bali and banjarmasin - jan 2008

A long overdue post, but it's finally here.
All images are live at my Flickr.

7th Jan
Finally arrived at Jakarta.

Got out of the airport to find that no one's there picked me up *coughs: mum*. I looked around and couldn't find her anywhere. So I went out from the arrival hall and waited by myself for around half an hour. I didn't have anything to call her with (Aussie SIM) so I had to borrow someone's phone to ring her. Thanks to him I was able to make that call (thank you so much mr stranger). Turns out she didn't recognise me because of my haircut. Some mum huh?

Went back home, then lunch at I-ta Suki. Food was ok and we went back to the airport.

Domestic flight in Indonesia sucks, big time. Mum bought this cheap ticket (for around US$50) from Lion Air (no reschedules from our side) for the 2PM flight from Jakarta to Denpasar. Then it was rescheduled to 3.20PM and the last SMS I received before departing from Melbourne informed me that it's been rescheduled again to 4PM. So we got there and checked in when we were informed that the flight has been delayed yet again for another seventy five minutes. So that's a total of three hours and fifteen minutes of delay.

Now how does that go with their slogan 'we make people fly'? Would you want to fly late? Apparently most domestic flights in Indonesia (that I've experienced) are always delayed. This is due to them trying to fit as many people to one flight, so if one flight's not too full, they'll try to fit people on to the next available flight. How good is that?

Anyway we finally got on the flight to Denpasar. Took this photo from inside the plane.


Not bad for a late flight huh?

We stayed at the Oasis at Kuta. It was good. Breakfast wasn't great, OK to say the very best. The atmosphere was something else, it was very nice. Here's the photo of the Oasis Kuta at night.


It's quite a cheap place to stay as well. Only around AU$40 a night for a double room.

8th Jan
Bali, day 1, Ubud
First day in Bali. We hired a car (plus driver) for around AU$40 for the whole day.

First stop, Goa Gajah (Elephant Cave) at Bedulu. Got there and went straight to the toilet. Toilets in Bali's tourist attractions are not free to use. You pay Rp1000 or Rp2000 or about 10 or 25 cents dependeing on where you go. This excludes entry fee which usually includes sarong hire fee.


The temple at the back used to house two Buddha statues. One had a head and one didn't, but the one with the head was stolen, according to the temple guards, around fifteen years back.


Next stop was Pura (Balinese temple) Tirta Empul at Tampaksiring. They had a pool where people pray and bathe in.


You can wash your face there or even drink from it as well. The Balinese believe that it is holy water which comes from the spring at the back of the temple.


Gunung Batur (Mount Batur) at Kintamani was next. I have to mention that people selling souvenirs will swarm on you here (more if you speak Indonesian). It was crazy. We had to keep saying 'no thanks' and even that wouldn't make them go away. So crazy that I had an offer from Rp10000 for a keychain that went down to Rp10000 for ten. I still declined in the end.

Then off to Pura Batur. Still the same swarming souvenir selles plus a blowing Rp10000 for sarong hire fee per person not including entry fee. By the way, a woman cannot enter these temples during her period as she is considered unclean.


Had luch at Grand puncak sari, food was OK.

Next was Tegallalang. The rice terrace here was quite wonderful. Needs to be seen to appreciate.


After that we headed to Como Shambhala Estate at Begawan Giri. It is a villa where you can stay and not be bothere with whatever it is going on outside. The atmosphere is rainforesty. Mum pretended to look for an accommodation for a soon to be newly wed couple's honeymoon villa (and she did it quite well even I'd believe her) and we got a tour of the only room available at the time (only thirty in total). It was the Royal Suite Umabona. You'd be looking at spending US$3,600 a night (plus a 21% tax) for this room. This include three bedrooms (aircon hidden), a private swimming pool (can be descended into from the living area or spa room), an open indoor shower area (no doors, no locks), spa and some activities like yoga, cycling etc. I was able to take a picture quietly of the private indoor swimming pool.


Then off to Alila Ubud and looked around.


That concludes day 1 in Bali.

9th Jan
Bali, day 2
Didn't do too much this day.

We visited Garuda Wisnu Kencana Cultural Park. It's still under development (and according to a friend, it's a discontinued project, which is a shame) but what's there at the moment was a huge Garuda head and a Balinese God's statue (half top body and unfinished hands)



What else was there?



Pura Luhur Ulu Watu was next. Had to take off my glasses (and some other stuff if you have them eg: earrings) because of the snatchy monkeys. The place kinda reminded me of the Great Ocean Road. The temple itself is situated at the very top end of a cliff so location-wise it was stunning, but the thing is only people who are praying (that means Balinese I guess) were allowed entry to the temple.


Afterwards, went to Joger. A famous shirt and t-shirt shop for Indonesians in Bali. Was packed there and it was quite chaotic, but still fun.

Spent an hour there and went to Pura Tanah Lot. Tried to photograph the sunset but failed due to the thick clouds (or maybe I didn't wait long enough). Bought more t-shirts.


Dinner at Jimbaran.


Seafood (or what's left of it on the pic above) was great and this concludes day 2.

10th Jan
Bali, day 3
Pura Sad Kahyangan Goa Lawah (literally the Bat Cave) was our first stop. Had to take photos before they started praying so here it is.


Then went to Tenganan to see the original Balinese houses and some fine textiles (or so they say).


Lunch at Puri Boga Resort was great.

We were going to visit Pura Besakih afterwards but got word that tourists were charged AU$75 entry fee plus sarong rent so that was out of the agenda.

Last destination of the day was Taman Tirta Gangga (Tirta Gangga water palace). It was beautiful you'd want to scream your lungs out here.


11th Jan
Bali, day 4, to Banjarmasin
Only had time to go to Jatiluwih as we had to catch a flight afterwards. It was the best rice terrace you'll ever see.


And that was Bali for me in a few short days. It was cool. I'd love to visit again someday. I'd love to see how Garuda Wisnu Kencana (GWK) cultural park turn out to be (if it ever get completed) and discover a lot more and photograph a lot more of Bali. I haven't had the chance to see the dances and art galleries yet and of course, more tourist attractions.

Flight to Surabaya (transit) was delayed (I wasn't surprised, even expected it really) for one hour. It's Sriwijaya Air this time. Took more photos from inside the plane. Here's one of them.


Flight to Banjarmasin was about to take off on time when we found out on board that there has been an error with the booking (not ours), so there was like a half hour delay. Took this photo inside the plane.


One of our luggages was left in Surabaya's airport (during the check-in through process from Bali to Banjarmasin) and we had to pick it back up at Banjarmasin's airport on our flight back to Jakarta on Sunday.

Dammit!!!

13th Jan
Kuin area, Banjarmasin, Borneo, Indonesia
We're up early and headed to Kuin. Boarded a small boat to Barito River to visit the floating market. It wasn't as crowded as it used to be but it was still very nice to experience during sunrise.


There was also a lot of kids swimming in the river (although it's not recommended as it's quite polluted).


The flight back to Jakarta was, yep you guessed it, delayed for an hour. Arrived around 5PM and that concludes the trip before going to Singapore.

Post on Singapore trip as soon as I have the time.