Yeay! One of my favourite topics to blog about are my travels. And it seems like I've been on a travel sort of puasa, haven't been out of Singapore/Malaysia much, it's starting to scare me. I was desperately trying to get flights, companions etc etc at one point hehehe. Now suddenly I'm bombarded with sooo many trips it's going to overwhelm me (yep asked for it totally).
Bali Dwipa Jaya - Bali Glorious Island
Been wanting to visit Bali ever since I was a kid (exaggerate), plus parents wanted to visit Bali as well, so before I could get flight tickets, MCC contacted me and said she has better plans, knows Bali better, and then she took it from there to include Sean Ee as well... LOL. Me, I'm just happy to have someone take care of the finer details :D
Carried a bulk of rupiah with me, damn, this place truly tests your arithmetic skills! Too many zeros! Some more I was assigned as the so-called treasurer, holding on to a pooled amount of cash and paying for shared expenditures -.-
My very first time boarding KLM - so forgive my sua-ku-ness hehehe. The flight was completely full! To my horror, I was seated next to a PRC couple! Now, I have nothing against them (exaggerate), but this guy next to me had his legs opened wide till it's way over on my side, not to mention he talks loudly and hogs the armrest!! Nightmarish.... Once, he stretched his arms out and yawned in a manner that would make a trumpeting elephant proud. Walao, like his own house leh zzz... Some more when orders for our drinks came, he ordered beer and I was darn terrified that he's gonna burp in this confined space but thank god nothing of the sort happened (touch wood). Ooo... then I balas dendam - when I crossed my legs, I purposely accidentally kicked his hairy legs muahaha who ask his dirty feet cross into my territory?!
The flight is full of angmohs woh, but I really so lucky -.-
Blah airline food.
The bunch in my flight are an enthusiastic bunch. As soon as we touched down and the captain announced our arrival, everyone broke into applause hehehe. It was already close to 9pm when I arrived, met up with MCC who was already in Bali for the past few days, and my parents + aunt whose arrival was an hour earlier.
MCC wanted to bring us to a little café near Kuta - which is pretty close to the airport but the place was packed!
And so we ended up in...
Warung Made @ Seminyak!
Nice horrrrrrr the pictures taken from my camera :D Low light shot looks liddis leh, impressive horrrr :D
Warung Made is more of a touristy sort of place - but I must say, the food is good! Our driver, Dewa tells me that Warung Made started out as a small warung in Kuta before becoming hugely popular and has since then opened two more shops.
:D
Oh, I must have forgotten to warn you that this is a photo heavy post - LOADS of food shots as well! hehehehe, don't say I didn't warn ya beforehand.
Nasi campur - which turns out to be my frequently ordered favourite in this trip! As the name suggests, the dish is made up of mixed ingredients, from the sea and from land. Pieces of brinjal, cucumber, greens, chicken, pork, tofu, otak-otak alike, ikan bilis, fish, tempe, sambal on the side... wow... that's quite a mouthful and I doubt I'd finished listing them all!
Mixed them all up iz yums!! Nom nom nom... Love the mixture of the sambal and herbs & spices!
Another of our fave and frequently ordered - Gado gado! I just love, love, love, the gado-gado in Warung Made. Peanut sauce dribbled over long beans, bean sprouts, tempe and cabbages... the simplicity of the dish.... great stuff.
Best pork satay I've had. Seriously, the pigs here must be well cared and blessed and prayed upon everyday, the pork is succulent and juicy. Yummy, yummy.
Feast your eyes on these succulent pork ribs! They were oh-so-tender! One of the best ribs I've ever had! Sinful, sinful! Already very late but still stuffing ourselves hehehehhe. Ah well, this only signifies more great food to come, eh? ;)
P/s Can't help but to admire my spanking new camera's shots kekekekkeke ok I need to stop rubbing it in.
Dinner costs IDR484,400, which comes to approximately SGD65 for the 6 of us (including Dewa). Pretty value for money considering the quality, ambience and amount! (We ordered 3 Bintang beers as well, my current favourite beer hehehe, only costs SGD2-3!)
After dinner, we were whisked off to our villa in Seminyak, and let me tell you, my jaw literally dropped when I saw the place. Completely over the top!
Prepare to collect your jaws, took these the next morning:
Outside the villa
Knock, knock!
Our private lounge area, complete with kitchen, tv, stove, fridge, the works.
And our very own pool!
(Mum & Dad early morning start to qigung d, they woke me up, hence, I was already out and about by 8am on a holiday)
View from the stairs to the second floor...
We have four rooms, each rooms with its own bathroom attached.
So I took a whole room to myself.....
Can roll from one side to the other...
A section for wardrobe, mirror, handbags, somersault, whatever.
Toilet in an outdoor setting...
Complete with outdoor shower and bathtub! The lady's carrying the shower head by the way hehehe... It sounds like very nice and all, but to tell you the truth, it's really cold to shower out in the open like that! Especially we were always out for the whole day and back only when it's already dark so it gets rather chilly at night when I shower :S
View from the upstairs balcony... There's frangipani all over the place. They (the villa staff) even have frangipanis on our tables, toiletries set, bed, etc. Just love the exquisite fragrance :)
By the way, tell you a scaredy cat story lol. I hardly sleep on my own while traveling (for obvious reasons - splitting the cost when sharing rooms), so this is one of the rare few times that I got the whole room to myself. When I first entered the room, I was beyond excited, until I checked out the paintings on the walls.... First painting just on top of my bed depicts a war scene where the few people in the painting have their eyes wide open in a scary manner, then another painting at the wardrobe section is of a sad looking Balinese girl who stares off in the distance.... the last painting just on top of the toilet seat depicts a lady with a sidelong glance.. -.- So I had all the lights turned on when I sleep -.-
Papa took the other queen size bed room, exactly like mine but the pictures on his wall all like very zen one! Got one of a peaceful-looking Buddha, then another of a lotus flower.... How come!!! ; (
OK fast fast put a serene image to shoo the scary mental image out kekeke.
My beloved parents
I pwetty not!! LOL.
Breakfast at the villa. Typical breakfast like bacon, sausages, eggs done to your preference (sunny side up was my fave), the occasional char beehoon, char kuay teow or fried rice, fruits, pancakes, cereal, etc etc.
At 9:45am (by the way, the sun rises earlier here, around 6:30am, and sets earlier too, around 6pm), Dewa was already outside waiting for us and our first stop is back down south towards the airport to place order on some biscuits/pies called Pia Legong! Then Ubud afterwards! So excited!
My excitement was short lived, though. There was a massive traffic jam in Bali, if you can believe it. There were so many cars, so many motorbikes, traffic is slow moving, roads are small... it's really frustrating, not to mention, chaotic! Motorbikes zipping in and out, cars running the red light....lol. I think that was the only thing that marred our holidays... Took a looooong time to travel from one spot to another :(
So after 30minutes on a usual 10mins drive, placed our orders for the Pia Legong, then back up North again towards Ubud for another 2 hours on the road before lunch presents itself before us:
The ever popular Ibu Oka babi guling!
2 storeys high in all its babi guling serving glory.
Lol. Unflattering, like mother, like daughter :D
And this, I present to you, the famous babi guling! Lol. I certainly didn't expect babi guling to look like this at all hahaha. My expectation was almost like sio bak. Sio baks aside, this is definitely something special. Coming from Malaysia, where pork usually only makes an appearance in Chinese style cooking, it is certainly refreshing to have pork cooked in an almost Malay style.
Babi guling is stuffed with a mixture of spices and roasted over fire fueled by coconut husks, hence the coconut-y fragrance on the pork. The dark brown stuff by the meat is the crispy skin. We were unlucky as the crispy skin is all out, so this is one of the few crispy skin that we had! However the skin I had was a little bit hard but the thin layer of fat still stuck to the skin just melts... yum.
Oh by the way, fried pork skin is also on the menu LOL but we couldn't as pork skin is out.
Fried mixed vege which was too salty for my liking.
Nasi Babi Guling special LOL, which is like a happy set meal of sorts. Contains babi guling meat, gorengan, vegetable and also bits of roasted pork skin.
This is called Gorengan, probably the most sinful item ever. Care to make a guess?
Pork fat rolled in batter mixed with miscellaneous spices then deep fried.
The 'cabai' - was spicy, loved it!
Piping hot bowl of vegetable soup with pork meat - very wholesome, loved it! Has carrots, long beans, cabbage, onions, coriander leaves, and more that I can't tell from this shot alone :p
Indonesian Teh Botol. Initially tried this at Ayam Penyet Ria back in SG and didn't like it. I initally thought it's somewhat different in Indonesia probably, so decided to try it out, but nope, still tastes funky - has a bit of a 'kelena' aftertaste hahahahha. Weird I know, you got to try it to comprehend my point.
Babi guling lunch sets us back by IDR257,300 (could remember all the figures cos I still keep the receipts :P I was the treasurer, remember? LOL), which is around SGD30. Oh, in addition to that, we also bought a few packets of crispy prawn keropok for supper that night hehehehhehe. Washed down with icy cold Bintang beer ....
Anyways, as this is the first time I've tried babi guling, I can't tell whether it's good for a local's standards, but I certainly did enjoy the meal. If I ever had the chance to come back here again, I'd love to try another babi guling @ Warung Babi Guling Sanur, which I'd read in Travelfish to have the best babi guling in Bali ;)
Thank you little pigs for the lovely meal.
After that, it back on the van and a further hour of drive to Mount Batur.... On the way, Dewa dropped us off at this lovely place in Tegallalang where we were greeted by a refreshing burst of paddy terrace field green.
Beautiful hor?
A really nice shot of MCC (cos got good photographer)
Nais cos model nais.
Finally a shot of Dewa!
On the way up to Mount Batur..... luck was not on our side. It started to drizzle, then rain, on and off!
Just like that, a thick mist blocked our view. It was really chilly up there at that point and the wind was strong.
Our miserable view :(
Dewa was also disappointed for us and he whipped out his phone to show us what the view should have looked like..... Sadly I can only imagine the magnificence ; ( The shot on his phone was probably the best view at that point hahahahha.
Sad right.... LOL. I was stubborn and wanted to give the mountain some time for the fog to clear off but 20minutes later, no change so... putus asa pfft.
On the way down, stalls of all sorts and sizes selling all sorts of fruits!
This is like something I used to paint during Art classes hehehe. Colours are so vibrant and beautiful!
Can't remember what this fruit is called but it tastes both sweet and sour.
Buah salak, sort of crunchy texture and mildly sweet. Got a bunch of these as well as some mangoes and mangosteens for our nightly supper @ our private villa lounge XD
Coffee plantation next! Still drizzling!! &*#$^##@$(%
Why your poop so expensive?!
Doing all the usual touristy stuff hehehe.
We were served with a range of drinks for tasting - free of charge!
Clockwise from 6oc: Ginseng coffee (my fave of the lot), chocolate coffee (sweet), Bali coffee (so-so), lemon tea, ginger tea (very refreshing), rosella tea, ginger coffee (strong ginger taste) and finally the one in the middle - coconut coffee (strong coconut taste lol).
And of course, luwak coffee is a must try on my list. At IDR50,000 @ SGD7, it's really cheap! Some cups go up to SGD50!
Very bitter! Strong flavours, but I suppose my expectations were high hehehhee it was really good anyways, but I think I'm a sweet coffee drinker :X
Wah, this post damn long.... almost there, and this is just Day 1!
Dinner in Ubud!
@ Bebek Joni, another place recommended by Dewa for ducks! It's just beside another rice paddy field where the ducks are grown.... Morning on lush greens, night on plates... ok. bad jokes aside, Bebek Joni does not disappoint!
MCC's fave lime squash. So. Very. Refreshing!
The Balinese style mushroom soup lol.
Fried crispy duck with Balinese spicy sauce. Was very yummy. I especially loved the condiment on the left, containing cencalok (I think), shallots, lime.... reminds me of the steamed ikan kembong Ah Ma used to make. As usual, Sien Ee & Mum & MCC were saying that it's really easy to make (roll eyes).
Ordered gado-gado again! Seems like every restaurant has their own rendition of gado-gado. Bebek Joni's gado-gado is a bit more elaborate, with more ingredients as compared to Warung Made's. Bebek Joni's has the additional tomatoes, cauliflowers, carrots, and mini corns. But don't get me wrong, the gado-gado is still pretty good! I think the secret lies in the peanut sauce. If the sauce is thick and great, whatever you mix it with will turn out delicious.
Deep fried snapper. Skin so crispy, insides so tender, dipped with the two condiments = 100% satisfaction heheheh I could totally write Bebek Joni their adverts :p
Traditional smoked duck. Cooked in a mixture of spices, some enjoyed it, but for me it was just salty.
Aiyoh Mum's peace sign... fail hehehehhe
And finally (it's 12am now, I seriously need to get to bed), our dessert of fried banana fritters with ice cream! Absolute yummers. Banana's thick and sweet, and they have a sort of gula Melaka to go with the dessert. Great combination... happy tummies hehehe. Seriously, there's something about the produce here, everything seems to be sweeter (bananas, mangosteen, mangoes) heck, even the lime tastes good! Maybe I'm still wearing rose tinted glasses hehehe...
Ok, coming up some temples, more greens and even more food!
