Seminyak / Around Bali

Oh mineeee.. My new sem started and I don't even have some time to breathe..

And to add on, my dissertation's submission is on the 28th. I'm going down real bad this time.

Skip all that, I'm going to continue with my blog post about my chillax getaway in Bali to get some mental relaxation. So, on the first day, we touched down at about 1.30pm and by the time we done everything and get a cab, it was already 2 plus. We reached the hotel at about 3pm and finally settle down at about 3.30pm. Oh, you can read all about our awesome stay in The Haven Bali here.

So, we didn't go anywhere on the first day as both of us were tired from the lack of sleep and long flight. We chilled around the hotel area, visit the boutiques and ate in one of the restaurants. It was a pretty long stretch of road and we didn't manage to walk until the end but we made it quite far. This time, I've brought back receipts from places we've eaten and visited so that you all can have an idea of the cost.

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Where was our first meal in Bali?

(Took us an hour to walk around and decide)

Mannekepis Bistro

Yay! Managed to get him for the first photo while we were there.

This was served with their version of dinner rolls and butter. It's the bomb! Really soft and fluffy with a unique taste. And they served it warm, love it!

Meal for him; one of their signatures, "Kill the Pig" 

This was a really nice dish, definitely RECOMMENDED if you are dining there. He opt for a medium well and it was perfect. The meat was nicely marinated and cooked, goes really well with the sauce and the mashed potato was just equally awesome. It also came with balls of boiled vegetable, I think it was broccoli and they were nice too! Everything on the plate was awesome!

Meal for her; recommended by the staff, "Vlaamse Stovers"

This is beef stewed with dark beer (something like Guinness stout) and I would say it was good. The beer really sipped into the meat, therefore very rich taste and the meat was very soft. Overall a good dish but wouldn't say it's a must have because you might get bored after having half of it.

They even have a live band performance which was really good and enjoyable. They very friendly and interact with the crowd too! (: Can even ask for a song dedication.

Total bill for 2 mains, 1 fruit juice, 2 bottles of beer and includes tax and services = 323,400 IDR

After the meal, we decided to walk around and look for a tour agent to plan for our next day's trip. We found one which we rented a car for a whole day for 500,000 IDR. Apparently it's pretty pricey if compared to the normal ones but we customized our tour and we were visiting many places. Ended the night with our refreshing complimentary drink from the hotel as many of the shops closed at 9pm.

DAY 2

Places to visit today?

1. Mengwi temple

2. Tanah Lot

3. Nusa Dua / Tanjung Benua

4. Dreamland / Pandawa Beach

5. Sunset dinner at Jimbaran

Let's start the day with a selfie and this was initiated by him! So proud that he finally embraces the selfie culture :') Drama much me. Let's go!

First stop, Mengwi temple, the Balinese royal temple. Because our driver didn't have the tour guide's license, we have to explore by ourselves. No stories or legends begin told, we just go and absorb the scenery, syiok sendiri taking photos like so called pros. But I do enjoy moments like this even though I prefer to have gain some knowledge about this place.

The puppet that looked like a lion on the left is called a "Barong".

A man repairing and polishing the statues there to maintain them.

In Bali, you can spot many statues around the island that are clothed.

Parking fee is paid by our driver since it was included in the rent while there's no definite entrance fee but you will need to give a small sum as donation to the temple.

Moving on next, Tanah Lot! Here, you'll need to pay an entrance fee of Rp 30,000 per person which includes an insurance. This is one of the temples you must visit while you are in Bali. According to legend, there are sea snakes guarding the temple when the tide is high to avoid trespassers intruding it and the locals only enter the temple when there's prayers. The tide was high when we were there, therefore the temple looked as though it's floating in the sea. Rough waves as well, tourists were advised not to get too close to the edge of cliffs while taking photos.

Look at the waves..

A closer view of the amazing temple

Don't you just love the serenity of this place? I know I do ❤

The other temple which was connected to the land

And a typical touristy pose at the entrance.

Then, we went to Nusa Dua beach which is also known as Tanjung Benua. Most people would go there for water-sport activities and apparently that's the only place you can do that as most of the beaches in Bali has strong waves which is good for surfing. No photos were taken as the beach was pretty normal, something like our Pangkor Island's beach where there's water motor vehicles everywhere. Many activities were available but most of them are similar to what we have here so we only did two. One was named the "Flying Fish" where you will lie on a flat rectangular inflatable and it'll be pulled by a speed boat. At certain speed, it'll fly in the air and you'll be standing somewhere mid air, probably 3 meters above the sea. Pretty fun experience and you'll get to enjoy the scenery for a bit before it lands. 

Next, diving! This is my first ever experience diving in the sea as most of the time I only go for snorkeling and once sea-walking on the sea bed of Pattaya in Thailand. Before we went into the water, we were brief on some procedures and hand signals to communicate underwater. You'll find it pretty easy if you are a frequent snorkeler as the way of breathing is the same. They even provide photo and video shooting of your whole journey underwater but of course with a fee. I wanted only photos as I doubt I will watch the video but they say it's a package so we skipped that. Overall it was a really fun and memorable experience although the water wasn't as clear as expected and it was only for a short 30 minutes. They've built some stations underwater for you to hold on to and feed the fishes while exploring the corals. The guide even managed to get a quick hold of a Clown fish (Nemo) in his hands and passed it to me, such a cute moment. Of course we returned the fish to it's home afterwards.

Next pit stop, Dreamland / Pandawa Beach. It was said to be the most beautiful beach in Bali. We can only enter a certain area as the nicer side was bought by some hotel company as their private property. Even so, there's an entrance fee to pay and it was included in the rent. There were 5 giant statues located in the cliff on the left side while on the way down. Didn't manage to get a photo of them.

The place was really beautiful and we initially planned to get a dip there but the sand was really rough and there were many small stones around the area and green moss too! So we just have a stroll around the beach, have a quick meal, washed up and changed for our sunset dinner at Jimbaran Beach since we only have around half an hour there.

His awkwardly bent fingers, hahaa!

The beautiful scenery there ❤

Our driver took us to this restaurant named the New Matahari Cafe to have our sunset dinner on the beach of Jimbaran. Thank God we managed to rush and reach there just in time for the sunset or else it would be a waste.

A shot with the sun before it sets down into darkness

They even have this group of performers going around table by table to perform a song for the crowd. I can't really remember though the song that they sang for us. End of it, just a tip for them will do.

Triple sex as part of the ingredients for Bali Beach???

Drink for her, "Jungle Juice" (left) as the recommended one and the most popular drink while a "Bali Paradise" for him. The alcohol level in both were pretty strong but nicely covered with the other ingredients in it.

The complimentary starter, a vegetable soup. Quite nice and sweet but I didn't like it as there was coriander in it.

This comes free too, a bucket of rice and water spinach. The vegetable was very flavorful, thumbs up!

Their seafood are all alive ones to assure the freshness of it and it's calculated by the weight. We ordered a squid for calamari and a white snapper to be grilled. The calamari was a disappointment as the taste was rather bland while the grilled fish was AWESOME! I like how it was marinated and cooked perfectly. You can even taste a very nice smoked flavor and the meat wasn't dry at all. Definitely RECOMMENDED! 

Free performance throughout the dinner

And a selfie after the candlelight dinner.

Total bill for the night?

1 squid, 1 snapper, 2 cocktails and service tax = 676,000 IDR

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And that's all for this post, hope you enjoyed reading!

Psst psst, next one there's something to do with the famous Luwak Coffee!

Stay tune for more!

Much loves, xoxo.

Bangkok, Land of Smiles (Part IV)

Day 4
After that whole taxi drama, we took a nice shower and then dress up for another nightout. This time, we went to Asiatique The Riverfront. Apparently it's the new "IN" place now in Bangkok and it's a MUST VISIT tourists' spot. Initially, I thought it's just another shopping place such as Platinum mall, but it's not. It's an outdoor area with food, shops for shopping and entertainments.

There's two ways you can get there: 
1, by boat across the Chao Phraya River. 
2, by taxi.

First thing to do when we got there, EAT. So, we looked at the directory and there's a whole list of restaurants ranging from Thailand food to Western and etc. After staring for 5 minutes, we decided to roam around and look at the menus instead. 

We settled down at this restaurant, Yum Saap. There was already a waiting line when we entered and while waiting, we screened through the menu to hunt for a dish each. Since it's our last night in Bangkok, we decided to go all out. EVERYTHING SPICY and FAMOUS. As quoted by my friend, "My butthole will burn during toilet visits". Well, it's our last night here, why not? So...

Tom yam, green curry, pineapple fried rice, padthai, all Thai, you name it.

We ordered 7 dishes for 4 people, it's crazy. We all left with bloated tummies pregnant with food.

My review of this place:

Food: 4.5 / 5

Ambience: 4 / 5
Service: 4 / 5
Price: Reasonable

After all that food, we went around for a little shopping. I absolutely love this place! Decided to visit there again if I were to go Bangkok again someday.

Reasons to visit?

1. It's BEAUTIFUL

2. A lot of eating places

3. A bunchful of unique things can be found / to buy

4. I just love this place

Found this cute little sheep made of soap, milky flavor.

Sheeps FTW~ ❤

Why am I the photographer? :(

We even went for a 4D movie. Didn't know which one was good and we girls didn't want horror stuff except for the boyfie, so we ask the person to recommend the most adventurous one. It was very short, around 7 minutes or so? I wouldn't recommend it as I didn't really feel much thrill, all I did was laughing non-stop at my friends because they were screaming non-stop. Good tummy exercise though.

Day 5
Being girls, three of us woke up super early again to go to the Pratunam morning market for one last bargain hunt. Left the boyfie sleeping at the hotel since he couldn't do much shopping as mostly are girls' stuff. Later that morning, after done packing and checking out, we hit Khao San Road where Hangover 2 was filmed. Apparently it's very happening in the evening and night but we didn't have the time.

There's not much shopping as most of the stuff are repetitive from store to store and things are quite pricey. Only bought 2 tops and a dress for me girlfriend. The fruit juices were good though for the price you pay.

End of the day, my shopping stash?

All of the above plus the other small things like my shoes and accessories. Consider okay right? Actually I think I should have shop more. *greedy me*

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All in all, it was fun visiting both Krabi and Bangkok. 

A whole new experience visiting with friends and without a tour guide. The last I visited was years ago.

Hope you all had fun reading this! 

Much loves, xoxo.

Bye-bye Bangkok, till we meet again (:

Scary Taxi Drivers in Bangkok!

Now that I've got your attention, I'll post about the famous Safari World in Bangkok! Worry not, I'll still talk about the scary taxi driver experience later, it happened right after our trip to Safari World. 

So, they have two parts in the Safari World, one, the Safari Park where you'll be caged in the bus and go for a ride while the animals roam in the wild. And two, the Marine Park which consists of all the animal shows and exhibitions. 

We only bought tickets to the Marine Park as that's where all the excitements are and we didn't want to waste extra money for the 30-minutes ride. Furthermore, with all the animal shows in-line, it'll take us a whole day to see everything. 

I couldn't resist their adorableness (:

1st show on the list, the Orang Utan show

Then there were the sea lion show, bird show, dolphin show, and many more. I didn't take a lot of photos as I was trying to enjoy the shows instead of watching from behind the camera. I did took a few videos and tried to upload them but I don't know why I'm having error uploading them :(

(I will post them up in my Youtube channel once I compile them)

Best part, they have a POLAR BEAR! 
When I saw it, I turned to my boyfriend and said,"Look, they have you here. How sweet!". This is because I always teased him of being a polar bear (he'll melt in hot weather, even the slightest heat).

 

One thing that I missed out was the walrus. They're only shown to the public till 4pm and by the time we got to that area, it was already 4 something :(

Before leaving, we went to the "Giraffe Feeding Terrace" to feed some 

hungry-tongue-sticking-out-for-food awkwardly tall cuties.

A bucket of bananas for 50THB if not mistaken.

I want one as a pet

Something at the corner caught my eyes, it was a coin machine. 

This is how is works:

1. You put the amount of coins needed to operate the machine.

(this includes the coin needed to be flatten)

2. Choose the pattern that you fancy.

3. Wait for a minute and tadaaaa! You'll have your lovely souvenir ❤

(It cost ONLY 30THB)

I really love these machines as it can produce a one-of-a-kind souvenir that could last you forever instead of a common keychain or postcards.

I gotten one too while in Singapore from The Flyer (:

So, after all the animal loving moments and a lot of sweat dripping from the extremely hot weather, we went to grab a taxi to head back to our hotel.
*TIP: It is hard to get a decent taxi there that uses meter as the place is pretty secluded and they'll take the advantage to charge you a fixed rate which is totally overpriced.

This is where the taxi drama begins...

After asking several taxis, we finally found one which agrees to use the meter. So, we quickly hop onto the taxi to escape from the heat. Half way through the journey, the taxi driver said something like,"I'll have to charge you an extra 50THB because I waited at the entrance for customers".
(We weren't sure what was it exactly because he was speaking in a very broken English and uses a lot of Thai words but it was something along that line.)

We couldn't really catch what he was trying to say so we just told him that we don't understand and did not agree to it. When I realised he wanted to charge an extra 50THB onto our metered rate, my friends and I agreed not to give him any extra other than the rate showed by the meter. It's not that we were being unreasonable, it's because..

1. He agreed to use the meter before we got up into the car.

2. Why would you suddenly charge an extra amount after driving us half way? 

I mean we would gladly pay that amount if it was agreed by both parties before we got into the car, not AFTER. It felt more like we were cheated off our money rather than paying for what we "supposed" to.

So, we didn't want to pay him the extra when we arrived at the hotel and he demanded for it. My boyfriend being the man confronted him nicely and asked why is he charging us an extra only after we gotten into his car and what does it gotta do with us that he was waiting at the entrance for customers. Isn't that what taxi drivers do? Wait for customers to have a ride. He couldn't answer us yet he was demanding for the extra cash again and again. We got off the car and he threaten us that he'll wait outside of our hotel until we pay that extra 50THB. We didn't bother and went into the hotel lobby. After a whole 10minutes, he left but he complaint to the bell boy which then told the receptionist. We told our side of the story and his advice was..

"Just be careful of the taxi drivers, not the metered taxis".

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Will be posting about the lovely night at Asiatique The Riverfront in the next post.
Bonne nuit! 


Much loves, xoxo.