- Oct 21 -

*warning - damn kao long post ahead*

since we did not do the touristy thing in 2005 with the gang, we decided to book a one whole day tour for day 2. we called up this guy, Made (pronounced as Madir) who was recommended by Susan (mr tay's colleague) who went to Bali recently. Made was also recommended to Susan by another fella from Maxis. seems like the whole of maxis is using this particular tour guide. hehe!

Made picked us up at 9am after our scrumptious breakfast in the hotel. no, not club med. we only checked into club med on day 4. accompanying Made was sweet Little Mita, his 10 yr old daughter. he showed us the map and the highlighted places that we will be visiting: (will insert the names of places here when i get hold of the map at home later)

ok pics.

from a simple block of limestone

 

it metamorphs into these precious figurines

 

some of my favorites

 

i'm drawn to this, i dunno why

 

 

 

 

i love this one!!!

 

and this, is the infamous Ramayana and Sita figurine

 

Made told us that the King used to take his baths in this.
a bit the keras right?

 

hehe, i couldn't help it
them C-cup boobies are just too nice

 

temple visits were next.

i usually dread temple visits as i'm not really a fan of such stuff. hence, the not-so-enjoyable holiday to Cambodia last year. trust me, visit Angkor Wat and that's it. it's enough! don't go crazy over the 1 million temples there! you will only end up with a pair of sore feet and blisters at the end of the day. the rest of the temples were really nothing to shout about as all of them looked the same! ok, except for the one in Ta Phrom where they shot Tomb Raider. i didn't regret that one coz Angelina Jolie wuz 'ere, woohooo!

ANYWAYS

 

balinese prays a lot. A LOT.
Made explained that they will line up on the grass spots above in a single file and pray

 

before entering the temple area, you will need to donate and wear this sarong irregardless whether you're a female or male.
the sarong is provided free. many many colors!

 

mr tay in red sarong and that's Made in purple sarong

 

 

shy little mita

 

 

next temple visit pics after this. from this temple, we were off to an art centre. usually, if you are being brought by a tour guide to such places - art centres, places selling sculptures like the above pics, or even woodcraft centres - you really shouldn't buy because prices are usually more expensive and your tour guide actually gets a cut from it. not saying that i don't encourage helping your tour guide earn some moolah but seriously, the prices were wayyy off our budget.

and being the mr tay he usually is - he must always SECURE THE PARAMETER first. so how could he've bought anything from these first few spots when he had not secured the whole bali parameter? don't emo at me baby, you know it's true :D

ok, back to art centre.

 

 

this piece has been worked on for FIVE MONTHS by the artist above
i stood there for like 20 min just staring at him paint

 

i took a pic of this art and later realised that this piece of painting is currently very happening in the whole of bali, particularly in Ubud.
almost every art shop is selling this

 

and i also did a spot on for this one too! 
as it was featured in club med as i later found out on day 4. there's a pic which i took of it being hung on the walls of club med, will show on day 4's post
i had liked this for its vibrant colors

hehe, quirky!

 

ooo, i like this one

 

boy and girl
or
girl and girl?

 

tummyache? pregnant? muahahaha

 

next stop, wood-carving centre. wait, no pics of me ah? wait la, let me vomit back all the pics that i took first can or not? heh!

 

 

 

i lke this one

 

 

mommy and baby

 

 

so funny right!!! this was the first mask he picked and put on.
omg, i nearly didn't want him to take it off and spend the rest of the hols wearing that. hahahahaahaha

 

this one not cun la
the next one is...

 

PRESENTING...
FORBES TOP 50 MOST GORGEOUS

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so cantik sial

 

:)

 

:) :)

 

eww. can you spot his kuku?

 

up next, we went to visit the rice paddy fields grown on terrace hills. the view there was absolutely beautiful.

 

 

 

 

next, all the way up Kintamani. loved the air up there, as cool as Genting's. tour to Kintamani was an impressive experience where the Kintamani area has very beautiful panoramic view, encircled by mountain atmosphere with the windblast from Mount Batur. Mount Batur according to Made is dead as the gov has announced there will be no more eruptions.

you see the black area at the foot of the mountain? those are ashes

 

the restaurant Made brought us to for lunch
buffet style

 

the view from the table we were seated

 

i can't believe for my entire 26 years of existence, i have not tasted this fruit!
I LOVE IT!!!
didn't know what it was but took it anyway
i smuggled some out to give to Made and Little Mita
Made said, these are Passion Fruit.
i thought it was like some weird indonesian fruit which has a name like Buah Ganjil but no, it was all along a Passion Fruit. wtf!

 

Passion Fruit!

 

satay babi. mmm sedap!

 

poser

 

 

 

proof #12345 that mr tay takes better pic than me

 

 

pointy tointy

 

 

 

more temples... yawn.

 

 

balinese bathing in the water they believe to be holy water

 

 

mr tay in different sarong

 

me hiding my fugly sarong

 

next up, shopping!
mission: to purchase paintings

this is ubud. ubud is HUGE. can literally walk until you die. this is Ubud Art Market, though we didn't see much paintings sold over here.

 

 

 

mutated Nemo

 

got out of Art Market empty-handed and came out with a bottle of a much-needed Bintang. ahhhh...

 

more walkings!

ubud has many little shops all over the town and it takes quite awhile to cover the whole area. mr tay had to secure the parameter, remember? so make sure you put on a good pair of shoes.

spotted on display in one of the shops
SO CUTE! I LIKE!

 

by now, we were seriously looking for paintings to purchase. so we went in to practically EVERY art shop there was there in ubud. it was important for me that we both agree on the paintings. no point buying the one i like, hang it in the house and each day mr tay goes emo at the painting right?

 

we both liked this one very much. I SPOTTED IT FIRST!

but it had some stains on it and the shop owner said it was the only piece he has. so after asking for permission, i snapped a photo of it and showed to the other shops that we went to. this lady told us, there was none here in ubud other than the one we saw in the previous shop and the nearest place which has this was REALLY far away. aiya, why can't i fancy easier to find paintings? hehe.

by now, my legs were on the brink of snapping into two. took a rest at this cutesy stairway. I LOVE!!!

 

so cute ya!

we seriously walked for like 2+ hours, i think. so did we find our paintings at ubud, you ask? hehehe, not telling till day 3 post.

then just down the road, we had dinner at the famous Bebek Bengil aka Dirty Duck Diner.

 

 

lotus ponds and paddy fields surrounds this restaurant

 

 

 

we chose this spot over the tatami-style ones because my legs were killing me!
after walking for 2 hours straight, i couldn't be arsed to have to cross my legs just to have dinner!

not showing you the pics of my Bebek Bengil dish and mr tay's pork ribs (it was fantastic, the ribs!) because you really have to try them.

instead, showing you this Russian Pie.
content: kahlua, vodka and the rest of the cake ingredients

***

finito of day 2!
i have just posted over 90+ pictures, i hope your laptop did not crash :P

Made sent us back to our hotel and we spent the night watching Gremlins 2 on tv.
it was the ONLY show available at that time! Made was an excellant tour guide, he explains very thoroughly and lengibly, so if you want his contact when you're down at bali the next time, do let me know! already recommended him to Hooi Siang & Angeline since they might be going to Bali during this coming deepavali hols.

day 2 was extremely tiring! however, it rained while we were sleeping, so it was really nice :)

i keep looking at my arms. i can't help but keep stealing glances at them.

*type type type*

*pause*

*look at arms*

*type type type*

*look at right arm*

"so niceeee!" *beams*

just because they are tanned now, hehe! i am naturally really fair which i hate hate hate because it's damn fugly to be fair/white. sorry la, dunno why jap girls dig being fair but to me, it makes you look damn unhealthy lor. no offence to fellow fair lady friends of mine who are reading this ya :D

i did not slap on some tanning lotion and purposely did not bake myself under the sun when i was in bali this time, because eii, i'm getting older. very prone to freckles, brown spots and other shit spots these days. so, really cannot sengaja cari pasal under the scorching sun unless wanna end up looking like lindsay lohan (close up).

not sure whether i was being over-concerned but i spotted like 3 brown spots on my face! or freckles? i dunno! the worse thing is, i'm just not sure whether they were there before! help!

but it's alright. there will be come a day when i have made enough $$$ to help fund myself a jar of miracle cream to rid off those fugly spots. (or should i just go laser them off). freckles are cute when you're like 3 yrs old but when you're 26, it's fugly. why do you think they keep harping on 'flawless skin'?! sheesh.

i have maybe 2-4 more weeks to admire my tanned arms, shoulders (albeit a little burnt), chest and BIKINI LINE! and then it's back to being Snow White again. urgh.

p/s: btw, snow white is the most boring-est lady lead for Disney, IMHO. i liked Belle for Beauty and the Beast and Ariel, The Little Mermaid!

 

not tanned right?

 

see again

 

i'm shedding skin la. don't go 'eww' on me!

I love games! Puzzles and word games being my absolute favorite. My preferred games would be of those that need strategizing skills. Awhile ago, if you remember, Elaine has burnt tons of games for me and I am still playing them up till today. Think, my favorites so far have to be Alice Greenfingers, Chocolatier, Fairy Godmother Tycoon and Sally Salon. Lately, I have started playing more online games. I keep finding games that I like, or someone passes me a link to a game that they fancy. Having said that, I would like to join an online casino and see if I can earn some money. I will have to learn up some of the games first because I have absolutely no idea about the rules yet. There are many games in the online casinos which looked really fun! Maybe I'll work up the nerve to try it out soon!

on the way to tesco for some grocery shopping.

mr tay hadn't shaved, hence, the 'banduan kajang' look.

 

 

 

 

you will come to realize that SR's cakes are horrible when you've tried La Manila's
we were there because mr tay wanted a pie.

 

 

at 5pm, we were at Sierramas / Valencia area for mr tay's ex-boss' raya open house. omg, rendang, ketupat, nasi impit, cupcakes!, satay ayam (no babi), and LOTS OF CUTE KIDS PLAYING NINTENDO WII.

hah... the games the lucky buggers get to play these days. back then i had to be contented with just hopscotch, police-and-thief, pepsi cola, guli, congkak, and 'getah' (my fav). no barbies. i never liked barbie. oh ok, my mom got me one for one of my birthdays. and within the same day, barbie had her head turned 180degrees with her 'sweet' face in line with her butt. there were no more barbies after that.

ANYWAYS

after stuffing ourselves silly, it was F1 racing all the way to my parents place for dinner. told mom, we'd be there by 7 but only got there by 7.30pm, resulting in dad calling at 7.27 growling, "where are you guys? i'm hungry." haha, grouchy-nya

ok pics time. taken from parents' place.

one of the many beatles posters hung around the house

 

my ex-room.
poster (of good quality) nicked during Kent 961 elevation party at Mines
18 seems so far away *sob*

 

mr tay reading the papers
my piano
my brother's drum set
my mother's fugly cushion covers (she likes floral stuff)

 

my sony bravia

 

more evidence that my dad is a Beatles freak.
it is important for you to know that i wasn't kidding when i wrote THIS *click*

 

 

  

THIS. was the infamous Scrapbook i was telling you about!
dad had started on it since highschool
a prized possession, really
he won't let me sell it on eBay *pout*

 

 

 

DAD DREW THIS!

 

handwritten lyrics of all the beatles' songs

 

 

p.s i love you, mr d

 

dad even tapao-ed the chinese press
and the malay papers as well but i didn't take any pics of it

 

dad the matador

 

limited edition watch in guitar casing, which dad won in some contest

 

 

the 3 pics on the top were drawn by dad

 

 

you just don't see this genuine passion in kids these days, do you? i mean, how many of us actually creates scrapbooks of Justin Timberlake or Angelina Jolie? i like Rachael Yamagata but i don't go cutting up pics of her, handwrite all her lyrics and stuff, so i'm actually very proud of my dad

so, if your daddy is also a fan of The Beatles, do drop me a note and we'll see whether we can hook them crazy fans up

p/s: and in case you're wondering, yes, he is still trying to get a spot in the Malaysian Book of Records for having the most collection on the Beatles. 

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- 20 Oct -

first 4 days at kuta, ubud, seminyak and kintamani

aladdin picked us up at 8am. being the 'nenek' i am, we only got into the cab at 8.20am.

at the airport, we checked in our bags, bought newspapers and off for a McD's brekkie.

ok, pictures time.

 

: things you can do with a pen and the barf bag on the plane :

 

 

 

he was seriously ignoring me!!! let me tell you this - he was reading Honour Among Thieves by Jeffrey Archer for the 3rd time, after having never finished it successfully for the 1st and 2nd time. so me without a book, had to resort to self-entertainment.

i drew quite a lot of crap on My Barfbag (1st pic), Mr Tay's Barfbag (2nd pic) and a whole lot more of nonsense on Stolen Barfbag from Mr Tay's Left Neighbour. barfbag was stolen while he was sleeping, and got a smack on the hand by mr tay who went, 'oi, stop stealing other ppl's barfbags! what if he wants to puke???'

nah, he didn't look like someone who would puke on airplanes anyway.

ANYWAYS

we rented a scooter for 30,000 rupiah per day for 5 days. that was like, only RM 12 per day. the first time we were at bali, we rented an avanza but that was shared amongst 5 ppl so that was totally worth it. this time around with just the 2 of us, this scooter was perfect.

would be even more perfect if it was pink.

mr tay said, 'they don't have pink.'

bollocks. tons of mat salleh ladies were riding on pink scooters on the streets of bali!

so we got a yellow one. which was fine actually coz i like bright colors.

 

 

first stop: a place to feed them hungry tummies. went to this bar restaurant and,
helloooo bintang! it's been awhile!

beer has never tasted THIS gooooood

bintang beer - our staple h20 whenever we are at bali

my nasi goreng bali
if you notice in most bali menus, they serve their nasi goreng with crackers and satay babi (often with just 2 sticks)

 

my boyfriend's soto ayam

 

 

 

 

entrance to our hotel
booked 3 nights here as we extended our stay

 

 

 

dinner was at lovely ku de ta.
i loved ku de ta for its classiness, lightings and the option to sip your wine overlooking the beach.

photo is borrowed from the kudeta website here *click*

prices are a little steep though, but trust me, the view and ambience is totally worth it. with 2 main courses and 1 bottle of wine, our bill came up to 850,000++ rupiah, which was about RM340+. so ya, be prepared to pay the extra at ku de ta.

we had to come back to ku de ta, because it was THAT beautiful. our canon ixus just wouldn't do justice to it, as night shots are crappy so, if you want to see more images from ku de ta, pls visit the website.

in 2005, the group was at ku de ta :)

: 2005 :

 

 

: 2007 :

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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touched down at 11pm last night. aladdin, our regular cabbie was on standby. i swear he gives top notch service. i mean, how often do you hop onto a cab that plays you jazz and michael buble all the way to KLIA? aladdin does that. and he brilliantly updates us on the latest news that was happening in KL. apparently, there's another little girl that went missing? hope it's not the replica of nurin's. so we've been using aladdin for most of our trips and plan to keep doing so for our upcoming trips - samui, krabi, hongkong and europe *happy*

anyways, i have not uploaded and edited the pictures yet for obvious reasons - fatique, big pile of laundry, plants that needed my TLC and heh, possibly indulging in good drinks, music and good company tomorrow - jason crimson's back and all of us are gonna do something.

we're on leave still. we woke up this morning and i wailed,

this is not baliiiiiiii :( :( :(

mr tay replied,

yes, but this is Casa De David. and we have 2 great pools as well :) :) :)

ahhh, the boy can be so cute at times. ok we're running off to taman tun to get our fix on auntie's great kon lou pan mee, pay bills and FRAME UP OUR NEWLY BOUGHT PAINTINGS!

can't wait to see them hung on the wall!

also, need to work on my paid posts, managed to grab a USD30 post while surfing at smelly internet cafe in bali.

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arrived at club med yesterday.

and you wouldn't believe how we got ourselves there. we had a huge luggage bag, a slingbag and a longggg package wrapped up with paintings that we bought.

from kuta to nusa dua, we hopped onto the bike and scooted all the way on the highway, dodging cars, huge trucks, buses and tons of other bikers - just the 2 of us setting forth towards club med, nusa dua.

there's something truly comforting in me wrapping my hands around his waist, poking at his bintangbeer-induced belly and banging our helmets at one another when crossing bumps and dodging potholes. this is when i truly feel that life should be as simple as this.

club med is honestly a lazy man's paradise. beautiful, but definitely overated.

i did archery yesterday and mr tay played soccer and scored 3 goals (+1 which he so generously gave the chance to the Swiss boy for a simple touch-in).