Bali was picturesque. Idyllic. Magical. From majestic cliffs. To mountainous locations. Sandy white beaches. Down to the clear blue ocean. Big waves. Amazing sunset views. Patches after patches of paddy fields. Untouched nature at its best.
Day 1 We arrived on the 5th December 2006, greeted by the humble view of Ngurah Rai Airport. I was quite unnerved when we exited from the airport as we were welcomed by hordes of guides; awaiting to pick guests to the island. It didn't help that my guide was holding up a placard with my father's name written in bold. Day 2 Made our way to Taman Werdi Arts Centre in the morning. It is amazing how things in Bali look totally ancient when some of the buildings have only been around for less than a quarter of a century! Back to Kuta Square, the hub of surfing paradise for lunch. In the evening, we travelled to Uluwatu to witness the temple by the cliff. The view was amazing! The only thing that marred the experience; I developed a HUGE phobia for monkeys! I shall say no more. Jimbaran Bay was our last stop for the day where we had our dinner. Lovely sunset view while we sat by the beach, awaiting dinner to be served. My only gruise was, did they serve turtle meat to us that night? I swore it tasted lovely!!
Uluwatu
Jimbaran Bay
Day 3
It turned out to be the busiest of days. We headed out early. Breakfast at the Samudera Restaurant, witnessing the early morning activities alongside Kuta, melodically attuned to the rise and fall of the waves of the ocean. We were quite content to gaze at the views that were rushing past us as we sit back in the rickity van to our very first Barong Dance. Oh, that was quite an eye-opener. The finale saw a group of men (who were invinicible) stab themselves with the keris without such much a flinch. We were driven up through a series of winding, not to mention extremely narrow roads to get to Kintamani where I viewed my very first, a living, not to mention active volcano (Last erupted 6 years ago!). Mount Batur that was surrounded by the biggest lake in Indonesia, Danau Batur. The cool breeze that blew right at us when we got down our van was welcoming. We had an early lunch at the Wira Jaya Restaurant, ideally located in front of Mount Batur. Never mind the swarming houseflies. The view and fresh mountain air was more than I could ever asked for. As we descended the mountain we made a few stops at the various cottage industries [Kerajinan batik, Kerajinan perak, Bali Coffee] before we made our final stop for the day at Kesiman for the Kecak Dance. We arrived a whooping 1 hour earlier than expected. Pak Aerya brought us to the nearby paddy field and it still hadn't sunk in that I was presented with the opportunity to spend that few moments in a paddy field, by the busy village road spersed only with the occassional sounds of the birds chirping and the local dog whimpering. We got back on the road and sat on the 'ambin' slurping our drinks eagerly (or at least I was!). The dance began shortly after 6:30 pm and as the sun set and the silhouette of the banana trees became highlighted on the darkening skies we were slowly tranced by the rhythmic voices of the performers. Day 4 I could hardly move my limbs and was somewhat bitter that I had to leave the comfort of my bed. We had to clear the room by 12 pm. The plan for the day? We were clueless. We headed out into the scorching heat of Bali in search of Warung Made. I was drowning in my own sweat when we finally found what we were hunting for. Unfortunately for us, the restaurant serves pork and as much as I was desperate to sink my teeth in something, pork burger did not sound too appealing! We resumed our little exploration of place beyond Kuta Square. A little luck brought us face to face with this kind driver who was more than eager to bring us on a short tour of Legian and Seminyak. We cruised around before deciding to settle into the comforts of Pizza Hut, situated along Jalan Pantai Kuta where we spend our last day in Bali pigging out. |
