My Own Happiness Project

My Own Happiness Project
because happiness begins inside and flows out...

20090522

arteo in bali: day 1 - kuta kute kuta kute.....

So the time finally came, the long awaited vacation that I think I most deserved, heh. But as of my other vacations, the same feeling of heaviness to leave was felt, furthermore with the growing anxiety of the Swine Flu at that time, still on level 3. And also, I didn't quite tell my boss that I was going away on a trip abroad, just smsed him I'll be away for a trip. He messaged back 'ok' and I left it at that.

The international boarding hall of LCCT.

Much to my horror, on my way boarding the flight, I took a glance at the newspaper someone was carrying along, and I saw - WHO declared Level 4 Pandemic!!! Dang!! Dang!! Dang!! But that would not spoil my vacation...

I didn't know that Air Asia has abolished the free seating system, and now, we can choose to sit on our desired seats for a fee -- yea, they sure can charge for anything. I was seated at an isle seat, an Indonesian lady at the window and a white guy in between us. The lady was quite chattery and wouldn't stop talking to me (my mistake of being friendly to her in the beginning) and the white guy thought we were husband and wife separated because of the fixed seating system. But the lady kept on chatting to me over the guy's face so I offered to switch seat with him. Somewhere over Johore or Perak I decided I had enough chatting for the day and put on my ear-phones and she finally took a nap.

Arrived Denpasar on time, and while on the ground, made friend with the white guy seated next to me, turned out he was a German also traveling alone. So we decided to share a cab down to Kuta centre and since he had a little bit more idea of where to go, I decided to check out the hotel he was going to stay in.

The queue for immigresion clearence -- waited almost a good hour before I cleared.

I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport.

A common sight in Bali, you see this everywhere, I really mean everywhere... These are daily offerings to the Hindu diety left out on the streets for protection and blessings for their business.

The view from the balcony of the hotel I was staying at -- I figured it would do the scene no justice to do it in black and white...

The pura or temple just in front of the hotel.

Street of Kuta, on Poppies Lane 2.

Sometimes they would leave out cigarettes as offerings to the dieties, but I never recalled seeing any gods-figure holding a cigarette in their hands...

And the main attraction -- Kuta beach...

Once I saw this skinny person basking in the sun, topless, and I thought that the guy has quite curiously big nipples -- only to realise that (she) was not a guy afterall, she was quite skinny so her boobs went flat when she laid down.

Stone statues also a common sight in Bali.

...even alien octopus statues...

...and mermaid-like characters...

Vendors selling their goods which they balance on their heads.

Even sufboards can be carried on the head...

Balinese playing kite from the rooftop.

The sunset from the hotel balcony.

I was planning for a light traveling, but after I unpacked my toiletries, I was thinking if 'light' is still the best word to describe it...

After a cremation ceremony.

I went to get dinner with Malte - the German friend I met on the plane, and for the first night, we had nasi padang, the first nasi padang meal for the trip which later became one of the most economical staple...

Clockwise from top left: tempe gurih, terung, rendang sapi, tapioca leaves and sambal to be eaten with the leaves.

Clockwise from top right: rendang ayam, perkedel (potato cake), paru (lungs), ayam sambal, hard boiled eggs, fish curry and tofu.

Another more elabotare offering.

Kuta, in my opinion, isn't really a picture of Indonesia, it is more like a mini Europe or a mini Australia, heavily infiltrated to the point of saturation with western commercialism. Even this Bubba Gump Shrimp Company as seen in Forrest Gump movie - but the real reason I took this picture was because the shrimp looks more like a mosquito larvae than a crustacean.

While strolling around Kuta town, we wandered aff a tad too far from familiarity, so we got some directions back from people we come across on the street, all too eager to give us a ride on their ojek and non too eager to tell us properly how to get back - after some wandering around through back lanes and what nots, we found our way back. I hesitated in pulling out my map I was carrying, gbecause I don't want to look too touristy.

On the way back, we went past a few bar and night clubs, all with their own way to attract costumers - one even had a fire stunt in front of its bar, featuring a ladi in bikini spinning fire balls, and hoola-hoop on fire!

Finally we settled in one club called Wild Cats - and had my first Bintang for the trip... and while at the bar, some ladies in skimpy nurse-attire came up dancing (and squatting and doing everything else, mostly decent la...) and I think the whole point of doing that on the bar is so that you can see the panties, heh.

I went back after 3 Bintangs.

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