Tag: indonesia

Bandung, Indonesia: The Trip

My trip to Bandung, Indonesia took off with a rough start. On the eve of my trip, I didn’t have a single rupiah. I was planning to head to the money changer after dinner but I had a little mishap while sipping a hot cup of Chinese tea. I slipped off my hand and the hot tea splashed onto my thighs and.. umm.. It was hot.

Immediately after dinner, I rushed to the nearest money changer and found that it was closed. It was almost 830pm and most money changers would close by 9pm. I rushed to another money changer nearby and lined up about 10 minutes…
All I got from the money changer was “Sorry, No more rupiah”

I panicked. The nearest money changer would be Mid Valley which is around 10 minutes away. I drove like a mad man to my destination and found that the entrances to the car park blocked…

I was at the verge of dumping my car by the side of the road but fortunately the car park entrance at the Gardens (another annexure of Mid Valley) open.
Within no time, I found myself in Mid Valley changing my money to Rupiah. I’m all set for my new adventure!

Bali, Indonesia: 2008: Food

Unfortunately, I didn’t get to try many of local their local cuisine e.g. babi guling and “dirty duck”. We were stuck in Hard Cock Hotel eating western food most of the time. Fortunately, one our first night, we managed to try something different.


Check out how they serve the fish.

It didn’t taste good though.

I managed to try the well known “teh botol” and “teh kotak” which literally mean “Bottled Tea” and “Boxed Tea” respectively. Teh botol looks like Coca-cola from far. By the way, both tasted sweet.


Lastly, spotted this when I was in convenient shop. I got scolded by the cashier for taking a picture 😛


It’s kinda rare to find fruits and wine being sold in a convenient shop in Malaysia!

Bali, Indonesia: 2008: Taman Ayun Royal Temple & Tanah Lot

Since we were only there for three days (arrived in the evening, departed in the afternoon), we only managed to cover two spots namely Taman Ayun Royal Temple and Tanah Lot. Taman Ayun Royal Temple is a temple that was built couple of hundred years ago. The place has an impressive garden with a few monuments worth looking at.


There’s also a small art gallery inside the temple.

And all I can say is this place is boring, don’t bother visiting this place unless you like temples.


There’s a lot of shops outside the temple. Check out how organised their stocks are.

Tanah Lot on the other hand is a popular but heavily commercialised tourist spot in Bali.The best time to be there is before sunset.


The amount of people visiting there is crazy! There’s hardly a spot where you can take pictures without someone in it.

The main attraction of this place is the Pura Tanah Lot temple which sits on an offshore rock. The temple is not accessible to the public hence one can only view it from far. The land between the temple and the shore is dry during low tide.


You gotta pay money to check out the ‘holy snake’


There are loads of kids and ladies offering postcards

We had to go through a market before we could enter the main attraction. You can get all sorts of rubbish here but the shops offers goods which are almost identical. If you cant get a good price from one shop, try the one next to it. There’s a huge chance that the other shop has the identical thing that you want. Bargaining is a must. Try to knock off 80% of the price offered. If they don’t call you back when you leave, that means you have offered a bad price.


Usual stuff

The unique thing about this shop is that they have couple of electronic appliances placed in the open but they don’t have a roof to cover it! What if it rains?? Oh yeah, you can buy Crocs there too.


I think someone drew this!


Bad Boy Club – it’s not a strip joint


I saw this signage outside a shop with the famous brand “Prada”. I
walked into the shop and I saw..


Helmets!


Ballibong! There’s also Ballibong pants [Source: http://fashion-addiction-ria.blogspot.com/]. Damn, should have bought one.


No idea who these people are. Might be husbands waiting for their wives to finish shopping. I feel you bros!!!

Bali, Indonesia: 2008: Kuta

As mentioned, I wasn’t looking forward to Bali. Everyone has been there, seen it, took pictures of it and raved about it. Nothing seems to be special about it anymore.

But after 3 days in Bali, I was wrong. There are so many things to be seen, so many things to do and so many places to go. 3 days is not enough to see Bali.

I was in Kuta most of the time. Kuta is filled with shops, hotels and many touristy thingies.

Kuta is one of the places hit by the 2002 Bali Bombing and 2005 Bali Bombing. I visited the memorial built in commemoration of the dead at Legian Street. The memorial had names and countries of those killed in the first bomb blast.


Vacant lot – where Sari Club used to be.

Everyone who lived in Kuta had their own story on the first bomb blast. My tour guide said when the bomb exploded, it felt like earthquake. It was one of their toughest times of their lives. Bali’s tourism industry almost collapsed.

But judging from the amount of Caucasians I see in Kuta, I can see why Kuta was targeted. It felt like I was back in UK. In fact, when we went to one of the clubs in Kuta, the club was 99% Caucasians. And the club I went had French chamber maids dancing on the stage. Oh yeah!!

Majority of Balinese are Hindus. Temples are almost every corner. The way of Balinese’s life is very spiritual. This can be seen in the way they do business. Everyday they would give offerings in a small box. The box would have, among others, money, biscuits, candies and even cigarettes.

During the 1998 Jakarta Riot, many Chinese fled to Bali. Some settled down but many left after things got better in Jakarta. A friend told me that when he visited Jakarta right after the riot, half of Chinatown was burnt down. My Dad always says that as overseas Chinese, we should always have a contingency plan – a place to go if something happens.

Shopping in Bali is nothing to shout about. Most of the shops have identical goods. I guess they are from the same manufacturer. However, if you are into surf brands e.g. Quiksilver, Reef and Billabong, this is a good place to shop.


For tourist only!


Shop for fatties.

To be continued!

Bali, Indonesia: 2008: Throne

Back from Bali! I got loads of pictures to post up but I don’t have enough time to do it. I’ll just post some frivolous observation I gathered from Bali.

In Japan, I saw the Ultimate Throne.

In Hat Yai, I saw this throne..

The toilet has no toilet paper. The only thing remotely resembles toilet paper is a stack on newspaper hung on the wall. I don’t want to know why is it there..

Then when I was in Raileh, Krabi, my toilet was one of the most uncomfortable toilets that I’ve even been.


We had to manually flush it. Flies hang out there and on one occasion, someone forgot to flush.

But my bad experience in Thailand was extinguished with this toilet..


Left, cubicles for men. Right..the nature!!

And in Bali…

Can you see that the flush button on the urinal is actually a knob? To flush, you must turn the knob!

In one of the toilets in Bali’s airport…


There are aquariums with live fishes in the toilet! What a view!!!!