Cultural Learnings of Bali.....
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... for Make Benefit Glorious Forum of Club 30!
I recently went to Bali with several close friends. Just a short getaway trip before the school term starts tomorrow. Here are some pictures I took:
The view of the island from the plane as it was descending
The memorial to the 2002 Kuta bombing.
A busy street. While Kuta may be surfer central, it is unfortunately very cramped and congested these days.
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is there gona b a pic of u in a borat swimsuit?
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Rice terraces, taken from the window of the car we rented. A good car that can take seven passengers can be rented for 300,000 rupiah (~SGD$40) per day with a good knowleageable driver included.
Mount Batur in Kintamani. The place was slightly hazy when we arrived.
We had lunch at an open-air Balinese restaurant overlooking the mountain. As a result, we got authentic Bali food with a spectacular view of the mountain while we eat.Damage was about 100,000 rupiah (~SGD $12) per person, though. There was a 21% tax/service charge on top of that. Kinda steep for Bali.
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oh gosh, Bali has changed so much..
when i was there during 1990..there was not even a Hard Rock Cafe yet. only muddy roads and padi field...feels like paradise..
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Originally posted by skeujin:
is there gona b a pic of u in a borat swimsuit?
Erm.... you seriously want to see?
Ironically, while we stayed at Kuta Beach we didn't really do any surfing or watersports.
We did spend one whole day at the Waterbom Park, though.... think of it as a slightly scaled-down (and overpriced) version of Fantasy Island which Sentosa once had.
US$23 per entry..... ouch!
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Originally posted by skeujin:
is there gona b a pic of u in a borat swimsuit?
if there is, i'm going to punch him
btw.. did people accost you asking you if you wanted to buy drugs or stuff like that? when i went to Kuta, i was bugged every 10m by touts
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This was ironically my favourite food in Bali.... fried chicken with a scoop of rice and a drink. 17,500 rupiah (just over SGD$2). All the fast-food chains there (KFC, Mac, A&W) sold some version of it.
There's something so simple and elegant about it. Don't laugh.
We went to a temple at Uluwatu, where monkeys roam freely. If you're myopic, wear contact lenses if possible - these monkeys like to kapo spectacles from tourists.
A Kecak dance at the Uluwatu temple. They were performing the Ramayana, though I wouldn't have known that if it wasn't for the pamphlets being distributed.
Those guys sitting in a circle keep chanting 'Cak cak cak cak........' for nearly an hour.
The view at Uluwatu. The most spectacular cliffs I've ever seen.
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how can u go bali n not experience the surf? DUDE!?!?!?!
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ironically the main reason why i dont wana ever go back to bali is cause the bloody irritating touts far outweigh everything else, even the bombing
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that's the Monkey Dance.. probably the most famous thing about Bali after Kuta.. (man.. you gotta go there dude.. gnarly waves..)
=> Monkey Dance
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Originally posted by the Bear:
if there is, i'm going to punch him
btw.. did people accost you asking you if you wanted to buy drugs or stuff like that? when i went to Kuta, i was bugged every 10m by touts
Nah.... I wasn't approached to buy weed or anything like that.
The only real hazard was the traffic.... those bloody drivers honk like those honking monsters from Sesame Street, and it was as though traffic rules were there to be broken.
And that was the very first time I had to pay a bribe to the TP anywhere in the world.... our guide advised me to put on my best Indonesian accent and to claim that I was from Surabaya.
Otherwise, we would have had to pay 20,000 rupiah instead of 5,000 rupiah.
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Originally posted by fudgester:
Nah.... I wasn't approached to buy weed or anything like that.
The only real hazard was the traffic.... those bloody drivers honk like those honking monsters from Sesame Street, and it was as though traffic rules were there to be broken.
And that was the very first time I had to pay a bribe to the TP anywhere in the world.... our guide advised me to put on my best Indonesian accent and to claim that I was from Surabaya.
Otherwise, we would have had to pay 20,000 rupiah instead of 5,000 rupiah.
what was the bribe for?
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Originally posted by the Bear:
what was the bribe for?
it shall be known as the borat swim suit incident
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Originally posted by the Bear:
what was the bribe for?
Absolutely..... nothing.
The guide explained to us that the TPs would occasionally set up roadblocks along the roads out of southern Bali.... just to shake some cash out of out-of-town visitors. And unfortunately, we came across one such roadblock.
If you don't pay, they'll come up with all sorts of excuses to get you into trouble.
If you're an Indonesian visitor from out of Bali, you pay 5,000 rupiah.
If you look conspicuously foreign (especially ang moh), expect to get at least 20,000 rupiah shaken out of you.
I guess the fact that I can pass off as Indonesian (I'm half Javanese) got us shaken down for less cash.
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no more pics? got a close up of the memorial? id like to see what was written on it.
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Originally posted by skeujin:
no more pics? got a close up of the memorial? id like to see what was written on it.
Just the names of the victims, and their nationality.
I got a close-up pic of the memorial:
It's easy to see why the 2002 bombing was considered as Australia's 9/11.... Aussies made up the majority of the victim in the two leftmost columns.
Other victims came from (in order according to the memorial) New Zealand, Holland, Denmark, UK, Italy, Germany, France, Portugal, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, Greece, the US, Brazil, Ecuador, Canada, South Africa, Japan, Taiwan, Korea, and Indonesia itself.
Otherwise, all the other pics I took were pretty mundane, and I can't really post them anyway without blacking out the faces.
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Any of Tanah Lot? The sunset was one of my fav during my visit.
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Originally posted by cassie:
Any of Tanah Lot? The sunset was one of my fav during my visit.
same same sentiments... that was one of my fav sunset there..*well, that was non-touristy then..*
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Originally posted by cassie:
Any of Tanah Lot? The sunset was one of my fav during my visit.
Tanah Lot? That was the one with the temple built on an offshore rock, right? We went there during the day..... we left a few hours before sunset.
Guess I must have mixed up Tanah Lot with Uluwatu.
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Originally posted by skeujin:
it shall be known as the borat swim suit incident
I'm sure his SO was there to stop him fron donning a mankiniThanks for the pics fudge.
And bear, maybe the touts only approach disreputable looking people. I'm sure I'd be accosted there too
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i expected at least a few line bout condolences or peace but all they could do up was a glorified notice board?
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Originally posted by av98m:
I'm sure his SO was there to stop him fron donning a mankiniThanks for the pics fudge.
And bear, maybe the touts only approach disreputable looking people. I'm sure I'd be accosted there too
yeah.. i looked the part of the disreputable guy coz i was burnt out and looking very very ragged... a kind of stoner look..
drinking only beer when i was there didn't help the look too
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Thanks for sharing the photos, fudgie! I've never been there before.
Someday...