Bali, Island of Temples (part 1) « lookat.my

Bali, Island of Temples (part 1)

posted by look.eye on 2009.05.14, under Friends, Outdoor, Photography

May

It all started in May 2008, where me and the gang were up at Ipoh visiting CJ’s parents. While we were travelling back from Ipoh, we talked about having our first oversea trip, since all our trip were local so far. So we roughly set the location to Bali since none of us been to Bali before.

A year later, Dominic and Sue, Bird and Evonne, Andrew, Steven, and me came to Bali thanks to our low fares airlines. It was kind of an adventurous trip for us cos we’ve only booked the hotel stay for the 1st night, the rest of the nights we’ll need to look for rooms there and then. What we’ve heard was there are plenty of places to stay in Bali, so none of us worried.

The trip was scheduled on 4th – 8th May, seems like 5 days, but the actual time we were there was only 3 full days because we’ve got the late afternoon flight (which was delayed) there and the freaking early flight (which was delayed also) back.

Our pre-booked tour guide for the trip, Abang Made, was waiting for us at the airport. He drove a Suzuki van, which he afraid was not big enough to fit us all cos there are 7 of us, therefore he asked a hotel guy to drive another van to pick us up from the airport. Me, Dom, Sue, and Andrew were sitting in Abang Made’s van while the rest was sitting in the other van. The distance between the airport and the hotel was only 5 minutes, but it took the hotel driver 15-20 minutes to reached there. Based on the victims, the driver banged a car while reversing, lost his parking tickets, and he GOT LOST! WTF! (we were thinking that that guy doesn’t even have a license to drive) LOLz. Welcome to Bali!

The view from our room from the hotel we stayed for the 1st night.

Pool area where we chilled and have beer for the 1st night.

A gate for a house? or a hotel? just down the road.

Introducing Bird

Introducing Evonne (Bird’s girlfriend)

Introducing Steven (single)

Introducing Sue (Dom’s wife)

Mr. Dominic

And the last contestant is Andrew.

First stop, Nusa Dua. A place where water sports are played like those banana boats and stuffs. None of us were interested. Hahaha… cos it’s freaking hot and the beach was not really nice.

So we just stood there and watch for a while then we cabut. I think Abang Made got a bit puzzled cos we came to Bali, but we not interested at the beach.

2nd stop, Garuda Wisnu Kencana Cultural Park located at Ungasan. The park is devoted to the Hindu god Vishnu, and his mount, Garuda.

This is a paper replica of god Vishnu and his mount Garuda.

A portion of the big statue displaying indoor.

Strange walkway with high walls from both sides.

The god’s ride, Garuda.

This is how Mr. Vishnu look like. What happened to his hands? Later you’ll find out.

Nice blue sky for us to shoot.

We were saying that Bird hired us as photographers for him and his girlfriend cos we carried DSLR there. So expect more photos of them.

This photo looks familiar. Took something like this is my Sungai Lembing trip.

I guess this is Bali’s version of Lion Dance. Kinda scary looking for me especially with the hairy body. They look like real hair.

A mythical creature related to Hinduism.

There are many kinds of mythical creatures there.

One of the instrument they use in celebration.

The walls around the park have some cool carving on them.

Masks on the wall.

1 of the water feature in the park.

Holy water anyone?

My first bowl of Bakso and my first botol of Teh Botol Sosro.

Tadaa! Lower down the hill of the park, located the hands of the of god Vishnu. Not sure why they put them seperately, I was thinking the scaling was wrong, cannot fit, so put down here and don’t waste it.

My mortal hand.

Next stop, Uluwatu. A place where fearsome monkeys rule the land. Spectacles, shades, hat, cap, umbrella, earrings, and food must be kept very safe or don’t even bring these stuffs in. I was scared so I took out my earring.

Attire lower then knee length are required. If not, you’ll have to wear these sarungs like demonstrated here by Andrew and Steven.

Sawadikaa~… oh wait…

The sky was not as nice at that time, cloudy like gonna rain. But the view is still magnificent.

Looking down. Waves hitting rock faces of the cliff. Becareful, you can fall. Don’t look if you’re afraid of heights.

Bird and Evonne’s proof of visits.

Sawadikaap~… oh wait…

Andrew’s proof of visits.

Mini group photo. Look at the cliff, there’s no fence to protect you from climbing down.

Same pose from the couple.

I’m on the left side of the park looking towards the right side.

Staircase to the upper part. Guarded by monkeys (They’re hiding in the trees).

Nice brick wall.

One of the guardian.

Top part of the temple, can’t get into the left part because it’s only for praying people.

Another view from the top part looking towards the right side. Nice cliff and waves.

Mr. M chilling on the wall.

Temple overseeing the horizon.

Sue preparing to shoot a panoramic shot using the Horizon panoramic camera.

Dom trying to camwhore using his 1Ds. LOLz

Next stop, the most famous beach in Bali, Kuta Beach.

A lot of Guai Lowsss.

Hot sands.

Preparing to be Guling-ed.

It’s safe to swim out there.

Look at these 2 foreigners surrounded by the locals giving their whatever services to them. I bet they felt like Kings.

Although the beach is not as nice as Redang, but it’s still better than the earlier beach at Nusa Dua. Don’t have those parachutes and banana boats stuffs here. Here’s more like for people to surf.

The kid posed nicely for me to shoot while me waiting for them to finished their Balinese Rojak.

Opposite the beach.

McDonald’s without air-con. Hot~

Ronald McDonald surfing. He’s still so white under the burning sun.

Cafe opposite the beach.

The statue looks like a scout. Didn’t bother to go near and read. Hehe…

Another shot of the street.

Leaving Kuta Beach to Ubud, passed by the memorial park for the Bali bombing incident.

Reached Ubud around 6pm. Headed straight to the famous Dirty Duck Restaurant. It’s call the Bebek Bengil in Indonesian language.

People eating in huts next to lotus pond. We chose another one nearer to the paddy field.

Old-skool~

Not sure when can eat rice.

Close-up of the field.

Another shot of them.

Oil lamp to decorate the surrounding area.

The duck meat is nice in this dish.

The best food for me in Bali.

After Bebek Bengil, we went scouting for rooms. Found 1, the rate was ok and it’s got the pool.

The look of the hotel is very nice, just that the interior of the individual room was kinda sucky. But then again most of the hotels’ room are fully booked. We’ll have to settle with this la.