Yes, that is what Anisha kept saying for almost a week prior to our Bali vacation. Bali vacation was supposed to be OUR trip with Anisha, kind of the last trip with her being the center of everything. It was also my pregnancy break after which I would be grounded for more than a year.
Anisha was super excited about the trip and one thing that she looked forward to was to eat strawberries in Bali. Yes, that's the story I made up when she kept asking me for strawberries in Hyderabad in the month of Aug. I was keeping my fingers crossed hoping that we get strawberries in Bali.
Aug 28, 2015
This night was our flight to Bali. It was a long one: Hyd - Singapore (with 9 hours of wait) - Bali via Tiger Airways. At the Hyd airport, Anisha was super excited and was wide awake until we boarded at around 1:00 am. Luckily she was fast asleep once on board. As the flight was empty, I found an empty seat for myself and tried to catch some sleep. I was woken up in the middle of deep sleep by the rude Tiger Airways staff saying that I had occupied the row with more leg space and asked me to move to some other row. This reminds me to give them a poor review for this rude gesture.
Aug 29, 2015
Bright morning and we reached Singapore. We had to spend around 9 hours here until our next connecting flight. Both me and Anirban quickly freshened up and Anisha was quite cranky with all the timezone changes and lack of sleep. We headed to the food courts and the typical aroma of Chinese food wafted through. I was all excited to start the journey of Chinese and Indonesian cuisine and started with the Red Bean Bun and Chicken Pao to remind me of my Singapore days. Anisha spent a lot of time playing the various slides. The airport is very well kept and very convenient that it invokes a sense of responsibility to keep the place clean and tidy. The rest of time was spent in window shopping and visits to the toilets and then finally the time to board. The airplane was filled with people of different races and everyone kind of beamed with the excitement of visiting Bali.
Landed in Bali around 5:30 pm. The airport was quite efficient with the visa-on arrival process really quick and easy. We headed to the pre-paid taxi counter and asked for the Nusa-Dua. Anirban was trying to get accustomed to the Rs to Rp conversion factor. I decided not to strain my self with the mathematical stuff the whole vacation.
As we drove into the Ayodhya drive way, I was dumbstruck with the hugeness and the grandeur of the hotel. The architecture looked intricate and gave a feeling of entering a huge palace of sorts. Balinese locals are very very polite. They always, always greet you with a smile and very courteous. We experienced this hospitality throughout the trip at all places. We were soon led to the room and decided to spend the evening at the hotel and have an early sleep. Headed to the Indonesian restaurant and ordered some interesting starters and main course which was soon gulped down. The weather was a bit chilly and I was little worried about Anisha and me.
Aug 30, 2015
Anirban was asking us to hurry so that we reach the breakfast place "before things finish!". After a sumptuous breakfast, we headed out to the beach. The beach was beautiful but the waters were quite rough. Anisha was disturbed by the waters that she stayed away from beach after that. After an hour at the beach, we headed to the swimming pool. We hired a driver from www.familybalitours.com to take us around Nusa Dua. Our drive Gede Anatara was help courteous and helpful. We first headed to the Turtle Conservation Center. There were some huge turtles. However, it did not look like a conservation center, but you do get to see a lot of turtles. In addition to the turtles, there were some birds and snakes which were kept captive. I have my known doubts if these animals were kept there legally or not.
After that, we headed to the Uluwatu temple. Our first Balinese temple to visit. Had to wear the sarong and could not enter the temple. However, the temple is perched on the edge of a cliff and is one of the temples that protect Bali. There is a long walk along the cliff edge making for an excellent view. All along I was worried about the monkeys and on our return, we saw 3 monkeys playing. Perceiving them to be harmless we walked past them, and then all of a sudden, one of them grabbed Anirban's sun glasses. The one I had gifted him and one that costed quite a lot!!! The monkey instantly started twisting the handle and it kind of hurt me to stand there helplessly and watch the monkey ruining the glasses. Immediately a guy supposed to handle these monkeys came by and threw a chocolate at the monkey. The monkey reluctantly reached out to the chocolate and abandoned the glasses. Gede quickly helped us get the specs back but it was already ruined beyond repair!
From here we headed to the Jimbaran Bay to view the sunset and have some yummy sea food dinner. The location was beautiful with you sitting by the beach, candle light, cool breeze blowing and at a distance you can watch aeroplanes landing and taking off from the Bali airport. It made for the perfect setting. We ordered a whole snapper with some grilled prawns and had a good meal.
Aug 31, 2015
We decided to head to the zoo today. A short walk out of Ayodhya, we met a couple of taxi drivers. Haggled for half the fare and then headed to the zoo. The zoo although small was quite expensive. We first started with the wild encounters where we had pictures taken with the bear cat, baby crocodile and a friendly baboon. We also made it to a show where I got to kiss a parrot! We walked around the zoo and Anisha enjoyed every-bit of it. She was disappointed that the elephant did not blow its trumpet the way I had been telling her. Once done with the zoo, we headed to Kuta for shopping. Walked around a lot and then had dinner at Warung Nikmat. The fried chicken with rice was yummy and Anisha enjoyed it.
Sept 1, 2015
We had to check out of Ayodhya today and we had not enjoyed the resort as such. Woke up early and hired the cycles. The cycle had a basket in which I made Anisha sit and we headed out the explore the Nusa Dua resort complex. The place was beautiful with manicured roadside lawns. After cycling for an hour and pain in all the wrong places, we headed back. Hit the beach one last time. Spent a couple of hours at the pool with Anisha being swayed around. Soon it was time for us to head to Ubud, the cultural capital of Bali.
The drive to Ubud from Nusa Dua is a long one and as you reach Ubud is when the Ubud traffic hits you. Narrow lanes with huge cars moving at snails pace! All the lanes are dotted with shops with artifacts be it wooden carving, stone carving, glass decor, elaborate paintings, bamboo items and other hand made articles. We passed through the Tegalalang market which was diverse with respect with the kind of shops before we reached our hotel Puri Ganga. Amidst rice fields and a lot of cockerels sounding their horn, Anisha was all excited. We decided to head to the Ubud market place for the evening. From the market place, it was a long long walk to the Monkey Forest. Once inside the forest again our simian nightmare kicked in. We were all too cautious of the monkeys which are there in hordes. One of them managed to take a bottle of water from my hand which I was all the more willing to hand over rather than fight to keep it! With a quick walk around and the uneasy fear of being attacked, we decided to head out. I wanted to visit the Aung Rai Musuem of Art - ARMA and walked towards it. It was a very long walk and in the end we found out that it was almost about to close for the day. With my legs aching, we settled down for a while deciding where to have our dinner. We decided to head to Naughty Nuri's Warung. This apparently was quite far from the Ubud center nevertheless we had some yummy pork ribs and Indonesian chicken sate. Anisha met a little girl Ella all the way from Belgium who was quite fond of her. With aching legs and a fine drizzle, we headed back to Ubud center. Anisha was fast asleep and we decided to utilize this time to pamper ourselves to a quick Balinese foot massage. After the really relaxing experience we head back to the hotel.
Sept 2, 2015
The trip had already taken its toll on me by now. I was quite tired and exhausted and the thought of heading out again seemed strenuous. After an interesting breakfast at the hotel, we hired a taxi to head to Mount Batur, Kintamani. Just as the journey started, the driver said he would not be able to cover the Ulun Danu temple which I so wanted to see. It kind of put me off and we tried to make the best of the situation. The drive to Kintamani from Ubud was a long and pleasant one via orange orchards. The site of Mount Batur a dormant volcano was refreshing. We could see the black soil on the sides on the mountain which most probably is the lava which flowed down when it last erupted. From Kintamani, the driver offered to take us to the painting and block printing centers. I did try my hand at it, however did not seem all that great. From here we headed to the Tegenungan Waterfall. The waterfall was Anisha first waterfall sighting and she wanted to go right down. It was a tiresome walk down and back up but I think it was worth all the effort. My exhaustion index was already reaching its critical threshold by now. The driver then dropped us back at Ubud. As I could not take it any further we decided to head back to the hotel and relax there.
Sept 3, 2015
Still tired and exhausted, I was done with my sight seeing in Bali. Today we were to head to Seminyak. Seminyak again gave a different view of Bali. With plush restaurants and designer clothes stores, we spent the evening window shopping. Had refreshing coffee at Revolver Coffee. Anisha was again asleep during this time and we managed to get some "US"time sitting there and just enjoying the place. From here we headed to Mama San for dinner, however, children were not allowed and I was offended. From here we headed to our second choice...again a long walk! Made's Warung was happening place with live music and lot of people unlike the typical Warung feeling. Anisha had a ball of a time here running after a boy and just copying everything that he did. Although at times our tempers rose when we saw her rolling all over the floor, we finally gave in and laughed it off. Again a long walk back to the hotel!
Sept 4, 2015
Decided to rest the whole day! Hit the beach after breakfast. Calm waters and this time Anisha was more open to experiencing the beach. Once the beach was done, me and Anisha spent time in the pool while Anirban headed for a complete body massage - Balinese style...by a lady! He came back all relaxed and I totally envied him. Evening we headed out to Kuta to complete my so called shopping. Anything I liked seemed to evade me and I was quite disappointed towards the end. Our last dinner at Bali was credited to Bo and Bun. We tried their all-in-one starter which was pretty interesting followed by chicken satay and beef soup. Once we had slurped in the last spoon, we headed back to the hotel for our last night in Bali.
Sept 5, 2015
Day to head back. Had a quick breakfast and made it to the airport. As usual the Tiger Airways queue was longer than ever and took us more than an hour to get to the counter, only to find the message "Expecting mothers contact our staff" Phew! Why don't I read such sign boards in time?
Back in Singapore. Now we had a 10 hour wait. The aroma of Chinese cuisine was no longer an aroma but kind of repulsive and I longed for Indian dal and chapathi. However, that being the last day of our foreign trip, I did not want to get back to the Indian cuisine just yet. So the last rounds of noodle soup, laksa and prawn dumplings made their way onto our table. We visited almost all the shops in the airport and Anirban added bottles after bottles to his duty free shopping collection. I was tired and just wanted to reach home now and the wait seemed longer than ever.
Sept 6, 2015
00:30 touch down in Hyderabad. We finally made it. With the scare of volcanic ash disrupting the whole trip, news of airplanes disappearing in the south Asian part of the world and the risk of traveling by a low-cost airline, we made it back to Hyderabad safe and sound. A day just to relax to get over the tiredness of the trip! Now why did I go on a vacation???
Anisha was super excited about the trip and one thing that she looked forward to was to eat strawberries in Bali. Yes, that's the story I made up when she kept asking me for strawberries in Hyderabad in the month of Aug. I was keeping my fingers crossed hoping that we get strawberries in Bali.
Aug 28, 2015
This night was our flight to Bali. It was a long one: Hyd - Singapore (with 9 hours of wait) - Bali via Tiger Airways. At the Hyd airport, Anisha was super excited and was wide awake until we boarded at around 1:00 am. Luckily she was fast asleep once on board. As the flight was empty, I found an empty seat for myself and tried to catch some sleep. I was woken up in the middle of deep sleep by the rude Tiger Airways staff saying that I had occupied the row with more leg space and asked me to move to some other row. This reminds me to give them a poor review for this rude gesture.
Aug 29, 2015
Bright morning and we reached Singapore. We had to spend around 9 hours here until our next connecting flight. Both me and Anirban quickly freshened up and Anisha was quite cranky with all the timezone changes and lack of sleep. We headed to the food courts and the typical aroma of Chinese food wafted through. I was all excited to start the journey of Chinese and Indonesian cuisine and started with the Red Bean Bun and Chicken Pao to remind me of my Singapore days. Anisha spent a lot of time playing the various slides. The airport is very well kept and very convenient that it invokes a sense of responsibility to keep the place clean and tidy. The rest of time was spent in window shopping and visits to the toilets and then finally the time to board. The airplane was filled with people of different races and everyone kind of beamed with the excitement of visiting Bali.
Landed in Bali around 5:30 pm. The airport was quite efficient with the visa-on arrival process really quick and easy. We headed to the pre-paid taxi counter and asked for the Nusa-Dua. Anirban was trying to get accustomed to the Rs to Rp conversion factor. I decided not to strain my self with the mathematical stuff the whole vacation.
As we drove into the Ayodhya drive way, I was dumbstruck with the hugeness and the grandeur of the hotel. The architecture looked intricate and gave a feeling of entering a huge palace of sorts. Balinese locals are very very polite. They always, always greet you with a smile and very courteous. We experienced this hospitality throughout the trip at all places. We were soon led to the room and decided to spend the evening at the hotel and have an early sleep. Headed to the Indonesian restaurant and ordered some interesting starters and main course which was soon gulped down. The weather was a bit chilly and I was little worried about Anisha and me.
Aug 30, 2015
Anirban was asking us to hurry so that we reach the breakfast place "before things finish!". After a sumptuous breakfast, we headed out to the beach. The beach was beautiful but the waters were quite rough. Anisha was disturbed by the waters that she stayed away from beach after that. After an hour at the beach, we headed to the swimming pool. We hired a driver from www.familybalitours.com to take us around Nusa Dua. Our drive Gede Anatara was help courteous and helpful. We first headed to the Turtle Conservation Center. There were some huge turtles. However, it did not look like a conservation center, but you do get to see a lot of turtles. In addition to the turtles, there were some birds and snakes which were kept captive. I have my known doubts if these animals were kept there legally or not.
After that, we headed to the Uluwatu temple. Our first Balinese temple to visit. Had to wear the sarong and could not enter the temple. However, the temple is perched on the edge of a cliff and is one of the temples that protect Bali. There is a long walk along the cliff edge making for an excellent view. All along I was worried about the monkeys and on our return, we saw 3 monkeys playing. Perceiving them to be harmless we walked past them, and then all of a sudden, one of them grabbed Anirban's sun glasses. The one I had gifted him and one that costed quite a lot!!! The monkey instantly started twisting the handle and it kind of hurt me to stand there helplessly and watch the monkey ruining the glasses. Immediately a guy supposed to handle these monkeys came by and threw a chocolate at the monkey. The monkey reluctantly reached out to the chocolate and abandoned the glasses. Gede quickly helped us get the specs back but it was already ruined beyond repair!
From here we headed to the Jimbaran Bay to view the sunset and have some yummy sea food dinner. The location was beautiful with you sitting by the beach, candle light, cool breeze blowing and at a distance you can watch aeroplanes landing and taking off from the Bali airport. It made for the perfect setting. We ordered a whole snapper with some grilled prawns and had a good meal.
Aug 31, 2015
We decided to head to the zoo today. A short walk out of Ayodhya, we met a couple of taxi drivers. Haggled for half the fare and then headed to the zoo. The zoo although small was quite expensive. We first started with the wild encounters where we had pictures taken with the bear cat, baby crocodile and a friendly baboon. We also made it to a show where I got to kiss a parrot! We walked around the zoo and Anisha enjoyed every-bit of it. She was disappointed that the elephant did not blow its trumpet the way I had been telling her. Once done with the zoo, we headed to Kuta for shopping. Walked around a lot and then had dinner at Warung Nikmat. The fried chicken with rice was yummy and Anisha enjoyed it.
Sept 1, 2015
We had to check out of Ayodhya today and we had not enjoyed the resort as such. Woke up early and hired the cycles. The cycle had a basket in which I made Anisha sit and we headed out the explore the Nusa Dua resort complex. The place was beautiful with manicured roadside lawns. After cycling for an hour and pain in all the wrong places, we headed back. Hit the beach one last time. Spent a couple of hours at the pool with Anisha being swayed around. Soon it was time for us to head to Ubud, the cultural capital of Bali.
The drive to Ubud from Nusa Dua is a long one and as you reach Ubud is when the Ubud traffic hits you. Narrow lanes with huge cars moving at snails pace! All the lanes are dotted with shops with artifacts be it wooden carving, stone carving, glass decor, elaborate paintings, bamboo items and other hand made articles. We passed through the Tegalalang market which was diverse with respect with the kind of shops before we reached our hotel Puri Ganga. Amidst rice fields and a lot of cockerels sounding their horn, Anisha was all excited. We decided to head to the Ubud market place for the evening. From the market place, it was a long long walk to the Monkey Forest. Once inside the forest again our simian nightmare kicked in. We were all too cautious of the monkeys which are there in hordes. One of them managed to take a bottle of water from my hand which I was all the more willing to hand over rather than fight to keep it! With a quick walk around and the uneasy fear of being attacked, we decided to head out. I wanted to visit the Aung Rai Musuem of Art - ARMA and walked towards it. It was a very long walk and in the end we found out that it was almost about to close for the day. With my legs aching, we settled down for a while deciding where to have our dinner. We decided to head to Naughty Nuri's Warung. This apparently was quite far from the Ubud center nevertheless we had some yummy pork ribs and Indonesian chicken sate. Anisha met a little girl Ella all the way from Belgium who was quite fond of her. With aching legs and a fine drizzle, we headed back to Ubud center. Anisha was fast asleep and we decided to utilize this time to pamper ourselves to a quick Balinese foot massage. After the really relaxing experience we head back to the hotel.
Sept 2, 2015
The trip had already taken its toll on me by now. I was quite tired and exhausted and the thought of heading out again seemed strenuous. After an interesting breakfast at the hotel, we hired a taxi to head to Mount Batur, Kintamani. Just as the journey started, the driver said he would not be able to cover the Ulun Danu temple which I so wanted to see. It kind of put me off and we tried to make the best of the situation. The drive to Kintamani from Ubud was a long and pleasant one via orange orchards. The site of Mount Batur a dormant volcano was refreshing. We could see the black soil on the sides on the mountain which most probably is the lava which flowed down when it last erupted. From Kintamani, the driver offered to take us to the painting and block printing centers. I did try my hand at it, however did not seem all that great. From here we headed to the Tegenungan Waterfall. The waterfall was Anisha first waterfall sighting and she wanted to go right down. It was a tiresome walk down and back up but I think it was worth all the effort. My exhaustion index was already reaching its critical threshold by now. The driver then dropped us back at Ubud. As I could not take it any further we decided to head back to the hotel and relax there.
Sept 3, 2015
Still tired and exhausted, I was done with my sight seeing in Bali. Today we were to head to Seminyak. Seminyak again gave a different view of Bali. With plush restaurants and designer clothes stores, we spent the evening window shopping. Had refreshing coffee at Revolver Coffee. Anisha was again asleep during this time and we managed to get some "US"time sitting there and just enjoying the place. From here we headed to Mama San for dinner, however, children were not allowed and I was offended. From here we headed to our second choice...again a long walk! Made's Warung was happening place with live music and lot of people unlike the typical Warung feeling. Anisha had a ball of a time here running after a boy and just copying everything that he did. Although at times our tempers rose when we saw her rolling all over the floor, we finally gave in and laughed it off. Again a long walk back to the hotel!
Sept 4, 2015
Decided to rest the whole day! Hit the beach after breakfast. Calm waters and this time Anisha was more open to experiencing the beach. Once the beach was done, me and Anisha spent time in the pool while Anirban headed for a complete body massage - Balinese style...by a lady! He came back all relaxed and I totally envied him. Evening we headed out to Kuta to complete my so called shopping. Anything I liked seemed to evade me and I was quite disappointed towards the end. Our last dinner at Bali was credited to Bo and Bun. We tried their all-in-one starter which was pretty interesting followed by chicken satay and beef soup. Once we had slurped in the last spoon, we headed back to the hotel for our last night in Bali.
Sept 5, 2015
Day to head back. Had a quick breakfast and made it to the airport. As usual the Tiger Airways queue was longer than ever and took us more than an hour to get to the counter, only to find the message "Expecting mothers contact our staff" Phew! Why don't I read such sign boards in time?
Back in Singapore. Now we had a 10 hour wait. The aroma of Chinese cuisine was no longer an aroma but kind of repulsive and I longed for Indian dal and chapathi. However, that being the last day of our foreign trip, I did not want to get back to the Indian cuisine just yet. So the last rounds of noodle soup, laksa and prawn dumplings made their way onto our table. We visited almost all the shops in the airport and Anirban added bottles after bottles to his duty free shopping collection. I was tired and just wanted to reach home now and the wait seemed longer than ever.
Sept 6, 2015
00:30 touch down in Hyderabad. We finally made it. With the scare of volcanic ash disrupting the whole trip, news of airplanes disappearing in the south Asian part of the world and the risk of traveling by a low-cost airline, we made it back to Hyderabad safe and sound. A day just to relax to get over the tiredness of the trip! Now why did I go on a vacation???
nice blog and article
ReplyDeleteNice blog i am unknown. Basically your nephew (Kevin)
ReplyDelete