(Mind my English. Not very good.)
We arrived at Ngurah Rai airport at 1pm (9th March) and were transferred to The Oasis Tg Benoa immediately. We stayed at the hotel for 5 days. Very contemporary hotel I must say.
We took the free shuttles provided by the hotel to The Oasis Kuta everyday. On the second day, our tour guide Wayan Budiasa (by the way he's the sweetest man I've ever met) took us to Ubud and Tanah Lot. We dropped by at Ayu Mas Art Gallery and I was stunned with all the paintings. My husband is not a fan of any form of art, but he is a wonderful bargainer. I bought 2 paintings which originally priced at Rp250000 per piece at only Rp50000 per piece.
We prepared ourselves for Nyepi the next day. Seen various designs of Ogoh Ogoh. There's a little minimarket just opposite of The Oasis, where we stocked ourselves with food, souveniers and cigarettes. Bought sandals for Rp10000 per pair, handbags and t-shirts and skirts, everything for Rp10000 per piece. We even bought some notebooks at Rp5000 per piece which we had purchased earlier at Ubud's art market for Rp15000 per piece.
We spent the whole Nyepi Day at the swimming pool.
The fourth day, Budiasa took us to Kintamani. We watched the Barong Dance earlier and stopped by at a coffee plantation. Upon reaching Kintamani, we headed to Maharaja for lunch. I was warned by my travel agent about the aggressiveness of Balinese at Kintamani. We were well prepared, and just politely said no. Actually they were not as bad as what we have been told. I requested a tour to the Elephant Cave and Budiasa was more than happy to drive us there.
It was my husband's birthday. I planned on having a mind-blowing dinner together. So we just walked to Bumbu Restaurant next to the hotel. The food was great. My husband ate so much, the waitress couldn't stop laughing everytime he asked for nasi tambah (extra rice). A plate of white rice, a plate of red rice and 3 plates of yellow rice, can you imagine?
We spent the whole last day at the beach.
My husband cried when we bid farewell to Budiasa. I was about to cry too but seeing my husband that way just made me laugh. I so love Budiasa. We didn't have a lot of Rupiahs left, however we just handed everything we had to Budiasa.
We had so much fun, we can't wait for our next trip in October.
Photos at http://shidepp.fotopages.com (if anyone's interested)