Saturday, May 19, 2007

Bali Bagus Part I: Central Bali - Ubud

The Island of Bali

Day One

On 9th May 2007, the day finally arrived for my second Bali trip. Yippie! All of us woke up early that morning and gathered at my house. We took two cabs to the LCCT for our 10.25am flight. It was my first ever Air Asia experience , so I did not really have high expectations, after hearing about all the flight delays from others. Anyway, the plane boarding was a bit delayed by 15 minutes due to heavy rain. It is totally ok for me, as long as it is not more than 1 hour :)

The flight was smooth and took about 2hrs 45 minutes to reach the island of Bali. During the flight I sat on the right side by the window, and like last time, I was extremely excited with the landing approach on the runway! Bali's main gateway, the Ngurah Rai International Airport, is located on a strip of land that juts into the Indian Ocean. I can see views on the left side is the Tuban-Kuta-Legian-Seminyak tourist district, and on the right side is the Jimbaran & Bukit Peninsula areas. At the final minute before touching down, you could already see surfing waves right under the wings of the plane, and you kinda feel like the plane is going to land on the sea. Few seconds after that you see the ground and then touch down! Quite an experience huh?

Ngurah Rai International Airport from Space

After settled on immigrations and our luggages, we took two cabs to the cultural heart of Bali, Ubud. Ubud is a world famous small town, known for it's many art galleries selling paintings, loads and loads of shops selling crafts like wood carvings and stone carvings. It is also the place to watch Balinese dances as nightly performances are held at numerous venues, all at the same time. It is also famous for its amazing views, as the small town is surrounded by forests, ravines, rivers and rice terraces.

The 45 minutes ride, with endless amazing stoneworks and wood carvings shops along both sides of the small road (at least 30km!), took us to Ulun Ubud Resort & Spa, one of the plenty boutique hotels in Ubud town. The hotel is very charming, with 19 rooms built on a very steep ravine with a small river 20 meters down below. Our suite comprises of two rooms, with a very big balcony and a dining table, facing the most wonderful view of the ravine! Such a nice change compared to the views in Kerteh & Kuala Lumpur! It was drizzling a bit at that time, so took the photos of the hotel the day after, with better weather and lighting. :)

The driver of the hotel dropped us for dinner at Nomad Cafe, a very beautiful cafe with very good food and service. One unique thing about the cafe was the usher placed frangipani flower behind our ears, which is a similar practice like placing a Leis around your neck in Hawaii. Do take note that wearing flowers behind ears in Bali is not considered something feminine at all, but something very masculine! Hahah!

Nomad Cafe

Later we went for a Legong Performance at the Yamasari Peliatan venue. The performing troupe has a very high reputation and has been performing around the world since 1960s! Hebat giler! Luckily at that time it was still not the high tourist season, so we got the front row seats, and there was no one else except us! Talking bout performing for VIPs! :P The troupe performed in the form of a few Legong dances, a Baris dance, and the very cute Barong dance. It was really really amazing to watch the dancers utilize all parts of the body, especially the fingers and the eyes, to emphasize and tell the story.

Yamasari Peliatan Performance

After the performance we went to Jazz Cafe, an open air cafe cum bar with a live band. The cafe however does not play jazz music only, but mixes with latin songs as well. We had a really fun time, dancing with one super-holiday-mood English lady, and a few other Europeans! And yeah, we sweat like hell. :)

Night at Ulun Ubud


Day Two

Panorama view from our balcony

I was so excited to wake up as I have been looking forward for the breakfast with the view ever since our last trip to Ulun Ubud last year! The meal was really simple: sliced papaya with lime, scrambled eggs, toasts and Balinese coffee. But it was the view and the sounds of the river that make it a memorable experience, so divine!

Ulun Ubud Resort & Spa

Our first destination for the day is the Monkey Forest, a major attraction in Ubud. It is an area with a few Pura (Balinese for temple), dedicated for the dead. One thing I noticed was all the statues in this area was kinda scary and disturbing, I definitely won't come here at night! Kinda like a Tomb Raider setting, with a small river with big trees and vines all over.

Monkey Forest


Ubud's Street Scenes

We walked along Jalan Monkey Forest, which is lined with many shops, boutique hotels, budget hotels, spas, and restaurants. I bought a few stuffs and went to have a drink at Ary's Warung, while waiting for a cremation ceremony at noon. Do take note that in Bali, the name warung does not really mean a typical warung setting like in Malaysia. Some warungs in Bali can be very expensive and serves high-end food and beverages, like Ary's. :)

Drinking at Ary's Warung

Cremation ceremony is a very big social event for Balinese, as the whole villagers participated in the ceremony. It is quite rare to watch a cremation ceremony taking place, as the ceremony is only conducted on specific dates, depending on the birthday of the person that passed away. So I guessed we were lucky since we managed to observe the ceremony during our first Bali trip, and again during our second trip! :) The locals wore their traditional attires, brought tall pyramids of foods, and played really loud gongs (which was very catchy and stayed in my mind for quite some time). We waited for about 1 hour for the ceremony to start, but once it started, it lasted only for about 15 minutes. But it was really worth the wait to observe their colourful culture.

Cremation Ceremony in Ubud Central

Tired it was, so all of us went for a spa session! We had it at The Fibra Inn's Wibawa Spa. I had the Royal Javanese Lulur, which includes a full body & face massage, body scrub, yogurt applied on skin for soothing and warm bath with flowers (ginger tea and sliced fruits included) before the final shower. All that took 1 hr 45 minutes, and costs me only RM45! Damn cheap for that kinda package, in a very nice garden surroundings with an open shower & tub! Owh by the way they only supplied me with a very thin-see-through cloth to cover up during the session, so I was kinda naked most of the times. The female masseur was really experienced and she was really professional, so it was not that awkward. In Malaysia that would be a very big no no rite? :)

The spa was really rejuvenating, so we went to the Four Seasons Resort Bali at Sayan for sunset drinks at the lounge bar. The whole setting of the resort was really serene, as it is built on the slopes of Sayan Ridge, with the Ayung River down below, flowing right next to the lobby. The resort is one of the tops resorts in Bali, and always got listed in the Top 10 best resorts in the world category.

Sunset at Four Seasons

Four Seasons' Entrance to Lobby


Fabulous Four Seasons Resort at Sayan


Four Seasons' Jati Bar

We were really hungry by that time, so we went for dinner at Murni's Warung, a really good restaurant with delicious foods. By that time we were quite exhausted, so we went back to our hotel and played charade before calling it a day! The theme was English and Malay movies. We laughed our hearts out, as some people tried their very best to describe the movie. Remember kix-kix's "Bayi Buluh Betong!"? :P


Day Three

Like the day before, we had our breakfast at the balcony before heading off to the swimming pool! The water was quite cold as the swimming pool was spring fed. We took some photos (some of which would not be shown here!) and enjoyed the moment since there was no one else other that us.Ulun Ubud's swimming pool

We went to Ubud Market, the place to buy crafts and souvenirs at bargain prices. It was around 10am in the morning, so we got good prices as the sellers considered our purchases as a pelaris for the day. I bought a wooden box that can be locked, and 3 pieces of coasters made of seashells. Hehehe really happy with the purchases.

We visited the Ubud Palace, the home of a Ubud royalty. The palace is divided into a few areas, and some of it were open to the public. The layour of the palace is like typical Balinese houses, with individual and separate pavilions for living room, kitchen, dining room and bedrooms. All these pavilions are surrounded by nice beautiful gardens.

Ubud Palace

It was our final day in Ubud, so it was time to leave for Southern Bali, famous for its many beaches and stunning sunsets! The Westin Resort Nusa Dua, here we come!

8 comments:

V|vac|ous said...

Bosh thanks for rushing this post just for me. It brought back great memories. Love your pictures. Look forward to part 2 !!!Dont be like Muddy ok his last trip he only posted part 1. xoxo

shobshob said...

hehe and thanks for waiting patiently! anything for u vinnie! :P

V|vac|ous said...

Ceewahhhh terharu ! My BM still not bad eh !

Anonymous said...

bestnyer!! nanti aku nak gi gaks ler someday...kita tgk camne ok. nice!! and sedikit jelos di situu...

Kix said...

Hola Bosh ! love the photos ! although some of them are in collage form ...but okay la tu...where's Part 2 ? Bali Bagus ya ! so, my blog will feature pictures je lah since you've already told what we have done..fuhh...lega as I'm too lazy to write anyway...hahaks

nique_naq said...

hey gorgeous pics!

looks like you've guys had lotsaa of fun! best nye! Bali is definetely a MUST once im back in Msia nanti..

ade ke kat sini the flight to Bali cost £350!!! thats about rm2500! i bet it cost u guys less that amount for return tickets + hotels +food etc + shopping kan?

huhu mat salleh sini kena tipu gehehe

Ash Shinotsubaki said...

hoyo..why la taruk pic yg kasi nampak cleavage i tuh? btw, i've change my link to http://liyakebede.blogspot.com
update ur page dear. my version of bali trip will be posted soon! :D

shobshob said...

nik rahini: yeap all of us LOVE bali! yeah kinda expensive for them to come to bali, but then again their currency is bigger compared to ringgit, so ok kot? huhu..