I haven't written anything since September of last year.. A small recap: I got sick last November and was on medication 'till December up to the first week of January. Went to Singapore and Bali. Spent the holidays there from the 19th of December to the 15th of January.
Singapore was nice. I liked it a lot there. Just wish we had more time. It was a bit expensive but I really wish I could go back there. We didn't spend much time in there but we enjoyed it. Three are different kinds of people there, different religions, different cultures and different races yet it doesn't feel much that way.. The late night hot pot meal, the boutique hotel we stayed in, the zoo, the Singapore Flyer, the mall ( I think I was the only one who enjoyed it), the Sentosa trip, the cable car and the wonderful view, the cleanliness and the honest and well dressed drivers and the night in Clark Quay and the unique nightlife in there. And the rides I wish I have been in!!! I just wish the beer was cheaper.. LOL!
Bali on the other hand was a different thing. It was a mixture of a lot of different things.We stayed at a small resort owned by a local. A widow at 32, she inherited the resort along with a lot of problems when her German husband died more than a year ago.
The weather in Bali was more like my mood swings. Sunny in the morning, rainy in the afternoon with the possibility of strong winds and all sorts of nature's fury. See? Just like me. The resort was beautiful, if only it had been well taken care of and if only the owner wasn't in such deep s*#t,lovey and I would have enjoyed it more. Instead lovey spent a lot of times on the owner's office trying to fix problems, that's less time for me.
Anyway,at first it felt as if I was just in the Philippines. Not much difference when it comes to the roads (looks like the kind of jobs done here by the DPWH) except they drive on the other side of the road which scares the hell out of me every time I forget that we were actually on the right lane. Quite a few times I was close to telling the driver we were on the wrong lane. And the curves! My goodness! I call them the super duper mega blind curves. And the crazy drivers. I wanted to be fully padded every time we go out on the motorbike.
And also you might come across some menus that have funny names on them and you wonder what they are.. Here are just some of them.
And the people looked very much like Filipinos and we actually use a lot of words that they do. I think my lovey was amazed every now and then when I utter words in Balinese. I'm not really sure. But the owner and her new husband and I had fun looking for words we had in common. Like "bungol" which means deaf, "dua" which means two, "mahal, murah, ada,lima, bulan" and a lot more.
The difference was that the Balinese people have actually kept a lot of their values and tradition,they're very much committed to their religion and families. Of course it's almost pretty much the same here that a lot of families give more value to the oldest son. But it's different there, much more so that before our trip came to an end I saw us as two different peoples yet very much similar in a lot of ways.
They put a lot of value to their tradition, on road trips it is very common to see people wearing Sarongs and Kain held in place with a sash and women wear long sleeved tight blouses called Kebaya usually with Selandang draped over their shoulders. Whenever they go to temples, this is what they wear. And even on their everyday lives most elders wear Sarongs. And OMG! the grandma's are quite some exhibitionist. It wasn't very rare that I see them in their Sarongs with no top. They put hollywood celebrities to shame when it comes to their wardrobe style.
It was rainy season when we went there. So most of the time when it's raining we'd stay in the resort watching movies or reading books. But we had fun whenever we'd go out. The beaches, the different temples, the royal pools, the people, the scenery. All in all it was a pleasant trip. Except for the day after we went to Pura Besakih in Mount Agung, the largest and oldest Hindu temple.
The weather in Bali was more like my mood swings. Sunny in the morning, rainy in the afternoon with the possibility of strong winds and all sorts of nature's fury. See? Just like me. The resort was beautiful, if only it had been well taken care of and if only the owner wasn't in such deep s*#t,lovey and I would have enjoyed it more. Instead lovey spent a lot of times on the owner's office trying to fix problems, that's less time for me.
Anyway,at first it felt as if I was just in the Philippines. Not much difference when it comes to the roads (looks like the kind of jobs done here by the DPWH) except they drive on the other side of the road which scares the hell out of me every time I forget that we were actually on the right lane. Quite a few times I was close to telling the driver we were on the wrong lane. And the curves! My goodness! I call them the super duper mega blind curves. And the crazy drivers. I wanted to be fully padded every time we go out on the motorbike.
And also you might come across some menus that have funny names on them and you wonder what they are.. Here are just some of them.
And the people looked very much like Filipinos and we actually use a lot of words that they do. I think my lovey was amazed every now and then when I utter words in Balinese. I'm not really sure. But the owner and her new husband and I had fun looking for words we had in common. Like "bungol" which means deaf, "dua" which means two, "mahal, murah, ada,lima, bulan" and a lot more.
The difference was that the Balinese people have actually kept a lot of their values and tradition,they're very much committed to their religion and families. Of course it's almost pretty much the same here that a lot of families give more value to the oldest son. But it's different there, much more so that before our trip came to an end I saw us as two different peoples yet very much similar in a lot of ways.
They put a lot of value to their tradition, on road trips it is very common to see people wearing Sarongs and Kain held in place with a sash and women wear long sleeved tight blouses called Kebaya usually with Selandang draped over their shoulders. Whenever they go to temples, this is what they wear. And even on their everyday lives most elders wear Sarongs. And OMG! the grandma's are quite some exhibitionist. It wasn't very rare that I see them in their Sarongs with no top. They put hollywood celebrities to shame when it comes to their wardrobe style.
It was rainy season when we went there. So most of the time when it's raining we'd stay in the resort watching movies or reading books. But we had fun whenever we'd go out. The beaches, the different temples, the royal pools, the people, the scenery. All in all it was a pleasant trip. Except for the day after we went to Pura Besakih in Mount Agung, the largest and oldest Hindu temple.
It's situated atop a mountain, great view, just breathtaking. But the next day I could barely walk. And when we went to Tirta Gangga (the royal pools) I went on daydreaming mode, wishing I was a Hindu princess having a party there. Wonder what they did in those times in those pools.
We also went Batur a city/town overlooking Mount Kantamani. We had lunch on a restaurant atop a mountain overlooking the volacano then after that we drove around Mount Kintamani and the lake beside it.That was quite a trip
The we went to Candi Dasa,the most popular destination in East Bali. Pantai Putih (white beach) was such a joy. We enjoyed it there until it started raining which means we have to navigate this small rugged, muddy road. We had little accidents trying to find our way out of there. We went to the lotus garden and cehcked out the beach in Candi Dasa.
On our everyday journey, very often we'd drive by Budakeling, the rice terraces visible from the main road. A lot of foreigners dropped by this place to take photos.
Then just a few kilometers away is the Monkey Temple. Here, you can see on both sides of the road small temples where people stop to pray and offer incense and flowers. And it is also here that you see monkeys crossing the streets better than most people. But you better have food with you or they won't like the attention. You want to take their photos? Better have lots of food in handy or they will start to make these scary faces and act like they're about to attack you. My lovey had an encounter with this. LOL!
And one part of the trip I enjoyed a lot was when i hitched a ride with the resorts owner when she went to Denpassar which is a 3.5 hour drive. Billabong, Roxy, Rusty,and Rip Curl factory outlets had this crazy 70-90% dicount. I was going nuts over there. I still had some money left when I went back to Amed (that's where we stayed)
Amed is a quiet place compared to most parts of East Bali, there are resorts and restaurants but nightlife here consist of getting drunk and live music in Wawawewe. A few bars offer live music but they play the same songs every night. And wherever you go, it seems like all the musicians here know exactly the same songs.
But!! As in a big BUT... Expect some unexpected things to happen there. We got the occasional shows from the dolphins passing by.. Imagine my delight when we saw them in Amed beach while we were having snacks at Double One. We're used to seeing them but this time one went near the beach and jumped out of the water and twirled a few times before going away. It was like a ballerina doing a pirouette!!!! By the time the other guests at the restaurant went to look, it was gone. I felt like the show was especially just for me. It's an unforgettable surprise..
The beaches here isn't exactly what you'd expect. The area is made up of cliffs and stony beaches. But I'm pretty sure the waters would have been pristine if it weren't raining all the time. But if you want to relax, then Amed is the place. And when I said quiet, it meant also that our Christmas and New Year were quiet. We roamed around the area asking the restaurants if they had New Year's part and they said yes (all of them). But when asked until what time, they said 11pm. Now that gave us quite a headache trying to figure out where we're gonna find a place to party on New Year's Eve. In the end we went back to our room and I went to bed while lovey watched the lightning (that was his fireworks).
Dining in Amed was good. I wouldn't say it was superb but it wasn't bad. And I actually came home with love of some Balinese foods namely their Pepes Ikan (this is fish with spices wrapped in banana leaves and grilled), their Nasi Goreng which I usually have in the morning, fish and chicken curry, and some other food which names I already forgot. We also tried their Arak, this is their local wine. But I don't think I was meant for drinking this. Was too strong for me, I only needed to smell it and I felt like I was already drunk.
Snorkling and diving are good in this part of Bali. We went a few times for diving i Tulamben, and the last time we were there was actually one I will never forget. We went into the water and already baby waves were crashing into the beach but while underwater we didn't know how dangerous it was on the surface. We had a hard time getting out of the water and fortunately fishermen were already on the shore ready to help. It took a while to get me out of the water and one fisherman told me "No more diving" and I replied with "I wanna go again! I love it".. I realized when I looked back and saw these giant waves crashing how much in danger we were in. Our dive guide, i'm thankful by the way that we went diving with him was very very good. later we saw other divers from other shops trying to get out of the water and they had to coz they were getting close to the rocks and if they get slammed by the waves into it then they won't probably even know anymore what hit them. Luckily everyone got out safe and sound. Thanks to our wonderful dive guide and the helpful fishermen in the village.
And may I say, the best steak I ever had in my entire life was in Tulamben. I forgot the name of the resto bar/dive shop. Gonna ask my lovey if he can remember.
I learned a lot from this trip and I enjoyed it a lot. What's more it made me and lovey much more closer to each other.I just wish we had more sunny days, we would have gone to more places than we did. But hopefully there will be a next time...
WHO KNOWS?
