Bali! My flip flop holiday, Part Une.

Sunburned!

I’m back from Bali! I’m sunburned from all the sun! I think even my scalp is sunburned, it kinda tingles when I brush my hair. Anyhoo, my holiday was not without drama. I shall keep you in suspense my dear reader and save the drama for later (it happened at the end of my holiday anyway).

Welcome drink at the hotel bar. Fresh lemongrass soda juice. It was the perfect way to start off the day.

We arrived at the sunny island of Bali around nine in the morning (Monday). The weather was perfect for the first day of my beach holiday! The sun was up and there were lots of people walking about. By walking about I mean ang mohs walking around in their bikinis and yummylicious surfer dudes half naked in their board shorts (even inside the shopping malls). Westerners just love the sun, don’t they? I don’t know, we conservative Asians just don’t get it sometimes.

My bed for three days. Ugly Doll making himself right at home. Of course I brought him along with me. He needs to get some sun just like I do!

We checked in at Kuta Seaview Cottage which was right in front of (actually like 1 minute away from) Kuta Beach and a ten minute walk from Legian Street (that was where the bomb went off back in 2002). Ironically, I only went to the beach twice, both of which only briefly to take a couple of pictures because the tide was always so high and I was afraid of getting caught up in the waves (I don’t know how to swim, I will DIE IN THE OPEN OCEAN!).

The view was awesome… I’m still talking about the view of half naked yummylicious surfer dudes… and of course the beach, shoreline, horizon and the works. IT FELT LIKE AN OFFENSE TO BE WALKING AROUND FULLY CLOTHED IN THIS PLACE. Seriously. But, no complains from me, my eyes had the time of their lives

Up the steps leading to our cottage. You can see the mini patio here, a cool place to hang out... if you're not afraid of getting insect bites. But it has its other uses, most of our neighbors use the patio to dry their bikinis, towels etc. LOL.

Our hotel was just the sweetest place I’ve ever stayed at, the rooms are little cottages and there is a mini patio outside every cottage. My dad and I hung out there for a while, him reading the day’s Bali Post and me the Bono book (on loan from the ♥ sweetheart) until I couldn’t take anymore of the mozzie bites (I have forgotten to pack my insect repellent). Every cottage was enveloped by lush greenery (which I loved). The plants look really green in the pictures because they really are that green, they even smell green, you know that fresh early morning dew smell, I loved it!

I was taking a picture of the graffiti but the kids saw me on their approach and smiled for the camera! The picture turned out better. I'm guessing they were on their way to school because I saw other kids heading the same direction. I like the graffiti on the wall. I shall call this picture, 'Young Punks on Bikes'.

Since the day was just getting started, we decided to set out on foot and explore Kuta area. We were without a map but it was not a big problem since the streets around there are so tiny (so tiny that traffic is one-way 80% of the time). Tourists were either on foot (some carrying their surf boards), on scooters (also with their surf boards) or driving hired MPVs and SUVs (with their surf boards taking up most of the back). I saw so many tourists on scooters that I made a pact with myself that if I ever go back to Bali, I WILL rent one and use that to get around. I’m guessing you don’t really need a license to ride a scooter over there like in Vietnam, if the bike is below 200cc it’s OK to ride without a license.

Scooters are the most popular form of transportation among the tourists in Bali. This place I call the Bali version of Beverly Hills because of the trees dividing the road and the retail outlets that line the whole street. Ain't it sweet.

The only thing I didn’t like about the place was the state of their pedestrian walkways. Some of the manholes/drains were not covered and if you’re not paying attention while walking because you’re too busy looking around and acting all touristy, there is a high possibility that you will fall into the manhole/drain and DIE. Alright, so maybe not die, but break a leg or drown in the smelly drainage water or something equally horrible. Hahahaha. (Why am I laughing at the idea of breaking a leg?).

Found a gem of a place in this tiny street... a used books shop where everything was a steal. Got away with Russel Brand's autobiography, 'My Booky Wook' (my current obsession). The bookshop had an unbelievably good selection of newly released books. Wish I could have bought more. I took this picture on our second day when it was raining the whole day.

My favourite restaurant in the whole of Bali (well, maybe Kuta area, lol). I took a picture of the menu in case I forgot how to go back there and needed the address.

After sweating buckets from all the walking we did, we decided to have lunch and we found ourselves at this REALLY LOVELY restaurant, Made’s Warung, which in my opinion serves THE BEST gado-gado in the whole of Kuta area. It was the best gado-gado I’ve ever had. EVER. I wanted to go back there again but since we had an unspoken holiday rule of ‘never try the same thing twice and always go for something new’, we never got to visit the place again.

How Made's Warung looks like inside. The high ceiling keeps the whole place well ventilated. We were surprised at how cool (without air-conditioning) it was inside after we were seated.

I fell in love with the Gado Gado at Made's. So in love that I wanted to go back there before we went to the airport. But it was almost a 30 minute walk from the hotel and we didn't have time. Ended up having dinner at the hotel restaurant. I tried the Gado Gado from everywhere else but this still tops my list.

Tired from our early morning flight and feeling bloated from that heavy (but oh so wonderful) lunch, it was siesta time for us so we headed back to the hotel for some afternoon zzzzzzzz to regenerate. we stiill had a long day ahead of us.

More of my Bali stories soon.