I took my family for a short trip to Bali (27/3/2006 - 31/3/2006) crossing the Nyepi Day. This is our 3rd time back to Bali since 1997. My second visit is April 2005 and this is the third one. This trip, I travelled with my wife (5 months pregnant) , my 5 years old daughter, my mum and my mother in-law :). It was wonderful trip and all of us enjoyed it so much and very sure that we will make our 4th trip back to Bali soonest possible. And here come my brief JBR, I am not a good writer but hope you enjoy it.
Day One (27/3/2006 - Monday)
As we are using the low cost flight from AirAsia, and the new Kuala Lumpur Low cost carrier Terminal had just started operation on 23 March 2006. LCCT (abbr Low Cost Carrier Terminal) is very close to KLIA international airport, but since it just started operation for less than a week, there more room for improvement. The quueu to check-in is quite long and it took us more than 30 minutes to obtain our boarding pass. Entering into the boarding area, seat is not sufficient and still dusty and smell of paint. Flight was delayed for one hour and the plan only take off at 5:10PM.
It was a pleasant 3 hours flight and we arrived at Denpasar Airport around 8:00PM. Going through the immigration is smooth. At the luggage collection point, many porters were ready to help, but we did not make use of their service instead, my wife manage to grab a trolley from the other end for self loading of our luggage.
As I had booked my room for the first night at Green Garden Bali, Jln Kartika (USD25/night), transport is provided by the hotel, and we had the hotel driver to pick us up from the airport. The driver was very friendly and we arrived at hotel in just 15 minutes drive. We had our welcome drink and filled up the guest particular for registration. We were given room 17 and room 18 on ground floor just beside the pool. The room is simple and complete, no fancy amenities but clean. Water presure is good and the toilet flushed well... ;-).
After we settled down, we took a short walk to Kartika Plaza and then we took a blue cab (go by meter it cost us RP11K) to Jl.Legian.The street was not very busy probably is late (almost 9:30pm) and on week day. We walk passed the memorial monument, and we took glimpsed at actual site opposite and we walked along the street and entered a restaurant for our dinner. After our dinner, we hopped on to another blue cab back to hotel. Bought a few bottle of drinking water from the sundry shop opposite the hotel and is about 11pm...the street is getting quite and we strolled back to the hotel.......
Day Two (28/3/2006 - Tuesday)
I waked up around 6am. I did not sleep well becasue the aircond was too cold and the cool air was blowing directly to the bed. Adjusted the vent a few time and the temperature the whole, at one point, I just turned it off completely. Any way, is just transit night for us as we are heading to Ubud the next 3 nights and booked at TegalSari.
Breakfast at Green Garden was inclusive and we gathered at 8am for our breakfast. Not many variety for the buffet breakfast. But again, the price that we pay is justified to the quality.
I got the driver contact from a forumer (Michael & Samantha Hindle, Thanks!) in balitravelforum.com. I have Made Sukarma as our driver. He arrived at hotel lobby prompt at 9am, we check-out from hotel and begin our Bali adventure....
Since this is my mom and my mother in law first trip to Bali, we hope to show take them to as many places as possible so I had made out a list of my itenary and liaised with our driver, Made.
From the hotel (Tuban), we are travelled southward to Uluwatu and we visited Pura Uluwatu. It was a sunny day and the air is quite humid. We took a short walk to the edge of the cliff...the ocean and cliff view is magnificent.
A short walked, and all of us were sweating and my shirt is completely soaked. Before we leave, had a short break at the drink stall, and we ordered a few pieces of fresh coconut to fresh ourself..
Next stop, mede drove us around Jimbaran beach, the stalls were closed in day time, next he droved us to Denpasar and we stopped at the Monument Perjuangan Rakyat (entrance fees is RP3K for adult and RP1K for kid). Is a very huge monument, the compound around the monument is very nice and wide, lots of plants and trees, and there were displays and brief of the history of Bali inside the monument, the spiral stair case in the middle of the building will lead to open section on top of the building where you can enjoy the 360 degree view of the whole Denpasar.
Is around 12:30pm. We were heading to Ubud, thought if we can have our lunch at Ubud, the famous Ibu Oka Nasi Babi Guling (Operating hour aily from 12noon to 3pm whenever available). Just in time, we arrive at Ubud around 1:30pm, got a table on the deck (need to fold your leg and sat on floor). I invited Made to have lunch with us, the babi guling is clearing fast, we were told that they had ran out of "roasted skin", only the pork meat. (the normal Nasi Babi guling is RP15K and special is RM25K). We ordered the Nasi Babi Guling and their air limau (Local orange juice)..It so yummy !! The only regret is, we have the babi guling without the roasted skin... :-(
We began our shopping spree at Ubud Art market till 4:00pm, then Made drove us to TegalSari, we had the hotel reception, Nyoman show us our rooms (Wooden Room 18 and Standard Room 2). Is nice and impressive, clean and again the toilet flush is working fine. The wooden room is facing the Padi field and is definately worth the price we pay, and I was gladed that I managed to secured a room of my choice 4 months before. haha..you can imagine how good the hotel is doing....We have to rush and left the TegalSari around 5:00pm to catch the sunset at Tanah Lot. Pleasant drive from Ubud to Tanah Lot, along the way, we enjoyed the nice padi field scenery, along the way..Arrived at Tanah Lot and is almost sunset, (entrance fees RP10K for adult-International and RP7K for adult-domestic) the evening was cloudy and we were not able to see a clear sunset on that evening. Is also high tide and quite windy, the strong waves were splashing the rocks platform and we are not able to walk close to the temple...well we took a few photos at the best angle and strolled around the compound. Left Tanah Lot and back to Ubud around 8:30pm....we were all tired and decided to have dinner in the hotel. We ordered a serving of Balinese Fried Chicken (no in menu) and we enjoyed it so much......
..to be continue..