Every trip we ever had were all planned at least 8 to 12 months ahead. But buying the flight tickets has been rather spontaneous.

Of course we would see if it’s feasible in the first place, especially now that we are planning for our big day.

We never had Laos in our main traveling list. We couldn’t get the Vietnam tickets at the ever so cheap Airasia promos and so we opted for Laos.

I have to admit that the last few trips never got my fullest attention because of work.

Ever since I shifted back to Penang, the focus has been my work. I am just not in my usual environment where I can be fiddling with machines and equipments that are rarely seen out of a lab.

Laos is similar to Cambodia and Thailand but more laid back.

Emails took forever to be replied and in the end I took the chance of walking in rather than booking prior to the trip.

I could only do that because I knew the people traveling with me well.

Well enough that, we took a almost broken van from Medan to Lake Toba in one of the most torturous rides in my life !

6 hours of bone breaking ride.

For this trip we had 7 kakis that needed a time off from work.

They are Angeline, Emily, Vingie, Jess, Colleen, Aaron and yours truly.

There are so many news on fake Apple store mushrooming all around China and why should anyone be surprised with these news? If they can create fake tau fu, why not an Apple Store?

So I was on a backpacking trip in China in April and I was telling Angeline we should visit the Apple Store in Beijing if time permited. It didn’t happen.

We went to Datong then to Pingyao and then to Xi’an.

If you didn’t know, Xi’an is famous for it’s Terracotta Warriors. Upon arriving to Xi’an, guess what greeted me instead?

An Apple Store.

I was thinking Wow Apple must be banging on all cylinders to expand in China. I immediately went into the store with my friends and everything looks exactly like the actual Apple Store set up except for one thing.

The price.

It was more expensive by a few hundreds of ringgit.

I took this opportunity to snap photos. Later I sent it to my bosses of Switch(Apple Premium Reseller). I got a reply a few hours later from John.

It then hit me. I actually walked into a fake Apple Store in Xi’an, China.

All in all, an average person would not be able to distinguish a fake Apple Store and the real one. I am not sure by now if this store is legit or was legit in the first place. There are news around saying, some of the Apple Stores are actually legit.

Fake or Real?

Before leaving for Laoag City, we took group photos with the hotel staffs. With me above is Miss Kaye and the receptionist. Miss Kaye was in constant communication with me even when we missed out flight from Manila. Even throughout the bus journey from Manila to Vigan, i received calls to make sure where we were and that their staffs were on standby once  we arrive in their town.

Without a doubt i would recommend Hotel Salcedo de Vigan to anyone who would want to visit this beautiful town!

We then continued our journey heading north to Laoag City. On the way, we stopped by one of the landmarks which is listed as a Unesco Site, Church of Paoay. Founded in 1593.

We barely had 1 hour as we needed to reach Laoag City before dark.

Hannah,”Guys, you have only 30minutes!”.

Everyone scrams! LOL

We left Church of Paoay in a rush and headed towards Laoag City where it poured heavily upon arrival and we also got to eat ….

…. wait for it ….

Pookie Pookie….!

We have super limited Internet connection but so far Datong and PingYao were awesome! The temperature was colder than expected!

We are now moving to Xian!

Continuation from the previous entry, we carried on with our Calesa ride (horse ride) where we were later brought to one of the main reason why we stopped in Vigan town in the first place …

The Bantay Church.

Some of asked me, why did i visit churches in the Philippines when i am not Christian at all, which is rather an odd question -_-!

You don’t go to another country visiting what they are not famous for. That totally defeats the purpose of traveling all together. Futher more, the past trips has been more on Hinduism and Buddhism and to be fair to my fellow Christian friends, Philippines was the ideal place.

The rest ventured into the church where else i waited outside as i felt i wasn’t dressed properly.

A group shot before leaving the church.

We then proceeded to the Bantay Bell Tower which was about 5 minutes walk from the church.

We then climbed up the bell tower to have an overview of Vigan town.

There weren’t anyone else at the Bell Tower, so we basically we conquered the top of the tower.

We hung around for about 20 minutes before leaving for the main town for lunch.

Upon arriving, we walked around the nearby streets from our hotel in search for lunch but instead we stumbled upon an ice cream seller and the rest was history. LOL.

We finally got to a local restaurant that had chicken chop kinda set lunch and didn’t even think further and entered. I am not too sure why it had the slogan at the top which says …

“The House That Fried Chicken Built”.

The lunch was not bad and it was filling which was good as we would be moving from Vigan to Laoag City right after lunch. We were not sure either how long the journey to the north is going to be, neither Hannah knew.

Some of us felt bloated and so we walked around again, exploring the lovely town of Vigan.

They have really done a good job preserving their Spanish heritage. The shops, the roads.

Everyone window shopped and i think most of them bought nothing. I on the other hand, walked into a shop and got myself a Vigan shirt ! it was less than Rm6 if memory serves me well. Angeline then made noise, saying she too should have gotten a shirt.

Before leaving Vigan for Laoag City, we all camwhored in front of the Hotel de Salcedo. In fact even their staffs joined in. Unfortunately i have yet to get those photos from the rest. Will update again once i have it.

Since we were in a big group, we broke into 2 and boarded one van and another one was a pick up truck and headed towards St Augustine Church or famously known as the Paoay Church of Ilocos Norte (Golden Church).

On the way to the airport, i sensed that i should be prepared with plan B as the possibility of missing the flight was almost inevitable.

A few months before, Angeline and i mapped out the roads that would lead us up to northern Luzon and checked if it’s possible reaching there without the plane. The reason why we had to map out the roads was because if you do a quick google map check, there isn’t a proper route. So we had manually check and if buses were going to the Vigan or even Laoag City from Manila.

The answer was YES.

Thus plan B was initiated. Plan B as backup and B as for … BUS.

Partas Bus to be exact.

*Some requested for a map to show where we were heading and so here it is. We are stuck in Manila where we missed our flight to Laoag City which at the far north. So plan B is to take a bus to Vigan City first before continuing by van to Laoag City.

Having taken a grueling bus ride from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap with chickens hung upside down by the passenger beside me through out the 10 hour journey, i was more prepared for anything LOL.

When Hannah told us that the flight was already on the runway, i looked at everyone to see what was their reaction and surprisingly all looked rather calm. I was ‘used’ to getting sticks in previous trips but probably this time around i was with the right people onboard.

Angeline and I then told the whole group that we have to initiate plan B if we were to keep up with the time lost.

Emily said,” Bus?! Woahhh like Cambodia?”.

We had less than 2 hours to get to the Partas bus station and also have dinner. We refreshed ourselves at the airport’s washroom before taking taxis to the bus station. There we bought the tickets and had dinner while waiting.

I asked around if i could charge my iPhone while having my dinner and i was asked to pay RM 2 for the service >.<! I didn’t really complain as i really needed it to be fully charged.

The time came and upon boarding the bus, the first thing that i realized was the blaring 80s music being played. It was in fact the only music being played throughout the whole journey. So far nothing has beaten the movie shown in the bus ride from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap where the martial arts were based on basketball moves.

By taking the bus we would move from Manila to Vigan and then followed by Laoag City.

Just like Malaysia, the bus eventually stopped out of nowhere for us to get something to bite and also to use the washroom.

I checked the map and realized we were nearby a town called Villasis. Not to sure if it has anything to do with Hannah since her name is Hannah Villasis

The journey to Vigan continued.

We arrived at about 7 something in the morning, local time. Hannah then got us a few motor-tricycles to bring us to our hotel, Salcedo de Vigan. We were actually suppose to spend a night here but because of the missed flight, we only had a few hours in Vigan. It wasn’t a problem with our itinerary but i could see some were already floating.

The moment we arrived the staffs welcomed us and immediately showed us to our dormitory. I called them the night before telling them we missed the flight and would be arriving late. I felt bad as they have actually sent 2 vans to pick us up from the airport. Even with all the staffs were very friendly.

I finally met with the person whom i was emailing regarding our accommodation, Kaye!

I asked the receptionist who was Kaye cause i honestly didn’t know if i was meeting a lady or a man. She then said,” Oh Miss Kaye will meet with you later.”

“Ohhh Miss Kaye. Hahah ok ”, i replied, LOL.

All of us took turns to wash up as for the rest who were waiting, totally knocked out on their beds.

We rested for like 2 hours before slowly moving our butts out of bed to have the complimentary breakfast. Everyone looked groggy.

We were staying at the highest floor and had to walk down 4 flights of stairs. Salcedo de Vigan has beautiful interior which was probably preserved from the Spanish times which was good cause it gives that old feel.

Some of us just couldn’t stop exploring the whole hotel. Had we had more time, we probably would have camwhored everywhere.

Before heading for breakfast, i finally met Miss Kaye and made the final payments for our room as well as the Kalesa rides (horse rides) that we were about to take right after breakfast.

For breakfast i had garlic rice with scrambled egg and pork sausages.

The receptionist then signaled that the Kalesa rides were ready and we all wrapped up our breakfast and headed outside.

Vigan is actually a town which is sort of stuck in a time capsule and tries to maintain their Spanish heritage which is beautiful and interesting. The roads itself aren’t the usual tar but slabs of stones instead.

We were shown around town and i can remember how the locals were looking at us. Probably because the rest of the town were on wheels and we on the other hand were moving around with manual power.

One carriage had like 3 of us in it …. depending on the body size. Some manage to squeeze in 4. One of the first stops was at the main Vigan gate (picture above). The kalesas stopped right in the middle of the road for us to take photos.

Super ganas to the max.

]]> http://satkuru.com/blog/2011/01/philippines-day-2-plan-b/feed/ 7 http://satkuru.com/blog/2010/12/philippines-day-1-missed-the-flight/ http://satkuru.com/blog/2010/12/philippines-day-1-missed-the-flight/#comments Tue, 14 Dec 2010 14:08:33 +0000 satkuru http://satkuru.com/blog/?p=3471

(Read More...)]]>

The idea of going to Philippines came just before we left for Indonesia. With Airasia having yet another promotion, i couldn’t help resist looking through. Initial plans were to go to Taiwan but of course when i realized the dates weren’t to my liking, i immediately shifted to Philippines. We managed to get return tickets for less than RM 60 and that was a bargain i tell you. A bus ride to Singapore alone would have cost more.

By the time i have booked for Angeline and i, my mailbox was filled with messages asking where is my next destination. This was even before i announced on facebook or twitter.

The day finally came and we were all excited to see how Philippines is. As for me and Angeline, we were just waiting to unfold all our plans that has been tailored for the whole lot. Besides visiting places in Philippines, we were also there to meet up with our blogger friend, Hannah!

A day before the trip, the Penangites arrived first as the flight to Clark, Manila is early in the morning. So we all checked into Tunehotels @ LCCT before heading off for dinner via KLIA Transit (RM 5.50 to Putrajaya).

After that most of the hit the sack to get some good rest but not me. I was having my usual pre-holiday stress. Thinking if there’s anything i am missing out. Since i was awake, i went over to LCCT to check us all in via AirAsia’s self check in kiosk. At the same time, i stayed back in LCCT to catch one of the matches from World Cup.

Morning finally came and this time around we weren’t stoned like how we were for Indonesia (sleeping on the floor of LCCT with newspaper HAHAHAHA). The flight was about 3 hours and i also recognized one of the air stewardess as she was previously one of the participants from Malaysian Dream Girl.

Comparatively to Indonesia, Philippines we were doing everything on our own. Decided to go this way to have more control of the whole trip and not rush like a cow like what happened in Indonesia. You might have got the worth of your money by rushing but trust me, it’s better if you can take it down a gear and relax.

Chillax mode.

We were greeted by super blue skies. Welcome to Clark’s Diosdado Macapagal International Airport. Looks relatively new or probably they have just renovated the place.

I have said it before and i am going to say it again, it’s because of AirAsia i am able to travel with my friends to all the countries that we have gone so far (look at the top of my blog). I have gone around with MAS and SIA but when you want to travel around especially with people with a budget, you can’t go wrong with AirAsia. Yes there are complains here and there but when you are on a budget, the only thing that matters is getting to your destination.

Some of us were seated way at the back, so we had to wait for them.

Ai Ling taking cover. Unlike LCCT, we had to walk in the open to the arrival hall. Thankfully it didn’t rain.

Still walking to the Arrival Hall.

Once when we got our bags, we excited the airport and hunted for a telco shop to get our local sim cards. It was slightly different from how we are accustomed to in Malaysia. We were pointed to a machine that supposes to dispense the sim card automatically. But the machine was spoiled and instead a lady was there to help us out.

We were recommended to get Smart Mobile because we will be in Pagudpud which is at the northern tip of Philippines and only they have the better coverage.

We then rushed to their scheduled express bus to Manila. The journey from Clark to Manila is about 2hours. Good time to get some shut eye. The bus ride cost us less than RM 25 per person.

We arrived at SM Megamall shopping complex which was also our meeting point with Hannah. We then had lunch at Jollybee before moving to Gohotel.ph. Since we were only leaving Manila later in the evening by flight to Laoag, Gohotel.ph sponsored us a room for us to leave our bags thus having the freedom to roam around Manila bag-less.

Thank you Gohotel.ph. If you didn’t know, Gohotel.ph is the equivalent to Tunehotels.com

Hannah was persistent to show at least part of Manila before we flew off for Laoag and we finally gave and went to the nearest train station. It was like a 10 minutes walk from Gohotel.ph.

The main plan for the 1st day in Philippines was basically to move from Clark to Manila upon arrival and then burn our time before we flew off to the northern part of Philippines, Laoag City. By flight it would take us about an hour and a half. So Manila was more like a transit for us.

One thing you would notice when you are in Manila are the HUGE billboards. They are all over the town and some are the size of a 10 storey building.

Before we got to the ticket counter, we stopped for a drink. Someone then mentioned about a poster at the stall saying there’s vacancy. One of the criteria was little vague.

Height was mentioned. Then it made sense. The stall itself was really small and if you are taller than the stated height, you wouldn’t be able to work in it. Interesting.

Our ticket cost less than 1 ringgit. That’s from Boni to Taft station.

Out of the blue, we were then warned by the security guards that we were not allowed to take photographs. At the entrance itself everyone had to go through a body and bag check. For some reason the lady who checked me gave a slight pat on my bum before letting me go -_-!

The train ride in Manila is just CRAZY!!! Packed like super sardine cans. I thought that only happens in Japan or China but Manila was the same and it wasn’t even peak hour yet.

Upon arriving at the Taft station, we engaged in a few tricycle rides to Fort Santiago.

Some of you might wonder why didn’t we spend time in Manila and that’s because any of us could always come back to Manila and visit the places at our own leisure but for the other towns that we were about to go to were probably once in a lifetime trip. Unless of course they make it a point to go through 12 hours of bus ride again which i will explain in later entries.

To be fair to Hannah who stays in Manila, of course we loved for her to show around and Fort Santiago was the only place we could afford to be at judging from the time limitation we had.

Fort Santiago is made famous when one of Manila’s local hero was killed and if you noticed in the picture above, his footsteps are shown. So visitors could relive where he walked to before he eventually died as a hero.

Jose Rizal, the local hero.

Not sure what was Aaron doing here LOL. Hannah showed us around and explained what were the buildings in that area were for. Fort Santiago is actually by the Pasig River.

I was keeping track of time and made sure we had buffer time to get to the airport.

I pitied my trishaw fella because he had to peddle 2 of the biggest guys in the group, David and me. Probably he cursed as he pedaled hard, lol.

Our problem started when we arrived at the train station; the crowd was worse than previous encounter. We even had to split into 2 groups to make sure we can get into the train fast.

At this point i have already conceded on what has became my main title of this entry. We rushed to Gohotel.ph, got our bags and hired 2 taxis to get us to the airport but the traffic jam didn’t help either. Hannah, pulled out all her guns to make sure the plane doesn’t leave without us. She was calling everyone she knew to halt the flight. Salute you Hannah

When we reached the airport, Hannah ran to the Cebu Pacific Air counter and hoped that we were able to make it but the plane was already on the tarmac.

We missed the flight …

The next morning we had nothing planned. In fact we all woke up later than usual. Slowly had breakfast and walked the roads of Kuta town. Compared to Kuta’s bustling night life, their morning is totally different.

Shops were slowly being opened, owners offering their prayers for the day in the form of banana leaves folded into a container shape with bananas and flowers in it. Everywhere we went, we saw this offering in front of their shop regardless how big or small their premises were.

The main area looks rather dull in the morning.

The only thing left for us to do is to explore Kuta beach and that’s what all of us did. Initial plan was to wear Bali shirt with sarung. But i guess the sarung part was a bit too drastic lol

Our first impression of the beach was, WTH happened to it?

There were just piles of rubbish all over the place. Locals were all clearing up by hands. Probably the sea brought it to their shores unexpectedly.

We were then suddenly greeted by a jogger. Well he didn’t exactly greet us but probably asked us to move away, lol.

We continued strolling down the beach.

David caught red handed. Daniel and David got closer to get better shots of the surfer lol.

Getting lessons before going out to the sea for the 2nd time.

We then headed back to our hotel to pack. Before reaching, we walked around to those shops that are already opened. I was looking for a shirt to buy back but ended up buying Angeline a dress. The price at Kuta is slightly more expensive comparatively to Pasar Seni Sukawati. At least we don’t have to go through the tyrant that yelled at us.

I finally found the shirt that i wanted, a Bintang Beer shirt. Now that i have checked that off my to-buy list, we headed back.

We totally forgot about our welcome drink and got it before entering our room. It was more like a GoodBye drink ROFLMAO. This is the only proper photo i have of the pool in Oasis. Looks pretty awesome right ?!

Just like Redang, some girls were there sunbathing and they couldn’t be bothered with the amount of guys photographing them.

Not gonna post all the photos cause i found out kids are also reading my blog lol.

After packing we left for the airport.

Making our mark on Kuta beach.

At the airport, we took some crazy group shots with Yoga and our driver. I realized how everyone else were looking at us. Hahahaha.

Don’t forget to prepare 150,000 rupiah for their government tax. That works out to about RM 55.50. Without this sticker on your boarding pass, you wouldn’t be allowed to go through.

We had our lunch at the airport and the service was just damn slowwww. Better to have your lunch/dinner somewhere else before departing.

As we left Bali, i sighed in relief because this trip has given me the most headache even prior to the trip. The amount of people who tried to scam/cheat us. Thank God, everything worked in my favour. This is probably the last time i will be having 16 pax in a trip, though we finally had only 13.

On the way back to KL, i was already planning on the next trip which was to Philippines !!! We bought the tickets before this Indonesia trip and all that was left was the itinerary.

People get high on drugs, alcohol …. i get high planning for trips, HAHAHAHAHAHA.

We headed back to Sri Ratih Cottage after dinner on the 2nd night. We were all free to do anything for the night and so the guys and got into the pool. The ladies on the other hand decided to stay dry and conquered the lobby area hogging their wifi spot; facebook-ing, tweet-ing. It’s like as though we were the only residents in the whole cottage.

We all went back to our rooms after an hour or so for a good night’s sleep. The next morning we had our complimentary breakfast before heading to Kuta Beach for our final night.

I realized i left out pictures of the rooms in Sri Ratih Cottage. Here they are

The rooms are very spacious, in fact too spacious lol. Good thing if you have big backpacks like us cause you can just lay them anywhere. Same goes with the bathroom. There’s just ample of space in the room. Never bothered checking what channels were available cause i immediately dozed off once i got onto the bed.

I highly recommend this place to anyone who is putting up a night in Ubud. Remember Sri Ratih Cottage.

After breakfast, we packed up and moved towards Kuta town.

On the way we stopped at Goa Gajah.

Goa Gajah or Elephant Cave was built in the 9th century and it’s listed as one of UNESCO’s heritage site, thus being one of the must visit places for us

After putting on our sarungs, we took a short walk to the cave.

It’s not some huge cave with bats hanging upside down and funky smell but it’s more a man made cave i think. It’s quite small with deities places at every corner.

One thing that i never did in Cambodia was to camwhore. I didn’t have much evidence of my face in any of those places. So this time around i tried to snap more of myself, though most of the time it comes out crappy.

It was very dark in the cave and i forgot to lower down the power of my flash thus Daniel and David giving the WTF look at me. Hahahaha sorry guys ROFL.

Lingas in one corner of the cave in Goa Gajah.

There was also carvings of Buddha on limestone but i could hardly see it.

Some of the smaller temples in the compound were destroyed during the last major earthquake. So only the remaining ruins were left on the site.

After Goa Gajah, we moved on to Pasar Seni Sukawati.

We never bought any handicrafts or shirts along the whole journey here in Bali. Simply because this very market which is away from the main Kuta area sells very much cheaper.

We only had 30minutes here but it was the worst 30 minutes in Bali. We all spread around and tried looking for things that interest us. Most of us wanted the local shirts and while bargaining i found out one of the stalls gave us a very good deal.

So i went to the rest and told them that the other stall was cheaper and asked them to go there. The owner overheard and shouted at us, saying who said there cheaper? The daughter also joint suite and were babbling their lungs out. Ai Ling, Angeline, Emily and I got a shock of our lives but being Penangites, we maintained cool and said the other lady did offer cheaper and we walked off. I glanced back and the lady was still fuming.

After purchasing from the other store, a total of 30 plus shirts, we purposely walked in front of the other store where the lady shouted. Hahahahahahahahaha. The lady stared at us as we walked off. Well she deserved it. I was paying for my shirt and i have every right to choose another stall if the price was right. She and her daughter had no reason to shout at us.

In our van, we laughed our lungs out talking about the expression of the her face when she saw how much we actually bought.

Don’t play play with Penangites!

After half an hour we stopped by Pondok Kuring for lunch.

While waiting for lunch to be served, some of us took time to clean our camera gears. For some reason that lens looks like mine, lol

We had pigeon their local chicken specialty for lunch. We had extra portions because Wai Seng couldn’t make it for the trip, just like how we had an extra room while in Mount Batur. So we gave the extra portion to our driver who has been excellent during the whole journey. He opened up to us especially me after we showed that we are a happy go lucky bunch of travelers.

I could remember how many times he asked me if i was really giving he and Yoga the extra room as well as this lunch

While waiting for the rest to finish, i roamed around the restaurant and this flower which was hanging above my head at the entrance caught my attention. I haven’t really mastered macro or close up shots but i think i am getting there. Lol self confidence kicking in

Slowly one by one appeared at the entrance and we got into our van before heading to The Oasis where we will be putting up for the night.

In our trips, usually the final day we would stay in a slightly better place and The Oasis at Kuta beach was hit all the criteria; not blood sucking expensive and superb environment.

All rooms face their gorgeous pool which runs from the lobby to the end of the building. Here’s the messed up part, i never had one decent shot of their pool !!!!!!! Sigh. What a waste !

From Sri Ratih Cottage to The Oasis, we were back to the usual size room which was better. Sometimes too big a room can be a bit eerie in the middle of the night XD

The room had oldish-slab-of-stones as their tiles. There’s a third bed, sofa-like, which could easily be used by another person. Everything here was compact and clean. After washing up, we gathered at the lobby before walking to Kuta beach to meet up with Yoga.

There was a miscommunication before we gathered, so i would like to apologize to Jess and also Steven

From the Oasis to the Kuta beach, it was like a 15 minutes walk where we would pass through the main shopping district. Everyone was going like oooo aaaaaaa and couldn’t stop looking around lol.

We finally met up with Yoga and we were off to Tanah Lot !

To Tanah Lot, it took us like half an hour but luckily there wasn’t any rain.

Unlike other places, we needn’t wear sarung.

Unfortunately the temple on this cliff was closed.

We had our wind therapy again. Loved every second of it. Just make sure you have your sunnies or cap or hat intact, if not it will just take off without you knowing.

We then walked to the temple you see above. The temple is on the right side, near the water. It’s said that below the temple has a water source which emits pure clean water though it’s near the sea. Not really sure about it but we didn’t get close to the temple as it was really crowded.

Seriously, the breeze at Tanah Lot was just fantastic. I would have equally enjoyed the breeze at Uluwatu if only there wasn’t any rain in the first place

Moments after i took this shot, i saw Aaron with a bloody leg. It seems he slipped when he was walking towards us. We then moved on to a nearby restaurant for dinner.

On the way there, Yoga was telling us about the Ah Gua (tranny) that we see a lot in Jakarta and Jogjakarta are actually called Ben Chong in Bali. HAHAHAHA. So we immediately turned to David whose surname is Chong and told him, whatever it is don’t name your son Ben ! ROFLMAO

Yoga suddenly starting feeding a fruit bat out of a sudden which scare the few of us, LOL.

After a short walk we reached our makan place.

When the workers at this restaurant saw Aaron walking awkwardly, they realized of his bloody leg. They immediately brought him in and took out the first aid kit box. They cleaned his wound there and then. Talk about excellent customer service

The table that they arranged for us was damn long. It gave the impression of the Last Supper, hahaha.

Each dish slowly made it’s way out of the kitchen and before you know it our tables were jam packed with food. We stuffed ourselves to the max and then left early to Legian area.

There we were shown where the Bali bombings happened. We were dropped at Legian itself. Some of us, decided to have dinner again and some of us decided to walk. Ai Ling, Emily, Angeline and i decided to walk. In fact, we just kept on walking to God knows where. After a while we realized we reached Kuta area. We stopped by Mc Donalds for desert before heading back to the Oasis.

After dropping our stuffs, we walked again and suddenly Ai Ling mentioned about Vingie challenged her to do a tattoo. So Ai Ling got curious and asked one of the nearby shops about getting one.

She decides to have her name tattoo-ed on her hand but this tattoo is only temporary

I tell you the time we took or rather the time Ai Ling took to decide on whether she should do the tattoo, we could all have done a few laps in the swimming pool. HAHAHAHA. She just looked so tensed when deciding whether to go for it.

After that, we called it a night.

Final post of Bali and our wonderful journey in Indonesia will be up soon. Stay tuned

]]> http://satkuru.com/blog/2010/08/bali-day-3-ben-chong-has-a-different-meaning-in-bali/feed/ 10 http://satkuru.com/blog/2010/07/bali-day-2-trying-the-most-expensive-coffee-in-the-world/ http://satkuru.com/blog/2010/07/bali-day-2-trying-the-most-expensive-coffee-in-the-world/#comments Thu, 29 Jul 2010 11:58:03 +0000 satkuru http://satkuru.com/blog/?p=2968

(Read More...)]]>

After bidding Mount Batur and Hotel Surya goodbye, we then headed to Ubud. Another amazing town that anyone who drops by in Bali should visit. Spending a night here is definitely recommended. Everything is away from the hustling and bustling of town life like Kuta beach.

On the way to Ubud we did make some detours and the first stop was lunch.

Gahhhhh just realized the photo colours are off. So much for batch editing -_-!

The best part of our lunch was that it was buffet style. So we kept eating until the locals gave a weird look LOL.

They had this crazy spicy sate that i kept taking but once the fella preparing gave me a stare, i stopped. Hahaha. We were just spoilt we the amount of food.

The building that we were at is built right at the edge. Check out the unfinished metal pieces sticking out. After lunch we drove to a nearby coffee farm where we were introduced to the animal that is incharge of making the most expensive coffee in the world.

The so called mobile coffee maker, LOL.

We were given samples of what they make in this farm, from different types of coffees to chocolate drinks. Noticed the cinamon in the cup? They use that to stir, how unique is that

Unripe coffee? ROFLMAO. This is where it all begins before it ends up in your cup of Starbucks or Coffee Bean.

Finally it was time for the most expensive coffee in the world to take center stage. Having one of the most kiam siap groups to date, we all ordered a grand total of ……… *drums roll*

ONE cup of luwak coffee ! HAHAHAHAHA

It was simply too expensive for us. More over it’s only a backpacking trip. So we all took one sip at a time and seriously, it look so pathetic. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

We then carried on towards Ubud and as we got closer we could the strong Hinduism architecture in ever household. In fact each house has it’s own temple and a priest would do prayers for each family. Super ganas !

We stopped by at a nearby temple and this is where devotees would cleanse themselves, something similar to cleansing in Ganges river.

After the temple we finally reached Ubud town. It’s a very quiet town compared to Kuta. I simply love their buildings. We were left to explore the town for half an hour and guess what we found ?

Babi Guling ! Sorry non halal for the next picture. I have always heard about this and finally we had the chance to try it out.

… and so what’s my verdict on Babi Guling? Over rated.

Probably we weren’t in the right store to eat it but i would take Siew Yok or Char Siew Fan anytime lol.

Keat Meng standing in front of the shop, hoping they would have a branch in Malaysia soon, lol.

We then checked into our hotel. Initially we were suppose to stay in a different place but last minute we were bumped up to this awesome cottage called the Sri Ratih Cottage. A huge leap from Sri Surya for sure. LOL. Everyone was excited seeing how the place was. I will write more in detail about this place in my upcoming entry

After giving everyone their room keys, we had our welcome drinks and zoomed off for dinner.

Each place we stopped was specifically chosen so that all of us had the chance to photograph something nice. So for dinner itself we had at Panorama Bar & Restaurant.

Before hand, i gave them our names as an assurance that we would be coming and seeing that majority of us are chinese or in fact all of us are chinese expect me, hahaha, they prepared for us chopsticks. Ganas sial.