DAY ONE
Touchdown, Bali! We headed straight to Ubud area where we were planning to have our lunch. Apologies for the "I just got off a 6 AM flight" face. But I do love my vintage midi skirt :)
It photographs so well and it looks even better in person!
And yes I carried two shoulder bags. One is my real bag while the boxier one is my camera bag.
We had our first meal at Bebek Bengil which as you can read, also known as Dirty Duck Diner. The ducks served are NOT DIRTY at all. It's a very relaxing place to eat (with paddy fields as well, if you look closely at the background) and my friends say it's tastier than Bebek Tepi Sawah--which is also popular in Bali. The price range is quite normal. I do believe it costs less than 100 thousand per plate for duck. Which is cheap considering how big the duck is!
On our first day we decided to headed straight to Lovina. Which is a coastal area on the north side of Bali (we usually only play on the south side of the island) to go for a dolphin-sighting! This Pura Ulun Danu is on our way there so we decided to stop by. There's an entrance fee which I think it's quite sketchy because it's only for foreigner tourists and Indonesians were did asked for a ticket on the gate but when I went to ask to the ticketing guy and found out that I'm Indonesian (I got mistaken as a Chinese or Japanese or Korean tourist quite a few times), he said I just need to pay 50 thousand rupiah for 7 people. And when I asked for the tickets (I mean, the real paper) the ticket guy simply said "just go in". I feel a little bit tricked there.. Hmm..
Anyway, will I suggest people to go here? . . . Probably not . . .
It was raining cats and dogs when we get there and I did not enjoy my visit there at all. I went there in 2007 already so I wasn't really missing anything. Basically it's just a temple in the middle of the lake... To be fair, the architecture and the facilities are good to okay. The place is clean and even thought the rain was pouring hard, it didn't stop from foreigners to visit and take pictures. Ulun Danu was rather packed when we get there.
After hours of driving (I guess it was around 3 hours from airport if you don't stop for lunch and Ulun Danu) and getting lost a little bit, taking U-Turn here and there, asking people every a few kilometers, we arrived safe and soundly around sunset time. After checking in at our villa (Gino Feruci. Highly recommended! Other motels are rather spooky) we went out to for dinner but before that, we can't miss the GORGEOUS sunset there.
DAY TWO
To see the dolphins, you need to find a boat. You don't have to rent the boat because it's like paying a ticket.. You just pay 50 thousand rupiah per person and the boat owner will take you to see dolphin-sighting hotspot. I saw the dolphins and I was ecstatic. I saw dolphins at the zoo but it's just so different seeing them in the wild. I am a bit dissapointed because I coulnd't touch them. I guess we can't blame the dolphins for being scared considering the loud boat-machine sound.
Will I do it again? Not really.. I mean we have to wake up pretty early (6 AM) and I'm not the biggest morning person in the world. But I do suggest it if you never do this before. Honeslty, the view is just magnificent. And not just the dolphins, but the backdrop is quite magical too.
On our way back to the southern area of Bali island, we stopped by at Kintamani. As you can witness, the panoramic view was picturesque and looks like it's printed out of a postcard. Honestly, I feel sooo lucky to live in such a beautiful country.
We had lunch at Nuri's Ubud. It's best known for it's pork chops but I am not a fan of pork at all so I decided to eat a beef burger instead which tastes good. Nuri's are very pocket-friendly place to eat good food in Bali!
After another long winding-road trip we checked in at our hotel Ananta located at Legian.
I didn't take any pics of the room but it's quite cozy. Although it's not too spacious. But I do love the architecture and how peaceful the hotel was. Ananta has a slight Balinese feel in their interior and I think foreigners will really like that. Breakfast was not that great but it was totally edible. Just not that much variety. . .
Anyway, we had dinner at Warung Made, Kuta. It's an Indonesian/Balinese food restaurant with very friendly prices.
Do look forward for the rest of my photo diary. I'll make sure to limit the pics so you won't have that loading page for too long!
Wishing you a great week ahead!
){kind=link}