Hey all...! Alohaaaa! (As if just came back from Hawaii hehehe :P) Anyways.... Just came back from a very very fun & relaxing trip to Bali! It was my 3rd time to Bali but still had loads of great experience and got the chance to explore more new places and attractions while visiting again the places I've been to before... I just love Bali so much... There's so many things to do and so many places to go. Just one trip to Bali is not enough if you ask me. Unless you're there for more than 1 month, then you really have to go again and again and again to really get to experience all of Bali has to offer! :)
30 Oct 2013 - Depart to Bali
So... Me and 2 other friends headed for Bali from Kuala Lumpur on 30th Oct 2013 on Air Asia's (go Air Asia go!) last flight to Bali at 8.50pm Malaysia time...
Another friend who was supposed to also leave the same time with us had to see us go since his passport did not have the sufficient 6 months validity period... Haha his bad for overseeing it! Anyways he got to board the last flight the next day after renewing his passport in the morning. Many thanks to the very fast and efficient service of the Malaysian Immgiration Department! Woot woot! :D So please guys...remember to check your passport validity before travelling okayyy!
We arrived at the newly refurbished Ngurah rai airport just before midnight. Very modern setting on the inside as expected on new airports nowadays but maintaining the traditional Balinese architecture on the outside. Cool!
NOTE TO ALL: Once you get out of the arrival hall there will be loads of men asking if you need any taxi. Please be warned that they are not the official airport taxis. They will ask for fares well above the standard rates. Please avoid them. Once you exit the arrival hall, please ignore them and turn left and walk until you see the official airport taxi counter. There will be Taxi signboards along the way.
Below is the latest fixed price rates for taxis going out from Ngurah Rai airport.
So our first 2 nights in Bali was in Tune Hotel Kuta. Very conveniently located in central Kuta very close to Hard Rock Hotel (150m from Tune), Legian Street (100m from Tune) and Discovery Mall (350m from Tune). I can say that Tune Kuta is exactly in the center of Kuta "golden triangle". My triangle would be Hard Rock Hotel, Legian Street and Discovery Mall. Hehe. FYI, there's also another Tune Hotel but in Legian.
Tune Hotels Official Website
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| Rooms are small but clean and has very comfortable bed. Just nice with what we were paying. :) My room was USD20 per night and I got it online through their official website. If you want to get similar rates you need to always keep an eye on their website as they regularly do promos ---> Tune Hotel Official Website |
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| Just 150 meters straight ahead from this spot is the infamous Kuta Beach and Hard Rock Hotel. |
31 Oct 2013 - DAY 1 (Kuta Beach, Discovery Mall, Tampaksiring, Legian St)
The first thing we did on our first day was to of course check out Kuta Beach woohoo! And since Tune Hotel did not offer any breakfast, we were up quite early to search for halal food in Kuta. I remember from my last visit that there were a few halal stalls along Kuta Beach so I led my friends to Kuta Beach...
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| Just when entering the main street from Tune Hotel Kuta... and the end of this street around 100m at my back is Kuta Beach... |
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| This is sort of the main entrance to Kuta Beach with that traditional Balinese gates. Hard Rock Hotel is on my left. |
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| Once entering the Balinese gates in the previous pic above, this is the view to the left and below is the view to the right... |
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| Kuta Beach woohooo!!! Not my first time though but still am truly happy and excited to be here again! |
So we found the halal stalls for our brunch! To get here just turn left at the main entrance of Kuta Beach near Hard Rock Hotel and walk around 300m until you see a few stalls on the left. There are a few halal stalls here so choose which one is to your liking. :) Please bear in mind that these are only beach stalls so do not expect 5 star services okayyy. :P
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| Eating while enjoying the view. Oh yeah make sure you always get the bottled water whenever you want to drink. Tap water are not safe to be consumed here! |
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| My simple choice for brunch for 3 USD. No rice since thinking of continuing my Atkins even in Bali. Only able to maintain for 1st day haha. Dieting is so not cool when you're on holiday right? :) |
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| Some of the resort on the main road going to Discovery Mall. |
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| This is Discovery Mall front entrance... It's one of the 2 shopping complexes you can go in Kuta Strip now. Another newer one is Beach Walk Mall closer to Hard Rock Hotel. It's worth going to Discovery Mall if you are looking for fast foods. A few halal fast food here. A&W is halal. Bread Story is also halal and a few other shops. Just go in and check their halal certificate and logo. :) |
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| The back entrance facing the beach.... Lots of photo op here. :) |
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| The view towards the Main Kuta Beach from Discovery Mall. Yes you can just walk by the beach to this mall if you want to. I used the inner road. Both has something to offer. Inner road has many shops you can stop by. The beach path of course offers you better views. |
So after our walk from the main entrance of Kuta Beach to Discovery Mall (which is around 500 meters of walk i guess), we went to the place where we will be boarding our shuttle for today. For your information, months before my trip to Bali, I bought myself a card named Bali Plus Priority Platinum Card as the below pic. My friends and I bought it in Groupon Malaysia for USD15. I read that the card can also be bought in Ngurah Rai Airport for USD25. I guess you can also buy the cards from their Lounges. This card allows you to get discounts in many hotels, restaurants and shops but what I was most interested in was the free shuttle they provide for you around Bali. The shuttle goes to almost all the must go attractions in Bali such as Tanah Lot, Sanur, Nusa Dua, Jimbaran, Ubud, Tampaksiring, Kintamani and even around Kuta, Legian area. Once bought, the card has no expiry date until the moment you activate it in Bali in any of their many Lounges. Once activated, you may use the card and its services up to 10 days only. Which is really sufficient to most people going to Bali right?
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| The card that gave us our wheels in Bali. :) We loved it! |
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The Kuta Lounge. If you wish to go here, just enter the small road right beside
Bubba Gump nearby Discovery Shopping Mall. The lounge will be almost at
the end of the road on your left side. |
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| Inside Kuta Plus Priority Kuta Lounge. You will get free wifi, drinks and snacks here. Convenient? Much!!! And it's air-conditioned too. :) |
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The shuttle schedules. I do recommend you to buy this card if you will be staying in Bali
for more than 4 days. But if less, I guess you only will be able to cover a few places
using the shuttle. It's better that you just rent a driver + van and you can cover more
places in your short stay in Bali. In my trip this time I also rented a van to go to other
must go places not offered in the shuttles service.
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Our first trip using the Plus Priority free shuttle is to Tampaksiring. A very beautiful water featured temple where the main attraction is the holy spring. You can enter and sort of take a dip and short shower in the holy spring with a small fee and the right attire. There are changing rooms here. And they can lend you their sarongs if you don't have one when entering this temple. By the way it took 1 and a half hours from Kuta to Tampaksiring.
Tampaksiring should definitely be in your itinerary if you're going to Bali.
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| RP 15,000 to enter here. |
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| Rules and regulations... |
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| Reminder... |
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| Locals performing their prayers... |
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| Some of the water feature in Tampaksiring... |
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| Performing her prayer... |
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| As you can see, you need to wear the sarongs to enter the temple... |
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| At one of the entrances to the temple. :) |
After Tampaksiring we headed back to our hotel to freshen up and then we headed to Legian Street to check out the happenings on that Halloween Night. Yeah we were there on Halloween. Unplanned though. :)
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| Happening Legian Street. |
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| Legian Street at night... |
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| Cute... |
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| Cozy... |
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| Prepared for the Halloween Night crowd... |
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| It's Halloween in Bali! :) |
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| Up up and away! :D I got a friendly warning for taking their pic haha! :P |
Well...that's all for my 1st day in Bali. Will continue on the 2nd day soon! :)
