Memories from Bali

In the midst of unpacking, but I shall write at the same time.

On the plane ...
Caught 50 First Dates on the flight to Bali. Wow! Drew Barrymore is really cute! She is my favourite actress. Ever since I first saw her in ET. :P Gosh, she's really good! When she laughs, I laughed too; when she cries, I cried too. Okie, that's a bit exaggerating. But she's good. I've always like her :) and no I am not a lesbian. :P The movie is very good too. So humourous, so quirky. That's what true love is all about. Waking up every morning and falling in love with the guy you chose to spend your entire life with. Beautiful movie! The two ladies sitting next to me kept glancing at me when I kept chuckling out loud during the funny bits.

Plane landed with a bump. The two ladies shrieked and clutched each other fearfully. Hello! Isn't it like normal for planes to land with a bump? Err ... apparently not, that's what Wen told me later. Ohh ... but I was always surprised when planes landed smoothly. heh heh.

Retrograde happenings ...
My friend Wen told me that she had to 'deposit' her dog Biscult at her friend's place for the trip. The friend also had a greyhound, so Biscult was happy to have someone to play with. When Wen left the place, Bis was shocked to see her go off without him. He stood at the gate with puzzled look. Is this a new game? Errr ... hello, aren't you forgetting something important? Hey, you're joking aren't you? *whines whines*... Later that day, the friend called her telling her that when her husband came home and gate was opened, Bis ran out sniffing around looking for her. They had a hard time chasing him after that. Poor Biscuit.

It was hard for me to leave my hubby behind as well ... but well, girl's only holiday. :P And no, we are not. heh heh.

At Alila Manggis ...

Images
looming statues. dusty roads. quirky intricate alleyways. padi fields. deep blue sea. strong white waves. black pebbled beach. clear blue skies. beautiful cotton clouds. coconut groves. Jabba the huts. cool swimming pool. fresh colourful flowers. twinkling diamond stars. flying bats skirting my vision. lovely, peace, beauty.

Music
crashing waves never stopping, never tiring. beautiful wooden sound made by the traditonal instruments. chants by the village priest. chitter-chatter by the people. tinkling sound when the waves ran out from the pebbles. buzz of the bees. wind swinging the coconut trees. singing birds in the morning. serene, joy, unlimited.

In the morning, the hotel head chef with an egg shaped head (Australian, name Struat I think, and he's a damn excellent chef .. I must remember!) brought us to the market. Local market, with all the interesting spices and rich scent of live animals. The kind of market which existed in Singapore 30 years back. Full of life, sounds of people bargaining, sounds of chickens and ducks and pigs and humans. Smell of spices mixed with cowdung and sweat. Sweet pungent smells of flowers and vegetables. Full of colour and vibrancy. Then we went to the organic garden. Smell the fresh clean air, see the wonderful scenery and learn a few tibbits about gardening.

On the way there, we stopped to see the head priest of the village performing a ceremony for the naming of a child. Very religious and traditional people. Besides cows, cats are also highly revered. If you ever run over a cat, better pick it up and give it a decent ceremonial burial, else you're be on the next flight out of the country! But if you ran over a poor sod, you most likely can get away with it. Poor sod! You have to pay 50 million rupiahs if you want to join the government's police. That takes about 10 years for them to earn back. Not very surprising if they are corrupt huh. But Bali is a safe place. Each village has their own protective force call the gangral (not very sure about the spelling though). Life is cheap. If you commit a crime, their law is death. Government rice (GM) for the people, without nutrients, cheap but not so cheap. Bali rice only for export. Rich in nutrients, smells and taste good.

In the afternoon, we had the cooking class and we cooked our own lunch! Delicious nasi goreng, indonesian fried rice. Basically normal chinese fried rice with belachan. yum yum. And lots of other stuffs too like chicken, fish, pork, dessert. The dessert with the black and red rice pudding rocks! The dessert with the homemade ice-cream is so mouth-watering delicious .. drool! I must go back again!!! The food is fantastic! Must make sure the head chef is still there though. :)

Every meal there is wonderful. Delicious. Mouth-watering. I must have put on at least an inch! Doing yoga in the morning didn't help when immediately we fill ourselves with the morning breakfast. Ahh, bliss, sunshine, joy, happiness. I must go back again! :)

At Alila Ubud ...

Up in the mountains so high ... err, maybe not so high. With the river running in the valley, the sound of rushing water fills my ears. Crickets cricking in the night, stars so bright and beautiful. Damn I've forgotten most of my astro, but hey, I can still recognise Scopio and Sagitatius and was that the summer triangle? Sadly quite forgotten. The infinity pool. Looking down into the valley. So beautiful. Words can't describe it. You must be there. :) I must return soon.

Damn, why does one's mosquito bite itches when one thinks of it? *scratches hard*

We had an open concept bathroom. Lovely blue and grey stone flooring in the outdoor bath. Lots of teak wood. Lots of trees and flying things. Cold breeze at night, nice warm sun. cloudless day, oh blue blue sky. The food isn't as good as manggis but it'll pass. I will go back for the scenery and peace up in the mountains. The swimming pool is ... ohhh ... beautiful. I swam. I wish my hubby was with me. I'm afraid of the deep pool at the end where the water seems to fall off at the edge of the world. But I try. Only by the side. Where I can cling on the edge when I had a panic attack looking into the deep dark pool. Hey, it's 2.3 m deep at the end okie. Scary! Seeing the floor tapering away deep down. But the view at the end of the world is worth a million swims there. heh. I must bring my hubby there one day! :)

Shopping ... at the town centre. Lots of shops. Art gallery, batik shop, ceremic shop, wood carving etc etc etc. Prada! Waah ... spent 3 hours walking around looking for the shop we glimpsed at when we were driven to the art gallery. Wen got 1 artwork, many batik stuffs like cushion covers etc, 2 pairs of Prada shoes and 1 Prada bag. Wah. Me - got a few nice ceremic stuffs for my new house ... and perhaps I sould have gotten the Prada shoes after all. $90 for a full leather very very slightly defective Prada shoes ... sniff sniff. Ack.

Spa ... the ultimate indulgence. It comes with the package. A floral footbath. Wow, someone to wash and scrub my feet .. with table salt? I feel like a fish my mother cleans with salt. A bali coffee scrub... mmmm .. I smell .. delicious, like coffee. heh heh. A lavender body bath. Err .. quite nice to have someone sponging me. But cold. Carrot rub down. I knew it! Carrots are always good for lots of things! I love carrots! A soak in the tub with lots of red flowers. Huh .. only one tub for the two of us? Really! Err, Wen, it looks like there's only one tub. She went to look. Oh yeah. HAHAHA. I think we are meant to soak together! This package is really for honeymooners. HAHAHA. Wrong person to go with. Right ... we are both as blind as bats with glasses off. I supposed guys would compare their member, but girls? Do we compare the size of our boobs and tits and butts? *LOL* Don't splash me okie. We felt like geishas. heh heh. And finally the balinese massage. One word: Shoik. :) And no, we aren't. :P

Must go back again! Must swim in the fantastic pool again! Must eat the food at Manggis again! Must go back and shop!! All the woody stuffs! Waah ... Must go! Don't wanna come back ...

:)