朽木百哉のブォグ

Early rise at 7:30AM after almost a 12 hour slumber the night before. We decided to eat the complimentary breakfast as we don't intend to go far, considering the time left before catching out flight. Antzer had checked out much earlier as he will be doing his photoshoot for the whole morning.

A final shopping of souveniors done at Matahari, a souvenior shop near our hotel as Kevin continued to laze in the room. Finally, the shopping quest has been done! Nothing exquisite enough for me to get for my brother and Wanling, but hope it's something which I hope they'll like.

Took a pic of Oka, our driver for 2 days during our stay here, before we boarded the cab to Denpasar Airport as he was about to make his move for work.

Awaiting the plane and reached our gate before at 1:27PM.


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Jumped awoken after a series of weird dreams, of which one of them showed me riding a 150Z type of motorbike used by the locals here in Bali up into a minor road like Jalan Bukit Merah. Switchscene showed I have received a letter from a lawyer to settle an accident that occured along Havelock Road, to pay a compensation of SGD1,200 which I had never been involved in.

Sunerise at Sanur, which was about 30mins drive from Kuta area; a small hiccup as I was at thw wrong place to see sunrise at Kuta Beach. Fortunately Antzer found me at the beach just when he was calling out his name, just infront of him. We made it to Sanur and it was indeed a beautiful sight to see the sunrise!

Breakfast done at nearby MacDonalds and they still serve McJuicy, which was called MacD in local context. And oh, they have a kiwi sundae with nata de coco (coconut cubes). All for 33,000RP.

Next stop at Ubud where it's a traditonal village with minimum modern development which comprises of local handicrafts and shops are built closely to each other side by side. A couple of silverware shops could be seen too but prices are way too high.

As the stall selling roasted pork isn't open yet, we decided to walk around more. Spotted a signboard that indicated 1 hour full body massage for 60,000RP, which is relatively a good deal. After Antzer enquired with a man standing nearby, he told us wait and ran to nowhere. Antzer sensed it's not right and we decided to move off quickly.

Later we learnt over lunch, that the locals will offer the pigs for sacrification before selling, or would be after their daily prayers. The rice was served with pig intestines, fried pig skin, slices of pork and roasted pork skin; yummier than local roast pork rice.

There was a monkey forest which we didn't visit in view of our schedule.

We went on to a silverware shop which was huge, with a wide array of silverware. Managed to get a good bargain of earrings for dearie, considering it's 925 grade silver. Hope she likes it!

Over dinner at the nearby food centre where we had supper on the first evening, we learnt how much the locals detest the Malaysians as the culprit responsible for the Bali bombing in 2002 was a Malaysian who was caught and eventually sentenced to death. Many years were spent rebuilding and that's explained the reason, why the worker at the stall where we ordered dinner greeted some Malaysian tourists 'hello, long time no see, see you also not happy' in Bahasa Indonesia.

A momument was erected at the bomb site and that was what I snapped when I was waiting for Songjie shopping at Quicksilver.

We spent the later part of the evening discussing on 9D. As they were all higher levelled and experienced in the game, most of thw time was spent listening before I lay on the bed to rest before 9PM.

Seems like all of us are tired and decided to scrap the idea of visiting one of the clubs.

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Early rise at 6AM; this time we missed the sunrise which was planned at 4AM; yesterday's activities must have tire us all out and a deep sleep after a couple of beers at Hard Rock.

Managed to get a morning sight of Kuta Beach; it's long, wide and simply beautiful without obstructions to get a perfect shot. Surfers are already in the waters to catch the waves in the early hours, where sky is already all bright.

Breakfast done at KFC; they only serve a standard menu all throughout the day. Got a 2-piece chicken with a mocca float. Spiciness of the chicken is still stronger and saltier than Singapore's.

Slumber was done to catch up on what was left unfinished from last night till 1:30PM where we had lunch at a nearby cafe; nasi goreng special that came with beef satay, egg omelette and a small portion of salad.

The watersport plan was scrapped in view of the fatigue from last night but Antzer had asked around for pricing and activity from a stall where he was attended to by Komaca.

Spent the afternoon with Songjie and Kevin to shop
around Surfing Girl where he got a bikini set for an old friend, while I captured a few shots of local street life.

Dinner was done nearby and had a taste of the local ayam soto, that came with rice and their main dish had vermincelli beneath the topping. Iced sweet tea came along and Antzer ordered a beef satay that wad garnished with a special sauce making the dish very fragrant. Both yummy! I had asked Antzer that he seemed very familiar with the place and he also mentioned that getting around was actually through asking the locals. A very important advantage would be knowing the local language well.

We had made plans to visit Sanur tomorrow afternoon where there are handmade silvercrafts where I can get something for dearie, that would be, to make her prettier, and something unique to Bali.

Night activity was done in our own sub-groups. Songjie, Kevin and I decided to go to Apache KTV, nearby Surfer Girl which is open at 9pm. A VIP room size equivalent room at 300,000RP that the host mentioned 2 girls would be given. No no no, give us a break as we only want to sing and don't want any problems. We had 4 bottles of Bintan beer which 1 bottle slipped Songjie's hands from the wet label, that was





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Good morning Bali.

Rise and shine at 7:30AM and ate the complimentary breakfast. Pretty limited choice, but since it's already complimentary, just fill the stomach for now.

Today's agenda: Taman Ayu temple visit by the sea, followed by lunch stopover at a Baturi where Antzer mentioned to us yesterday evening. The climate was much cooler than the place where we stayed. We walked on the small bamboo-structured jetty but was stopped by local boatmen as the edge could noy withstand the weight of more than 2 people, so we took turns to have pictures taken.

Lunch was buffet and costs about $12/head. A quick passing shower came as it was on a highland which clouds could be seen. Air pressure was lowered so the breathing difficulty could be felt when ascending and descending from the mountain.

A short slumber from the airpressure change made the next stop more refreshing. As we were passing the farms, I could hear a snort and was awoken soon after a full charge - Antzer had dozed off with his mouth wide open.

We had also learnt from Antzer that the better-off locals build their own temples in their homes, and have statues placed at their doorway. They worship gods of Wealth, Protection and Destruction and must be dome equally. Houses can be build wide and maximum height is at 4 storeys.

Next stop, visit to Berdugul to catch the sunset where tide was low and we could walk all the way to the rocks and watch the huge waves that can't be seen in Singapore. Magnificent view!

The final stop was at Berturi a shopping area which ride was about an hour. Undercarriage scan was done and learnt from Antzer that Kuta was the place where terrorists bombed in Bali sometime back. Lots of soveniour stalls greeted us and we could get a bargain from our purchases. Got a sling bag for myself, Sihui and dearie, all at just 80,000RP which was offered at 40,000RP a piece initially. Hope dearie likes it!

The technique that was taught to us initially by Antzer was to walk away if negotiations are not successful after a few attempts. That worked for Kevin when he wanted to buy a wall deco handicraft which was offered at 50,000RP and the stallowner agreed at 30,000RP after we walked away at some distance.

Most of these places of interests are at an entrance fee of 10,000RP.

Oops, we had exceeded the 8hrs of transport service by Oka, our driver for the past 2 days; had just learnt of his name from one of the larger departmental stores when heading to get dinner, a famous Nasi Pedas and packed back as that place was jammed packed with people, and we had to order from behind the counter. Dinner for Oka was on Antzer to make up for exceeding on the agreed hours.

A kid was begging from us and Songjie told me to ignore her as such are operating from a syndicate where an overseer will deploy them around - most likely for profit purpose. His navy colleague made the wrong move by giving to one, and a group of them swamped around him after he did that. On top of that, she's wearing a set of gold earrings.

Had learnt from Antzer yesterday that locals are more flavour inclined in their diet, thus food are saltier. The chilli they eat are much spicier compared to ours. For once, I had met my match at the tongue.

The final activity for the evening was some drinks at Hard Rock pub where a live band performed. Argh, such a pity that I didn't bring A500 along. Kevin had shared with us that one of the old timers in 9D is a Pinoi musican by profession who has his own band in The Phillippines just like tonight's band. Antzer could not join us as he wanted to keep his fiancé company.

A downpour greeted us after our drink of an unusually big jug of Heinikken. Called for a cab which charges by the meter. The walk back to our hotel wasn't far, but all of us were tired from a 10-hour outing, and the rain that was impossible to get back to hotel without minimum contact with the rain. Health is more important...it was a massive jam when we had to take a detour as the street around Yulia Inn was one-way, as there was a row of clubs and discotheques behind Quicksilver's 2-storey boutique further behind Hard Rock. Cab fare was at 115,000RP and travelling time was delayed by that massive jam - optimistically, a chance to see what we haven't explored on the vicinity
where we stayed.

Earlier slumber tonight as we planned to watch sunrise tomorrow morning. A pretty good collection of pics I have. I have to bring dearie next time where we plan to have our schedule being able to match, for long waited trip via jet.


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We arrived at Denpasar airport at GMT+800, after a 2.5 hour hour flight. Airpressure change makes the flight sleepier while we stayed awale chatting in the budget airline we took; pretty mentally challenging.

The airport at Denpasar isn't as impressive compared to Singapore's; older interior with almost no improvements except for electronic devices by the local Immigration.

Antzer had arrived pretty earlier with his fiancé, and we were taken by a hired driver to our lodging place at Yulia Inn. A rather quiet place which has the resort feeling which resides in the heart of the shopping zone. Local Chinese also speak Hokkien so somewhat will be able to communicate with his fiancé where we all need to.

Finally, the first League outing!

It was already past 10PM at Bali, thus we settled for supper while chatting over recent happenings and our gameplay in 9D. The worker at the food centre could speak pretty fluent Mandarin despite being a native Indonesian. Learnt from Antzer, the locals are mostly not Muslims, thus they don't have stringent rules on the food they eat. Songjie shared about his navy colleague who dashed into Kuta beach, just opposite the food centre. Apparently, the beach has a closing timing and he was chased back by the patrols...that was certainly embarrassing for him.

Roads are narrower and less organised compared to Singapore's.

Had finally been able to sms dearie on my safe arrival after my phone could be juiced up in our Room 825 with Songjie's portable iPhone charger that was lent to him by Meg.

No free wifi? Hmm...SMS was the only way to keep in touch with dearie.

As the night was late, we decided to turn in before a full day activity the next day: as briefed by our League Guide, Antzer. A temple tour.

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Lunching in with leftovers of yesterday’s dinner with cleaner auntie; that certainly saved a lot of time walking and having to queue and baked by the sun.

A week is finally coming to an end. A pretty grueling week in the mental battlefield and am glad it’s going to be over soon.

Just checking out some interesting facts about Melaka where I’ll be heading for a day trip this Sunday early in the morning. I’m gonna get some good shots at photographer’s grade there!

Seems like a deep sleep last night after I woke up at 7:20 this morning; had awoken at 6am before that but could feel a non-full recovery and decided to enter slumberland for awhile, this time, with the fan off as it has been directing wind at me for the past 5 hours.

I usually do not require long hours of sleep unless the day had been filled with chakara draining events.