Center for Bali souvenirs. You can find almost every single Bali souvenir here from paintings to wood works, silver to fabrics and a lot more. Yes, it is very cheap here and it sell in bulks, great buy for souvenir for friends and family!

We then proceed to Bedugur, a highland village (similar to Cameron Highlands) to visit the local market and one of the famous Puri (temple) on the lake called Puri Ulun Danu. It's cold here and most of the villages are Muslim, so we decided to have our lunch here before we continue to the Puri.

Read this signage, it means, only for ladies and lady boy!! Me and Fuad went to the toilet in this nursery and find out there is something not right somewhere here.. so it was the signage! We had a big laughed when we read this. It was so funny!

Bedugur market.. very local and a lot of things to spend on. Looked at Yusnoor with his posed at the market!

Our lunch at one of the small restaurant in the market that served halal Muslim food (convincing!).. the best part is, when you order a fried chicken, they will fried for you there and then, so fresh! Same goes to everything that is simple like eggs..

This is Puri Ulun Danu, the famous temple on the lake in Bedugul. The scenery was marvelous and it is cold here. The landscape was so beautiful and the lake it hugh!

Then we headed to Tanah Lot, the temple on the sea. I've been here before and it is also a very beautiful place and a must visit in Bali.

I'd told our tour guide that we wanted to see more culture show especially this Kecak Dance. Luckly, next to Puri Tanah Lot (about 10 minutes walk), is the culture centre for Kecak Dance. Daily show at 7.00pm and it cost at Rp50,000.00 (RM18.00) per person. It was a great show and I'm satisfied!

The main characters for Kecak Dance drama, The King & The Queen. If you guys have a chance to visit Bali, do not forget to watch this show.. superb!
The King and The Queen is husband and wife in reality and the rest of the character are their own children. What a family!

The Kecak group, they doing this show without any music instrument.. just by using their own voice to make the harmony music sound.. and I really love it!

This is on my last day (sixth day) and on the fifth day here (sorry, I didn't take any picture.. busy shopping!), I've been doing my shopping from 11.00am (right after breakfast) till 11.00pm. Went to the whole Legian Street, all area of Kuta town and Discovery Mall.
In the pic above, Rahman, Zul Johan and Izat rented a motorbike (cost at Rp35,000.00 or RM13.00 a day). After we had packed all our things, after breakfast, we went for a last minute shopping before we leave to the airport at 4.00pm. Had lunch at the food court in Kuta Beach and headed back to the hotel meeting the rest of the group members.

Seriously, we are 'Millionaire' here!! 1 million Rupiah equivalent to RM365.00. I brought RM3,000.00.. isn't that a millionaire?? Sometimes, their notes makes us confused.. like in this picture.. trying to get the right amount of Rp350,000.00 to (RM128.00 for 5 vans transfer) to pay for our airport transfers.

At the airport before check-in for flight AK 365 departing at 1915 hours. It is sad to leave Bali but we have to.. Our flight was delayed to 8.20pm and we arrived Kuala Lumpur at about 11.00pm.

This is what I got from Bali, t-shirts from Quiksilver (6 pieces including a sweater), Billabong (2 pieces), Rip Curl (1 piece), Globe (1 piece), Calvin Klein (1 piece, bought in Sogo at Discovery Mall with 2 pyjama pants cost at only RM120.00!) and Bintang Beer (1 piece).

Besides than t-shirts, I also bought a lot of board shorts and denim shorts.

Some accessories and bags..

Musical DVDs.. only cost at Rp10,000.00 (RM3.60) per piece. I bought musical DVDs because it is very difficult to find here in Kuala Lumpur!

Some souvenirs for friends and family.. I love Bali!!
:)