grace's mindless rantings: Back from paradise

I'm back from Bali! I have so much to share and loads of pictures to show off..-gushes- Bali is such a gorgeous place. It's blessed with dream-like beaches and humongous land for spacious restaurants and shops. One week in bali seemed to just whiz by.. This is going to be a uber long post..bear with me!

At the airport, all ready and excited!

We left on Thursday and arrived at around 11pm. Meet up with Tove, Per, Sverker and some of their Swedish friends at Hook's ( a pub). Pity I didn't take any pictures of my sun kissed and sun-burnt friends! Day 2 was more exciting. Louis and I spontaneously decided to head over to a famous temple -Uluwatu. Travelling by cab was pretty expensive and we didn't bring sufficient cash that day and thank God I met Handi! It was such a surprise! He was in Bali with his family for a short holiday. Swayed by how handi recommended us to watch the Balinese dance at Uluwatu temple, Louis and I spent the remainder of our cabfare on the tickets to the dance. It was definitely worth it. Though I love hip hop, I do have a passion for other genres of dance. Balinese dance is expressionless but it reaches out to the audience through controlled graceful movements with beautiful lines. Handi's dad is such a nice man.. he not only gave us a lift back to our hotel but he brought us to Jimbaran to have famous seafood! I'm not one for seafood but I loved every bit of the yummylicious seafood!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you Handi... and especially to your parents. By the way, handi's dad also told us that if you ever visit Bali, you HAVE to stop by Jimbaran for seafood or you'll be laughed at. It's the equivalent of visiting Sentosa if you're in singapore I suppose.. -grin-

We stayed in Kuta, a more commercialised town area of Bali. The first few days were a little overwhelming. It was not like your average idea of a holiday where you're surrounded by sun, sand and the sea and with simple Balinese earning a living. In fact, you'll be bugged by cab drivers almost every 100 metres and approached by street vendors( and even drug traffickers!) -gasp- . Sometimes they offer you Marijuana blatantly, others use sophisticated codes like magic mushroom ( If Louis didn't tell me what it was, I might have actually asked for it! I like mushrooms!) .. kinda scary at the beginning. However, after a few days, we actually got used to it. The trick was to be firm with saying no and refuse politely. ooOOOoo! I so forgot to mention this incredibly scary incident. Louis went to exchange currency and this guy performed a HAT TRICK! He actually managed to pull it off and it was a substantial sum! Thank God I recalled what Qinmei said about her experience at Bali with the conman when she tried to exchange currency. Qinmei, thank you! The issue was resolved after Louis went back to confront the man. Miraculously, he refunded the money. Dearie... you must have looked super tough! -chuckles-

The beach at Kuta is my favourite. Though a tad bit crowded, it was perfect for jogging by the sea (you see many joggers) and it had a gorgeous sunset. The waves in Bali are a lot bigger than Singapore's. They engulf you and the drag's really HUGE! I lost my balance several times at dreamland beach. Dreamland's more for surfers. It was hilarious watching girls trying to get by the waves. The boys generally succeed but not many. Louis was like this little boy, all geared up and jumped HEROICALLY into the waves. -grin- Nusa dua beach was pretty nice too. It was a lot quieter over there, ideal for R&R. The beach was a little dirty though..due to water sports i guess. It wasn't exactly twig-free like Kuta and Dreamland beaches.

Kuta beach

Sunset at Kuta beach

Nusa Dua and dreamland

Hotel hopping.. the resorts in Bali are really astounding. They're spacious, superbly well furnished and they're exactly like what you would picture a 5 star resort/hotel to be like. Their prices are also really reasonable. If you're not on a tight budget, splurge a little on the accommodations. You won't regret it..but then again if you are on a budget, you can always hotel-hop. It's really easy to walk into a hotel to use their pool and facilities in Bali. -grin-

Diving at the Tulumben shipwreck was an eye-opener. You get to see huge schools of fishes, many different species. The shipwreck itself was a delight itself. It kinda reminded me of Pirates of the Carribean. OoooOOO I would love to have a pirate like johnny depp to rescue me -sighs dreamily- .Anyways, though our instructor Chris was more than adequate at his job and that diving at Tulemben was lovely, I think taking a dive course abroad isn't really worth the money spent. Out of four days, only one day was spent at a real touristy dive site, while the other closed water dives were just practice. The amount we paid for the dive alone was sufficient to cover the cost of an open water course in Singapore AND dive trips to Malaysia...accomodation etc provided. Therefore, it was a pity, cause the amount we spent restricted the cash we had to sight-see..