Jadegal ADventurous Escapade

My Bali Trip 2012 - Day 2 of 8

2012-08-17T17:23:00.000+08:00

16 AUGUST 2012 - Thursday

9am
We started the day eating breakfast at a warung ( means "coffeeshop") opposite the hotel, as we did not booked any breakfast with the hotel. We we introduced to Bali ayam potong at Warung Mbok Limbok. We will choose the marinated chicked and they will try for us.While frying, we helped ourselves with a serving of rice each and some raw vegetables on the table - they are mint leaves, kangkung, cabbage etc. Once the chicken is ready, we consume the food within minutes as it was delicious. I also bought 2 packets of keropok to munch in case i am hungry during the day. Damage done : Rp20,000.

The marinated fried chicken at Warund Mbok Limbok

10am
Later on, we went to bus stop from yesterday and waited for the Sarbagita Bus to take use to Nusa Dua, while waiting, we met a Mexican who is travelling around south east asia for 1 month. He reached yesterday ( same day as us) and will be going to Malaysia ( our home country) next. We introduce to him the interesting places to visit and different food to taste and enjoy. We also manage to see a rumah bersalin ( A clinic which specialise in delivering babies} and its open 24/7. When the bus ( blue in color) arrive, we hop on and inform the bus attendant to inform us when we reached Tanjung Benua. the trip is free ( called "Gratis" in Bali) and we were relieved. On the bus, we witness a mother breastfeeding her baby, not the normal scene we ussually find in a city like KL.

The bus route map of Sarbagita

11am
When we reached Nusa Dua, the driver stopped to eat their lunch and all on board will rest for 15 minutes, we din waste any time, we get down and took nice photos around the place. Our journey continues and in 15 minutes, we reached our destination - Tanjung Benua. However, we realise that is actually called Betual we still have to go a distance before we reach our destination which the bus do not passed. We head on foot and also asked a few locals, all were quite blur. At last, i suggested we book a taxi for the day, if we continue on foot and bus, i dont think we are able to visit all the places we planned within today. So we hailed a cab and negotiate with him. We come to an agreement of Rp.300,000 per cab for 8 hours / 1 day.

The place where the bus stops for 15 minutes

12 Noon
After arriving at a port which offers boat services to the turtle island, we negotiate the price till it comes to Rp.240,000 for a return trip to the island. We paid the price and went on to view the turtle sanctuary located 15 minutes from the jetty by speed boat. the boat we sat has a built in a glass on the floor for us to view the ocean below which the speedboat was moving.

The many types of boats docking at Tanjung Benua

The Tanjung Benua harbour with clear blue sky

12.15pm
Once there, we paid no entrance fees but a compulsary donation of Rp.5,000 ( To us,its a substitute of entrance fees ). A guide brought us to view all the different stages of Turtle from hachlings, to 1 year olds, to 2 years old. We are able to get down in the pond and touch or carry the turtle and take photographs. The guide also offered to take for us. ( these turtles especially the big ones are very heavy while you are posing for pictures). Other than that, we are able to take photos and hold different type of animals, birds and reptiles such as bats, parrot, young eagles, hornbill, and monitor lizard. After that, we left and return to mainland at 1pm.

1pm
We request the driver to bring us to a local warung for food as we wanted to taste the local food instead of the fast food or western food. etc. He brought us to a warung which serves cheap local food. My fren told me that "Sapi" is pork in Bali. After trying out only we knew that it is beef and we realise hat this warung is owned by a muslim which means no pork is served. As both of us dont consume beef, we left it and indulge in the rest of the food. Damage done : Rp40,000 which was quite reasonable.

1.30pm
Being a lover of postcards, i make it a habit to send postcards back home everyday i am on vacation or overseas. This trip is no different either. I brought some postcards of Bali from home ( Mum went to bali few years back n bought lots of postcards) which have pics of the places i am about to visit. So the driver took us to a post office to buy stamps, i bought all different kinds of stamps, some kept for the future postcards, to be post another day. I affix stamps to 2 of the postcards, today (16-Aug) and yesterday's (15-Aug) before posting it. Their postbox is just a drawer put outside the postoffice, i was shocked but there were other postcards and letters in it, so i gather its save , n wont get lost.

2pm
We were on our way to visit Pura Luhur Uluwatu, also known as "Coast with a temple in the background". More info can be found here -http://www.uluwatu.org/uluwatu.shtml.. Our driver reminded us to remove all jewelry, hats, scarfs, any removable items as there are wild monkeys roaming the place. It gave us 2nd thoughts whether to go, but we brave ourselves to visit one of the famous temple in Bali. Once there, we paid an entrance fee of Rp40,000 /pax. The place was huge, when we reach the coastal overlooking the vast ocean, it look alike the great wall of China. There was indeed a huge colony of monkeys roaming the place waiting for food bought and fed by visitors. We went taking memorabale photoshoots and touring the place before proceed to our next destination.

5pm
We reached Garuda Wisnu Kencana. The entrance fee is Rp60,000/pax and we have to pay for the vehicle too which was Rp5,000. This is where the status of GWK and its pedestal is situated. More info can be found here - http://gwk-culturalpark.com/. We went and visited the statue, and its surroundings, whats more, we are able to see Airport and Kuta from the highest hill and witness the sunset once again. At 6pm, we went for the Kecak Dance performance. After the dance, we are still not able to figure out what the dance is all about. But we decided to find out more later and proceed back to Kuta.

8pm

We reached Kuta town however, the food was overpriced, therefore we decided to proceed back to the hotel on foot and hopefully able to find food to fill our stomach on the way.. We passed by a warung which sells local balinese food, and decided to stop by and eat dinner before proceeding back to hotel.

9pm
Once at the hotel, we directly walked to Giant which we saw yesterday to purchase some snacks and water. It was a bit different from the one back home, lots of stuff not available back at giant in our home town. Then only we return to our room and rest for the night.

My Bali Trip 2012 : Day 1 of 8

2012-08-16T17:10:00.000+08:00

15 AUGUST 2012 - Wednesday

5am
woke up and get ready for my trip, all bags packed the night before and was very exited about the trip

6.30am
Meet my fren in KL sentral at 6am and proceed toboard the aerobus to LCCT. We reach LCCT an hour later and proceed to the check-in counter. After checking in our bags, we proceed to eat breakfast before going to the departure hall to board the airplane.

>> Aerobus cost : RM8/pax --Reasonable

9.35am
Airplane took off on time and was given arrival/departure card as well as the goods declaration form on the airplane to fill in. Was quite bored and took a book to read about Bali History and foods. The airplane took quite fast and before i know it. we have reached Ngurah Rai Intternational Airport in Denpasar at 12.30pm.

Aerial view of bali

12.30pm
After arriving and collecting our luggage. we took some map and tourist information before proceeding to the arrival hall. Over there we had the first shock in Bali. What greeted us was lots and lots of papers with all sorts of names written on it held by men ( either tour operator or driver or tour guide) They were practically leaning over the iron grid waiting for their customers to arrive. However, we did not engaged in any airport transfer, therefore we went searching for the taxi counter. Before we can find out where is the taxi counter, a freelance taxi driver approach us :

Driver : Where are you going? pergi mana?
Friend : Kuta
Driver : 100k .... rupiah
Friend and I opened our eyes to the biggest.............
Driver : per person

We have done our research before we come to Bali. The Airport Taxi counter charges Rp. 50,000 to go to Kuta - Below are the fares from the Airport to some places around Bali.

Taxi from Bali Ngurah Rai Airport to:
Batubulan 105,000 rupiah
Bukit (Ayana) 95,000 rupiah
Bukit (Pecatu) 115,000 rupiah
Bukit (Uluwatu) 135,000 rupiah
Candidasa 335,000 rupiah
Canggu 135,000 rupiah
Denpasar 70,000-90,000 rupiah
Dyana Pura / Abimanyu 65,000 rupiah
Jimbaran (Intercon) 60,000 rupiah
Jimbaran (Four Seasons) 75,000 rupiah
Kuta (Discovery) 45,000 rupiah
Kuta Centre (Melasti etc) 50,000 rupiah
Legian (Jl Padma) 55,000 rupiah
Nusa Dua 95,000 rupiah
Nusa Dua (Nikko) 110,000 rupiah
Oberoi / Kerobokan 70,000 rupiah
Padang Bai 315,000 rupiah
Sanur 95,000 rupiah
Seminyak (Jl Double Six) 60,000 rupiah
Tanah Lot 190,000 rupiah
Tanjung Benoa 105,000 rupiah
Ubud 195,000 rupiah
Umalas 85,000 rupiah

Once we reach the taxi counter, we had another shock :

Receptionist : Hi where you want to go?
Friend: Kuta
Receptionist : which hotel?
Friend: Everyday Smart Hotel
Receptionist : 70k rupiah
Friend : not 50k rupiah meh? Kuta leh! ( Malaysian, we can't help with all the leh, mah, emh, loh ^^)
Receptionist: No, your hotel is at Seminyak not Kuta
Friend : but our receipt said is Kuta
Receptionist : Seminyak (Firmly)

When we reached the hotel, we enquire whether the hotel is at Kuta or Seminyik, and he firmly said KUTA. Well, we got cheated a bit but Bali is a tourism place, these kind of things happens everyday, but little did we know its just the beginning.

2pm
After checking in and have a nice welcome drink, we went to survey our room, it has a semitransparent glass that separates the bathroom and bedroom. We look at each other and look back at the glass wall and was amazed. From the glass, you are able to see a person or anything in the toilet but in a blurred mode....

After that we realise that one of the camera was left at the airport taxi. We immediately rushed downstairs and inform the receptionist and they identified the driver that sent us to the hotel via the airport taxi hotline. A porter offered to collect it from the taxi driver for us as the driver has went quite a distance, at a cost of Rp50,000. We have no choice as there arent many options. and off he went in his motorbike.

3pm
Went for a late lunch at a foodcourt near the hotel and was informed that we have to pay a 16% tax for our food. We look bewildered but paid and ate as we were very hungry.

A local dish at the foodcourt ( cheap @ Rp16,000 ~ MYR5.40)

After returning from the foodcourt, we manage to retrieve our camera and off we go and hail a cab to bring us to tanah lot. Our first destination in the itenery. The hotel offered to call a cab for us at Rp.300,000 but we refused and said we will get our own, little did we know that Tanah Lot was situated 1 hour from Kuta by car. It looked so close in the map. And the taxi driver came out with a figure - Rp250,000 for the round trip to Tanah Lot. We informed the taxi that we wanted to use the meter, and he agreed.

5pm
We reached tanah lot but discovered that we are obliged to pay for the parking entrance of the taxi which is Rp5,000 and also the entrance fees which have increased in the begining of the year from Rp6,000 to rp30,000 per person. =.=|||

Entrance to Tanah Lot Temple

Enjoyed the scenery, took some nice photos and then waited for the sunset. We manage t try some local delicacies, which looks like our onde onde fpr Rp.5,000 .

Onde Onde

The view at Pura Tanah Lot ( Pura means Temple in Bali Language ) was nice and fascinating. The sun was setting slowly over the horizon with the tanah lot temple siholeute. It would make a wonderful background photo for a laptop, desktop or ipad etc...

Tanah Lot during Sunset

7pm
After the sunset. we proceed to go to the famous Made Warung for our dinner, It was recommended and the food there was delicious - Their famous Nasi Lemak Special ( consist of many ingredients, including Satay, tempe, chicken, vege, prawns, groundnuts etc) . We also ordered a curry chicken special with rice and 2 glasses of Bali's famous Bintang Beer. Damage : Rp161,000

Made Warung Nasi Lemak Special

Bali Bintang Beer

Curry chicken Special with rice

9.30pm
After footing the bill, we decided to enjoy the night time scenery and continue our journey on foot back to our hotel - a whopping 1 hour away ( which we dont know as the locals there are not that accurate with the distance and timing - a lesson as we learnt as we arrive at our hotel) Many of them gave wrong estimation . Haiz.....