You're like a disease.

my family vacation

Sunday, August 24, 2008 @ 6:18 PM

Sun Sand n Sea @ Bali

we try each year to make it a point to travel somewhere, no matter somewhere inside our country or outside. fortunately, we were lucky to manage to get a great deal to Bali, indonesia.

Bali has been 1 of my ultimate places to visit before i die. no no i hope i not dying yet...hehehe.

Thanks to my 4 vietnam trip buddies, i have mastered ( so i think) the art of planning trips...hehe...so i have been working on the itenary for quite some time. thnaks to my cousin whom recommended a good tour guide for us too. finally after all the planning the day finally came. but most of all thank god for the timimg of the trip was jus perfect.we were bound to leave on sunday. who knew my brothers graduation ceremony would fall on the saturday. luckily he managed to make it for the trip. so there we were, on saturday rushing down to malacca for the ceremony ( which i shall blog later) then rushing back to kl, then getting ready for our early morning flight on sunday.

Day 1

As soon as we reached, you would know ur in paradise, hehe the airport is by the sea, so the planes lands near the bay...so picturesque...and the airport has so many of the balinese sculptures and designs...
we were received by our tourguide, whom then drove us to our hotel. As he was driving, we were amazed to see, everywhere u turn got tourists...so many ppl. He was telling us, then he liked my itienary that i planned n had emailed him prior to trip. he also like my choice for our stay at sanur. u see sanur is about 20 mins away from the bustlings Kuta area: the main entertainment hub for bali. and our hotel the Sanur paradise plaza hotels is located by the beach. Sanur is somewhere in the middle of everything, so yes we cant walk much anywhere, so he drove us everywhere..but it all seems near...

ok after freshing up, we were ready for the 1st day trip, which was to Uluwatu, the southern most point of Bali. it is actually a temple and meditation area located at a cliffhanger. it reminded me so much of the cliff at australia which i have seen in so many travel shows..

one thing to note when travelling to bali, is to never forget ur long pants,coz shorts is a big no no here...unless at beach la.. As u may already know, Bali is filled with hindu temples, not the temples u see here in malaysia or india, theri temples are very different, mainly for meditation. the workmanship is spectacular. ok to this uluwatu place was filled with so many monkeys, huge gigantic godzilla monkeys...they are very tame tho, unless u tak ada kerja lain go cari pasal with them...don leave anything hanging form u bag or even don hold u camera freely, they will come grab. next was to dinner by the beach at Jimbaran bay, where its best to see the sunset. Food was great and ok ok cheap. but the ambience is priceless. ok then we headed back to hotels.

this is wat u see in every roundabout..so majestic...

Uluwatu cliff hanger

my bro

parents at jimbaran bay

dinner by the beach...

Day 2

we woke up early for a great breakfast dinner at our hotel, then left to bedulu. on the way we had stopped at few places, small towns where they have a special skill representing their town. like one town is skilled ni making sculptures n statues, all those beautiful garden ornaments ppl use these days all from here. then another on silverware, another on furniture, another on painting. and many more like these. then we also stopped by a temple at ubud, the culture and art centre of Bali, where we were treated to a spectacular kecak dance performance.

Then we reached bedulu, where the famous Gua Gajah is located. its a cave where the entrance is carved to a shape of a mystical face. then on the temple grounds, were some water fountains said to pour holy water, looked very ancient mayan temples.

next on agenda, was to the highland area, the volcano mountain, gunung batur. its an active volcano that erupted hundred years ago, destroying a big village at its foot. I was so hoping to go to the volcano site, but we cant mus take helicopter la..aiyah..so we had a lunch buffet at a restaurant nearby, eating on the outsides, surrounded by the scenery of the mountain.

of course where tourist go, there is bound to be attackers, hahaha don get scared, if u have read my previous travle post on vietnam, u know when i say attackers i mean those persistent natives whom keep trying to sell their handicraft goods, so so persistent..luckily manage to escape.

next we went to this spice garden place, where they grow spices and package it to sell...all kinds also got. next to another town where they are the paddy fielders, beautiful scenery shots of the teres teres padi..

then after that, we headed back to sanur.

look at the skies

ganesha statues

temple
goa gajah entrance

mt batur

jus look at the view...so nice

me drinking freshly grounded coffee

dad n i at the paddy fields

day 3

supoosed to be my highlight of my itenary, the next place we visited is the infamous Pura Tanah Lot. the temple on the sea. this famous temple is located on the sea, and only if ur a very early, beofre sunrise, u can find a walkway formed on the ground leading to the temple. once ur a bit late, the tide gets higher, then the only athoer way is by taking a small boat that leads to cave opening. this is said to be a very powerful temple, mailny visited during full moon, where thousand of people flock here to meditate. the mainland grounds are also well kept and has many parks inside...very very beautiful place, highly recommended.

after this, we visited a few more places, where we wanted to do some shopping, handicraft shopping mainly...

then after lunch, we decided to visit the famous kuta beach. the sand is so soft and shiny. so nice then the waves is magnificent. thats why this place is famous surf spot. everwhere u turn there is a sign board, learn to surf , rent a surf board etc etc.

we had great time on beach, the water so cool and fun...

then we also passed by kuta town, so packed with clubs and tourist spots, here is where u go for the designer labels and shopping here can be more expensive. passed by the memorial built on the grounds where the bali bombings happened few years back. We found a indian restaurant and had dinner there n then it was back to hotel time.

tanah lot temple...close view

now u really see..its lying on the sea

family pic...

mom n i at kuta beach
ok asked my bro to take a jumping shot of me...he took like 20 frames to get this..hmm i wonder if he did it purposely

day 4

our last day, we spent the mornings doing some last minute shopping. i swam in the hotel pool on last day, never had the time earlier. hotel also had many activities daily, from yoga and aerobic classes, coooking lessons, massage, gym, and many more. we then left to airport early and got on to our flight. it was so obvious all the people heading back had done loads of shopping,as they were carrying all the nicely packed huge huge thingys into the plane. some also got surf boards and all.

in short this family trip had turned out to be a awesome trip. now with me going to seremban, brother strating to work...dunno when we can travel together again.

flower..like duh

the pool at hotel