Day 3 of my inaugural Bali holiday was a bit more laid back. No talking over crazy loud vans, volcanos, rice paddies and children trying to put a stick in your bike spokes. We even got to sleep in a little! We also finally got to see Kuta Beach in the day light, walked around the shops, did some shopping, sweat, ate at the infamous Warung Made, sweat, walked around some more, sweat and went back to our hotel in preparation for our spa date at COZY’s.

Here’s a review of Cozy’s (good luck with the translation)

http://www.tripadvisor.in/Attraction_Review-g297697-d1484904-Reviews-Cozy-Kuta_Bali.html#REVIEWS

It got 4/5 stars. Why Cozy stands out from the numerous other Spas Bali has to offer is their to-the-point massages. Sure esthetics count but if you’re not one of the easily influenced-judge-by-book kind of people then Cozy is for you. Believe it or not, in my 29 years this was my 2^nd ever(professional) massage. The first time was in a fairly swanky (esthetically pleasing) spa in KL. I still don’t know what to think of massages. I still feel tensed and it all still hurts more than it is relaxing but I did enjoy Cozy’s more than I did my first massage. Don’t count on me for any tips!

After Cozy’s it was a trip down to Denpensar town (ie – non touristy area) where we had their famous “chicken”. While America freaks out about finding a fried chicken head in a McDonalds meal – this place is known for their chicken, fried head and all!

We moved from our hotel in Kuta to a quieter bungalow in Seminyak not too far off. The Sura Bungalows are right in front of Seminyak Square. The square isn’t too happening (it’s still quite new) but it does have a few nice places to eat (of middle – high range) and a gourmet supermarket which has everything really. Bali veterans will tell you it’s worth it to rent a bungalow/villa rather than a hotel. I couldn’t agree more really. We had our own pool – well we actually shared with the 3 other bungalows but no one ever used it so it was kinda like having your own pool. We had a flat screen TV, DVD, kitchen, stove, cutlery, fridge and even our own RENT-A-CAT…well the friendly neighborhood cat. Did I mention one of the TV channels played ONLY sitcoms from the 80s and 90s – ie Seinfeld, Growing Pains etc… etc.. Needless to say Day 4 was all about chilling in and beside the pool. Watching television, reading, sleeping….

After a day of not doing much cept living the leisure life  the next day was an early one and with our rental car and driver to take us around. We played with Monkeys at the Monkey Forest Ubud sanctuary, ate at the infamous Bebek Bengil (Dirty Duck) Restaurant, took in the sights (and shopping) in Ubud and ate Nasi Padang after a long day. Ubud is about and hour ++ away from Kuta (depending on traffic) and its Bali’s major “arts and crafts / culture” hub. While there we stopped by the Antonio Blanco art gallery.  He’s known as the “Dali of Bali” because a) he’s from Spain b) he looks like Dali and well “Dali of Bali” sounds nice rolling off your tongue! The Blanco museum is actually quite interesting – beautiful gardens and landscape and you even have a photo op. with two big birds that sit clawing on your arm. Blanco’s work itself is quite visually pleasing – that is if you like fantasy portraits of beautiful women in the buff! The entrance fee was kinda steep (for an art gallery which I think for the most part should be free) – IDR 500,000 but you get a welcome drink, a photo op and in general appreciate this subjective thing called “art” (note no photography is actually allowed INSIDE the gallery but I saw no problem outside)

After the long drive back to our villa it was nice to dip in the warm pool and kick back.

On our last “full” day in Bali we couldn’t leave without trying one of the water sports. I’m not sure what beach we went to for that but they are all located on one stretch of beach http://www.balistarisland.com/Bali-Adventure-Sightseeing/Bali-Marine-Sport.htm I tried parasailing and that was AWESOME. You’re actually up in the air for 5 minutes or less. Definitely tooooooo short. I also tried the fly fishing boat ride but meh it wasn’t as exciting as parasailing. Also the dude who did the fly fishing was sleazy. Actually 99.9% of the guys working at those water sport places are sleazy – and they do it in both a direct and sneaky way.

Not too far off from all the recreational water activities, nestled away from traffic is Dreamland Beach. It’s one of the better looking beaches in Bali. It ’s actually quite beautiful! Apparently a few years ago it was a hidden secret and only surfers looking for a good wave knew about it. It’s still quite peaceful as you have to walk quite a bit to get to it but you still can’t get away with people trying to sell souvernirs and other trinkets. Also, they are building a resort there so in a couple years time there’s bound to be a lot more traffic. Go there while you can – while it’s still a “dream”.

While in Bali, for the ultimate historically cultural experience, you have to see the Kecak Dance and the only place to see it is at Uluwatu. They perform it right before and into sunset so the setting is absolutely WOW. At one point I was so into the sunset I forgot about the dozens of half naked men chanting “kecak kecak kecak kecak kecak….”.

Our flight wasn’t till the late afternoon on day 7 so we still had a few hours to do some last minute shopping for Salak Fruit and Bali lace. On the way we also got to see an impressive 6 foot tall brass penis. What Bali has with penis’s is perplexing but you will see them everywhere! Penis bottle openers, keychains and plain ol’ wooden penis sculptures. By this time, food poisoning had kicked in and I was feeling pretty awful not even penis could cure me! (ho ho it was a stupid pun!)

Minus soaring hot temperatures, the persistence (and annoyance) of Bali shop keepers, the general sleaziness of the place and my upchuck finale’ – it was good times. Sorry for the anti-climatic sentence.

See, the thing is I’ve been to many beaches, mainly in Malaysia and Thailand and while the serenity and feel of “resort” is still preferred in those places, I found Bali to be the naughtier more intriguing sister. As a first timer, my travel companion and I decided we’d spend the first few days in Kuta. We stayed at the Tune Hotels because we read good things about it and to top it off it was affordable and very central. My thoughts on that: – meh, ‘ok la’ and yep.

The alleyway leading to the Tune Hotels

We arrived in the evening that first night and ran into some room problems. An hour and then some later they finally sorted things out and put us in another room. The thing about staying at a “no frills” hotel is – well it’s NO FRILLS which means you pay for luxuries like air conditioning (while having a fan is a necessity there so that was free). The power shower was pretty AWESOME though. I don’t think I’ve ever wanted to wake up early just so I could have a power shower. Anyway, after settling down a bit and chewing our nails to a bloody pulp trying to figure out the ridiculous counts of money they use we ventured the streets of Kuta. Unfortunately we headed in the direction where all the clubs and bars were and all we wanted was a proper place to eat. Although it was only a 15 minute walk, it felt longer with the heat and the constant harassment from people trying to get you to buy, try or say hi. We finally settled at a quaint hotel restaurant with no fan and I had a chicken burger and carrot juice. I know, totally exciting but it was only the first night  and we had an early morning ahead.

One of the streets in Kuta. Take note of the the police van for future reference!

Kuta fashion..ho ho!

Carrot juice - for some reason I kept ordering juice everywhere I went and I think it was one of the contributing factors to my food poisoning

I was recommended by a friend to go on the Bali Bike Baik tour. It’s a full day tour and they pick you up from your hotel and take you to Mt. Batur where you have this underwhelming breakfast but overwhelming view of an ACTIVE volcano (side note – while at the volcano, I got a text message from a friend asking me if I was alright cause apparently there was an earthquake in Denpensar (nearby) during the the wee morning hours!).

Mt. Batur - an active volcano in Kintamani that thankfully didn't erupt while we were there.

Later they take you to this Balinese coffee plantation where they have “grow” this special kind of coffee called LUWAK. “Grow” meaning they feed coffee beans to Civet cats and have them shit the beans out and voila LUWAK..or shall I say, LU-YUCK. People do drink it and it cost a lot too.

Civet cat poo that is later dried and "roasted" to make coffee

Poor civet cats that are fed only coffee beans to make this famous LUWAK coffee

For the actual cycling part of the tour, we went to this little village/ town and got to past some temples and lots of rice paddy fields. Despite them advertising the tour as a “downhill bike tour” – it’s all white lies as there was a good chunk of it that required us to go uphill. It all works out cause after sweating and roasting out like some duck/lamb/pig – we were treated to a pretty awesome lunch at the tour owners home.

The evening later wrapped at the very hip, happening and expensive Ku De Ta. No photos here but interesting (if not long winded) conversations with a bunch of “JOANNES”. Also, they only serve two kinds of beers – San Miguel and Heineken – WTF?? (side note – Bali Hai is the beer to drink while in Bali)

[days 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 - to be continued....]

In other news, I’ve joined the world of COUCH SURFING. My profile can be seen here.  I know right, another “social networking” site >.<

I have a travel predicament I have to make in 6 days. Qatar Airways has a special deal flying from KUL to a few destinations I’d really like to go to. My travel dates would be end of April into May but it might be too soon – unless this couch surfing stuff takes off.

I did get to see a bit of Brunei which was nice. It’s a very small quiet place.

Some Observations and Factoids I picked up:

• A traffic jam here is comparable to a good driving day in KL.
• From the airport, you’re about an hour – hour 1/2 away from Sarawak (Miri & Limbang) – 6 hours away from Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.
• It’s a good place for a recovering alcoholic because alcohol is completely probibited here. Even the big hotels don’t serve alcohol but there are stories of secret drinking holes – few, probably 1.
• A few years ago, “THE” only McDonalds in the country ran into some problems with the beef. Apparently it wasn’t considered ‘Halal’ and therefore probably the only McDonalds in Southeast Asia to not have BigMacs.
• The happening and indulgent hotel to be at is the Empire hotel. It’s beautiful and surprisingly for a posh hotel like that, the staff is really nice to you – even though they know you’re only there to admire the scenery.
• The Sultan of Brunei apparently has a special stable for his horse(s) – equipped with airconditioning per stable!

My laptop is about to lose juice so I will write more later! With pictures! Looking forward to be back home though!