Wet WEt WET

*22nd September 2009*

It was back to the road again; 3 grueling hours from Lovina back to North Seminyak, where we'll be spending the remaining of our stay in Bali. But this time, we managed to strike a deal - IDR350,000 (~RM135) for a car ride back there (versus IDR500,000 when we got here). Ahh.. we were finally on the role when it came to bargaining skill! ;)

But it rained.. it rained almost the entire journey. As we approached North Seminyak, there was still no sign of the rain stopping. Although it did lighten to a considerable drizzle. BUT, it was still wet. WET! Sigh..

Determined to not let this dampened the holiday mood, we psyched ourselves to make the very best of the situation. It wasn't difficult. We found ourselves upgraded into a Deluxe room upon arrival at Bali Ayu Hotel :)





Fresh Orchids welcoming us in the room - pretty!



We even have our own lil' patio..



..and a small kitchen (which we never found the time to use).


Ah.. another nice little roof to our heads for the next 2 nights.

*Hunger pang strikes*. By golly, it was already past 2pm!

"Eh, let's go for lunch! We can't be sitting here all day.."

"Okay. Wanna try the shop across the street?"

Sure! Anywhere nearby was good.

We found ourselves at the infamous Bebek Bali Restaurant. The name itself means 'Balinese Duck' and in case that doesn't tip you off as to their specialty, everything from napkins to beer coasters inside the lush, ornamented restaurant is duck-shaped. Duck is served in 7 different ways, and given the number of people, we only managed to try 2 ways - both ways, simply excellent!





Ducky menu, paper weight & placemat.



Succulent, juicy & tender duck infused in local herbs & flavours.



Local choice of condiments (sambal) which paired very well with the duck.



Not duck juice! An ordinary pineapple + papaya juice BUT with ducky stirrer.

Utterly satisfying. We vouched to return here before the end of the trip (but we eventually failed to do so:()

It was still wet.

What else can we do in this wet condition?

"Let's grab a taksi and head towards Kuta. We can stop anywhere along the way and do some shopping since the weather doesn't look like it's going to change anytime soon". He suggested.

Might as well, I guess. Both of us aren't big shoppers but a holiday is not complete without minimal shopping (at least the family members/friends are expecting souvenirs!). 40 minutes on the road, and we have hardly moved 8km.

"Oii.. macat, macaT! Sungguh macat!!" Mr Taksi man said.

Ah.. easy for you to say, Mr Taksi Man. And here we were, bored to death, watching the taxi meter running. We decided to get down and walk along the streets heading towards Kuta. At least there were shops along the road. We dodged in and out of these shops, and bought our first and only item - an umbrella. Great.

Before we knew it, we were already approaching Kuta town.
Wow.. we actually walked 5km! It didn't felt like it. Tired of the shops, we made our way to the beach. I looked at the sky, and breathed a sigh of relief. The rain has finally stopped for good.

As Kuta Beach came to full view, I couldn't help but felt a rush of excitement running down my spine. The sight that laid before me was... indescribable. The sheer strength and magnitude of the crashing waves with accompanying sound it resonated was magnificent. As how he puts it simply, 'It isn't the crashing of the waves. It is the *explosion* of the waves.' I couldn't have agreed more.

People from all walks of life somehow found a way to enjoy the nature that was before them. Our shutters kept clicking endlessly.





Scanning around to find our own way of composing the photos.



With a foot planted firmly to the ground...





We started shooting!





There were surfers



Compulsory Lifeguard



Families



Children Playing



Dog & Owner





Footprints



Reflection



A memory definitely worth keeping

We stayed till the sun has set entirely.

Because we had a late lunch, we weren't really hungry, hence we decided to take a walk a little longer to a less crowded area and get a taxi from there. A wise decision indeed! We didn't have to sit put in one spot and watch ridiculously at the meter going and at the same time we were able to work up an appetite with the considerable walking done.

However, getting a taxi to take us to Jimbaran turned out to be rather difficult; something we didn't expect at all. No Pak Taksi was willing to take us there as the roads leading to Jimbaran were jam packed with vehicles!!
"Dammit. I'm not travelling anywhere during festive season again. Ever." I silently grumbled beneath my breath.
Eventually, we managed to flag one to take us there. Phew...

Jimbaran seafood market is located along a long stretch of white, sandy beach where many seafood restaurants offering the widest selection of seafood has attracted both locals and tourists to the area. A perfect romantic evening can be created by dining on Jimbaran beach during sunset, where one watched the horizon of red, gold and amber melting away to reveal a starry evening sky while enjoying the freshly flame grilled seafood, serenaded by a group of acoustic muscians occasionally punctured by the crashing of the waves.

I have been here slightly less than a decade ago, and knew one day, that I will return again. Here I was.



Loving the seafood!!



Flame grilled fish. It tasted a lot better than it looked! The sambal was to-die-for (kicap manis + kicap asin + bawang hiris + cili padi).



Say hi to the group of musicians that performed a local happy folksong specially for us!



On the beach, there were coRn-man selling corns (pun intended :p).

We had the option of having either sweet or savoury. "Manis please, Mr. Corn Man!", sweet tooth boy replied with no hesitation. How sweet :) Yummy corn coated with sugar and grilled over charcoal. When the sugar has caramelized giving rise to brownish 'burnt' corn, it was then buttered and served piping hot.



We shared one :) And he simply loved it.

After a grilled fish, fried squid, grilled mussels and one corn, we *rolled* home tired but happily satisfied.

"Shall we come back here again tomorrow?"

We'll see... ;)