Bali 50 - 50

This is the 5th time to Bali and likewise compared to the previous trip, this can also be considered a 'working' trip cum holiday. Thus the 50 50.

My boss was the chairman of a young executive committee of a social community affair and so I was roped in to be a associate. This Bali trip was an inaugural trip for the committee and its member of the travel club.

All participants were met up at the airport and it was tough trying to remember everyone's faces and names but I was trying. And thought I could sit wif my lurpy sista and our bro on the flight as all 3 of us are from the Lim family. Unfortunately, I was assigned to sit for a pair of twin sisters...... Sad initially as I do not know them well and basically you can say I was alone and so I flew the 2 hours flight without busy yaking away and you can imagined how slow time flies.

And finally we arrived in Bali and after a especially snail paced custom clearance, we were greeted with our bags lying on the floor beside the carousal bag. It was this long we took. After head counting and baggage ownership check outside the arrival hall, we were sent to the bus and yay ! the Lego bus again. Our hair was messily blown in the cool Bali breeze... And a spread of finger food and champagne.... a group of us decided to head down to the street of ubs just 5 mins of walk away from the resort. Though I was tired, I glad I made the effort coz it really helped to foster the bond of everyone who is there. This is because almost everyone knew everyone for that first time. After rounds of game of 7-Up, Big Fish - Small Fish, we retired back to room for a sound sleep....

Wakie Wakey !!!!!! It's breakfast time and city tour early the next morning ..... The place we are going to visit is Uluwatu.... It was a temple nested on top of the hill and we had to climb up a Looooooooooooong flight of steps to the top but you will not regret it as the view of the ocean is fantastic ! Due to respect, anyone who their kness exposed are to be wrapped up in sarong and I was pretty happy with the sarong colour coz it reminded me of my secondary school days, the Ah Lian school .... haa haa haa......

Not only do we have to attempt the steps, we have to put in more effort to look out for the monkeys which is everywhere surrounding us. Big fat ones with the David Beckham, rooster hairstyle..... Everyone walked in fear as our tour guide warned us of their ferocious when it came to food, sunglasses, dangling earrings...... I guessed many were half believing him until we witnessed a monkey snatched away a Taiwanese tourist's sunglasses that she put on top of her head.... The monkey was so fierce and hissed away all his mates whenever any monkeys wanted to go near him. No amount of food is enough to lure him down definitely. Anyway, we just continued to woo-ed, wow-ed at the ocean, happily snapping pictures away....

After Uluwatu, we were brought to Bali's Cutural Centre and I was really expecting a cultural centre like a musuem, or some cultural performance. But it's not. We were brought to a 'park' carved out from limestone cave and saw the Gaurda statue. Oh, Garuda is actually a bird !

Everyone was hungry by then and lunch was arranged at Jimbaran Bay. It was a popular spot in Bali and this is where you can enjoyed bbq seafood by the beach in the evening. Listening to the wave coming in while your feet are half submerged in the fine sandy beneath you, looking at the glitterring lights shimmering over the other side of the beach. Jimbaran Bay is also the area where most 5 star hotels are located and also one of the place where a bomb went off during the 2nd Bali bomb.

But anyway, I thought it was just plain mad to have seafood by the beach in the day. It's going to be so hot ! Indeed, warm air swarmed us as we approached the designated restaurant. Everyone was uncomfortable complaining about the heat until our large coconut drink arived. No grumble of the heat anymore when our food arrived. Everyone was given a big plate of seafood. We were still shocked by the portion served for 1 person but we still happily goffled down the food.

After lunch, it was back to the resort or free & easy shopping. As the sun was really very hot, fi and me decided to go back to the resort to laze or waddle by the pool. And she chided me for not reminding her to bring her swimwear but keep remebering the sunblock :<

By defualt what... go resort must bring swimwear one mah...... got time to use or no time to use only wat...... Going into the cooling water was definitely not my forte and you can tell I am not enjoying that moment any bit from my expression.

But after a while, it was okay wth a little bit of swimming to warm up my body.... and what my lurpy sista do... sleep.... with her ipod loudly stucked into her ears. After a while, Celest, Joe and Nick joined us and we had a good time at the pool yakking away while Lao Niang lazed the afternoon napping away.

Some of the gals were more looking forward to theSaturday evening after dinner as Bali is also famous for its happening nightspots in Kuta. After dinner, a bigger group of us decided to walk down the street again for a drink. As we were early about 9pm, the street and bars were still very empty. So the mood was a bit dampened but luckily the boys, oops mem, kept themselves entertained as well as entertaining us by playing Bluff..... They were so funny ! But, despite the laughter, many of us were too tired to keep awake and decided to head back to sack while the rest cotinued to party at Kuta.

It was a dammed good night of sleep lor and I never regretted it ! After breakfast, Lao Niang and me was scheduled for spa. A 20++ SGD 'play play' massage to spend the morning away... Lunch was upoosed to be at Krispy Kreme but boss decided to join us and so it is impossible to ask him to just have bread for lunch. He needs a proper meal..... And so shopping time was aso cut to zero. But we still managed to lug 3 dozens of Krispy Kreme back to resort.

Krispy Kreme is an American franchise of super softy, melty donuts..... Until now, I still cannot forget the peaut-choc donut.... It's simply delicious !!!! And you can imgaine when I spotted one in London Harrods 2 weeks later, I insisted to have one even though the price is 3.5 times more than what I have paid in Bali..... talk about that later....

Of course those 3 boxes are not for myself, we helped tourmates to get 2 boxes and Fi and me decided to get a box and share with the rest of the tourmates.... but the 2 of us polished 3 donuts each..... hee hee....

Dinner was supposed to be at Ku De Ta but it was fully booked and we settled for another sunset beach restaurant (also atas one too) that is ony 2 mins walk away from the resort. The sunset was equally stunning and we had a great dinner before leaving for the airport.

The holiday, though was short....but I believed everyone enjoyed themsleves. By 3rd, everyone knew everyone. New friends are made, current friends grow stronger and that's what this trip is all about !