Day 3

After breakfast, we gathered and was picked up by the van. Today almost all our destinations were the temples. And then we arrived at the first temple which I dont remember its name (I fell asleep on the way). It is located inside a garden. Well, I found that visiting this place was useless after all plus there were lots of school kids here. Crowded. But the scenery was good by the way.

Group photo (kind of) in front of our hotel.

The garden view from the stairs.

Group photo again.

The end of public area. The rest are private.

Kind of an observation tower.

With the barong (the mystical creature I told about in Part 1)

Inside of it.

And then we moved higher to the highlands where the scenary is stunning and the roads is very very narrow and steep. Almost like Genting Highlands but smaller. Surprisingly, upon arriving high above there was a lake! It is called Lake Beratan and there is also a temple beside it. The weather was cool like Kintamani before.

Visitor’s rules.

Pathway to the lakeside.

My family beside the lake.

The tourist guide showing something to my dad.

The temple on the water.

More flower garden.

Heheh.

With my sis on the grass.

Whose idea is this? Buat macam kat Hyde Park lak.

After sightseeing through the temple we went to the restaurant across the road. The meal here is almost the same as other restaurant. Buffet stuffs, rice, fishes, chickens, and IndoMee! Hehe.

With the statue in front of the restaurant.

And then we walked to the first mosque I saw here in Bali for Zuhr and Asr Jamak prayer. The water was very very cold. Perhaps it is taken from the lake.

Masjid Al-Hidayah.

And then we went to another temple. This time this temple compound is full of monkeys. It is called Obyek Wisata Alas Kedaton I guess. There were a lot of monkeys in Bali but I was being told that the monkeys here is the most tame among all. They dont steal stuffs like wallet and spectacles. But they do attack the ones with food in hand.

Hehe. Common sight among monkeys.

Waiting for food. Scary walking past them.

And then we moved down to the Tanah Lot temple which is near the sea. This one is quite famous because it is very very beautiful. Especially on sunset. And the wave was quite fierce too. Note that this place preservation was sponsored by the Japanese government.

See the breeze streaking my hair. Oh.

The temple on a small island.

Again.

Almost sunset here.

This is another one on the other side.

Here, on the way exit there is a massive amount of shops with the best bargain I guess. We bought a lot of things here. My parent bought 2 carvings for a really cheap price. And the friend’s family bought a lot of paintings.

At night, we went out to Kuta again. This time we did a lot of shopping. I bought a couple of t-shirts for my friend an a Hard Rock Hotel t-shirt for myself. And then we went for a dinner at Pizza Hut. The menu is also different from Malaysia like McDonalds. And the price is almost the same after being converted to Ringgit Malaysia.

Ah tak cukup lighting.

See the light beam created on this picture. Hehe. Stand still! For 8 seconds.

Ooh I’m happy. Just got back home. And it took me 2 days of hangover to get my lazy ass to update this blog with nothing else but to share my experiences (plus photos) of the 4 days I’ve spent in Bali Island, Indonesia.

FYI, my final examination is on the 4th June and after that I stayed back in KL (Cheras to be exact) until the 10th which was the day our flight took off to Bali. I was planning to go for an all-out photography practice there but my intention was turned off because my dad accidentally left behind the SLR (Yashica, and yes it runs with film) at home. Without any alternatives, I had to go with only an Olympus digital compact camera. From overall 400+ of pictures only 86 of it made it here. And this only the first part of it.

Day 1

We arrived at the Ngurah Rai International Airport on 1.30 p.m after 3 hours of flight. We were supposed to be greeted by a representative there but there was a bit misunderstanding so we went straight to the hotel by taxi. Along the way, we went pass Kuta central town which is very happening. There were many shops to look at. From small local shops to designer brand outlets. Among the first thing that I noticed about Bali is that all the building there stands at an average height. I was being told later that the rule there stated that all building must be built not higher that a coconut tree so they do not block the view. Interesting right? And the road there is very narrow compared to ours.

At the hotel, we refreshen ourselves and was brought to the Jimbaran Bay Beach for our sunset dinner at 5 p.m. The sun sets early here, like Sabah.

The waves are not very big here in Jimbaran Beach compared to Kuta Beach. So many boats park here, and you can see the airport runway from here.

The meal was OK (seafood of course) but the most interesting thing is that each of us get our own platter consists of 2 crabs, couple of shrimps, oysters, grilled fish, and deep fried squids.

And then we went back to the hotel. But my sis and I couldnt resist spending the rest of the night in our room so we went for a walk in Kuta town. I must say that the night life is really amazing. There are many well-known brand outlets, fast food restaurant, clubs, and hotels along the way. We just looked around that night and spared the rest of money spending on the other night. I was eyeing on a couple of t-shirts already.

Day 2

After breakfast we were picked by a van and was brought somewhere to watch the Barong & Kris dance, their traditional dance which potrays the symbolic of good vs evil. Oh did I mention before, that 95% of their residents are Hindus eventhough they are Malays. So their culture contains many mystical and sacred creatures like the Barong in this dance.

Me and my sis (Background: the stage)

And then we went to a silver shop in Batubulan which does not catch my attention at all. My mom and my sis did bought something though.

In front of the shop. Waiting.

The workmanship of Balinese goods is very fine and detail. Everything is handmade here in Bali. Their attitude towards pollution is very positive. Any attempts to use machinery was turned down by them because it is not genuine and causes pollution.

Our next destination was way above on the Kintamani peak where we had our lunch for that day. The weather was cool and cloudy and the view is really beautiful. You can see the volcano mountain and the crater lake beside it from there.

This is an active volcano I think.

The scenery beside our table is stunning! (not visible in this pic)

The sky turned very cloudy at this moment. Huh!

After lunch, we headed to Agrowisata. This is the place where we take a look at their agriculture activities, we were shown how they make coffee powder and even being served a glass of it there. Memang kaww. But I don’t fancy coffee much.

They fried the coffee first before squashing it into powder.

My dad enjoying the coffee.

Walking around the trees.

Terrace paddy field. Beautiful.

At a shop where we bought a lot of things only to realise it was expensive!

At night, we walked again to Kuta for dinner. This time on our own at McDonalds as it was the easiest, fast, and halal (I’ll show to you later about their food). So we could spare some time to shop after that! I bought a Hard Rock Hotel t-shirt that night for Rp. 175,000.

We usually don’t eat much. Just look at my skinny hands.

Kuta Beach Street. Love it.

There are surfing brand outlets everywhere here.

Starbucks at Hard Rock Hotel.

The beach at night.

Early morning of yesterday, I watched Liverpool lost to Chelsea with an aggregate of 4-3. What an interesting game that was. Except that Liverpool should create more goals with their chance. And I have to admit, the penalty was the turning point of that game. Wait. Watched this situation somewhere before. Karma?

Chelsea are through to final of European Champions League for the first time in their history. Ironically, it is during the management of Avram Grant using Jose Mourinho’s team. I don’t want to care anymore about the final or BPL’s remaining game and I am looking forward for the next season, where we hope it is going to be our year. Again.

By the way, the urge came again as while I was here and Iron Man was out on cinema. I mean, it’s been a while since I went to the movies. The story looks pretty cool to me. Whatever people said about it, I still want to believe that this one is decent enough. My friends would probably watched this during the weekend and when I got back this Sunday, ‘Hey have you watched Iron Man? No?”, while making annoying gestures plus words about the movie that could make me run to the cinema that very moment. Oh did I forget to mention, there is no cinema in Perlis. Or Amsterdam which I call to myself.

FYI, I’m taking Quranic/Arabic Language this short-semester. 21 hours of class per week, plus extra-fast syllabus. I’m afraid I can’t catch up. For now, everything is still under control. Good thing is, all of this only last for 2 months and then I can escape from here and continue my degree. Not that it is fun, but at least something is different. Hope so. *unsure*

Well, a lot of problems seem to be coming to me. My handphone LCD broke down which forced me to repair it at last (there was a slight problem before but I just kind of ignore it and get used to it) and it cost me RM100. Not long after that, my laptop crashes and didn’t want to boot at all so I had to use the Recovery CD which clears my hard disk as good as new again. There goes my songs. Now I wonder what song to download again? Plus, I fell down and there is a small bruise on my arm right now. It itches.

I am still going to continue my blogging. I just need time to feel comfortable again and settle down with my study. Memorizing doesn’t really suit me. And suddenly I freaked out. Such a nerd. Heh.

In order to write this posts, I didn’t go to class this evening. Haha. No. I just didn’t feel like going. Is that a good reason? Oh, come on.

I’m about to rant here. For the last two days, I’ve been receiving tons of text messages from my friends (and strangers?). Some of them are forwarded messages which I never care to forward back and there are also people who sent ‘Nothing to display’ to me. After interrogating several people, I found out that this sudden friendliness is because of the new 1500 SMS a week promotion by Maxis. After they fall for that, they also believed a rumour that Maxis will deduct RM3 if they can’t finish the 1500 SMS by 7 days. Wow, double knock.

I think this is stupid. Why are people still falling for this cheap Maxis trick? First, they started with the RM2 Super Savers that allows you to talk from 12am to 12pm months ago. I think this deal was great but from Maxis, it is too good to be true. The truth surfaced later when they shortened the period of talk time. Starting from that, they started making crappy promotions and ‘millions’ of their users are still celebrating their generosity. Yes, I know. There are several hardcore users out there. And my advice is: if you call yourself a hardcore user, earn some fucking money for your extra credits or stop using prepaid! There are a lot of good postpaid plan out there that most of us are not aware of.

Me myself rarely use my phone for useless stuff. I don’t have a girlfriend to make it more clear. I only call to ask my friend, “Where are you?” or “Let’s hang out” and text them “Haha, Torres scored! Beautiful that was”. And I never subscribed to the Super Savers plan except for the Activ10 and Campus Zone which stated a straight forward way of saving. Not some exaggerate stuff like free calls for a year if you pay RM1.

p/s: I reload RM30 every month and my credits never gone below RM20.

Oh plus, I am really happy that Liverpool had gone through to the semi-final of UCL beating Arsenal with an aggregate of 5-3! Great stuff last night. It was a thrilling, adrenaline rushing, and emotional game. Liverpool went up and down but sealed a win 6 minutes before time. Respect. You’ll Never Walk Alone.

On this beautiful morning, I had finally being blessed with an idea that you may find boring. Whatever. Multi-tasking. This thought came up to me while I was in the toilet and I realised that I am actually playing Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 in my PSP while finishing my business! How sick is that? Yup. I am a multi-task person. I can’t live without it. When I’m doing something, I must also do something else. When I was surfing somebody’s blog, I must take a look at the YM, checking my torrent speed or checking out porn. I always open maximum amount of tabs Firefox can deal (when it comes to a link, I’m always using tab).

The most powerful urge of multi-tasking surfaced while I’m eating. Definitely need something to read. A travel brochure at least. Or if I was finishing Harry Potter, I will do it while I eat. The 7th book ended this way. Pity.

I watch TV while playing the guitar, or texting my friend about how funny that the ref did not awarded Arsenal with a penalty last night. When I’m going to sleep, it is a must for me to have entertainment. This answered the question why I slept in front of the TV every day when there was a comfy super-thick mattress inside the room (even though nobody asked).

And I definitely use Intel Core 2 Duo. :))

Image taken from here.

1st Row From Back: Epan, Kuchai, Mooque, Acap; 2nd Row: Hazim, Abhar, Sob, Naqib, Haikal; 3rd Row: Rafid, Zamri, EP, Khalil, Apeng, Syahmi; Front Row: Mar, Inayah, Bro Rafaei, Maisarah Alias, Maisarah Halim.

Yup. Introducing my studiomate. Now that our studio subject is over, it means there will be no class together (for some of us) anymore. Finishing drawings and models, finishing drawings and models, finishing drawings and models, that was what we do together. This picture were taken for the Annual Grand Dinner by the way, and I managed to snatch it from the photographer.

(p/s: WTF I had to re-do this post after a bullshit database revert last night. Don’t ask me why. I am wondering myself.)

I will of course remember those days when we have to stayed at the studio until the next morning, picking up McDonalds delivery at 3a.m. in the morning, and the ultimate kiosk-destruction moments. It’s not much but enough for me to smile. You see, we are the only studio to have 3 lecturers. Our first lecturer, Bro Rafaei met with an accident on our presentation day. Then came Madam Amira, a part-time lecturer who have a lot of experience and taught me many new things. And recently Madam Rosniza, the coolest lecturer I think.

After this each and everyone of us will be continue our degree in different departments. Some will go for Architecture, like me while the other will go for Quantity Surveying, Landscape Architecture, Urban and Regional Planning, and Applied Arts. In whatever we do, I wish you all the best of luck. Though we still have 2 months of intensive Arabic class this short semester. Hehe.

A couple more formal and candid pictures;

By the way, I’m finishing my 2nd semester here already. Tommorow is the final. The final final exam. Then I can indulge into a world of holidays and no i-give-you-new-project-today-and-you-submit-tommorow works at home again. There are quite a few objectives I have to accomplish during this holiday; improve my sketches, design a new theme for this blog, find a couple of girlfriends, write a song, and drive my mom’s new car. Usually, all this objectives thingy during holidays never quite worked for me. Like for example, I spend my 7 months of holidays after SPM by completing only this one stupid theme. And I didn’t even talked to a real live girl during that period. OK that was a bit exaggerating.

I can’t put a photo in my post, my current theme sucks, and I can’t remember my FTP login id. Brilliant.

Gotta love the studio subjects. But the thing is they never forgot to rain us with lots of works and projects this past 2 weeks of our first class. It’s not like we, architecture students always do it the last minute, but the time is never enough for that much of works. I’m not complaining. In fact, I’m already aware of this thing about architecture. Not enough sleep is normal. So far, I’ve done two drawing exercises in Graphic Communication that is Drafting Lines and Rendering. Both require the use of pen and pencil. And using pen is the hardest bit. One mistake, and your life is miserable.


Come let me sketch your face.

For Environmental Design, it is all about generating your own ideas. Our first project was to design a masterpiece according to several principles of design and using only achromatic colours. Had to stay up till morning to finish that. Really mind challenging.

The only thing that sucks BIG TIME in this campus is the ‘mak guards’. Poyo sial. Argh not going to elaborate on that. Going back to KL tommorow. And pick up my Harry Potter book! yay! Eager to read it. Fuck there were already tons of spoilers out there. Even in Wikipedia they had concluded the whole plot of that book. It’s not there last night.

Nothing related to the entry. At ‘maple’ with Nash last week.

List of courses I have to take on the 1st semester;

Studio
Graphic Communication
Environmental Design 1

Non-Studio
Intro to Math & Statistics
Intro to Economics
Understanding Islam

..and maybe English if I fail the Listening and Speaking test.

The studio subject is the coolest. And the busiest. Haha. OK. Enjoy tommorow! Tata