Hah! Sounded funny kan? But I’m speaking straight from my heart. I fell in love for Bali at first sight, and this longing feeling is really kicking me at the back. I wish I’m right there right now..
I really don’t know where to start. It took me few days upon arrival in KL to write this, I think I still miss that place so badly that I couldn’t get my fingers tapping on the keyboard. If this is what first love feels like, I think I’ve been missing a lot in life.
Day 1 ~ 140509: We commenced our journey on 14th May 09, around 7pm..Few days prior to date I’ve booked our accomodation; it would be 3 days in the village of Ubud and another 3 days in the hectic Kuta. And so I was told that Kuta was a must go..Even before departure I already fell in love coz Agus (the son’s owner) has been attending my emails patiently. And boy, haven’t I always been a girl with zil of queries! 
Upon arrival, Pak Ketut already waited for us along with other taxi driver, holding a signage with my (full!) name on it. Upon seeing us walking in a flock, he straight away greeted us. We apologized for being late (delay due to filling up the swine flu disease forms and also luggage pickup. He said that’s okay and he was more than happy to see us landed safely. I thought it was just a figure of speech, that Balinese are just smoothtalkers and very service oriented. No, it was good enough for us, but I thought wrong. We got more that what we bargained for.
Pak Ketut drove us home (about one hour from the airport) to Teba House safely. He is a very warmth and friendly person. We asked all sorts of questions (even silly ones count!) but he answered us patiently and always try to explain even when he can’t put those words in a language we understood. We stopped for a while to buy nasi padang (damn hungry!) and decided to eat at home since we all were too tired already. It was around 11pm, and Ubud seemed like a haunted place! There were no people in sights/roads and at times we wondered if we got onto the wrong cab. Who knew that a road to heaven is rough..
And yes indeed, we arrived at Teba House. We fell in love at first sight. The housekeepers/butlers/waiters; Wayan and Ketut already waited for us (with their eyes half opened) and offered to carry our (FYI, 5 girls and 1 guy) bags. I already booked 2 deluxe rooms and 1 superior room (just in case- since I really have no idea how big the rooms were) and Pak Ketut said that we’re free to choose whichever one we favor.
And so we settled in 2 deluxe rooms (spacious, newly built, power showery, huge balcony). The honeymooner (Liza, Luqman) took the room upstairs and we (Mon, Shahnaz, Arda and myself) decided to choose the lower one, with a queen size extra bed. We sleep like we never had a good one before..
Flight tickets: RM98 (including luggage check-in) return.
Transportation from airport : IDR200,000
Rooms : IDR300,ooo per room (extra bed IDR50,ooo)
Dinner : IDR90,000
Day 2 ~ 150509 : I was woken up (dawn was so early, around 6am) to the sound of burung tiung, barking of Brownie; the obedient puppy and the chirps of the hens and cocks around the yards. But it sounded like lullaby to me. Breakfast was prepared, we had toasted bread, omelette and fresh fruits. This morning, we get to meet Ibu Ayu, Pak Ketut’s wife who is so beautiful at her age. She was the one who manages the garden surrounding (wait till you see the pictures) the guesthouse, with the help of the housekeepers. I was fascinated to the idea of having few small houses in a confined area yet it still look so lovely and didn’t look too cramped.
We decided to go on the Kintamani Tour today. We started our journey to the Goa Gajah Temple. We are made known that upon entering temple you are required to wear sarong (for those with shorts) and some kind of scarf around your waist. After that we went to Gunung Kawi temple which was way down under (oh yes, I have some kind of phobic with stairs nowadays). I was short-breathed when climbing up the hundreds of stairs.
We moved on to TampakSiring Village where we visited the Tirtha Empul Temple (the Holly Spring). The water was so fresh and cold! There are people bathing there as well and I believed that the water is used by local for consumption. We walked along the souvenir centres and we learnt our first lesson; the art of bargaining. Don’t bargain if you don’t intend to buy, it will only create anger to the seller. If you’re the first customer for that day, try to bargain as low as you can (but within reasonable limit!) coz you will be their ‘pelaris’ for that day and they will ‘kibas’ the money they get for you, for luck for the rest of the day. Or something like that
After that Pak Ketut took us to the Coffee Processing, Herbs and Spices Plantation where we tried our first most expensive kopi luwak ever! Go google yourself. The view was breathtaking. We hanged around until it started to rain. I can sensed that Pak Ketut is already comfortable with all of us and we were joking and ‘bercanda’ along the way with him..
Then, the primary agenda for today, Batur Lake and Mountain. The volcano is surprisingly is still active to this very day. The air were so fresh and crisp! However, we were always been haggled by the locals that selling souvenirs. You just have to be very polite in turning them down (or may get cursed later!).
We stopped for the view of natty rice field at Tegalalang Rice Terrace. It looked kinda we photographed with a painting behind us kan?
Last destination for today: a must go during sunset Tanah Lot. We were taken away by the beauty of waves that hit the rocks. During the high tide, the temple will be seen as an Island. But too bad, it was raining a bit earlier so we can’t really enjoy the view of sunset. We made our way home and have our dinner at Bebek Bengil (Crisp Duck) which was situated 5 minutes away from our house. The restaurant was quite expensive, and the ducks (which were captured earlier running around at the ricefield behind) is deepfried until crispy. The taste wasn’t half bad! We called it a day around 12am in the morning
Entrance tickets : IDR3,000 per entrance
Sovenirs shopping: IDR10,000
Bebek Bengil : IDR60,000 per plate
Transportation : IDR700,000
Tips : IDR10,000
Kopi Luwak : USD10 per cup
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