Being an extremely organised person that I am, one month passed and I only had plane tickets and hotels sorted and paid for. Then, just two weeks before taking off, my aunt went back into ICU - last stage of breast cancer. Driving between Pathumthani and Thonburi nearly everyday took up a lot of my energy, so I decided to email a driver/guide out of the two names I had and pretty much left everything else up to him.
Day 1
8:40am on a Friday and wheels up. TG's Boeing 777-300 have PTVs these days so it's not too bad. We were flying through some turbulence at one point. The plane was shaking a bit and jumping up and down slightly which scared the shit out of me. But the good old captain brought us all to Bali safe and sound. The landing wasn't quite Smooth as Silk, but whatever. Good to be on the ground again.
Not really too exciting at the airport. Immigration was painless. But my luggage took forever to come out. Once outside, I was looking for Putu - our driver. And there he was with a sign with my name on it. After saying a quick hello and all that stuff, he dragged our luggages to the car park. And the silly cookie turned to us saying "Where is my car?"
Original plan for the first day was that he would take us to the hotel in Kuta, check-in, and we went South to see the Uluwatu and stuff. But he said traffic around Kuta was very bad that day, and that we should just check-in and walk around the beach and relax, the sightseeing would begin next day instead. OK then. So, he took us to our hotel in Kuta - the Alam Kulkul. Agoda charged us 105 USD, inclusive of admin fee. No breakfast.
8:40am on a Friday and wheels up. TG's Boeing 777-300 have PTVs these days so it's not too bad. We were flying through some turbulence at one point. The plane was shaking a bit and jumping up and down slightly which scared the shit out of me. But the good old captain brought us all to Bali safe and sound. The landing wasn't quite Smooth as Silk, but whatever. Good to be on the ground again.
Not really too exciting at the airport. Immigration was painless. But my luggage took forever to come out. Once outside, I was looking for Putu - our driver. And there he was with a sign with my name on it. After saying a quick hello and all that stuff, he dragged our luggages to the car park. And the silly cookie turned to us saying "Where is my car?"
Original plan for the first day was that he would take us to the hotel in Kuta, check-in, and we went South to see the Uluwatu and stuff. But he said traffic around Kuta was very bad that day, and that we should just check-in and walk around the beach and relax, the sightseeing would begin next day instead. OK then. So, he took us to our hotel in Kuta - the Alam Kulkul. Agoda charged us 105 USD, inclusive of admin fee. No breakfast.
When we arrived, I left my sister to do the check-in and I was led to a lounge at the lobby where the hotel provided snacks and some drinks.
When my sister joined me, she said she reckoned the front desk told her that our room type was full so they upgraded us to Villa.
The room was nice. The bathroom was even nicer.. and big.
From the dressing area, there was a glass door. And then you will find the toilet.
Further from the toilet, there was a tub/shower.
These three things smelled really really nice.
After a quick rest, we went out to check out Kuta town.
Like I read before, it was quite like Indonesian version of our Patong. So, not really all that exciting to us.
Apparently, there was a thing going on Kuta beach at that time called Kuta Karnival. But not much going on when we were walking along the beach. Then something caught my eyes.
There were many people gathering on the beach, and local music were being played. So, we stayed to watch what was going on.
They were dancing while the sun going down.
It was pretty nice actually. All the kids were dancing with their teachers leading in front. I took a short(ish) video of it. I'll see if I can upload it and post it later. After the dance, this guy (must be some kind of head of something) started walking round spraying water on the locals.
We didn't do much after this as my sister wasn't one to be out too late at night. We went back to the hotel to relax as the driver would come to pick us up at 8:30am next day.
Day 2
Putu turned up at 8:30am :( and we checked out of the hotel as we were staying in Ubud the next two days. I have to say that we were very impressed with Alam Kulkul. Service was great. Room was really nice. Staff were great. Can't find anything to complain about the place. Oh wait, there is no wifi in room. Have to get username and password at the Reception and wifi is available around there.
Putu then took us to see a Barong Dance in Denpasar. It's about a fight between the good (Barong) and the evil (Rangda). They provided a leaflet in English too, so you can read a bit of the story. Quite fun actually.
My sister said the Barong looked like a Shih Tzu.
Google is your friend, if you want to read up about the Barong Dance. :D
After the dance, we continued our journey to Kintamani and Putu stopped at this place for us to look at Batik stuff.
We agreed that this place was very touristy and way too expensive so we didn't buy anything. So, we moved on. We were going to Kintamani first and made our way back down to Ubud in the afternoon.
Before hitting Kintamani, Putu stopped at this temple. You need to wear a sarong before going in. If you don't have one, you can borrow from the temple and put some money in the donation box. At the gate, a bloke was standing there spraying water on people going in. It's to clean you and your soul. When the guy is spraying water on you, you just raise your hands with your palms up, like in the last pic in my first post.
After the temple, we were back on the road. Not too long, Putu parked the car at a restaurant called Lake View for us to have lunch. From the restaurant, you can see Mt Batur and Lake Batur. They have tables on the outside, but we were not that lucky. But no problem, we didn't take long to finish the buffet lunch (shit food) and we walked around to take pics.
The first time I saw a real volcano. Simply amazing. I was really impressed. We took quite a few pics with the volcano in the background.
While looking for Putu, I noticed this chap. The first soi dog I came across in Bali, and he was all the way up near a volcano.
Next stop, Putu was so kind enough to stop at a shop where they sold some spa products. He also asked if we liked coffee. Having done some research before the trip, I hesitated but said yes quietly. These spa products were very good quality, according to Putu. It'd better be good, cos it's quite expensive. But at least, I got the Javanese Lulur stuff for my friend. I couldn't find it elsewhere during the whole trip. Outside the shop, there was a little corner where they sold their coffee beans. They got a few different types. One of them, Putu said... they gave the beans to the civet, the thing would only eat the best beans, they waited till the civet had a shit and they collected the shit and proceeded to make coffee beans out of it. Yep, that pretty much confirmed what I suspected. So, I politely declined when Putu asked if we wanted to drink coffee. I ain't eating no poop.
After the poop place, we went to Pura Tirta Empul (or Temple of Holy Water) in Tempaksiring. Before going inside, you need to wear a sarong also. But can borrow at the temple, with a small donation.
Before hitting Ubud, Putu stopped at Tegalalang rice terrace for us to take a few pics.
Then, straight to our hotel in Ubud - Champlung Sari Hotel. Agoda charged us about 60 USD per night, inclusive of admin fee and breakfast. We read a bit of reviews and we prepared for a run down hotel. It was indeed a bit run down. But acceptable for us, as it's cheap as chips and location was pretty good. It is located on Monkey Forest Street. After a quick walk around, we thought the location was definitely what we paid for. Being very close to the Monkey Forest, we didn't need alarm clock at all as the little buggers came down our roof early morning every day, on their way to the hotel resaurant to steal the guests' breakfast.
On Monkey Forest Street...
We found Ubud market and Monkey Forest Street to be the best place to shop. Pretty good price for pretty good quality. Loads of stuff there that you can bargain the price down at least 50%. We did some shopping in the evening, had a nice meal and a long chat, and went back to hotel to sleep. Early start next day again.
Day 3
Next morning, Putu came to pick us up early morning again. We were heading to Besakih Temple (the most important temple on the island) today. Before going there, Putu informed us that the people there were not very nice and only wanted money. He trained us a bit on the price thingy as he wouldn't be able to accompany us, mainly because he didn't have permission to take tourists up to the temple, I think.
So, we went to the desk to negotiate the fee to get a guy leading us up there. They originally quoted us ridiculous price, but having a trainer, we negotiated the price down a lot. We ended up paying 120,000 IDR for the guide. Don't pay them 50 or 60 EUR. They are taking the piss.
So, we paid the money. Our guide didn't look too happy when he knew how much we paid. Tough shit. The money guy gave in, so sort it out with him, cheeky sod.
Walking up the hill turned out to be quite a challenge to me as I haven't had much exercise the past two years. There were a few temples in the Pura Besakih. Can probably say the temple is like a complex. It's not just one temple.
The mountain in the background on the way up is called Mt Agung - the highest mountain on the island. There were quite a few folks doing their ceremony that day.
Next stop, Putu took us to Klungkung, an ancient palace. Not much going on there really. Not really worth a trip there.
Didn't spend a lot of time there as there was not much to see. So, we headed to Goa Gajah or Elephant Cave.
There was holy water here too.
And here's the cave..
We went inside, even though I am no good with narrow places. I kept looking at the way out of the cave to reassure myself that it's there and I could run out anytime. Too dark, too spooky inside. So, we came back out and walked around the place a bit.
With all this walking, I must have lost some more weight. Anyway, after the cave, we came back to Ubud walking around some more. We wanted to try out their spa. So, walk walk walk. Talk talk talk. Either they didn't have enough therapists, or they were too expensive. So, we gave up and spent our money on silk scarf, massage oil, soap, etc instead. Our feet were really hurt today so we didn't even go out for dinner. I just couldn't walk anymore.
Day 4
Our last day, Putu wasn't available so he sent another guy on his team to take care of us instead. The driver was coming to pick us up at 10am, so we finished breakfast pretty quick and walked around a bit. We went to see Ubud Palace, which didn't have anything to do there during the day, but it's worth to come down in the evening to watch some dance.
We decided to check out the Ubud Market - again - before heading back to the hotel to meet our driver.
I wanted to buy some slippers from here, but the slipper lady asked for 80,000 IDR. We (read My sister) negotiated the price down a bit, but the slipper lady wouldn't go lower than 40,000 IDR. We walked away, and she screamed OK OK How much you tell me. My sister said 20,000 and slipper lady said 30,000. We walked away again, and the slipper lady said OK OK 20,000 IDR. This walk-away trick works very well at Ubud Market and Sukawati Market (not worth it, Ubud market is better).
We were going to go to Tanah Lot as our last destination and off to the airport after. On the way, the driver stopped at a shop for us to look at the wood carving. Pretty neat, I have to say. I kind of liked how they put flowers everywhere.
Even on the Ganesh.
Last destination, Tanah Lot, is a temple by the sea. It's on the West of the island. Very famous for sunset. But I've been told it's too crowded then as everyone wants to see sunset here.
There was a Holy Snake (!!!!) .. and some more Holy Water (!!!!) here. But you have to pay to see the Holy Snake or wash your face with Holy Water. Like I bloody would. So, that's it. We were off to the airport. Maybe worth to remind everyone that, once you pass the Immigration at the airport, there is another counter where you have to pay 150,000 IDR to get out of the country. Make sure you don't change all your money back to USD or whatever. While they accept other currencies at the counter, the rate is proper shit. Best to keep 150,000 IDR with you for them.
All in all, we had a great time there. Wish we had brought more USD with us, as the THB rate was proper shit there. I find the people to be pretty nice and friendly. Monkey Forest Street has really nice smell, because of all the oil and flowers and stuff. We will definitely return. :)
