Mom and I touched down in Bali international airport at 9.35pm on Friday. By the time we reached our hotel, it was already 10pm. Yeah I know..wasted one day…

Not bad…The budget airline (Valuair) serves simple meal and beverage.

We stayed at this fantastic villa (Sri Phala Villa and resort) at Sanur, away from the hustle and bustle of the city (and the bombing sites) and yet just 20 minutes downtown.

Our double-storey villa

The entrance to our villa..

Outside…Each little path leads to other rooms/villas.

The upper floor has 2 single beds and the lower one has one huge king-size bed. Honestly, I also didn’t know why we need so many beds.

Love the serenity outside the room.

My favourite spot of the villa – our private jacuzzi pool!

The cafe near the main pool..where we had breakfast every morning

The villa is also 5 minutes walk to the Sanur beach. No offend, but I think Penang beach is better than this.

Most of the balinese are Hindu so you can see statues like this everywhere in Bali.

This boat was stuck for more than 30 minutes. Obviously the poor boat was overloaded.
Reminded me of my train ride in Sabah though…

Hawkers by the beach…Gado-gado auntie.

A lady selling assorted marinated fruits

Bali is a very “tourist-centered” place, and it is quite expensive to travel around if you don’t bargain. We spent a lot on “taxi” fare because there wasn’t any “taxi” that ran on metre and I hate bargaining! One 15 minutes journey cost about Rp. 50,000 (S$ 8.15). Why “taxi”?? Well, basically, anyone who owns a car there can be a “taxi driver”. Even those that were called by our concierge.

The typical scenario was that the driver often tried to offer us a ride back with extra charges. Our drivers offered to wait 1 to 3 hours on one destination and gave us a ride back. And of course, the longer we took, the higher charges we incurred.

But I was glad that I was able to speak Malay. Though Indonesian and Malay is quite different, but we can still understand each other. The drivers can’t really speak English and to bargain is quite difficult sometimes. To learn about their livings and cultures is also another challenge. They could explain better in Indonesian.

I must say, I have never spoken so much Malay in my life…and I just did in these 3 days.

Coming up….the highlight of the trip..(Nope..not the beach!)

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