The first few days in Bali were packed with ICAAP activities during the daytime, and so we didn't really have the time to go shopping or jalan-jalan except at night. At least it was good that we stayed at the Tuban-Kuta area, which is THE area for shopping.
But I'm not really a shopper, and by the end of the Congress, all I had to bring home were the items collected at the various booths during ICAAP. Among them were these...
Hehehe... I had always been giving talks telling people about female condoms but was never able to show them how it looked like... now at least I have samples to show...
Well, anyway, our group would usually go out for dinner together at night but I guess it wasn't easy for the others in the group always having to opt for halal food when they easily had so many choices around! During dinner on Wednesday night, while we were discussing our programme for Thursday (ICAAP ended at noon), I suggested "free and easy" for Thursday after the closing ceremony. Let them do what they want to do and go where they want to go. At least I didn't have to feel guilty about the others having to keep me in mind when deciding where to eat. Besides, I'm a big girl... I can take care of myself...
So yep, after we got back to our hotel on Thursday afternoon, the others went off in 2 groups... while I went back to my room for a while for my prayers and then immediately I went off to ronda-ronda Kuta. Walking around alone had its advantages... I simply walked at my usual fast pace without having to think if there was anybody else in the group needing to walk slowly. I walked and walked until I reached the other side of Kuta, looking around at what was available and only had my lunch on my way back to the hotel.
Souvenir items were definitely cheaper at the area nearer to my hotel. So yep, bought them on the way back too. Didn't really buy much, but at least I had something else in my luggage other than the condoms... :-)
I didn't bother to go far for dinner, there was a nearby warung selling halal food, with lots of paintings decorating the place. The food wasn't too bad either.
As for Friday's programme, since I had booked the Saturday flight back to Malaysia, together with my room-mate, while the rest were to stay on until Monday, I had pre-arranged for a van & driver to bring me around Bali on Friday - on my personal account. And since the van could take 8 people, I offered the rest to join me if they wanted to. And so they did. One of the gang however had gone to stay with his friends in Bali after the ICAAP closing ceremony on Thursday, and so there were only 7 of us. But a friend from Nepal joined us for the ronda-ronda Bali and we were back to 8.
Our driver/guide was very helpful. Although I opted for the Kintamani tour, we didn't really follow the usual itinerary for the said tour. We skipped what we didn't want and went for other things which weren't included in the original itinerary.
We stopped to see stone carvings...
Wood carvings...
We then went to Tegallalang (not sure if this is the right spelling) to see their beautiful rice terrace.
Then off to the Holy Spring Temple...
We also stopped by a coffee & spice farm where amongst others, we were shown the luwak coffee or the animal coffee. The animal coffee? Well, luwak coffee begins like any other coffee as a small red fruit on a coffee tree.
The coffee then gets eaten by the luwak...
This fella (the luwak) was sleeping when we visited.
The coffee then comes out from the luwak's rear end, looking somewhat unclean, but still retaining the skin surrounding the coffee bean, preventing the bean itself from coming into contact with anything else in the stomach of the luwak.
Having said that, no, I didn't try the luwak coffee although my colleagues bought a cup to be shared just to get the taste. I did however try the other drinks offered free by the people at the farm - the cocoa, ginseng coffee and ginger tea. The luwak coffee is the most expensive coffee in the world, so they didn't offer that for free tasting.
Then off we went to Kintamani, to see the beautiful sceneries surrounding Mount Batur Volcano.
Buffet lunch at Kintamani with Mt Batur in the background.
On our way back after lunch, we saw a ceremony going on and asked our guide to stop for a while, just to have a look...
After that we did stop at an Art Market, but didn't buy anything. They were too expensive for us cheapskates.
Our Nepalese friend needed to get to the airport by 6 pm to catch her 8 pm flight, so we then headed straight to the airport to send her off. We didn't want to be caught in the jam and decided it was better to be early. So yep, we got there by 5.30 pm.
And after checking with our guide/driver that he wouldn't charge extra if we wanted him to bring us to Jimbaran for dinner before sending us back to the hotel, off we went to Jimbaran after sending off our Nepalese friend.
We could see the airport's landing strip from where we had dinner...
I also took 3 pictures of sunset at Jimbaran, using 3 different modes...
And this was our dinner...
Headed back to the hotel after dinner. The next day my room mate and I were to leave for home while the rest were to check out from our hotel in Tuban and move to Ubud instead. And they decided to use the services of the same helpful driver.
All in all, it was a good trip to Bali. The Congress was beneficial, and although I didn't get to go to many other attractive places in Bali (we simply couldn't cover everything in one day!), it was a good trip anyway.
I must say that our group did manage to confuse a lot of people. Many simply had a hard time trying to guess where we were from. I could pass off as either Malaysian or Indonesian... a few of us could pass off as either from China or Korea or Japan or Hong Kong or Taiwan... a few others could pass off as either from India or Bangladesh or Sri Lanka. And things were even more confusing for them at our booth during ICAAP, when we had people who could converse with them in Tamil, Hindi, Mandarin, Malay or English.
The best part was when one guy came over, struggling to speak to us in English, and there we were struggling to make him understand what we were trying to say, and then I suddenly said something in Malay to one of my colleagues, the guy asked, "Bisa bahasa Indonesia?" Duh... the guy was from Papua and was more proficient in Indonesian language rather than English.
Buat penat je cakap orang putih...
16 comments:
Pi bani, seronoknya ke bali. Kak teh cuma sampai jakarta - itupun satu hari saja. errr, yang dalam packet tu...macam mana pulak diguna?
waaaa...i almost missed the last van!
had to do a catching-up right from Bali pt1, baru tau hujung pangkal.
so you managed to catch their traditional ceremony. i believe it was the Barong dance, very synonymous with Bali. it'd be wonderful if i could experience it right before me, instead of youtubing it.
and that luwak coffee, i think it was featured inone of the Bizarre food programs recently.
welcome back anyway. hope you a blast while there, and especially the conference.
Kak Pi,
you guys were great ambassadors
...true!
Don't you think it's nice how culture is so alive in the daily life of the Balinese?
Kak Teh,
If not for ICAAP, harus I pun tak sampai Bali lagi. Anyway, the thing in the packet... macam mana nak guna? Oh tu kena buat demo bergambar...
Kerp,
The traditional ceremony we saw was not the Barong dance. That one they have every day. We asked our guide and he said that particular ceremony we saw would usually be done maybe every 2 or 3 years. Now it seems is their "good" season - yang buat wedding pun ramai time ni. Sort of ada ong lah...
Naz,
Oh yes, obviously culture is very much alive in the life of the Balinese. They are so very traditional. And they are very artistic people - just look at their handicrafts and artwork.
But I think if the tourism industry is affected, susah jugaklah depa nak cari makan. They depend so much on tourism to make a living.
Wooo, bestnya pi pi Bali! Bila pi nak pi phi phi? LOL
Good to know you enjoyed yourself kat sana. Nice story, nicer pixs.. tq pi!
Kak Puteri,
Sebelum Pi pi Phi Phi, Pi nak pi pee dulu... :P
Pi..I know you had a good time..I also know you ni baik hati..share van dengan gang ronda2 sana sini..You have a great heart Pi..
Pi, itik putih tu puteri jelmaan kot?
..am chuckling at the exchanges between you and Kak Puteri... LOL
Malam ni teringatlah pulak hal anak anak I tersilap panggil my pembantu Bebek instead of Bibik.
*Bebek...bebek....* dan Bibik pun menyahut *Ya deh!* sambil berlari lari anak (sentiasa macam tu).
Did you try Bebek Betutu? :D
Mamasita,
What baik hati? I was hoping the gang would join me. It's more fun ronda-ronda in a group, don't you think?
As for the white duck, tak taulah puteri jelmaan ke apa ke... but as we were feeding the fishes in the pond with some biscuits, the ducks came over to us, wanting their share too.
Naz,
Speaking of bebek, actually when we first got there, my group members did ask the locals at the lane we always pass, where to get a good meal of bebek. After that every time we pass by, they'd ask, "Sudah dapat bebek?" So we call ourselves "the bebek group". :)
But no, I did not try bebek betutu, or any bebeks for that matter. I think the gang which stayed on in Ubud did.
Pi, why didn't you pikul back that tempayan batu home? Kan boleh buat tadah air hujan nanti.
Wow i love the scenery of the volcano mountain, but will not jalan sorang2 kat situ takut silap haribulan dia meletup...
Pi, selamat menyambut Ramadan dan selamat berpuasa.
Raf
Raf,
Even without the tempayan batu, my check-in luggage dah terexcess by 2 kgs. Luckily they let through without me having to kenyit-kenyit mata with the officer... ;)
Salam Ramadhan to you too. Jangan liat bangun sahur, ok?
salute buddies of ipoh!
bukan saja buat kerja amal, tapi whose diversity betul2 did malaysia proud.
your group even termasuk someone on wheelchair. obviously someone who doesn't let his own handicap stands in the way of helping others. very inspiring and heartwarming. i feel put to shame!
Mekyam,
The only problem about Buddies is that payah betul nak dapat Malay volunteer... :(
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