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Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Bali 16.06.2011 – 21.06.2011 (Part 1)

Bali is where we went for our honeymoon! breaking our four consecutive years of holidaying in the Land of Smiles.
gotta try something different for our honeymoon. haha!
after a hasty booking for a hotel a month earlier, we end choosing AP Inn located in Kuta.
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the exterior of our room
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the intricate carving of the door
to be frank, we are not happy at all of the room. the interior sucks to the max which i don’t even feel like posting it here. but for the price we pay (around RM130+ per night), i think we shouldn’t complain much. in the end, we end up upgrading the room for the subsequent nights
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Hard Rock Bali!
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the road in the town are always congested…
since it’s already night on our arrival, upon checking in, we just went for a quick dinner (cheap!), get some booze from the convenience store, take a short walk around Kuta and went off to bed for the next day!
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the long alley (or ‘gang’ as they call it) from our hotel to the main road
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hanging around kuta beach while waiting for our driver to fetch us to the next destination. which is…
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Sukawati Art Market!
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which consist of a complex where vendors sell their handicrafts. nothing much for me though.
and there are a few places where they sell it by category (ie, gold, carvings, painting, furniture etc) in the vicinity too. of course, by car. haha!
just remember to bargain hard!
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hungry and feel like having pork for lunch? fret not for Bali serves kick-ass roast pork. one of the prominent ones is at Ibu Oka.
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price wise, it is not cheap. but it is worth a try for the experience of it
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just order the sepcial version and they will chuck everything for you. remember to go there early as it is said that the restaurant will be packed with crowd. we went there early on that day. i think is around 11am just to beat the crowd.
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next stop, Tirtha Empul Spring Water Temple. one of the temples where people cleanse themselves. ooohhh… look at those japanese ladies. hehe!
what does the 2 photos below have in common?
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1. civet cats
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2 coffee beans
cannot guess? here…
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the legendary Luwak Coffee. what does it have to do with the civet cats?
well, the civet cats will eat the coffee beans, the enzymes in their stomach will churn out some magic and the undigested coffee bean will be ‘shitted’ out, literally. sounds gross, but be rest assured that they are washed thoroughly (i hope) and then roasted before being grind into coffee powder. plus, those cats are picky eaters and they will only eat the best beans. hence, you’ll only get the best ‘poop coffee’! hehe!
and oh, you know how much this i paid for this freaking small cup of coffee? 50K Rupiah! goodness!!! again, it’s all for the experience. i’m not really a coffee connoisseur, so i can’t give much comment on the taste/texture of the coffee.
feeling refreshed after the cup of coffee (no, not really because of the coffee but more of the price), we went to…
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Mount Batur
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and also Lake Batur both in Kintamani
this is one of our favourite place it Bali as it is cooling!!! and the view is spectacular. nothing much to do other than to enjoy the view. but we will definitely go there again next time!
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passing by Tegalallang rice view on the way back to Jimbaran view was not that spectacular. maybe it is not the right season when we were there.
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beware of touts though. they can be seen everywhere in Bali. you can smell them from miles away. once they know you are interested in it. you will be swarmed by a lot of them…
and by the time we reach Jimbaran at 5pm, we were just in time to enjoy our dinner by the beach and enjoy the sunset. for your info, the sun sets in Bali at around 6pm.
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the whole of Jimbaran is transformed into al-fresco dining.
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there’s a lot seafood to choose from. but to make things easier, we just go for the set dinner for two. the damage? 805k Rupiah.
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here’s a closer look of the food. no included in the photo are the rice, soup and fruit. the food is nothing spectacular though and the fish is not fresh. ouch!
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but the view is spectacular! our cheapo camera did not give any justice to this photo!
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not to mention that you can view the airplanes landing too! nice!
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when the night comes, expect a sea of candle lights along the beach
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some dance shows and some live band performing around tables. i guess if you look rich enough, they will come to your tables and perform songs of your request. get ready to give tips if they do come to your table. hehe!
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which restaurant did we went to? this is the one. oh… looky! ‘wong lou kat’ has its market in Bali too! cool!
more to come in the second part of our Bali trip!

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Chinese Wedding 11.06.2011

Our chinese wedding was way more chaotic. it started from the morning itself!

imagine running to the wedding car to get my wife only to remember that i have forgot to bring the fruit basket, only to…

SEE MY MOTHER PEELING AND CUTTING THE FRUITS IN THE KITCHEN!!!

my mother knows nuts about all these tradition thing. we did not hire any ‘dai kam jie’ as well though…

but that doesn’t mean that she can cut the fruits as the fruit basket was obviously nicely decorated.

anyway, i just bring what was left in the basket. which was half of the amount. haiz…

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you have no idea how much worried i am on that day

anyway, lets forget about the headache part (at the moment) and proceed to the next part.

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while the bride’s side are concocting something mischievous…

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there i am. oblivious to what will happen next…

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the evil females that deter me to get my bride

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while i have my own small army of ‘heng tais’.

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i’m going skip the playing part as it is mostly dancing, posing, skipping, Q&A session and eating. but i have to give kudos on the food they prepared. it’s good yo! the photo above don’t lie, right? haha!

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suffice to say, after all the hard work, i have managed to get the ‘prize’.

after all the tea-serving ceremony, it’s time to get my bride home!

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are we there yet?

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oh yes, we have!

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again, after all the tea serving ceremony at my side. it is time for cam-whoring. again, thanks to my ‘heng tai’ for their help. especially one of them who have to catch a flight immediately after helping me.

what’s next? the next part will the most headache part…

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yes… the chinese wedding part…

ever wondered why chinese weddings dinners will always be delayed? it is mostly due to the problems in the seating arrangements…

ours are made worse with mothers who screw up our arrangements which we planned for a months.

mothers knows best. or so they think… haiz..

ok. it’s over anyway, let’s move to happier moments!

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pouring the champagne…

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toasting to the guest! and oh, the emcee’s english was funny. not that she did it intentionally. just that her english was so bad it was funny! hahaha!

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yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm senggggggggggggggg!

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oh, wait, the glass is empty! haha!

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cut the cr… oh! i mean cut the cake!

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having a good laugh on the video presentation!

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more booze session! not that i’m a good drinker though.

all in all, it was a happy moment although there were hiccups here and there.

it doesn’t end there though. for there is still a long way to go!