Things to do in Bali - a seriously delayed entry

I thought I lost this entry. Oh well, I should not let it go to waste kan?

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If anyone tells me they get bored while in Bali, I’d slap them silly. Serious.

To really enjoy all the tourist attraction, one must know where they want to go and what they want to do. TIME MANAGEMENT is the key and sadly we wasted half our morning sleeping, getting ready and accommodation hunting.

You would also need a guide to bring you around. There are plenty of tour operators and even the independent one waiting for guests at Legian Street. However, you may need to find a good guide so the trip would be more fun and worthwhile. But how you know kan? Well, there were signs actually.

The first guide we hired was an old man who doesn’t say much. We needed to go to Ubud area and Uluwatu for Kecak Dance performance so he took us to those places and suggested the Ubud market, Batik factory and the Silver factory. He charged us IDR400,000 (RM152.00) in his old van with no aircond.

He brought us to the Batik factory which I think was okay but unnecessary. We learned Batik in high school what. But since we were already there we decided to look around. Their batik creations included cartoon characters like Doreamon. *grins*

You could also buy anything batik at the souvenir shop but it is very expensive compared to the ones sold at the market. So if you’re not a fan of batik, you may want to give this a miss.

We also skipped the Silver factories for the obvious reason.

At Ubud, we visited Pak Ketut, the well known healer but I shall do a separate entry for that.

Our next destination was Ubud market where they sell handicrafts among many other things. Every stalls sell almost similar stuff, so you may want to really search for something special. Plus this is the time where you put your bargaining skills to good use which I suck triumphantly.

The long drive to Uluwatu was too long, I stuck my head out of the window to enjoy the Bali breeze only to realize it was a crazy thing to do with the number of motorist passing by.

Despite the crazy driving, we arrived just in time for Kecak Dance performance. By the time Kecak was over, it was too dark to see anything else. *sighs*

The second guide we hire, D Ray only charged us IDR300,000 (RM108.00) in his Avanza. Maybe because he was much closer to our age (definitely younger), he was chatty and we, well at least I felt more comfortable to ask lots of questions and he brought us to many interesting places.

Our first stop was Nusa Dua, the venue for water sports aficionados where you can choose parasailing, jetski, flying fish, doughnut, glass bottom boat, fishing, banana boat, turtle island trip and diving. Unfortunately, this wasn’t in our to-do list.

Seminyak is the land of paddy and corns. Among the greens stood beautiful villas for rent which are popular for the long-staying foreigners. I wish I could stay there.

Our first stop was Krisna, Ole-ole Khas Bali. It’s more like a hypermarket of souvenirs and the price is reasonably cheap. The only problem was, it was so stuffy, I could hardly breathe.

We then stop by at Seminyak Beach, well Double 6 to be exact for Eskay to fulfil her bungee-jumping dream. I took one look and I know I may have to wait for few more years to gather my courage to jump from the very tall platform. If I ever have the nerve to do it larr.

Eskay did very well by not chicken-ing out. *cheers loudly*

The waves at Seminyak were rough and scary if you ask me and I was quite surprised to find no surfers there. Maybe I didn’t look hard enough.

We then continued our journey to Tanah Lot. The traffic was bad so our guide took us through the smaller and narrower road but it was scenic with the beautiful view of the paddy fields. I wanted to roll the windows down so I could get a clearer photo but I didn’t think the guide would appreciate me wetting the seats.

At Tanah Lot, there were plenty of stalls selling souvenirs and stuffs. However I was too busy looking for the famous Tanah Lot temple and the rain did not ruin that picturesque view of the sea and the temple itself. We must have been real good that day because it stopped raining and the sun did show herself for 5 minutes or so.

The temple is like one giant stone and there is an opening at the bottom where the spring water flows from the temple. First, you need to clean yourself with the water. The “priest” says to wash your face and drink the water but the guy who cuts the queue, practically took a bath. Then the “priest” will bless you by placing what look like rice on your forehead and a white Cempaka behind your left ear.

There is also a Holy snake across the temple that says to bring good fortune. You can’t really see the snake because it is kept in like a miniature cave. All I saw was the tail and the belly and it was alive alright coz it slithers when I rub the belly. I had goose bumps because I do not like snakes and the belly felt so geli. *shudders*

Kuta Beach. Come and feast your eyes with the yummylicious (well, not everything is beautiful)creatures from all over the world. *grins* I don’t have to tell you what to do in the beach larr kan? Me, I had a pedicure and with my favourite songs blasting from the earphones, I just lepak at the beach enjoying the view. All of it.

I could just sit and do nothing the whole day but the only problem is I get sunburn easily. I am so lazy to apply sun block every few minutes and even with a hat, I still get a tan. Now I have different shades of tan and it is not pretty!

Bali also offers PLENTY of spa services. The trick is to find a really good one. We went to Galuh Bali Spa and took a package that includes body scrub, massage and soaking in the air bunga which was okay. Honestly, I had better massages but again, one would never know the excellence of the place until you tried it. Or maybe the masseuse assigned to me wasn’t the best they had.

Bali is a shopping haven. Along Legian Street, you could find shops after shops selling t-shirts, sundresses, shorts, sunglasses, fake goods and everything you could thing off. Again, bargaining skills are important and patience does come in handy. *grins*

Bali is a place for everyone. I just wish I had more time and money to explore the place. Hopefully I get to visit this lovely island again. Soon.