So while I wait for my film pictures, I use this as my temporary picture, This is where I sat boat out to watch the dolphins at 6 a.m ;)

Bali... I have no idea where to start writing... Contrary to popular belief (at least mine), on the entire island, only 1 particular beach is beautiful, it is call the Kuta Beach we'll get to that later. The rest of the beaches are filled with black sand. which was quite a let down.

By mistake, I shouldn't have let my mom book the hotel and all, but that mistake has turn into something educational. The total hours I spend in this trip is like 76Hours, which 18Hrs spend for sleeping, and about 24hours in transportation. That's more than my sleep. We touch down the airport in Bali at about 8pm and once we checked out we went to get a cab which cost 350,000 Rupee (that's like erm Rm140) to get to our RESORT (0_o) and it is only 3 hours away (o_O)! Eventually we reached at 12 o'clock. Well, the airport is at south, and we stay in north of Bali.

I was not well before I boarded the plane, and the pressure and noise in the plane has just made me sicker, and the journey to the resort didn't help much either, it is long and a very winding mountain. YEP you heard me, to get to my resort, we have to go through a huge mountain which is situated in the centre of whole of Bali. which by rough estimation it is higher than Fraser hill but lower than Genting.

The next morning, I was hoping that the beach in Lovina (The north of bali, where I stay) is nice (the resort is next to the beach). But to my horror, the beach is ugly!! the ocean is ugly the sand on the beach is black in color, This is when I am 1st exposed to Bali Salesmen, they all just sit by the beach and hoping for 'human fish' to come and they just bring their stuff and start selling, they kept bugging me to buy them, I say later. UH! what a way, which btw, they are all around the resorts, which kept me away, and probably kept the tourist away from the beach. Because they won't let go of you.

So we toke a tour, and I experience a different side of Bali, I ended up in the village of Bali. just right outside the luxurious 3 star resort is village, and so are those on the mountain. It is just maybe a poorer scene of Malaysia, Their live by planting PADI, which I visited like almost every other stop. and they are good stone makers and wood carvers too.

Like what I expected, Bali is filled with puras. (that's their temple) there is pura everywhere, till the point when you close your eyes, you see puras and statues! Well, they look like mayan civilization actually, or siam or angkor wat. Whatever you like to think, they look the same, and they are still very much superstitious, with 75% hindu (and their hinduism is different from the real hindu) and they build pura like no one's business, the more the better.

You probably will expect that I write about the beach by now, But nope, We went to a lot of nature area, we went to the waterfall and it is crazy. It is tall and man magnificent. But of course you get bugged again by their salesmen. They have no choice but to sell for living. Everything is RUPEEEEEEEE okay... their shop toilet is probably their side income. RP1000 (Rm 0.40) and some are just way too much... I can't remember but I think the big sign wrote like CLEAN WESTERN STYLE TOILET RP5000. Man. It is expansive. RM2 just incase you're wondering. OK FOR GOODNESS Sake... I just gonna write in RUPEE, if you want to convert that's like Rm4 for RP10,000.

Back to where I left off, They stick to you and bug you to buy, every single shop. If you don't intend to buy just walk past don't ask them.. my bad.. hehe. and they like bargains. their 1st word is "I name you the price, but you can bring it lower, you can bargain" and you have to cut AT LEAST 50% of their original price. That's standard. while I came out from the waterfall, they bug me again, I stop by one of the shop, saw a scarf quite nice, I ask how much... (bad idea) and that is like RP120,000.. I walked off... and she kept lower the price. and she cut to 80K, to 60k and about 100 meters away RP5000.. but I didn't buy, affaid that she'll use another cheap scarf and ask me to buy that for RP5000.

They'll never prosper that way if they give in too easy, its too cheap. too lousy. If they are Chinese the country would probably be rich by now. haha. But they would rent/sell anything, including the resting chair on the beach. for RP30,000 (no idea how long though) do everything to get some cash. It is a very poor country, and they don't care of their pride and face, maybe they don't know much and seems to be friendly. I talked to quite a number of Bali people, they just treat you as friend, Well, some don't know where Malaysia is.

I've talked to one guy who happen to be in the hot spring with me, we chatted and I asked him is he studying, he say "tak ada uang, sekarang saya kerja petani". so that's how it is in Bali, children walk the steep mountain to school, as early as 6 maybe 7? after school they probably play with the drain water or something (yea that's what people play when they can't afford PS1 even). They do have something like ours, they have game console shop like you pay and you play for hours that kind, but I didn't see the console. And they have pool table, which is just in a small hut where people play.

Alright, so done with the Puras and the People, oh Btw, did I mention? Coke is everywhere and people drink a lot of coke I guess, and it is so good and famous that some are offered to their gods.. HAHAHA I am serious, you can see the whole coke bottle in their altars.

Alright, so the 1st day full day was pretty boring going to PADI and waterfall and all, the 2nd day was pretty interesting, we woke up at 6am and went to see the dolphins, unfortunately there was some problem with your boat, the motor just wouldn't start. We were stuck at the beach for quite sometime until the 'sun rice' well, the dolphins comes out when the 'sun rice' finally after some 5-10Min, we finally started it and went our way but it broke down once a while.. URGH!! bad boat. well at the dolphin area, people were chasing after the dolphins... its not like fun, its like they appear for 1 minute, then they go their way, and we hunt for them.

after a few more photo shots, we went back, after the breakfast, I was hoping that I could catch some sleep since I woke up at 5, but they went and search for tours... where to? Denpasar / Kuta / UBUD.... well those are the 'tourist' area its just near the airport.. OH YES... finally go see some real tourist spot and area. only 3 hours journey down to there and 3 hours back. how fun, well the tourist spot is just like art market, maybe in Malaysia it is like Jonker Street? their pasar is like those in Terengganu, so it is like Malaysia like I said.

The final destination of the day is at Kuta Beach... and yep it is a nice beach and along it are shops much like Darling Harbor... it is just surf shops, 5 star hotels, expansive restaurant, rich man's land. Much different from what I saw the previous day. you can see all the rich kids holding surfboards and it is full of people like 10,000 people on the beach. The ocean is nice the waves are not that strong, surf-able... I don't like it there though. Everyone is much like arrogant because they lived in kuta, the people are not as friendly... They have securities everywhere (since the bombing). They have security check at Macdonalds... can you believe that? no?

Come nightfall and people there turn to pubs and drink their way till morning, a sin city it is. I've seen both side of bali, one probably the rich kids would never want to go to, the other the rich westerners and japs would be having tons of fun. Bali, is a good place if you either surf, or drink, or rich or just want to indulge in sin. The rest of the sight is just a poorer version of Malaysia village where you see padi and pura and salesmen. my pick? I would choose the quiet side of Bali, that's where I am more comfortable at. What's all the hu-has of Bali anyway? Think twice if you want to make a trip there

I should have the photos up, But I don't have it yet, I plan to put it up on my website... hmm which I should consider much about it.. probably middle of next month if I have the time =)


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

nice trip LOL