Day two in Bali brought my tired fat ass to Sai Land (see how coffee luwak is made!), then up to Kintamani where I had a scenic lunch over-looking the STILL ACTIVE Mount Batur (nobody got toasted), visited the I Made Joni Gallery, had a babi feast at Ubud, and spent the night away at a rather ‘quiet’ Hard Rock Café.
Okay, first stop of the day was at a souvenir shop (forgot the shop’s name) where apparently, genuine gifts are sold. Not too sure how genuine is genuine, but I didn’t buy anything (nothing that I fancy anyway, so why waste my Rupiahs…). Instead, I took some pictures while waiting for the rest of them splurging their guts moolahs.
Clockwise from left: Welcome to the souvenir shop!; The entrance of the shop; Me & Loo sitting on the wooden bench outside the shop.
Another unique structure within the shop’s vicinity
Almost everywhere we went, I did notice something very obvious. There was this ‘thing’… errr…forgot the actual name, this ‘thing’ that look like this:
This…’thing’…
Well this ‘thing’ is placed at almost every entrance to a shop, to a house or to a building in Bali. According to our tour guide Mr. Putu, if anyone kicks or steps on it, bad karma befalls on that person. But what if we ACCIDENTALLY kick or step on it? What then? Well, Mr. Putu said we should immediately apologize and say that we didn’t mean it. Gee. I can’t remember how many of those I have accidentally stepped on AND forgot to apologize…
Next stop, Sai Land – the land of herbs and spices! The only unique thing about this place was the ‘shitty’ cuppa coffee, known as Kopi Luwak. Why ‘shitty’, you wonder? Take a look at this Wiki definition excerpt for Kopi Luwak…
Kopi Luwak (pronounced [?kopi ?luwak]) or Civet coffee is coffee made from coffee berries which have been EATEN BY AND PASSED THROUGH THE DIGESTIVE TRACT of the Asian Palm Civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus). The civets eat the berries, but the beans inside pass through their system undigested.
So, in my own simple words…it’s coffee made from an animal’s dung! Hollieeeee shit!
Clockwise from top left: At Sai Land; Passing through various herb and spices plantations; The making of Kopi Luwak; A guy pounding some of the ‘beans’, I guess.
Clockwise from top left: The civet animal; Kopi Luwak! Dare you to drink it!; Some of the spices and ingredients that you can put into your cuppa coffee; The brave ones gulping down the shitty coffee…their verdict? YUMMY!
I dare not try the coffee, instead, I took pictures around the place.
A closer look at the shit, uh, I mean the ‘coffee beans’…
As soon as we stepped out of the entrance to board our bus, several Balinese men and women swarmed us with their goodies, pestering us to buy their ‘genuine’ products.
<* Perrinator suddenly felt like a superstar, being surrounded by screaming fans (minus the camera flashes *>
The very, very persistent salesmen and saleswomen…
Mr. Putu advised us not to be fooled by their goods because they will only show you the real thing (which is usually clutched in their hands) but give you the fake one from their bags. If you are really tempted or really like a particular souvenir, insist on getting the one from their hands, not the ones from their bags.
Alrighty, next stop, the Mount Batur at Kintamani. Vehicles entering the region would have to pay an entrance fee (like a toll) at a booth.
‘Enterance Ticket’. LOL!
I thought it’s gonna feel as if I’m in Genting Highlands, oh well, it’s windy and a little cool, but it’s not that cold. I was so excited at the sight of Mount Batur that I could hardly wait to get off the bus when it stopped.
<* Perrinator imagines herself as Jean from X-Men where she uses her telepathic power to clear her path by throwing everyone out of the bus *>
I’ve finally arrived!
Mount Batur
Another view of Mount Batur
Can’t get enough of Mount Batur!
The lake at Mount Batur. Too bad we were not scheduled to pay a visit to that side of the lake!
Oh, it was time for our lunch buffet at the Kintamani Restaurant and we were hurriedly ushered into the restaurant by Mr. Putu (most of us were outside busy taking pictures of Mount Batur. LOL!)
Kintamani Restaurant
The food weren’t that special, lots of flies around as usual, and I remembered stuffing a lot the pisang goreng (fried bananas) into my jelly belly. Hehehe…
Oh Hasmi, what were you trying to do? Kill me and roast me? I tak halal lar!
After lunch, we continued taking more pictures before we got on to our next journey. I can’t possibly upload all the pictures here, so, go view more at my Facebook alright? Our next stop was the I Made Joni Gallery where plenty of traditional and modern Balinese fine art were on display. I am no fan of artistic work, hence, I buy nothing.
Clockwise from top left: I Made Joni Gallery entrance; A background picture of the artsy building (with Ah Pek who spoilt the whole scene; Another area within the gallery; An artistic man at work
The Ubud Market was our next shopping destination. Those of you who are working as a salesperson can demonstrate your negotiation skill here! Yes, bargain and bargain hard, you may just get that item for the price you want! There were like millions of stuff sold here – batik, clothes, wooden crafts, bags, handbags, slippers, shoes, keychains, home deco, paintings, and you-name-it-you-got-it items! Phew! FYI, it was pretty stuffy and claustrophobic inside the market, so, if you fear enclosed or narrow space…you should just probably stroll along the street.
Ubud Market
Another section of Ubud Market
I noticed that there were a lot of stray dogs in Bali, not just in Ubud.
Though I again, buy nothing, we went a little further than the market in search of the famed Babi Guling (Balinese Roast Suckling Pig). Indonesia is indeed a Muslim country, but as I mentioned earlier, more than 93% of the population in Bali are Hindu, so, pork is not an issue to them. It’s totally HALAL to consume pork in public!
The Ibu Oka stall signboard that caught our attention.
I was very much excited at the thought of devouring the famous babi, but, all hope was completely dashed when I saw…The Making Of Babi Guling…ah yes… I had to pass by the stall to get into the seating area, and I can’t help but to take a look at how they make the dish. Holliieee fliesssss!! There were so many flies buzzing around the area where they prepared the dishes and I totally lost my appetite!!! (oh, by the way, the stall is like 20 over years old, and…it’s family business)
The Babi guling meat served with crispy pork skin, some veggies and rice.
Many of them were surprised that I backed out of ordering because I was the one that kept urging them to find the stall that served babi guling. Hehehe…they started teasing me “You came here all the way from Malaysia to try the famed babi guling and now you don’t wanna eat it?!” Yeah, laugh and tease all you want. Anyway, their verdict was… DELICIOUS!!! One of them even ordered TWO bowls for himself. Ah, the only thing that I did try was…the also famous, Sosro Teh Botol!
The Sosro Teh Botol, which was actually Jasmine tea.
Strolling around the Ubud market street after the piggy visit
After the shopping stint ended, we went for a two-hour traditional Balinese massage at two different places (coz one massage parlour couldn’t possibly take us all in at a time – there were like 30 of us?). I was soooo embarrassed to strip half naked and get rubbed or kneaded by the masseuse that I politely tell her “Miss, I am not used to being massaged by a human, especially from head to toe, hence, could you just massage my head, hands and feet? Thank you.”
Laugh all you want. I’d rather sit my fat ass on my own Osim massage chair and let the machine do the work. The poor masseuse was pretty shocked at my request, and went into another room to consult her senior. I’m pretty sure they were laughing. Anyway, my session lasted an hour, and I have been suppressing my laughs for about half an hour because I can hardly stand the ticklish feeling I get when she massage my legs or near my armpits!
We headed for dinner at another local restaurant (forgot the name) after the massage session. It was a simple meal, like this:
Rice wrapped in banana leaves, fried chicken, fried fish, fried tofu, soup and some chili sauce.
Yummy! I’m full!
After dinner, it was time to head back to our hotel, but the night was still young. So, some of us decided to pay a visit to Hard Rock Café and thankfully, the tour guide dropped us off nearby that area and we just walked. I was dead tired (blame it on the excessive amount of flesh on my J.Lo’s ass) but I managed to keep up with them as I was pretty much excited.
On our way to Hard Rock, we passed by this slingshot! Dare you to try!
Apparently, this slingshot is built and managed by the Australians…hmmm…I see no Aussies in sight, only locals managing it. Perhaps they should rename it as “Australian Built, Managed Locally”
Finally we’ve arrived at the Hard Rock Café! Everyone will get screened by the guards at the entrance (to detect any weapons or bombs) before we can pass through.
A rather empty dance floor. I guess the previous bombing in the café had pretty much scare off a lot of tourists.
Having fun with the team! Look at the red arrow I inserted into the bottom left picture. He was trying to shove the whole red wine into my mouth! LOL!
There was a live band (they didn’t really rock our socks off) and the crowd was still… well, it was just our group and other smaller groups of people. Anyway, here’s more of our…actions! Hehehehe…
Ahhh…at last, we left the café and I was dying to get back to the hotel and drop dead on my bed! But…my fellow team members had something else in their minds…they wanted to explore more!
Somewhere nearby the café.
And this was how I look like when we stopped by at McDonald’s to nurse our sore feet before we went back to our hotel…
So so so so so tired!!!!
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