Rockin' Bali (Day 2 of 4)

A Completely Idiot Ultimate Guide
January 17th

I woke up a lil bit late just to find myself missed the breakfast that ended at 10AM. Oh yeah, Bali time is equivalent to Malaysian GMT+8 time. So, it's much easier to figure the time there, compared to Jakarta or the WIB time.

Zetty, did smsed me last night asking whether I'm in Bali and being very nice to provide me with her last time chartered cabby driver, Pak Yuda's mobile phone number. I called the fella and he says that the cab will be arriving in half an hour.

As this is such a sucky unplanned vacation, I don't really have any idea where to go. Based on some other travel agent samples of the list of the places they went to visit, i showed the list to the cabby driver, who is not the one that Zetty was suggesting, but his name is also Pak Yuda. His name is Nengah Made Yuda.

Mandala Wisata Wenara Wana
(Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary, Padang Tegal, Ubud, Bali)

He suggested we went to see the monyet first. It was quite a faraway place. We went through the only untolled highway there to get to the northern area of the Bali Island. It was quite a long journey. Luckily i'm a talkative person so I 'ngomong' a lot with the 'supir'. We passed the Sanur beach and went through this place where stone carving (pronounced ston-karr-ving) is the main economical activity. After one hour then only we manage to get to the wood carving area pulak. (pronounced wud-karrr-ving).

Please click on the image to enlarge. The first two top pictures were the pictures of the monkeys that I fed with the banana. In the middle were the pictures of the foreign tourist with the monkey. I took that picture because i do think that the tourists do looked like the monkey as well. Next to it was the picture of a pool that was said to be holy. I have no idea why but maybe because of the fish.

The 2 bottom pictures were the incident when I was bitten by the monkey that I was playing with. Hehehe. Takpe tak sakit pun. Macho.. (sebenarnya sakit nak mampos...!)

Entrance Cost :: Rp10,000 (RM4)
Parking Cost :: Rp2,000 (RM0.80)
Banana Cost :: Rp15,000(RM6)

Comment :: Quite an okay place. You should be extra careful with the monkeys. The male monkeys will normally chase female human. You should also come with foods.

Mount Batur, Kintamani.

Then we headed to a place where we can see an active volcano named Mount Batur. Being remote and high, the journey was quite refreshing with the view of the food orchards by the roadside and cold air. As we reached Kintamani, we entered the Batur Sari Restaurant to have our lunch, together with the 'Supir'. I enjoyed the Lunch buffet there, eventhough it wasn't that good in taste. You know, I'm quite fussy about food, and I missed my breakfast so belasah aje. I was quite full since, so later I took some pictures of myself there..

Before we leave, there were a few people trying to sell souvenir. Being too kind, I bought. Kesian diorang.

Entrance Cost :: Rp10,000 (RM4.00)
Parking Cost :: Rp2,000 (RM0.80)
Buffet Lunch :: Rp60,000 per pax (RM24)
Aqua Cost :: Rp12,000 per bottle (RM4.80 mahal giler air mineral)
Damage #1 :: 5 T-shirts for Rp100,000 (RM40 for 5 or RM8 each)
Damage #2 :: A set of 10 pencils for Farah Rp10,000 (RM4)

Comment :: The food sucks. The scenery was okay. Coutesy is good. Don't ask for fresh orange as they will actually send you cordial orange drink. Anyway, you should try all satay. And be careful of the merchants outside of the restaurant.

Ubud Hill Padi Plantation

We went down the hill and dropped by the place where the orchards were just by the side of the road. I asked Pak Nengah Yuda Made to stop and I bought Salakfruit and Markisa. Then we continued our way to Pasar Ubud.

Damage #3 :: Salakfruit & Markisa Rp35,000 (RM14)

On our way down, we dropped by to this place where we could see people planting the Hill Padi, which of a special breed of rice that is longer and bigger. I was interested to look at 'em ut all of a sudden I was crowded by a bunch of people selling items for souvenirs. It was all okay until i started to buy an item from them. Everyone of them now came to me. I was a lil bit scared when they started to pull my shirt and pushed me towards the cliff. Luckily Pak Nengah Made Yuda came to the rescue and we continue our journey to the Ubud Market.

Damage #4 :: A special made-from-wood basket Rp100,000 x 2 (RM40 x 2)
Damage #5 :: Wood Chopstick set Rp40,000 each (RM16)

Comment :: Do not buy things here. Expensive!

Ubud Market

This is where I bought a few more souvenir items for friends. I remembered I bought 3 piece of ashtray and more interestingly, I was shocked as I saw someone that I think looked like zetty. Maybe from this view but when I saw her from the back, yah, she really looked like zetty indeed!

Damage #6 :: 3 Ashtrays for Rp70,000 (RM28)

Comment :: Things here are damn cheap. Tips - Bargaining power is important. Do no show that you're desperately buying. Ask 50% of the price they offered. If you're not happy with the price then just walk away until they agree to the price you want!

Nusa 2 Beach

We were supposed to be going to the Kecak dance but as we arrived at the place quite early, Pak Nengah Made Yuda suggested us to go to the Nusa 2 Beach, just to look around and try the said-so-sweet-corn(tall). I took some pictures with the local tourist and the picture of the 'makcik' who sell the 'Jagung Bakar'. Before we left, I manage to buy myself a pack of 20's Dumhill hehehe.. It's really hard when you live in the world of kretek everywhere.

Entrance Cost :: Rp1,000 (RM0.40)
Parking Cost :: Rp1,000 (RM0.40)
Jagung Cost :: Rp5,000 each (RM2 mahal gak ni kan?)
Aqua Cost :: Rp5,000 each (RM2 air mineral 2 hinggit masih mahal)
A pack of Dumhill (the new one) :: Rp9,500 (RM3.8 hahaha best!)

Comment :: You can come here to have fun. A lot of people around. Safe place.

Kecak Dance Uma Dewi



I was excited as when we arrived at the kecak dance place, the car was scanned using the bomb scanner all around. Heh, that was rare! Even when I arrived last night, they didn't check for bomb at my body. Well, bomb is scaring the tourist away from Bali. The Pak Nengah Made Yuda told me that before the bombing incident, Bali was almost a heaven but now. Then goodlah, easy for me to come and travel also. Things were getting cheap and not so many people around.

The kecak dance is somekind of freak and weird. I don't know i just feel it that way. It was really something that I may hardly accept that was when Pak Nengah Made Yuda says that he's a Hindu. Then I realized that Hindu is the main religion in Bali. I do respect that sense, but it's just weird.

A friend said that he felt cold and all his hair stands (maybe his dick too) as they started with the dance. The dance is actually about Ramayana bla-bla yada-yada lalalalala-lalalalalala; very boring. I knew if i go out now, the 'Supir' won't be around. I was only energized when this one heroine that really awake me off my 'sleepiness', as at the end of the show, I just unable to stand taking a lot of photos with her.

Entrance Fee :: Rp50,000 (RM20)

Comment :: Boring! But worth the wait till the end. Oh gosh she's so pretty!

Dewata Minang Nasi Padang

After the show, we went off for dinner before heading back to the Hotel. This is a restaurant where a lot of the flight crews having their meals. It's very near to the airport and we were unlucky to see any stewardess around at that time. I was thinking to ask them out to Hard Rock is any. No luck! As I think we're getting so tired, I think we should go back to the hotel and sleep.

Dinner for 3 :: Rp45,500 (RM18.20)
Taxi 1 whole day :: Rp300,000 (RM120)

Comment :: Nasi Padang is nice. The cab driver is nice also. I'm gonna charter hi for the next day.

Actually the cab driver asked for only Rp200,000, as I've already filled in his taxi fuel tank with petrol worth Rp100,000 but I insisted to give him Rp300,000 as I think he's very nice. Anybody going to Bali, you should contact this super nice guy! He may get a bigger transportation if there are more than 4 people in a group.