Bali: November 2008

So, I am in Bali!

The Pre-Event
I arrived in Bali with Mr. E on November 21 to prepare our internal corporate event, radio network gathering. It was very hectic preparation days. I was really nervous since i didn't know what to expect of these partners i was about to meet.

So we spent the first couple nights in Bali in Denpasar... Rannu's place of course. Yay, I'm meeting the blonkies ;) They were busy preparing for a validation exam to practice medicine those days... However, we managed to walk around in Kuta and had wonderful cozy dinner in between our brain-freezing days. We went to a restaurant in Kuta Square called Dulang with its nice atmosphere. We also got the chance to craze up with Japanese food in Papaya after 9 p.m. hahahahaha. I also got to buy some souvenirs for the weekenders. Guys, shmily?

On Nov 24 Mr. E and I went to check in at Melia Nusa Dua. O o my head started spinning!

The BIG Event
Suddenly it's November 25!
I was not sure if i was ready to deal with all these people. I was stressing my self that i need to faith that everything would be okay. Along came the first 3 partners. They were ok.. The the next 8. Ok, I can still handle it. Then everything started to get very hectic HAHAHAHA gotta be calm in front of them... and also my bosses HAHAHAHAHA

However painful my feet those days.. and however annoying some partners did... and however stressful i was... and however silly i acted... and however tired and zombie-looking-for-not-getting-enough-sleep i was... it was all worthy in a way :) Well at least now Jan Hoek (the big boss) and Harko recognize me. It seemed that they were very pleased with the summit. Most of the partners, too. They were all happy to meet each others, made new friends, ate in GWK and Jimbaran, had a brief visit to Kuta. Let alone those grouchy grumpy ones, there's nothing we can do about them.

Well, at least I made new friends... I guess :)

The Post-Event
I extended my stay in Bali for couple more days (after November 28).
Lots of people said that then it's time for me to go wild and get lucky. LOL.
Let's see about that...........

Bali: Part Three - day 8 to day 10

Day eight: Confused by the day
I decided to give myself a little rest. Thus i spent the morning and the afternoon just chilling, relaxing, doing nothing at Indah's place - checked my mails, updated myself with CNN and BBC. Lunch? Indah, Greg, and I went to Nasi Ayam Kedewatan - Greg was upset about some stuffs happened at the hotel. After lunch, i packed my stuffs and got ready to head down to Denpasar. Indah drove me again! No major problems this time hahahaha ole!
P.S. Bye-bye indah schat, it's been a wonderful time staying at your place!

On the way to Denpasar [approximately 6pm], my sister called me to inform that there's been death in the family. My mom's big brother passed away, heart attack we supposed. Everything was so hectic. Mom needed some fast cash [for her and her other brothers] to buy tickets to Medan a.s.a.p. while she has none. Amazingly, yes amazingly... I stupidly and unconsciously left my atm card somewhere in Sanur yesterday! and i just realized it then! But things got sorted out; mom bought one-way tickets for the morning after. What a disaster... because actually we will have a wedding this Saturday at Banjarmasin.

So Rannu, Thia, and Cindy picked me up - feeling sorry for my loss. Well well, we knew that we needed to fill our empty stomach to bust our mood - Mie AHA at Jl. Satelit was the place! They said that Koko yang masak [the chinese chef] alwaaaaays wear a barong shirt - most probably to bring good luck ;) There, Rannu tangled herself with a couple's baby girl. Guess she's ready to be both a mother and a pediatrician hehehehehe

We were full and content. Not Thia - apparently... she was a little upset with her boyfriend. Being on the last two days of my visit, we decided to go to see their favourite, Siluet, performing at Center Stage Hard Rock. The atmosphere was nice - lots of chinese and korean tourists came that night. The band referred us girls as Spice Girls LOL!

We went home at midnight.

Day nine: It's almost...
Rannu and friends dragged me to Udayana, they needed to prepared documents for graduation. I got myself another friend, Martha - she's getting married soon, she reminds me of Anita :) The day was so warm; we were hungry! So we ate at Bumbu Desa [just opened] - the restaurant actually imported the employees from Garut! woooooow, nice concept rite?

There on, we needed to go to the local police station to report my stupidity. Afterwards, we went to Pasar Badung to buy some barong clothes for my sister. Feeling worn out by the sun, we chilled a while at Rannu's place. Changed our clothes and all the things in between.

Next stop was Museum in Denpasar - these girls have been living in Denpasar in 6 years but they never visit it LOL. Well, the objects were not as interesting as the building itself. Nyeeeh... we were there only to satisfy our narcissism! hahahaha

val-rannu-thia-martha-cindy

We dropped Martha back to her place, then off again to Warung Bunana to eat some delicious canai bread and indian martabak. Yum yum... no wonder i gain several kilos :P

From canai to ground zero. There we bumped into Martha again hahahaha... We stayed for a while, then head home - Thia was still upset with her boyfriend. She really need to clear her mind. Rannu and I did little browsing and eating [yes! supper!] before sleeping.

Day ten: home, tan, fat
Whether i like it or not, i have to go home. My sister is waiting - she's home alone. My cong is waiting [you know you miss me!]. And God knows who else might be waiting for me.

So long, Bali! Tot november ;)

Read the complete story!
* Bali: Part One - day 2 to day 4
* Bali: Part Two - day 5 to day 7
* Bali: Part Three - day 8 to day 10

Bali: Part Two - day 5 to day 7

Day five: walk, don't drive
So Rannu and I spent the day walking around Ubud, again. Well, it's a working day so Indah couldn't come along. From Kupu Barong [Indah, i'm promoting your hotel! hehe] we took the shuttle down to Blanco Museum near Ubud center. The place is nice. It is said that the land in which the museum is built upon was given by the local people as a token of appreciation to Antonio Blanco. The artist himself has passed away. Yet his eroctic paintings and arts are very well preserved in this place. His artistic blood also run in the family, esp in Mario Blanco, which focuses more on dead objects - somehow i prefer erotica than a basket of fruits. There at the museum, we made friend with Sebastian from Belgium - cute, but too young i suppose.

Location: Blanco Museum & somewhere down the street of Ubud

There's always erotic arts somewhere in between

We needed to wait for the cats-and-dogs rain to stop before we continued or little journey to the Monkey Forest. Lumayan juga jalannya! There're a lot of tourists in the monkey forest. The tourists were very excited about the monkeys; the monkeys were very excited about the bananas and the peanuts they tourists brought along. Some monkeys acted nice and posed for the cameras, some other went after tourist to beg for fruits. Two monkeys were caught in the act of vulgarism! yes, some sexual actions! hahaha what an exhibitionist!

Tired of observing the monkeys, we went to Bebek Bengil, again, to eat Black Russian cake, again :p Yum yum!

It was already 6pm when we realized that we missed the shuttle car to go back to the hotel. So.... Indah picked us up with her little jimnie! Wahaaaaaaaa.. what a wobbly ride! The three of us made a stop at bintang for grocery shopping. We had our dinner back at Indah's place that night. Greg made us good fussili - he was complaining about "i can cook much better than this if only we have the right ingredients here" lol. Good dinner ended with good shisha :D

Black Russian Cake in the afternoon, pasta & wine for dinner

Day six: work hard, play harder!
Saturday was hectic! I needed to meet some people i failed to meet the previous days - because of the holiday [18th] and the Galungan [19th-21st]. Greg took Indah, Rannu and I down to Sanur. From there on, I rented a car to go to other places.

So we went to the printing company > then dropped Rannu at her place > then visited a partner station, Sunari > then had our Nasi Campur ala Bali at Warung Satria with Inten from Sunari and her brother [Indah and I agreed that Inten looked like our own mama Sita - too bad she can't make to Bali during these days, she's expecting her baby!] > then off to Melia Nusa Dua where I took pictures and discuss some items for the upcoming partner garthering [imagine running around in such a huge place like Melia in heels, high heels - yes, that's what i did!] > then went back to Renon to meet another partner, GSM, whose radio located at Negare [there at Be Sangih we ate/drank Daluman - Balinese "cingcau/cendol/dawet"]. So all work it done. It's time to play!

Indah and I waited for Greg and Jovita [lovely woman, she's the spouse of Kupu Barong GM's in Tuban area - had her own magazine in Bali, top network] at Sunset on 6. The place was already full with people for dinner, but finally we got ourself a place. btw we missed the sunset! Then we moved to Rumours to have our late dinner [it's 10 already!] - the place served good italian food and also good taste of wine. There at Rumours, we accidentally met Farah, one of our juniors from Holland - she was in Bali for a weekend getaway. Suddenly, Titin and Susan [our seniors from Holland; they domain in Seminyak] and Nita came to Rumours just to say hello and goodbye - they're too tired to go anywhere that night.

mbak jovi - indah - val - greg & indah

With our belly full, we went to Hypnotic [where Jovita's husband was already waiting], a new place down by Seminyak square. Originaly, we wanted to go to Ku De Ta [am still curious about the place] but they're having a white party we didn't want to barge in. Hypnotic was so-so - the place was quite small, indoor [it's Bali, the parties should be brought outdoors, man!], and lack of visuals for me. They serve nice watermelon Mojito. Btw, the crowd was quite ackward on Hypnotic. Among the expats, i saw a number of koko-koko surabaya with their acts of trying to get some girls to get drunk so that they can get some that night. wahahahahaha...
P.S: Indah told me that some guy at Hypnotic has been "observing" me back from our dinner in Rumours. Doh, didn't realize it!

Next destination: Living Room. There we met two tante-tante dancing wildly LOL. Oh and we finally had our vodka redbull! Cheers! I was half-deaf there XD
P.S: a guy had a t-shirt with this writings on "FASTER, STRONGER, LONGER, BETTER" and an arrow down to his manhood. Good self-advertisement, hey? But is it appropriate?

Next next destination: Hu'u Bar, just across the street. The place was hip, i liked it very much. Jovita met her friends there, while i was observing the crowd. Here i saw om-om surabaya LOL. I also learned that those chinese tourist can't dance! Well well, since the dance floor was packed, we went outside to the garden. Guess Jovita has reserved a place for us or else we couldn't get to sit anywhere. We sat and enjoyed the night brezze, few meters away from all of the noises.

3 am. Greg needed to stay focus to drive us back to ubud. He was a little drunk, Indah was drunk, I was sober enough to focus on the road. We got back home safe and sound, and exhausted.

Day Seven: Overdose on seafood
It's noon already! Greg, Indah, and I had brunch and catched another meals from McD on our way to Discovery Mall. There we properly met Susan, Titin, and Nita at Black Canyon cafe. The coffee was allright, the services... not that satisfying!

Then we went to Nyoman's at Jimbaran area for out dinner. Again, lots of chinese tourist [why am i always surrounded by chinese? is it a sign or something? lol]. Some local singers sang James Blunt - You're Beautiful incorrectly that it made us laugh. Udah lantang, salah pula!

susan - indah - val - titin - nita - sisa2 perjuangan

So we chated and update each others with funny stories and talked a little business here and there. We planned to have another dinner and "extra stuff" when i visit bali again next time. Overall, it's a good day.

Read the complete story!
* Bali: Part One - day 2 to day 4
* Bali: Part Two - day 5 to day 7
* Bali: Part Three - day 8 to day 10

Bali: Part One - day 2 to day 4

Back at Indah's place in Ubud after spending two days in South Bali area.

Day two: Heading South
Breakfast ala indah, cereal n milk. Soon after, i went straight to Ubud Centre, caught the bus to Kuta [Perama Tour]. I hopped off at Poppies Lane 2. while waiting for my old friend from high school, Rannu [I used to sit n study with her twin, Rendeng - now in Bandung], I helped a German couple to get accomodation down by Poppies Lane.
Perhatian: Saya SokTau sekali loh, padahal ngerti nama jalan juga engga! Good that Indah lend me her Lonely Planet :) thanks, darling!

While in Poppies, I bumped to my new friends i met during my flight to Denpasar, Ruli and Adhi - both from Trans7. Chat with them for a while; they're on duty, following several Brailians soccer players working for Indonesian team.

Then i met Rannu and her friends, Thia and Cindy [they're all doctors ^^].

We had our lunch at Goody's [good food, i tried Fetucinne con Calamari], Legian area. Then we strolled around Legian and Seminyak, looking for acessories and clothes - girl stuffs :) Wondering why we're so tired, we went back to our dorm. I spent the night at Rannu's place after having dinner at KFC hehehehe so freakin full. We ate all day!

Day three: Good Food = Good Life
Woke up at 7.30 am. Kyaaaaa.. Thia's waiting outside! We're ready to roll!

We had our breakfast at Bali Catering & Co., Kerobokan area. I ate pistachio macarun + newyork cheesecake [with strawberries!] + a cup of cappucino. It was so delicious ^^

Location: Bali Catering Co. - delicious food and beyond! :)

Then we went straight to Garuda Wisnu Kencana [GWK]. It was so damn hot that we decided to chill and had our lunch back at Discovery Mall in Kuta. Cindy and I couldn't help wandering to Kuta art market. Too bad the market was not fully open because of Galungan feast in Bali. I got myself some beach-y outfits.

Location: Dreamland - with Thia Cindy and Rannu

Got enough of chilly air, we drove south to Dreamland beach near Uluwatu. Doing nothing, eating singkong keju [ya, kita kan anak singkong :P] and applepastels while looking at cute boys surfing huehuehuehuheu.. We're so worn out we went straight back to denpasar fuuuuuuh
Note: That guy who took our picture was so cute. Stupid me, why didn't i ask his name?!

Day four: Ubud
Ok, i need to buy slipper. I kind of broke my fave sandals :(

So Rannu and I got ourself a ride to Ubud with Perama tour. We strolled down Hanoman street, took pictures [narcism is a must during holidays!], then had our lunch at a small foodstall called Warung Nasi Goreng - indah's recommendation. With our belly full, we walked about Ubud's market. Failed to catch the shuttle bus back to Indah's place, we set our foot to Casa Luna - also Indah's recommendation. We got oruself a new friend there, amanda Midlam from a small town called Eden, australia. she's writing a story about Bali dogs [wish her a wonderful stay].

Location: Ubud - somewhere between rice field and Balinese-Thai lunch

*update
after indah n greg got back from work, we went to Bebek Bengil [dirty duck diner] down Hanoman street. they served tasty duck with sambal matah and veggies and oh-my-godness-it's-so-freaking-delicious Black Russian cake! the cake has such a delicate texture; the mixture of kahlua and other liquours blended spoiled your tongue and warmed you up in the chilly night of Ubud. a must try! hum... jd pengen lg!

That night, the four of us discuss about the local people, the Balinese and their ceremonies, and the difficulties of relationship between different races [since my Rannu had similar problems]. We came to a conclusion that every relationship [esp. those which is nurtured in country such as indonesia] will have to face the PARENTS! at that time, all that matters is the couple itself should be strong enough to stand for what they believe, which is that they love each other and no one else. What an insight :p or maybe we ate too much of black russian ha ha ha

Read the complete story!
* Bali: Part One - day 2 to day 4
* Bali: Part Two - day 5 to day 7
* Bali: Part Three - day 8 to day 10

Hello Bali!

am in Bali! yay!
will update soon. Gotta catch the shuttle bus to Kuta. Gonna meet some friends there :)

ciao!

Read the complete story!
* Bali: Part One - day 2 to day 4
* Bali: Part Two - day 5 to day 7
* Bali: Part Three - day 8 to day 10