The rest of Taiwan posts shall need to wait a little more. Since Taiwan is a backpacking trip, my itinerary was very detailed with all the location and fees + how to get there.
So for Bali trip, I went with my Mum. My Mum is already 50 years old and I wouldn't want her to go on crazy backpacking trip with me. So in order to go on the Mother-Daughter trip, I went to the tour agency!
The agencies we used are: Sarawak Holiday Travel & Tours (Kuching based) and confirmed by Explorer Tourism Network (Bali based). So basically we communicated with the Kuching based agent and they helped us arrange everything with the agent in Bali.
Before that I have heard many good feedback of Sarawak Holiday Travel & Tours from my parents friends who went on holiday using this agency. After looking at the places to visited, we took the 5 Days 4 Nights tour. You can always ask your agent to buy your flight but to save some money, we decided to book our own.
Our flight using Air Asia was approximately RM400 round trip (KL-Denpasar Bali) each. Since we didn't want to miss the noon tour on the first day, and no point for us to stay in KL again (since we fly from Kuching), we decided to land in Bali a day earlier and slept at the hotel near the airport, which is "The Airport Kuta Hotel & Residences", located in Denpasar, really close to the airport that you can even walk! But they provided free shuttle so of course we just took it. Hotel staff are also super friendly! And, breakfasts were provided! The cost only RM40 for a private twin room! Too bad it is far from the city and beach.
So our tour route:
Denpasar> Uluwatu> Kintamani> Ubud> Tengalalang> Tampaksiring> Bedugul> Mengwi> Beratan> Tanah Lot> Turtle Island> Discovery Mall> Coffee Factory
Since it was not a private tour, another family & friends of 5 joined us. Thank God they are really nice people so the tour went smoothly! This is what I hate about sit-in-coach (SIC) tour, if you happen to be unlucky, your whole trip will be affected.
Our tour guide: Mr. Wayan is also recommended, can email me for his contact. His children are all currently in university (like my age) so he felt fatherly to me. He is quite flexible, patient and really informative.
We paid around RM1600 for 2 person tour, including a 2 star hotel, transport and all the food (3 meals a day). So total sum up to approximately RM1000 per person for the whole trip including round trip flights.
Most of the time the journey itself takes so long so 7 days would be perfect for a relaxing tour in Bali. We didn't enjoy much at the beach because this is more like a sightseeing tour, and 5 days was just nice! If you plan to go to the beach, extend your stay on your own! I don't think you will need a guide for the beach right? Lol
So in order to make my page loads faster with all the photos heavy travel log I decided to make them into collage! Though it does seem more ugly but for less detailed (non backpack) trip like this, I'm sure it will do!
The itinerary given to us:
23 NOV Airport Transfer In + Uluwatu Tour
24 NOV Kintamani Tour + Ubud + Sukawati + Padi Field Tengalalang + Tampaksiring Temple
25 NOV Bedugul Tour + Mengwi Temple + Taman Ayun Temple + Beratan Lake + Tanah Lot
26 NOV Turtle Island Tour + Discovery Mall + Coffee Factory
27 NOV Airport Transfer Out
But of course we did some changes based on our interest and time constraint.
The first place we visited on Day 2 is the batik/ textile shop and next to the jewelry shop (silver is famous in Bali). Me and my Mum are not fond on these kinda things so we didn't get anything, our travel mates did :)
Totally forgotten what was dinner for Day 2, it was one of those super hungry days. sao kao liao (eat everything) before I remember to take photos Lol.
Day 3 we went to a temple. So sorry because based on our itinerary there were a few temples but we canceled out a few. This was my first time following a tour so I kinda didn't bother much, just wanted to relax and follow the flow. Plus I was seating on the most back seat of the van and others were all Aunties. Ok so the point is, I don't know the name of this temple Lol
Day 3 dinner was at Kemangi! So many dishes the table was so full! This tour definitely worth it, every dinner meals were like table full of dishes! And this one also came with free Legong Dance performance from 6.30PM-7Pm and 8PM-8.30PM.
Actually this was what I was waiting for, the Turtle Island tour, but it didn't turn out as expected. Both me and my Mum thought that the turtles are taken care while they are on their natural habitat, on the beach, the sandy beach. But it turned out that they have these pools for them. As much as I feel heartbroken that they are in cages, at least they are well taken care of and not exposed to dangerous predators (eventhough that is nature). The beach looks so nice but it actually smelt of benzene (engine oil), just look at the amount of boats.
Toom lunch at Pawan Pasundan, which served special Sunda dishes. Small portion but this is one of my favourite! And I really love tempe. One of the aunty with us doesn't eat raw food (this dish is filled with raw vege) so I think she ended up eating only the rice and chicken, while I sapu everyone's tempe. Used to hate it but I think I ended up liking everything edible Lol
Most of the time the journey itself takes so long so 7 days would be perfect for a relaxing tour in Bali. We didn't enjoy much at the beach because this is more like a sightseeing tour, and 5 days was just nice! If you plan to go to the beach, extend your stay on your own! I don't think you will need a guide for the beach right? Lol
So in order to make my page loads faster with all the photos heavy travel log I decided to make them into collage! Though it does seem more ugly but for less detailed (non backpack) trip like this, I'm sure it will do!
The itinerary given to us:
23 NOV Airport Transfer In + Uluwatu Tour
24 NOV Kintamani Tour + Ubud + Sukawati + Padi Field Tengalalang + Tampaksiring Temple
25 NOV Bedugul Tour + Mengwi Temple + Taman Ayun Temple + Beratan Lake + Tanah Lot
26 NOV Turtle Island Tour + Discovery Mall + Coffee Factory
27 NOV Airport Transfer Out
But of course we did some changes based on our interest and time constraint.
Day 1 (23 November 2013)
This is our hotel! It's called Ibis Style Hotel,
under the same management as Pullman and Novotel (by Accorhotels)
We arrived hotel around 2PM so right after we took some time to relax,
around 3.30PM we started our tour to Uluwatu!
Here we had to beware of the monkeys!
With the help of our tour guide it was okay but there was a group of teenagers,
from their talks I think they are from Singapore.
One of the girl in their group got "molested" and she was crying in shocked quite badly.
So be careful of your camera and sunglasses, and don't feed them eventhough it looks tempting.
At first they will be tame but when you run out of food, they will still keep following you!
For the dinner on the first night, we had fresh grilled seafood on the beach!
At a restaurent called Bali Cafe 21
And of course some Indonesian dance performance~
Day 2 (24 November 2013)
The first place we visited on Day 2 is the batik/ textile shop and next to the jewelry shop (silver is famous in Bali). Me and my Mum are not fond on these kinda things so we didn't get anything, our travel mates did :)
Since we are all non-Muslim so we requested the tour guide to bring us to the famous Babi Guling!
This is not included in the itinerary so we had to take-away to our actual lunch place.
Babi Guling is a must have in Bali!
This is where we had lunch, at Kintamani Restaurant.
Kintamani is somewhere like Cameron.
It is highland and slightly chilly, the weather was perfect!
Didn't take any food photo because they are almost typical Malay food,
only attracted by the Mango+coconut+Malacca sugar, I like it!
Our lunch here was buffet style Indonesian food!
After lunch we went to view the Batur Caldera volcanic crater!
As a geology student, of course need to take photo with a cart on Geology of Batur Caldera!
After visiting the volcanic crater we went to the Holy Spring!
Or better known as Tampak Siring or Tirta Empul Temple.
There are so many temples in Bali that we actually had to skip some due to time constraint,
however this temple is a must visit!
Totally forgotten what was dinner for Day 2, it was one of those super hungry days. sao kao liao (eat everything) before I remember to take photos Lol.
Day 3 (25 November 2013)
Day 3 we went to a temple. So sorry because based on our itinerary there were a few temples but we canceled out a few. This was my first time following a tour so I kinda didn't bother much, just wanted to relax and follow the flow. Plus I was seating on the most back seat of the van and others were all Aunties. Ok so the point is, I don't know the name of this temple Lol
Lunch was at another highland overlooking the rice tarraces~
Forgotten to take the name as well Lol
After lunch we went to the famous Tanah Lot!
Because it is famous and we also queued for blessings so it took the whole day Lol.
After Tanah Lot we went to the Rice Terrace for a short visit because it was getting dark.
Day 4 (26 November 2013)
Actually this was what I was waiting for, the Turtle Island tour, but it didn't turn out as expected. Both me and my Mum thought that the turtles are taken care while they are on their natural habitat, on the beach, the sandy beach. But it turned out that they have these pools for them. As much as I feel heartbroken that they are in cages, at least they are well taken care of and not exposed to dangerous predators (eventhough that is nature). The beach looks so nice but it actually smelt of benzene (engine oil), just look at the amount of boats.
Toom lunch at Pawan Pasundan, which served special Sunda dishes. Small portion but this is one of my favourite! And I really love tempe. One of the aunty with us doesn't eat raw food (this dish is filled with raw vege) so I think she ended up eating only the rice and chicken, while I sapu everyone's tempe. Used to hate it but I think I ended up liking everything edible Lol
Final stop before discovery Mall, was the Coffee Factory. Bali is famous for Kopi Luwak, but it was so very the expensive, they let us try the normal coffee though. If you don't plan to buy better don't go here. Because none of us are coffee drinker, end up buy nothing and the sales person face so black and towards the end a lil rude, we quickly rushed out wtf.
And also the Bali bombing at Legian Street back in 2002, this is the memorial Ground Zero Monument.
Discovery Mall, biggest mall in Bali, for now.
I saw one coming up nearby but not sure whether it is as big.
The end!
I hope to tour Indonesia's Java Island soon!
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