the evil one: Bali~

Bali was alright. didn't get enough bumming time as i wanted, as my mommy's colleagues wanted to do more shopping around. sighs. But if i do go next time will try the spa.

Day 1: due to some crazy admin error by garuda indonesia airlines, the group was separated onto 2 flights!!! gosh. so me and my mum just happened to be on 2 different flights.. so after all the mixup they only reached bali like 10pm. so ya the 1st day was ruined on traveling on the plane. Luckily the resort was nice, very pretty.

Sri phala (my resort) (US$135/3nights)

Me n my mummy's room

Every morning i wake up to be greeted by this adorable kitty that sleeps in the porch outside my room.

Pancakes * yumm*

Day 2: Saw batik making. Quite clever actually the concept of batik. =) Also went to some temple-igh place and saw the balinese architecture. actually bali is quite the artsy place to go. a lot of stone carving, texiles and craft work.... *AMAZED*

Went shopping in the local markets. the bargaining is a bit hard when you dun really understand bahasa indonesia. =P the locals do know english but it's difficult to do bargaining when there's a language barrier. but it reminded me of my shanghai days. the actual price you fork out is approximately 30% of the original asking price. Then went to the kuta markets to again shop. but kuta area is very tourist-sy, hence more price-y .. but if you want to exchange money think the rates there are much better. then went to hard-rock cafe at night for dinner. think with the bali bombings in the past they are now much more cautious. they actually put you through a scanner when you enter. how scary the world has become. *Shudders*

Day3:

Went up the mountains, to this volcano called, Gunung Batur. the volcano is still active, but dormant now i think. the last eruption was in 1994 i think. The center is a caldera, which looks very glorious in teh afternoon sun. part of the volcano ash still covers the slopes, resulting in the black section on the left corner. aparently vegetation hasn't regrown yet.

my mummy and her colleagues

On the way up, we went to this plantation that does coffee and cocoa. had a nice free sample of the organic cocoa, but didn't buy any in the end, the prices were EXHORTATIVE! US$12/200g of cocoa??? organic or otherwise it still does not costs that much.

At the top of the plantation

We also went to the rice paddies on terrances. haha, shall put this embaressing photo of my mom(psst the guy at the back is our driver, who is trying to scuttle away from the camera)

Then we rushed to theTanah Lot sea temple to catch the sun set. (rumored to be fantastic)

Luckily it's still low tide...

Okay, i've cheated. =P this photo is from lonely planet. in actual fact it was too cloudy, so din get to see a proper sunset. But got some nice pics of wonderful sunbeams though.

mum and michelle(her fren) still looked happy though.

Day 4: Last day

Had to leave the resort already. so sad. was a nice place to bum around. gah. if only i had more time!!!

the glorious pool

sighs. the very nice reception area

Then finally went to kuta beach (although we went there on the 2nd day, but it was at night.) Saw some surfer dudes and kids playing in the waves. The sand was alright, but the waves were quite big (we were only at the surfing for beginners section).
Pity didn't get to stay at the beach long also, flight was in the afternoon, so had to hustle off and get to the airport already. yep this is WHY i went bali, and did not get a proper tan. sucky. =<

In the end, it was quite a nice trip w my mom. and think the driver was very nice also. haha. so here's a free ad for him: his name is Putu BJ, email putubj78@yahoo.com. Honest guy, who mostly does surfing in Bali, and only does driving as a part-time job. if anyone wanna go bali, can just email and look him up, he can help bring you to some of the non-touristy places.