I was in Langkawi not long ago in year 2006…

…and i still remember how goooooooood does the rib steak taste at Pantai Kok’s Blu.

Let’s hope the best is yet to come.

Langkawi, i’m coming down up!

How much weight is your HEAD able to carry? Are you strong enough to challenge this uncle i met in Bali?

(Photo taken at Kuta’s Pasar Seni, Bali)

As you guys knew, i was in bali for the past few days.

Sadly, my timing to bali wasn’t that right… it was balinese’s hari raya on 6/27 (shops were mostly closed) and raining heavily on 6/28 & 6/29 (unpleasant weather)…

Balinese’s offers during the pray.

Bamboo sticks for praying are seen everywhere - part of the culture for Balinese celebrating Hari Raya.

It’s raining, it’s hazy… this photo should be showing the big volcano in Bali, but instead…

But still, the trip to Bali is a memorable experience and i can’t wait to share some of it with you.

Pura in Bali

You’ll see a lot of ‘Pura’ (temple) around bali… when i say ‘a lot’, i meant A LOT OF THEM! you can almost found them in every street when walking around Bali. some of these ‘pura’ (like Pura Tanah Lot) are must see for visitors; while some (like Pura Goa Gajah), in my opinion, are actually ’skip-able’ as these Pura looks more or less the same. of course this doesn’t apply on you if you’re student of archaeology.

Food in Bali

I don’t find any special in Balinese food - probably because it’s more or less the same with malay food in malaysia. in fact me and clarissa got pretty sick with the balinese (or indonesian?) food that we eventually stop trying local food and go for pizza/spaghetti instead.

At first, i thought food in Bali is cheap - but i’m wrong. we spent about 150,000 - 200,000 rupiah on normal meal - which is equivalent roughly to RM 60 - 80 for two person. this wasn’t what i experienced last time when i travel to surabaya in east jawa. yes, i am eating in those built-for-tourist warung (restaurant) but hey, that’s the only kind of warung i can found in my hotel area!

Accomodation in Bali

We were staying in Novotel near Tanjung Benoa in the south of Bali. bali novotel’s staffs are very friendly, the wide-variety breakfast taste good… it’s a beautiful hotel with very nice architecture design. in short, the hotel’s up to our expectation.

But, the location of the hotel is a problem. Tanjung Benoa is kinda far away from most of the hot tourism spots - this cost us quite some valuable time in travelling. more over, after spending an evening walking into a few hotels around the area, we found that most hotels in Tanjung Benoa are well designed (some are even better than Novotel!)… thus, you can conclude that i do not recommend novotel that much.

If you are looking for a quiet relaxing holiday and plan to do nothing all day long in your trip, tanjung benoa is the perfect spot for you; however if you’re like most tourists who enjoy visiting around, i would recommend you to stay at Kuta town (excellent for surfing and shopping).

Shopping in Bali

Bali is also famous with it’s local shopping market.

You’ll get cheap sandals, pirated dvds, and naughty tee shirt everywhere. and just like every toursim spot around the world, merchandise prices are normally marked up 50% - 200% higher. you’ll need a lot of bargaining and negotiating with the local merchants before making any purchase.

By the way, in case you plan to have a shop-till-drop trip in bali, make sure you keep at least a hundred thousand rupiah aside for the airport tax when leaving. dont ended up cash-less when you faced the custom in the airport.