Exotically Bali - Part 2

Bali is a beautiful island surrounded by breath-taking beach. One of them is Nusadua Beach. Nusadua stands for two islands. The beach is located about 40km south of Denpasar. It houses various hotels nearby. From here, you can take speedboat to Turtle Island. 

Do haggle for the right price as the boatmen there will definitely try to charge expensive fees for the tour. We managed to lower the price to about 1,000,000 IDR for Turtle Island return fee and fish feeding tour.

 Nusadua Beach

Tour Fee: 1,000,000 IDR

 There are many water sports activities available from jet skiing  to parasailing.

Visit Batara Water Sport for more information.

Arriving at Turtle Island, you get to see scarce animals such as hornbills, eagles, large bats and turtles.

  Turtle Conservation

Turtles ranging from size of a palm to those bigger than human torso.

You can even take photos, provided you dare to touch them.

In the afternoon, we went to visit GWK Cultural Park. The park is humongous is under renovation. Get ready to do a lot of walking. Else, you can just rent a Segway which is a two-wheeled self-balancing electric vehicle. I'm not sure about the procedure but I think you will need to book at least a day prior to the rental day if interested.

Garuda Wisnu Kencana Statue

Once completed, it will stand 150m tall with wing span 64m across.

Patung Perdamaian or Statue of Peace

When it's nearing sunset hour, Pura Luhur Uluwatu Temple is definitely one of the recommended to go to place. However, if you're early and have time on hand, you might want to stop and enjoy the view at Padang Padang Beach as well as Blue Point Beach.

Padang Padang Beach

Foreigners love to tan themselves here. Asians like to avoid the sunlight instead.

Blue Point Beach

A paradise for surfers. Oh, how I wish I could surf!!

Pura Luhur Uluwatu Temple was built atop cliffs overlooking the sea. This temple is believed as one of Bali's directional temples to guard Bali from evil spirits.

Breathtaking

The other end of the cliff

Boss Monkey?

There are tonnes of monkeys here. Huge, hungry and naughty.

Friendly monkey?

When visiting, avoid bringing food and watch out for your spectacles.

This belongs to a Korean. The monkey stole and bit the lens  into pieces.

This image is etched into my mind til this very day. Amazing!

Exocitally Bali - Part 1

Bali is phenomenal! If you are looking for a wonderful gateway from the hustle and bustle of a city that won't cost you much, Bali is the place to go. Excluding air flight ticket(s), it should cost you no more than MYR 2000 for a week stay there.

Okay, I'm just going to give a brief perspective on where to go (in my honest opinion) and where's not in Bali.

Barong Dance

Entrance fee: 100,000 IDR

If you're into cultures and art, well, you might like it. In my opinion, it's not worth the money  partly cause you can catch similar show for free at GWK park and the entrance fee for GWK is only 25,000 IDR!

Tegalalang Rice Terrace

Entrance fee: NIL (but there's a fee to pay getting here)

We visited Bali on June and to our disappointment,  the paddy has been harvested. Hence, the empty field. However, the scenery is still awesome. So, I would definitely recommend this place as place to go.

Lunch overseeing Kinatamani Volcano

Details: Buffet, priced from 75,000 IDR

We stopped at Grand Puncak Sari for lunch. Great delicacies, awesome view, cool and windy weather. Lunch was great! The place is usually packed especially seats over-looking Kintamani Volcano. Make sure to let the waitress take a note that you would prefer outside seats to enjoy the scenery.

This was the best photo I had of the sleeping volcano.

 

Coffee Farm

Location: Ubud, Bali

Next stop was a coffee farm not too far away from Kintamani. The coffee farm is called Alam Bali, if I'm not mistaken. As you might have known, Bali is famous for that one-of-its-kind coffee which is called, Kopi Luwak or Civet Coffee.

Have you seen a civet before?

 The lady that brought us around said this is a lemon.Okay, someone needs to redefine lemon in the dictionary cause this is ONE HUGE LEMON!!

Why a coffee farm? To taste the coffee of course!! There's ginger tea, lemon tea, ginger coffee, cappuccino, mochachino, original black coffee and (..I forgot the rest  xP)

Oh and if you want to try Luwak Coffee, you got to buy it. A packet of 100gram Luwak Coffee powder costs 100,000 IDR. By far, the most expensive coffee that we've bought and it's still sitting on our kitchen cabinet, unopened til today.

Tirta Empul Temple

Details: A Hindu temple famous for its holy water

Temples are everywhere in Bali! Crazily, we have visited them all. Yes, we are crazy. If you would like to narrow your itineraries, I would recommend you to tick this as place to go. The reason I'm uttering so is because this is where you'll get to see locals performing their religious ritual and to experience the pool of holy water.

You'll find these uniquely carved gates almost everywhere in the island 

Source of the holy water

Str. Photog: Carpenter Street, Kuching

Carpenter Street, Kuching is one of the famous places where photographers would flock to for a good street photography shoot. Being a photographer myself, well... an amateur photographer to be exact, I flew there to capture some street shots as well.

And I dragged a friend along too. I do think it's kinda weird to do street photography alone...

The cloud was giving me full cooperation. Love it!

Got to test my NEX manual focus.

And I went crazy with it!

Dreammyyy...

Temple lady to foreigner: "Good! Good! Made in Japan..."

Good Care?

I have no idea what flower is this

Sarawak's New State Legislative Assembly Building

And lastly, a landscape shot of my lovely hometown :)

Boundaries

Langkawi

Oh gee! I'm back to my old habit: Procrastinating! I was suppose to post this entry up like a month ago! Guess I need to learn how to juggle time between work, social life and updating my blog!

Anyway, let's get to the main point here. Langkawi! Breath-taking!!
[WARNING: Heavy Photos Ahead]

Symbol of Langkawi, The Eagle

We decided to stay at Bella Vista Resort and Hotel which is located at the heart of Kuah Town

The hotel faces Andaman Sea

Night time bar

I had a 4 days 3 nights stay at Langkawi. Lots of places to see and visit. Some are amazing but some just ain't worth the time. So, I am just going to highlight those places which I think are a must-visit place when you are in Langkawi.

First stop: The Oriental Village, located at Langkawi Geopark.

Here's the reason why: The Langkawi Cable Car is situated there!
This place is jam-packed during school holidays. I suggest that you arrive around 8-ish here if you do not want to be stuck in a long queue.

Up, up and away! It is a 15 minutes ride up.

Suspension bridge

You need to hike down to reach the suspension bridge.
Advice, make sure to bring some mineral water! It's exhausting!

View from above!

Further up, there are two observation decks for you to look around the island. Blue and green, that is what you'll see!

Next! Telaga Tujuh Waterfall or Seven Wells
It is less than 5 minutes driving distance from the Oriental Village.

There is a waterfall here where visitors get to dip in for free.
Make sure to bring some changing clothes!

Looks fun!

Beware of monkeys! They tend to go after your belongings if unattended.

Beras Terbakar or Field of Burnt Rice. Historical site with little to see.

You know you are there when you see this house. It is located at the front lawn.

The mark of burnt rice

On the way to Pantai Kok or Kok Beach, you'll pass by Royal Langkawi Yacht Club.

Pantai Kok

Such a serene beach...

Legend of the island: Mahsuri Mausoleum and Museum

Time for some history?

At the mausoleum, you get to visit traditional Malay houses

Some souvenirs perhaps?

Moving on, Underwater World Langkawi!
Here, you'll get to see...

Geckos, lizards..

Fishies!

Dragonnnnn???

Sea urchins, star fish, corals and lots more!

Oh angel, what are you peeping at?

Rockhopper penguin. Their feeding time is at 11:15 a.m. and 3:00 p.m.

Otter! There's feeding time for them too but I didn't manage to see it!

The breath-taking Tanjung Aru!
You can go for island-hopping from here but for a fee.

Little shops selling dresses

No harm to do one jump for remembrance!

Pantai Pasir Hitam or Black Sand
Mind that only a small part of the beach is covered with black sand, not all.

Thought I end this post with a photo of the fishing village nearby the Black Sand beach

Langkawi is definitely worth the trip if you are into beautiful sights. If you are more to shopping, then it would be the other way round.
Oh wait! The alcohol, chocs, cigarettes and ceramics ware here are really cheap as Langkawi is a duty-free island.