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Saturday, January 15, 2011

BALI : Day Two

The second day we woke up kinda early as the locals told us it's gonna be very jam these few days. We're planning to head down to Ubud, which is about an hour journey from Kuta. We hired 2 days car rental with driver for about RM140 per day, which I think it's quite worth it considering it's more convenient and definitely cleaner than local taxis. Also there's no exact time frame so we actually fully utilized it the whole day and make it worth our money wtf.

Our driver Bobby, a pure Balinese, picked us up from the hotel at 730am. Had breakfast in hotel and it sucks, 'nuff said.

Surprisingly, the traffic was so clear and not a single soul wondering at this hour. We realized we got cheated :( No la, probably prediction went wrong.. -____-"

So Bobby drove us around few interesting places on the way to Ubud. We passed by batik factory which we're not so interested to explore more, Desa Celuk where all shops selling custom-made silver and gold and Desa Batuwan next to it where it's famous for Balinese artists... selling paintings and stuff.

We did not stop by and headed straight to Pasar Seni Sukawati. It opens around 9am and it's the best time to go before it gets crowded later in the day.
This is undoubtedly the BEST PLACE TO SHOP IN BALI! Things were much more cheaper as compared to what we saw in Kuta the night before. In fact, most items from Kuta originated from here.

This is also a place where I learn how to bargain like aunty! REMEMBER TO BARGAIN. You can bargain it for like 70-80% lower than the asking price! The place is so crowded that it's actually kinda hard to weave my way through. There were huge array of clothings, paintings, colourful accessories, basketware, carvings and interesting souvenirs.
I almost tempted to get that US flag printed comforter set but the quality is really bad. And I'm regretting for not getting the colourful beaded accessories! *sigh*

Anyway, I bought this silver weaved rattan bag at about RM20+ and I'm really happy with my purchase! Asking price was about RM90 you see..
Nice or not!!!! :D

And I also got a cute heart-printed shorts for about RM5, which I think the price can still be lower but I'm really tired with bargaining :(

Coconut by the roadside to quench our thirst...
We headed to Babi Guling Ibu Oka minutes away from Sukawati for lunch. I've made some research online and most sites recommended Ibu Oka.
The restaurant operates from 11am-2pm so when we arrived, there were not much crowd. We waited for good half an hour before our orders were taken :( And waited again for the holy pig :( They served all the customers at one go so if you're early, nothing much you could do except to wait for the place to be filled with customers..

We ordered four sets of Babi Guling Special at IDR29,000 each.
There were some weird vegetables, fried intestines, roasted pork, fried pork and supposedly crispy pork skin with special sauce on rice in the set. I didn't like it. So as the rest. The pork skin was rather too hard that I just took a tiny bite.

I also ordered Soda Gembira to go with my meal.
Basically it consists of fruity syrup, milk and soda. It taste exactly like our local sirap bandung, the only difference is it's carbonated, ours are not. Try make this at home.

After out not-very-satisfying lunch, we proceeded to Pasar Ubud nearby.
Saw these pretty stones but did not buy as the vendors tak layan me :( There were too many gweilos with better spending power around so off I went feeling like a total poor Asian.

It started to drizzle and we went into one of the massage center blindly. After half an hour session of back massage, we came out not feeling any difference. In fact, it was a bad experience for me cos I was sitting on the massage bed half naked and a girl about 10yo came in and sat right in front of me (on my bed) and just stared at my body for the holy 30 minutes until she dozed off next to my legs.

T_____T FML.

Next, Bobby took us to Goa Gajah and we had to wear sarong to cover sexy (girls) and hairy (guys) legs.
The guy who helped us with the sarong got fashion sense man! He gave the hubby blue sarong to match with his blue top, BWAHAHAHAHHA~!!!!!
Inside the cave. A guide told us the story but I forgot so I'm gonna skip this part.

A holiday is all about food, food and more food innit? ;) Bobby then took us to Tepi Sawah Restaurant and we had a wonderful experience of having meal at the corner of the paddy field. The restaurant serves both Western and Balinese food.
Specialty of the restaurant - Pork Ribs! I tell you this is damn good... like the best food I ever had the entire 2 days in Bali! It's saucy, sticky and succulent and we licked the bones clean.
Another specialty - Bebek Bengil (crispy fried ducks). Neither of us liked it. It's really dry and no doubt it's only the bones covered with skin.
Try their Ayam Panggang Tepi Sawah, another popular food there! You will not regret it! This is really good as well and I prefer this more as compared to the pork ribs! :D
Jamie and I.

It started to rain again so we hangout for a while there listening to the raindrop and gobbling down Bintang beer.

We ended our touristy day in Tanah Lot and this place needs no introduction.
Bluff one. Image from (here).

We didn't manage to witness the sunset though due to the weather T_T
Check out the crowd down there!
"You jump, I jump.. remember?"
Some random stone carving which can be seen almost everywhere in Bali.

And yes, I'm using my new bag already and I'm loving it ;)

That night itself, we had the most amazing western dinner in Kuta cos we're all sick of Balinese food.

2 loves:

charles lim said...

Hey Cryst..nice holiday pics..but you know la..Carment hates hot climate places..hehe

c r y s t said...

charles: HAHAHA ya i knw i knw... she likes licking ice-cream during winter! :P