i guess i have been postponing this bali experience for faaarrrr tooooo looonnngg. but typing them now will relive those exciting and beautiful memories.
an overseas trip, just the four of us girls, i’m telling you it can be addictive. haha!

the pics in here are very random from 4 different cameras. the nicer ones might have been taken by shasha-suli-mary, coz in the end, i totally relied on the girls to take pics. 🙂

12th Dec 2008
5am and i’ve reached the airport! extra early and excited. :)) Mam accompanied me, with nuri and edid. turned out only my family members sent us off, the rest of the girls came to the airport alone. so at least there’s some family figure. tapi takdelah nak rasa sedih sangat kan….we’re just smiling and laughing all the way..come on we’re going to bali ok!!

first time stepping into the transit area! takdelah jakun kan~ but i was thinking "so this is how it looks like, feels like, to be in this area~"

2 hours flight was enough for me to be so awed and mesmerized of what’s up there. i almost wished i could see an angel or something but of course there isn’t. watching the white fluffy clouds, (although at some point, it’s all pure grey there’s absolute nothingness!) i’m just devouring the sights. beautiful.

 

the first thing we did when we arrived? you guessed it, the cam-whoring starts!!

 

we’re welcomed by our tour guide, Rudy and it was drizzling. almost thought it’s too bad if it started to rain, but the weather is on our side by the time we reached our hotel-cum-resort, the Grand Istana Rama. Everything was W-O-W there. the streets are definitely clean albeit the occasional rubbish, now and then. we arrived rather early, so we couldn’t checked in yet. so we left our luggage at the hotel, did some touch-ups and we’re so ready to go and explore!

The Kuta beach is the place to go! the ocean as far as the eye can see. and surfers. and cool sand. except there’s no sun. the sand felt somewhat sticky and cikgu mary 😉 gave some general knowledge info, it had something to do with volcanoes? right mary? we had lunch at mcdonalds, at this point, it’s more of "good old ronald! there’s Mcdonalds" instead of "jalan jauh2 makan mcd je?" we were hungry, we’re not up to go for a food hunt or whatever, and nice M welcomed us just fine~ laugh out now.

and then we saw heaven. i mean, shopping heaven, haha. and suli striked first, buying beaded slippers which her aunt kirim-ed, and the shopkeepers were warm and friendly and i bought my first ever pair of shades~ 😉

later at about 2 pm, we got to check in our rooms and ready for the next trip. to Uluwatu! and that place is amazing!! it was one of the oldest Bali temple Pura Luhur, and from the entrance, it looked just like being in any other park, except the many, and i repeat, many monkeys which inhabited the place. the real deal is at the back of the temple. i was in awe when i saw we are actually on a cliff, overseeing the vast Indian Ocean. i was caught speechless really. it was a real pity we didn’t get to see sunset as the day was pretty much grey.

i guess no picture could capture the beauty as much as the eyes could imprint in memory. i’m saying you have to be there to experience God’s nature’s beauty. we got to catch a Kecak performance. of rama and sita, of garuda and hanuman, of good and evil. it was a hindu epic and i have the impression that the hindus in bali revered Rama as the god to turn to and worship of all the Hindu gods. the dancers were perfect, the male chorus amazing for having to go on and on singing the rhythm for close to two hours! i thought it was supposed to be something spiritual but they managed to make it comedic and from the chorus singers, you know they’re doing it purely for entertainment.

well, a personal appreciation on the kecak performance is that the young and old are involved, the male chorus are made up of all generations, white hairs, spiky hairs, curly hairs, you name it. even tattooed young men are not excluded. it somehow bonded the young and old, which, i find a very wholesome effort. all in all, i enjoyed the performance very much, more so because it’s like knowledge hands-on for a religions student like me. i would have like to see the prayers they performed, but tourists are not allowed to the prayer halls, but shasha managed to get a glimpse of it with her camera. we took pics with the performers….and move over to aili’s blog for something ‘accidentally’ funny 😉

had dinner at Sederhana restaurant for Padang delicacies. which is superb! i don’t know whether it’s because we were practically starving that anything you gave us would be gobbled up in minutes, or it’s really the food which are finger licking good~ haha. and i have a fave drink to add to the list! it’s teh sosro aka teh botol!

and we reached back at Kuta around 8 pm and our shopping spree began at this mall called Matahari, so many souvenir items to choose from!! i couldn’t make up my mind exactly what to buy for every person on the souvenir list, haha!! the place is a surfer’s heaven, with all the surfer brands boutiques lining the streets all the way. Billabong, roxy, quiksilver, etc etc.

back in our comfy comfy rooms, i had a very nice shower, settled our stuffs, and me and roomie mary went over to shasha’ and aili’s for a game of pictionary! that got us laughing all the way, never know pictionary was THAT fun! :))

looks like we didn’t waste any time on our first day at Bali. well spent, literally. 😉

13th Dec 2008

a new morning at Bali and it was a fine day. had our breakfast. delicious even though it’s just scrambled eggs and three pieces of croissants + some baked beans. (oh no, i’m hungry just thinking about it).

we’re headed to tanjung benoa, for some watersports, and of all the activities there, we chose SCUBA DIVING! we all have the same thought that we should at least try something new and which might be a once in a lifetime chance of doing it. scuba dive was the best choice, my own secret wish anyway.

it was great, although i was caught the panic attack, almost gave up at the last minute! i had no idea why i was that scared~ it took me quite some time to pull up courage and get on with it. one of the instructors guided me down under and he was my pillar of life, like seriously. all kinds of thought moving through my mind those minutes under the sea: what if i got lost, what if i couldn’t breathe, what if i lost my sense of sight, and believe it or not, i thought of Duyung the Movie!

we were ‘parked’ at a coral reef and watching and feeding the fishes somehow calmed me truly. it was an amazing view. masya Allah. there are pictures of us under the sea with the fishes 😉 thanks you girls for being sporting enough and all out for this. i wish i wasn’t feeling scaredy or i might be really enjoying the whole thing! 😛

fresh faced (yeah you don’t feel ‘sticky humid’ or even  ‘dirty’ after the swim, must have something to do with the seawater) next destination was another finger licking minang lunch/dinner at natrabu. oh yeah, must not forget our successful attempts of dolling up on the bumpy van on the way to natrabu! wearing contact lens and putting on eyeliners. lady survival indeed!! lol. went to Ubud for a short visit at one of its souvenir store. again, too many to choose from!

back at the resort, camwhoring and make ‘full use’ of the resort.we visited Matahari the mall again that night. bought some dresses and a billabong bag for myself. we’re already feeling dread that it is our last night already at bali. we don’t want this trip to end! ;))

14th Dec 2008

a lazy morning for it is…our last day at Bali! packed up and surprisingly, my luggage fits all + the newly bought items!! good for me. haha!!

still, not to lose any precious time, we went for some last minute shopping at the nearby shops. and  last walk by the Kuta beach.

by noon we’re off already  😦 with thoughts and promises of coming back again next year!

definitely the best holiday trip, with girlfriends nonetheless, for a first timer. and if only we had known how great it’s going to be, we might choose to stay longer. we have not covered many other places, so a comeback might be a sure thing, right, girls??