Rockin' Bali (Day 3 of 4)

A Completely Idiot Ultimate Guide

JAN 18th

It was a very fine hot day when I opened up my eyes. 9 o'clock and I rushed to the restaurant for the free breakfast. I was quite worried about the 'halal status' pf the food there, so I intended to get myself the cereal. They provided only the cornflakes. Luckily they do serve hot omelette.

On this fine day, I decided to get separated from whoever in the group. I was supposed to walk at the beach near the Tanjong Benua. Pak Made Yuda drove me there. I realy have no idea what is the place is all about. But as I reached the place, someone greeted me and offered a water activities like jet skiing, banana boat, scuba diving.. err what? Scuba diving?

I agreed straight away. As I have not so much Indonesian Rupiah, they agreed to accept payment in Malaysian Ringgit at the rate of RM1 = Rp2500. I took the scuba diving, wake board and visit to the Turtle Park. Everything for almost RM400. Cheap? I don't know.

Scuba Diving

It was kewl to be wearing the diving suit as I myself do not have any swimming suit or watersports attire with me. When I'm ready, we get on board of a small engine boat to get to the coral area. As we reached the place, i get ready with all the equipments and was asked to get into the water. As I get into the water, I felt a lil bit nervous and my breate starting to become unstable. Hahaha. Gue kaget pak! Later i realized that the water is not so clear and I'm starting to worry about the underwater camera pictures. I bet it's not gonna be so clear.

I was only able to dive in after the third attempt. The first attempt sucks big time. I feel like my lungs are gonna explode. The second one was failed as I felt like burping. I only made it to the coral after the third attempt. The only thing was that I cannot control myself from getting panic. But after sometime, when I see all the corals and the fishes, I forgotten to breathe already! It was so unbelieveable, that I actually in a diving suit, diving deep into the sea. One thing i hate about diving was that we need to bite the breathing nozzle all the time. It's very tiring to keep it bitten all the time.

You see it for yourself right? The pictures are not as clear as the crystal. I've got to actually edit the pictures myself. After 20 minutes, I was sent up, and the instructor carried on hunting fish for his dinner. Then I was sent back waiting for the wake board.

Wake Board

Shit. I thought it was easy. Due to the tireness from scuba diving, I was unable to let myself being pulled forcefully by the 180hp boat. I failed! Loser loser. Shit! Not even to get myself up!

Tour to Turtle Park, Tanjung Benoa

I was taken to the turtle park by a special boat. It has glass on the floor so that we can see what's in the sea. Amazingly, this place is full of seaweed. By the beach, there were a lot of dead/dried seaweed, and it smells like the sushi's seaweed. It makes me feel hungry. So the boat was unable to move fast. After sometimes, the boat driver allowed me take control of the boat. Kewl eh? Hehehe...

As we reached the park, someone greeted me and introduced himself as Udin. He tried to speak in Malay with Malaysia dialect but it sounds stupid though. He looked old even though he's only 24. He thought I'm younger than him. So well, he showed me around, as the place is not only for turtle but they also have other creatures like snake, owls, hornbills, bats and comodos; all the almost extincts creatures for breeding or reproduction. Hei tat was my first time doing all this.

Then, I was offered to buy drinks by credit as I didn't take my wallet with me. Udin also offered me to look around for souvenirs. I bought some. The souvenirs there are damn hell expensive. Then, we took pictures and the boat driver sent me off t the beach and for me to get ready for the next destination, Sunset at the Uluwatu Temple.

Activities Cost :: RM400
Damages @ Turtle Park :: Rp645,000 (RM258)

Comment :: I love this place. I would never imagine myself doing the scuba diving. And I do think it's cheap. In Malaysia, scuba diving only will cost you almost a thousand. New experience guys. Takkan nak sama macam orang lain je. Do something differentlah. I would recommend this place. YOU SHOULD TRY!

Sunset @ The Uluwatu Temple

I wonder sometimes, is there such cliff in Bali. When people went to Bali, they'll surely have that cliff picture. Oh now I know where. It's at the Uluwatu Temple. I put myself in the best position to take pictures there. The cliff is high. I'm scared of height too but i think it's worth it to fell down the cliff after my photo is shot. Hehe.. Hanya Bercanda (just kidding)..

In this place, they have the same Kecak Dance as the previous day. So i took a walk through the temple. One thing abot balinese is that they're religious people. Nice people and with high courtesy. They preserve everything, from their culture, religion, as well as the temple. They didn't allow people to enter their temple for nothing. I also wonder why the Malaysian let other than muslim to enter the mosque in putrajaya. Even though people are required to wear robe to cover the undecent clothing, they would still disallow people to enter their temple. I do respect that.

So I met this pair of Japanese girl. Hehe.. I just want to mention about them. Nothing much except i think their English are damn cute but stupid.

I think i like the top picture of the monkey very much. Oh yeah, they have monkey everywhere here so whenever you come by, make sure you keep everything tight. Do not hold your things loosely. These creatures love your wallet!

Parking Cost :: Rp2,000 (RM0.80)
Entrance :: Rp3,000 (RM1.20)

Comment :: I think i like this place. Maybe if you want to see Kecak Dance, you should ask your guide or driver to go here so you can do 2 things at once. Visit the uluwatu temple, see the sunset and see the kecak dance as well. But it was cloudy when we went there so I can see no sunset there. I love the cliffs view. Very nice! You should go.

Ikan Bakar @ Sharkeys Cafe

The journey in and out of the Uluwatu temple was quite long but I enjoyed the scenery around. Then I told the cabby driver to go to somewhere thatI can have grilled fresh seafish. We headed to this place named Sharkey Cafe. A cozy place where we can sit by the beach. Some customers were even it by the wave sometimes. That close ok! There were some exotic acoustical group of musician performing there. They are quite kewl.

But maybe, I was not meant to eat there. After 2 hours, I manage to get only the drinks. Food? Do not even mention about it. People who came much later than me have got their food already. After almost 2 hours, i asked the cabby driver to ask about our food. Even my selected fish was gone!

That's bad. That restaurant is stupid so don't go. I intended to leave without paying but, yeah, that's the fact, i'm too kind to do that.

Damage :: 2 mixed juice Rp20,000 (RM8)

Comment :: Don't go. They discriminate people. They prioritize the western people than us. You can try your luck as I heard that the food is good, butif you see so many people around, better find some other place. There were a lot of complains that night even from the westerners.

So i decided to have dinner at another Nasi Padang tonight.

Dinner at Nasi Padang :: Rp71,000 (RM 28.4)

Hard Rock Cafe @ Bali

We headed back to the hotel and i rushed to the bathroom to get ready. I'm going to Hard Rock tonite. How cool is Hard Rock cafe in Bali?

It wasn't that cool. At first, I went to the merchandise shop. Everything was crazily expensive and unreasonable. The staffs there were so arrogant, and thinks that they have the best paid job in the world. Other than being rude, they were discriminative. Anyway, I manage to get myself a Hard Rock T-shirt.

Then I went in, ordered coke and wait till the band dropped and walked off to the hotel. I'm so lucky to be able to see one of the Indonesian Idol finalist of 2006, wo sang very nicely. It was his birthday. Well then again, the staffs are discriminative. They treat foreigner better than us, the south east asianers.

Comment :: Ok, if you wanna have fun, carry on but the security are tight. Who doesn't like hard rock anyway?

Taxi fare :: Free for today. The cab driver asked me to pay him on the next day. Yahoo!