Bali Day 4

Bali Day 4
Last day in Bali
Return to KL

after having our last breakfast at the resturant, say goodbye to one mat salleh couple yang dah berumur, we went for a short walk down the beach for our last mini shopping. i saw sequin sandals the day we arrived here, so decide to buy them for my mum, sis & sil.


kami dah berjanji dengan Wayan who agreed to send us to the airport pagi itu. the check out was very smooth, alhamdulillah, and we left the hotel at around 10.30am to catch our return flight at 1.55pm.


flight tak penuh sangat. kat airport sempat lagi grab 2 helai t-shirt polo, one for me & one for hubby, dapat 30% off. and sempat lagi snap pic ni



everywhere baik di hotel, di kedai2, di patung2 mahupun dalam kereta Wayan or kereta orang lain we spotted this. aku fikir tujuannya sebagai wangian, yelah bunga rampai dalam bekas daun kelapa. but hubby says itu untuk orang sembahyang... i wanted to ask but i don't dare to takut offend orang pulak. dah lah tempohari aku tegur tuan kedai tu tengah cucuk2 daun kat batang lidi, i thought dia jual sirih yang dah siap dikapur, rupa2nya untuk sembahyang

we touched down at lcct 30mins earlier than the eta. laju giler pilot ni bawa... hehe. this time around much to our surprise none of the flights were delay. it took off on time and arrive earlier than eta.

Bali Day 3

Bali Day 3
22 nov 2007
At leisure

we came here to relax, to get away from hectic working life, to spend our time leisurely without having to think of what to do next, just enjoy our time together as a family. basically that's what we did on the 3rd day in bali.

walaupun sebenarnya i finally realised that bali is not the place for family vacation. if you come as a couple or in group looking for adventure, yes there's plenty you can do here from spending your time leisurely at the beach, go hiking, see the sun rise, rafting or join the night life at kuta. rasanya we are the only couple yang bawa children, because non of those staying at the hotel bawa children. at the elephant ride we saw some children but there are all above 12yo.

the fact that we were the only couple on holiday with children really grabs attention mat-mat salleh yang stay at the same hotel. we saw same faces every morning we went for breakfast and dinner. they sort of became friendly with fahmi & yaya. and the staff at the restaurant they too became friendly with the children, they'd smile and stop to talk with the children and lama2 macam dah tau je perangai anak2ku yang tak segan2 bergaduh depan orang... huhu maluuu.


this is how yaya decides to spent her last day kat bali, main hide & seek with daddy depan pintu bilik


dah last day baru teringat pakaikan budak2 ni hat

we thought of spending the rest of the day in our room tapi bila dah masuk tengahari the housekeeping staff came to clean the room. so we decided to go out for a walk, di tengahari buta! orang-orang kat bali ni, they are so friendly tapi bukan semua orang lah. those involved in the tourism memang tersangat friendly sampai penat mulut melayan. bila nampak kami berjalan keluar dari hotel, semua bertanya nak ke mana? the way they ask makes us believe that they are concern tapi sebenarnya they'd want to know if you need their service to chaffeur you around. sepanjang2 jalan kami disapa, since hubby agak berat mulut everytime i had to tell them no we don't need taxi... well they are being nice to you, you don't lose anything by responding to them in a nice way jugak kan? but i guess, among the 4 of us, fahmi gets irritated the most dengan sapaan2 itu. sampaikan he questioned me why aku melayan cakap2 orang2 tu... boleh gitu? hahaha dia kata "kenapa mama asyik bercakap je?" "kenapa mama cakap dengan orang tu?"

about 15m from the hotel i saw a signboard showing the direction of a mosque. we've been dying for halal food so we thought why not we go to the mosque manalah tau kalau2 ada orang Islam kat situ boleh juga tumpang tanya.

signboard masjid al-ihsan about 15m walk from the hotel menghala ke jalan besar

yup, memang ada orang kat situ, ramai. so me being the most ringan mulut that day teruslah bagi salam. percaya tak 4 kali aku bagi salam sorang pun tak jawab? yang perempuan sibuk bercakap kat hp langsung tak pandang muka aku walaupun dia bercakap mengadap aku, and yang lelaki plak buat2 pekak. aku rasa macam tak percaya... we quickly leave the mosque with frustration, senang cakap hampa!

the day before Wayan did mention to us that there's a 24hr minang restaurant about 50m dari jalan besar. jadi lepas tak dilayan di masjid, kami pun dah tak kuasa nak tanya orang terus je jalan sampai jumpa satu kedai makan kecil dengan tanda halal pada signboard nya.

restoran Bundo Kanduang lebih kurang gitu lah

again, walaupun hati seronok jumpa restoran halal tapi sambutan dingin sangat buat kami rasa cuak dengan perangai orang Islam di bali. just imagine, while all the non-muslim boleh bertegur sapa with you dengan mesra kenapa orang Muslim sesama agama boleh buat tak pandang bila kita step in to their shop? aku pakai tudung tau. kalau aku pakai mini skirt lain cerita lah.

walaupun layanannya dingin, tapi aku suka air fresh oren dia... taste very different tak macam oren sunkist tu... manis sangat tapi bukan manis gula. rupa2nya kat situ dia guna limau kulit hijau tu... apa nama dia?

balik hotel, lepak, tengok tv and tidur. bangun tidur we took the kids main air dalam swimming pool depan bilik.


the floater belongs to the hotel. the hotel staff was so kind to lend us the floater, kami tak minta pun. how nice & thoughtful of them





ada incident kat kolam ni. yaya showing off keberanian dia main dalam kolam dengan air separas ketiak dia tanpa floater, while fahmi almost drown bila melompat2 tak pakai floater. hmm garu kepala tengok gelagat budak berdua ni... beza betul.

while daddy entertaining the kids main air, aku sibuk snap pics pohon kemboja yang bersepah2 bukan kat hotel ni jer, anywhere and everywhere you go there's no spot without a kemboja tree. the flower are used in ritual agama and also untuk menyerikan sanggul rambut or just as a natural wangian dalam bilik.


pohon kemboja ni daunnya bulat di hujung, bunganya agak besar


yang ni plak daunnya ends with sharp edge, while the flower slightly smaller than above tapi pusarannya unik


ni hubby kata lalang, tapi akarnya macam berubi macam serai gitu. takkan nak tanam lalang dalam hotel.. isyy hubby ni


cuba teka pukul berapa ni? jam 6 dah macam 7ptg kat malaysia

we had our last dinner at the hotel's restaurant. apparently we are not the only one spending our last night there. a group of mat & minah salleh who become friends during their stay there decided to hold a group dinner.


boringnyer tunggu food... dekat 40mins baru sampai our food coz chef sibuk siapkan group dinner


kunyah crackers dulu satu bakul

lepas dinner, tidur awal coz esok nak check out.

Bali Day 2

Bali Day 2 - 21 nov 2007
Elephant Ride, Ubud Art Museum, Galuh Batik Shop & Pasar Sukawati
Location : Ubud, Bali

we received the response on our request for a private tour just before we left for breakfast. walaupun kat bali ni jam 5.30pagi dah terang benderang macam jam 7pagi but we just couldn't push our selves to woke up early... kalau nak ikutkan semua tour packages kat sini begins as early as 3am! itu untuk package tengok matahari terbit dari pantai jimbaran kalau tak silap. other packages begins as early as 5.30am to 8am... but our private tour was tailor made to our own timing...hehe sesuai untuk orang yang malas bangun pagi ;-).


lepak kat veranda bilik lepas breakfast


before we left for the tour sempat lagi aku book for massage ;-)


posing 3 beranak... one thing i noticed budak berdua ni makin happening posing mereka! terhibur bila tengok balik

we left the hotel at around 10am, menuju ke elephant safari somewhere di perkampungan taro, ubud. our tourist guide cum driver by the name Wayan actually wanted to bring us to many other tourist spot i.e. barong dance, temples, silver craft worksyop, monkey forest but we don't want to do all that. yelah dengan 2 orang kanak2 riang ni, mana larat nak berjalan 8 hours non stop. that's why we opt for private tour, kalau ikut tour package lain2 tu it will takes paling kurang 8hours keliling bali in 1 day. plus, ada apa dengan temple?

we thought that bali is just a small island like langkawi... hehe buta geography betul! we didn't expect that the journey from sanur to the elephant safari will takes almost 1 hour to reach there. sampaikan fahmi & yaya tertidur. and the road was very busy, sesibuk jalan di KL!

there were 3 rides offered, the 15mins ride, 40mins ride or the 1hr ride. we choose the 40mins ride walaupun hati risau takut budak berdua ni tak tahan lama2 atas gajah. paid the fee in US$, sib baik ada tukar US$ skit. me & fahymi took off first riding the elephant named Elsa, hubby & yaya rides Tony. the elephant keeper that accompanied us, Abbas (a muslim from Sumatra) was very friendly & informative. i didn't expect fahmi to be so scared of the elephant that he was so restless throughout the ride, the reason why i asked hubby to ride with yaya was because i expect yaya yang akan jadi si penakut that i won't be able to control her. surprisingly she was very relaxed, cheerful and seems to enjoy the ride very very much! fahmi wears this worry look on his face sepanjang the ride, but still bila daddy nak snap his pics he's able to give his signature 'peace' post.


fahmi actually meronta2 tak nak naik, bila daddy nak snap pics immediately dia posing!


yaya was such a darling, from a far i can hear her giggles and asking daddy tons of questions


'Tony' showing off his talent angkat daddy & fahmi using his belalai

the riding package comes with complimentary lunch at the reastaurant nearby. before proceeded to the restaurant i asked Abbas whether the food provided are halal? Abbas advice us to take only vegetarian food. in my mind i thought that the vegetarian buffet counter were separated from non-halal counter, so i didn't expect that the food to be on the same buffet line. bila hubby tanya semua food halal ke? quickly the lady tutup lauk pauk yang non-halal... masa tu serta merta kembang tekak kami... the one yang nampak macam fish ball celup tepung tu rupa2nya daging 'itu'... separuh mati aku ingat bleh bagi the kids makan! ohhh tidakkkk! kejamnya aku. separuh jalan makan pecal terasa kembang tekak semula... terus kami berhenti makan. huwaaa seksanya!

paling tak sampai hati bila tengok the kids tak makan apa2 pun. just imagine yaya yang hantu nasi didn't had sebiji nasi pun sepanjang 4 days in bali... she lived on fried egg, french fries, oreo biscuits and more fried eggs!

next, we went to the art museum. hubby is not an art lover, i do love art but i'm not passionate about it, when your partner does not share the same interest with you, the love for art sort of mati dengan sendirinya, not that i care so much. we decided that the art museum is not our 'thing' and leave empty handed.

next stop ni yang plaing menyeronokkan for me! hehe Galuh batik shop. we got 50% discount for all items from kain batik lepas, pelikat samarinda, kebaya, batik printed tote, sandals etc. seronok bershopping lupa perut lapar... ada patut?

after the stop at galuh, Wayan wants to bring us to the monkey forest and silver craft shop which i and hubby rejected (in a nice way). the kids dah kepenatan, lapar but that didn't stop me from asking Wayan to bring us to Pasar Sukawati. this is the place where you can buy all sorts of souvenir items tapi kena pandai bargain. i enjoy the bargain part so much, hubby did too... macam sport plak for us doing the bargain thing. the hawkers kind of forcing us to buy things from their shop, bila kita cakap tak nak, they'll immediately lower down the price, if you say tak nak again, they'll ask you how much you want. kadang2 irritating jugak sebab kita betul2 tak nak barang tu.

and if you bring your kids with you please be more alert coz if the hawkers can't persuade you to buy then they'll turn to your kids. tak pasal2 beli miniature cats at the price of rp15,000 ... ntah apa gunanya aku pun tak tau. kes terperangkap lah ni.

we saw one stall selling 'Muslim' bakso... tapi tak berani nak cuba. so just bought a few carton drinks and biscuits for the kids.

balik ke hotel, semuanya tertidur kepenatan, while i go for the massage at the hotel's spa.

Bali Day 1

eventhough we had 5 months to prepare for this trip, we havent done much other than browsing and making list for halal restaurants and booked the hotel which was done to the last minute walaupun sebenarnya dah berbulan buat decision where to stay.

there were just a few number of places we visited in bali, well maybe i exaggerate a bit because honestly there was only one place that we went to and enjoyed our time as a family, yang lain2 tu mama je yang syok sendiri bershopping. but there were a lot of photos taken as a memento.

Bali Day 1 (departure & arrival)
20 nov 2007

since our flight will be taking off at 10.25am on 20nov, we decided to stay overnight at my sis home at klia quarters. it will save us the hassle and traffic jam in the early morning of a working day. arrived at lcct sharp at 9am, we proceed to the check in counter and realised that we were late. it was a very long queue, by the time we got the boarding pass it was already 10am. we then proceed to the departure hall and was met with another long queue... uihhh ramainya yang pergi bali pagi tu.

look at our lugagge, 1 beg besar and 1 beg sandang with pampers, towel, baby wipes and susu for immediate use dalam flight. thanks sally for the tips ;)

it was the first time we took the kids for a long journey on board the flight. i prayed hard that they wouldnt make so much fuss on board, alhamdulillah yaya fall asleep before the flight took off, i am grateful for that because she just couldnt stop crying or jumping on her seat and merengek nak duduk dengan daddy. apparently everyone wants to seat with daddy and nobody wants to sit with mama... mama dah tumbuh tanduk ke sekarang ni?

we safely arrive ngurah rai airport at 1.20pm. i hate the landing part so much, penat control myself not to vomit or pening throughout the 3 hours journey, tetiba part landing tu betul2 buat rasa nak ter'kantoi'. hilang mood. the screening part at the immigration check point was smooth. i regret for not asking the hotel to arrange for pick up, because we were sort of blur bukan sebab tak tau or takde cab service tapi sebab rasa macam was2 jer. plus that when the cab service quoted us rp85,000 we sort of telan air liur for a minute or two and had to quickly make a conversion of that amount to myr just to check if they were charging us reasonable fare. silly huh?

at diwangkara holiday villa, sanur we received warm greeting from the hotel in form of fast check in, face towel and fresh fruits. when i first book the room at this hotel i didn't realised that the superior garden villa comes with a combination of garden view and sea view. it had a verandah facing straight to the pool and sea. and right before we enter the room we were greeted by a small adjoining room complete with a day bed... kalau nak ikutkan the room can accomodate 4 adults at one time. and the hotel's restaurant (the only one offers halal food) located dekat depan our room.


pintu depan room #101


hubby baik hati bagi tip kat budak hotel yang carry our luggage to the room... nak tau berapa tip tu? rp3,000... sounds a big amount to us right? but what is the value of rm1.50? aduiii pecah perut aku ketawa... malu nak jumpa budak tu lagi, nasib til the day we checked out dengan bayang dia pun kami tak serempak.

perut terasa lapar, makan buah jer mana cukup so we went to the restaurant. hmm tengok menu semuanya Malaysian food... haha rasa nak gelak jer betullah all the comments that i read from one of the website about this hotel.


comel kan... ni tengah control tahan lapar. bila makanan sampai habis meja pun dia nak panjat!

tahan lapar gak ni

ni lagi lapar sampai baring atas meja

apapun we are grateful that the hotel provides halal food yang sememangnya susah nak cari untuk orang yang baru first time jejak bali macam kami. the list that i made earlier doesn't help much, all the places in the list were scattered all over bali, very little kat area sanur. but we made our own discovery on our 3rd day here.

malam lepas maghrib we thought off walking down the road konon nak mencari McD that we saw on the way ke hotel siang tadi. tapi bila jumpa banyak sangat anjing berkeliaran sepanjang jalan, anak2 pulak ketakutan, we decided to turn back to the hotel and had our dinner at the hotel instead. but before that we manage to let the hotel know that we'd like to have a private tour to the elephant safari on the next day.

Fenin

should have start packing our things for the trip... but i havent even started.
i'm so clueless i don't know where to start... and we are leaving on tuesday morning!
for a 4 days trip i guess we need not bring too many clothes, dirty clothes can be send for laundry nanti kat sana... so tak yah bw banyak2... but for the kiddies hmm dengan pampers yaya lagi, susu dia lagi... at times like this when we need to travel light how i wished i had toilet trained her and weaned her off formula milk. aduiii leceh juga nak gi bercuti ni... fenin.
my boss asked me why bali?
i don't know? what's the attraction? ntah... saja jer. well, i've been planning to go there since last year, but i didn't succeed in persuading hubby to leave the children behind and go there just the 2 of us. plus... my health was very bad last year due to tonsilitis... so i decided to get rid off the tonsils and postpone the trip to this year.
sebenarnya tak yakin pun dapat materialised the trip this year...
kumpul2 duit skit... cukup2 lah utk 'berehat' 4 beranak kat sana.

preparations? Z.E.R.O.

Bla...bla...bla...

i haven't been writing much lately. it's not as thou there's no blogging issue to write about, it's just that there were too many things happened at one time so i had unintentionally 'abscond' myself from the blogging world for a while.

having been entrusted to execute a very 'high profile' inquiry recently, i must say that 'it' did affect me mentally and emotionally. i was so deeply taken in to it that i had an emotional block that i lost appetite to blog. people blog for many reasons. i created this blog as a space for me to express myself. my life journal, it captures almost every moments i went through in my life, my ups and my downs, the love of my life, my passion, my obsession. this is the space where i can really express my feelings where in the real world out there (apart from my family members) i had to restrict myself from expressing my true feelings, simply because i'm afraid if i let it go, people might feel hurt. if things get out of control or upsets me, i'd rather chew on it, and express my feelings elsewhere.

so this is where sometimes, when i had a bad day at work, i'd go home and start writing it here. eventhough from the beginning i tried so much not to babble so much about work in this blog, but i find it very difficult not to.

so this time, i ended up babbling about this...

Family Photo

this is one of our Hari Raya photos taken at the photo studio in seremban. i've just collected it last thursday, scanned it but unable to upload to photobucket earlier due to slow server connection.

the people at the studio must have done some touch up work on my face as it appears flawless. tu bukan keje make up tau sebab aku ni tak reti bermekap. yang peliknya yaya kalau disuruh senyum mesti mata jadi sepet, bila disuruh buka mata senyum plak jadi semacam je. fahmi try to maintain 'macho'... hmmm gigi tu kurang comey skit

dah dapat framed kan gambar besar2 dah tak tau nak letak mana plak.