We lurve Bali!

I meant to continue blogging about my Greece trip, really! It was supposed to be a "Top 5 favourites" and "Top 5 dislikes" about Greece. Somehow I couldn't bring myself to blog about the bad part. I think most of us choose to share the pleasant and happy things that we experience during a trip, and gloss over (but never forget) the lousy bits. Nonetheless, little incidents both pleasant and unpleasant, make our trip a complete learning experience. I mean, if you embark on a 2-week trip and experienced only good things, that sounds too good to be true! Even 2 weeks spent in sheltered Singapore would expose you to some unsavoury incidents.

Anyway, not too long after the Greece trip, P and I decided to go to Bali! :) It was a short 3-day trip but we enjoyed it to the max!

Day 1 - Legian, Kuta & Tuban

Our lovely hotel opposite Legian beach - Alam Kulkul. We were greeted by this lovely floral arrangement in the bathtub when we checked in! Pity they cleared it the next morning!

The adorned walkway leading to the hotel.

Pretty Legian beach. The sand is soft and fine, but not white. I still think Thai beaches have the nicest white sand! The local dudes ace at surfing!

Favourite equation: Bintang beer + Beach + Bum = Heaven

Sunset at Legian beach was a dramatic affair.

Kuta: Touristy area. Plenty of shops selling surfwear, fake watches, clothes etc. There's a lot going on here and definitely not the best place to stay, in my opinion. I met the coolest Ronald Mcdonalds ever - surfer dude with red hair!

Tuban: Bubba Gump restaurant in Tuban. Mascot of the restaurant: Lobster and his friend the shrimp.

Forrest Gump looks lost!


Day 2 - Seminyak and Jimbaran Bay

Black beach of Seminyak. Tried bodyboarding here! It was exciting riding on the waves but tiring when you have to drag the board out to sea again! Will definitely try surfing the next time I go!

Grocer and Grind - trendy restaurant with good food and great chill-out music. Felt totally relaxed here after a day at the beach.

Quaint shops of Seminyak. There were many designer boutiques at the Seminyak area, as well as the road leading to Legian. Very pricey though!

Jimbaran Bay - Seafood on the beach! We had barbequed fish, sotong and prawns! It was romantic? (and kinda dark - we couldn't see what we were eating!)

Local band serenading song requests. I requested for "Just the way you are" but the singer kept forgetting his lyrics! Sigh!


Day 3 - Ubud

We travelled 1+ hour to Ubud, the arty town of Bali. It was very interesting, there were lots of arts and crafts - paintings, wooden sculptures and carvings, batik (dyed cloth) etc. P and I decided to go for a spa treatment @ Bodyworks while we were there. The spa was carried out in airy rooms fully equipped with a bed, toilet and bath area. A massage, scrub, yoghurt rub-down and floral bath cost less than S$25! Cool huh!

Did I mention the surroundings were so rustic I could hear chickens clucking and birds chirping while the massage was going on?

Neat streets lined with unique and arty shops.

Near the Monkey sanctuary. Lots and lots of monkeys scrounging for food and posing for photographs!



Looking forward to my next trip to Bali...wonder when that will be?

3 year wait

...is finally over!

Jay Chou is coming to Singapore!! Hoot hoot, phew weet! I caught the dude's concert 3 years ago, must have been his 3rd (?) concert in Singapore and he rocked man. Such charisma, though I'd bet my last dollar that some would object vehemently to this statement!

Since that last concert, I've been waiting...and waiting....and waiting, year after year...after year...The scariest bit was when Sistic started selling the tickets to his 2008 concert last week, it was operation covert and I had zero inkling about it, until the tickets were sold out. How fortunate.

As you can jolly well imagine, I was devastated. 3 years in the waiting and my dream could possible be dashed, just because you punks out there have such quick fingers. But lo and behold, Jay decides to hold a 2nd night concert on his birthday! On that fateful morning when the tickets were launched, on the MRT to work, P and I exchanged vows to book the most expensive tickets as soon as we got to the office. And try we did, but to no avail. The Sistic website refused to load, hung, crawled and basically rejected our valiant efforts at securing the tickets. The Sistic hotline was too darn hot and acting like a real hot line for the first time. Again, I felt dejected and on the verge of crying tears of frustration.

Over the next few days, I tried but Sistic remained uncooperative and continued to prolong my agony. I witnessed (to my horror) the tickets dwindling from "Seats available" to "Limited seats available" to "Single seats available". Mind you, at this point, I was still praying for a miracle to happen and it finally did! On that lucky morning, I managed to secure not 1, not 2, but 3 tickets to Jay Chou's concert on the 18th January 2008. Not the best seats, but I'm not complaining yea?

Chin Yi is thankful that her dream is not about to be shattered yet.