Buzzing with FOOD

The next morning is free time where we managed to walk around Kuta town area and do some shopping.

Breakfast. Although we had the usual free buffet breakfast from the hotel cafe, but we had the chance to try out some local food bought by a friend’s friend who is a Balinese. Forgot what its called but its a little bit like our local nasi lemak except for the noodle-like thingy beside the sambal. Although it looks  like fried noodles, the taste is a bit crunchy and slightly hard.

We then walked around, visited some shops, hop on the taxi and went to nearby beach

Just opposite the beach is the famous Hard Rock Cafe

Bali’s beach is a surfer’s paradise

Those in red are the surfers (all foreigners) and those in Yellow are the instructors

A local instructor teaching a foreigner how to surf. It was funny looking at their gestures and movements…

We then moved on to a popular shop in Bali which has lots of souvenirs on sale

On the way to another tourist site, we passed-by this ‘resort-in-the-making’. Managed to snap a shot while our van was zooming pass. According to our tour guide, it will be dubbed as a Dreamland (aka Disneyland-like) in Bali once it is completed because this big investment will see attractions like golf course, theme park, high class hotels and many more all under one roof.

Next stop: Uluwatu

Uluwatu, Bali

Uluwatu is a holy temple built on top of a cliff, about 825 feet up high at the southern part of Bali with its magnificient view of the Indian Ocean and a fantastic place to watch the sunset. Here the sheer cliffs drop precipitously into the clear blue sea, giving a superb view of nature’s landscape.

On the way up

This is what we came all the way for…view of the Indian Ocean

There’s a path leading to the end of the cliff but we had to little time here because this is the last stop before we go for a meal and then to the airport.

Another side. Can you see the architecture of something like a Colosseum somewhere at the center of the photo? That’s the place where visitors can watch the Kecak and Fire Dance (a Bali cultural dance) in the evening while watching the sun set across the Indian ocean. Another perfect setting I would say, other than Tanah Lot to catch a glimpse of the spectacular sunset view.

A zoom-in view of the Colosseum, just by the cliff-edge.

On the way out

TIme to have a quick meal before finally adjourning to the airport

This shop serves ‘masakan padang’ if not mistaken

The waiter waits for you to take your seat and then brings a whole load of dishes in individual bowls. This waiter alone took like 15-20 bowls, all stacked up and brought it to our table.

There’s chicken, fish, eggs, mutton, beef, vegetables, potatoes, soup, and other local delicacies

And how is this meal charged? Once you take something from a bowl…you are suppose to pay for that bowl of dish. So if there’s a dish whichh you don’t take, don’t touch it/leave it aside.

At the end, the waiter will come and inspect what has been taken and what has not been touched. One friend commented that "It like eating sushi style". Indeed the concept is the same….prices are counted for each bowl consumed and with different price tags. Just that the bowls does not have any colour tag to indicate the price!! But the waiter seem to know what is consumed by just looking at the left-over gravy or some sort. We tested him if he really knows what we ate and from looking at the empty bowls, he started listing it out!!! 

Last stop: Ngurah Rai International Airport

A Garuda greeting passengers at the entrance of the boarding hall

McDonalds in the boarding hall

Souvenir shops

Boarding gate

And for dinner >>>> Pak Nasser’s Nasi Lemak

Nothing special….but that’s the best we can get thousands and thousands of feet up in the air.

That’s all on the Bali Trip. Overall it was a nice trip and since it was sort of a budget trip, so its understood that what was arranged for us is of course nothing classy and high-class, but at least we get to experience what Bali has to offer.

Now anyone interested to go Bali??

Will post about some snacks and local food bought back from Bali later on.

Related post:

[Part 1] Bali - First Impression

[Part 2] Bali Culture and Nature

[Part 3] Bali Dining

[Part 4] Bali Sunset

I always wonder how people can take such beautiful photos with really eye-pleasing colours. So here’s my attempt…

I didn’t want to waste the chance to witness the sunset in Bali and take photos of this amazing site. I change settings of my camera a lot and managed to snap some satisfactory photos with my humble camera. Please give me some comments about what you think.

None of the photos were edited in colour, contrast, brightness or whatsoever. Photoshop was only used for resize and watermark purposes only.

Tanah Lot, Bali, Indonesia

Tanah Lot is an important sea temple dedicated to the guardian spirits of the sea. This temple stands on top of a huge rock in the ocean and is well-known as the best place to see sunset in Bali.

Good enough to make the cut for a standard postcard photo? Hahaha

Changed setting and got a different outcome

The sun is setting as we continue to snap every moment of it.

Using auto setting makes the photo looks brighter but colour is dull (as compared to above, using the sunset option setting)

Flock of birds in mid-air

Duckies running around too. Nature is just so lovely.

Another side of Tanah Lot. The temple at the top is only accessible during certain hours of the day when it is not high tide and floods the surrounding area. This is the uniqueness of Tanah Lot.

Can you see all the tourist walking around? They look so small from up the hill. When the tide is high, it will flood the place where the tourists are standing and the temple will look like it is floating on an rock island itself.

Wave splashing on the rock platform. The water level was slowly flooding the area

Getting dark. The blend of the orange sun beam and dark sky produces a purple-ish colour to the photo.

The photo below is a combination of a hut rooftop, some pillars behind, trees/hill slope and rock formation further behind. When I snap this at an angle, it looks like a temple/cultural building by the sea. Nice???

How it looks before and after conservation

And finally, some last shots before going of for a quick shopping of souvenirs around Tanah Lot area.

That was the evening spent in Tanah Lot to view the spectacular sunset and off to dinner after that (which is covered in earlier post)

This is not the only place which made me go "Wow" with its magnificent view. Stay tuned….more photos coming up.

to be continued….

A new day arrives..

Just before we head out, here’s a look at breakfast food. Unappetizing? hahaha

This day, from morning till noon we went to a beach to play some water-sports activities.

No photos on that and not even worth mentioning. We spent like RM100++ each just to play 3 different water-sports, 2 which ended so fast while another 1 was so hard until none of us could make it.

Fast-forward……

Lunch time!!! We were determined to try the famous food of Bali which is babi guling or Balinese suckling pig. But it was a little disappointing that our tour guide brought us to a shop nearby to try it instead of some well-known ‘warung’ or stalls/shops.

Not only were we unable to catch the action of roasting the pig (roast by turning the whole pig above fire, like bbq, hence the name), but after the meal, we were forced to pay over-priced food. Seeing that we are tourist, they mark up the price from about Rp. 20,000 to about Rp. 60,000 per plate of babi guling and rice. The roasted pork is on the top right beside the vegetable. Yes, that’s all that was given. Others are vegetables and stuff I don’t even know what it was.

This dish is Ayam Betutu (smoked chicken)…taste even nicer than the above dish. In all, we only ordered a few sets to try because we were suppose to be heading to a restaurant to have buffet lunch.

After one hour in the van, we finally arrived at a restaurant for lunch. The restaurant is located high up the mountain, overlooking lush greenery. Food is the usual buffet dishes…so no photos on that.

What a beautiful view to enjoy our meal

Some chalets

After meal, i had some spare time to play with my camera settings and shots

far shot

near shot. What do you think?

Next place we visited was Monkey Forest in Ubud. Here the monkeys roam around freely, waiting to be fed by visitors.

The king monkey (biggest and oldest) sitting waiting for food from visitors.

This baby monkey is only 2 weeks old.

Bats seen hanging on branches from afar.

Don’t this tree branch look unique? Nature’s beauty!!

Outside the monkey forest…there’s shops selling souvenirs

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From here, I’m going to skip where I went in the evening and put it in the next post as I feel the place itself is worth to be shown separately or else it will steal the limelight from all other photos. Yes it is truly that beautiful.

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On to what we had for dinner in Jimbaran. Furama Bumbu Bali is the name of the restaurant. Sounds familiar like the Bumbu Bali restaurant in Puchong, Selangor?

The setting: beach front

The whole stretch of sandy beach is filled with tables and chairs from different seafood restaurants located side by side. Jimbaran is known for its grilled seafood. The seafood ‘warung’ are located on sand. It is really a beautiful and relaxing place to dine. The atmosphere is very nice and with good food, it was an enjoyable moment. Many have commented before that it is also a really romantic place to be at with your partner.

While waiting for food to arrive

Before we could even settle down on the table, drinks arrived. The service is really fast.

Plain drinking water in bottle and orange juice.

Side dish arrived before the main. Kangkung with sambal belacan sprinkled with crushed peanuts (very similar to how we cook it here)

Rice

Then came the eagerly awaited individual main dish and the soup. Seafood combo which includes fish, prawns, mussels and squids. The set looks small in photo but it was quite a big portion.

The seafood is marinated and barbecued over huge grills fired with coconut husks instead of charcoal.

to be continued…..

This part I’m going to post some photos of the nature and culture of Bali, how it’s rich culture influences the way they design the buildings, landmarks and so on. Also, there will be photos on the nature of the Bali land.

Paddy field…

Outside a gold and silver smith shop in Celuk village (famous for its gold and silverworks of jewelry made using age-old techniques)

Bali’s Reptile Park and Bird Park.

The entrance fee into the bird park was about USD 20. We decided to skip this and head elsewhere…but before we left, this beautiful parrot was just outside nearby the ticketing counter, waiting for people to admire it.

Reached Mas village where wood carving or wooden sculpture is famous for. Mas is famous as a village of wood-carvers, where many of Bali’s old masters still lives.

Brought into one of the "tourist" shop again and watched some wood carver working. Here it is known that carvers produce highly stylist and elongated figures, leaving the wood in its natural state rather than painting it as it was the traditional practice. We then moved on into their shop (for them hoping that we will spend spend spend)

Rumah Sakit in Mas…it’s a hospital. Looks more like a museum to me.

Then on to another nearby town, Ubud, where painting is famous for. Ubud is derived from the Balinese word ‘ubad’ which means medicine (’obat’ in standard Indonesian) as the town supplied medicinal herbs in ancient times.

We then head up the mountain in Kintamani to view an active volcano and a lake, known as Mount Batur & Lake Batur.

Unfortunately it was a cloudy day, with rain in the early part of the morning…so this is only what we can see (from the restaurant). The tour guide didn’t even bring us further up for a better view…since it’s so cloudy and misty.

If you want to view how it really looks like (without the mist), click here and here.

We had lunch at one of the restaurant up there. Buffet lunch. Almost every meal we had in Bali was buffet style.

Add it all up…

All these Bali folks were trying to sell souvenir items to us once we exit the restaurant…we quickly ran and go into our van. The weather there is very cooling…something like Genting because it’s at high up altitute.

We then headed on down the mountain and stop by Temen Village to have a taste of Bali’s famous coffee, Bali Coffee Luwak.

And what’s Luwak?? It’s a type of animal (cat-like) which likes to feast on high-graded coffee beans. This is how the manufacturer determines which beans are of high standard…by collecting those beans on trees that the Luwak eats, which means it’s fragrant and have a strong taste.

How the beans are roasted…the man below is just doing it for demonstration purposes.

The coffee here are free…for tasting. One group, four cups of different coffee to try. Clockwise from top right:Hot Cocoa, Ginger Tea, Bali Coffee, Ginseng Coffee.

A kayu manis (erm..forgot what it is called in English cinnamon stick) is provided for you to stir your coffee. It will give an added fragrant taste to the coffee.

"Come and feel the nature" is its tagline and yes..it does feel very relaxing to be able to sip a cuppa overlooking the nature

But of course, it’s a tourist spot, so don’t imagine it to be very quiet and peaceful.

A shop selling its product is located nearby. The most expensive coffee is of course the Bali Coffee Luwak. Made by collecting the waste of luwak which ate the coffee bean, and processed into coffee powder. How does it taste? I have no idea. This coffee was not given for free try. It is sold for Rp. 30,000 a cup though. But I wonder if I dare to try it even if I had the chance to. Here’s how it looks..

Next destination was Tampak Siring, a place where the Pura Tirta Empul temple is built around a sacred spring. This holy spring water temple has a bathing place valued by the locals because of the spring water’s curative powers.

The view around the temple…

Magnificent stone sculptures

The sacred holy water surrounded by walls

And flows out through these outlets for people to bathe. The pool is not deep, just up till about waist height.

The colourful offerings seen on top of the outlet are a norm for Balinese. They do this small offering daily, when they open their shop for business, before they start work (as in the case of our tour guide driver), before prayers and so on.

A local lady praying and do offering before going into the pool to "cleanse" herself.

A statue outside the temple.

I like this photo where I managed to capture the moon which is getting visible as night arrives and also a bird flying nearby the statue.

Finally we head on to have dinner. But while on the way to the restaurant, the tour guide stop at a rice terrace.

This beautiful terrace rice field in Tegallalang is very famous in Bali and most tourist will be dropped here for a short photo-taking.

We then arrived at a restaurant to have dinner. What’s on the menu? Crispy Duck!!!

Set meal for each of us. The main dish is of course the crispy duck. It’s really yummy but not very healthy for those health-conscious as it is deep-fried. Accompanying side dishes are soup, vegetable, crackers - something like papadum and 2 sticks of local satay (hidden below the crispy duck), rice and fruits.

While on the way back to the hotel…a big statue stands grandly on a roundabout. It has a long historical story of how this statue come about but I’m not gonna bore you with that here

The van was moving hence I couldn’t get a good photo of it.

This ends the second day in this full-day trip. More beautiful places and nicer photos next….

to be continued….

I’ll be off on a HoLiDaY!!!!!!!

Guess where I’m going….

*hint*

From one island to another

Will come back with photos of the place and hopefully the food too.

Cheers to all. Have a happy weekend!!!!