My Very First Blog

1. Now that I have finished my Bali posts, I would like to resume my Lake Kenyir posts which I stopped halfway a few months back. However, for today, I would like to take a break from my travel posts to give you Random Notes 11.

2. The other day I posted this sentence on my Facebook. I wrote :

I AM FEELING H........... NOW AND I AM CRAVING FOR S.......... !!!

Someone responded by commenting "So just go and M......."

What do you think I am feeling and craving for? And if you know what M stands for, then you are really having naughty thoughts! Haha! : )

3. I love to tweet! Now with my newly bought iPhone, I can tweet from anywhere at any time of the day or night! And checking my emails have never been easier! Thank God for iPhone!

4. The days of sms are over, at least for me. Previously I was known as the Sms King in my family as I loved to send text messages to my friends. My phone bill used to be quite high because of this!

Nowadays I hardly use sms to communicate with close friends. What I use instead is Twitter. By using the Direct Message feature in Twitter, I can send private messages to my friends who are also on Twitter.

Why pay for sending text messages when you can do it for free via Twitter? So want to send me text messages? Come follow me on Twitter! : )

5. According to a 2010 Reader's Digest Poll, Nicol David is the Malaysian that Malaysians trust most! Surprisingly (or should it be not surprisingly?) feng shui master Lillian Too made it into the Top 50 Most Trusted Malaysians this year!

For the complete list, read HERE.

Judging from the list, Malaysians seem to trust actors and singers a lot! And is it any wonder that not a single politician is on that list? Haha!!

6. Now do you know what is the 10 Most Trusted Professions in Malaysia? They (in ranking order) are :

• Pilot
• Teacher
• Doctor
• Paramedic
• Firefighter
• Surgeon
• Scientist
• Dentist
• Pharmacist
• Nurse

Are you in one of the above professions? Looks like Malaysians trust mostly science and medicine oriented professions.

Surprisingly, CEOs ranked no.27, way below musicians (no.21) and tour guides (no.23) !

7. I am sure most of you know who Dr Pornthip is don't you? Yes, she's the famous forensic pathologist from Thailand. Well, according to Reader's Digest Poll, Dr Pornthip is Thailand's most trusted person! No wonder she is much sought after - even in Malaysia!

8. Recently, I checked my resting heart rate and it was at 68 bpm. I think I am not as fit as before! I am aiming to bring my resting heart rate to 60 bpm in 3 months time. I hope I can achieve this!

Do you know what is your resting heart rate? To know the proper way of measuring your resting heart rate, read HERE.

This is my last post on my Bali trip.

There will be no photos so I shall (try to) keep this post as short as possible.

After our dinner at Trattoria, we went clubbing for a while at Q-Bar in Seminyak. I did not know this was a gay bar until we went in. Well, gay or not, we just wanted to have a good time.

The next morning, we woke up late, had a late breakfast and went for a swim at the hotel's swimming pool before checking out and heading to the airport.

At the airport, something happened. I was not allowed in by the officer stationed at the entrance! Both my friends went through without problem but not me. The reason? I did not have a print-out of my AirAsia flight ticket!

I told the officer that I never ever print out my flight tickets as I usually just inform the check-in counter my booking number and everything would be automatically verified. However, this was Bali, not Malaysia, so the officer instructed me to get a print-out of the ticket.

I was fuming because I did not see the necessity of this useless exercise. Surely the check-in counter would be able to verify whether I bought the ticket or not!

Anyway, I went over to the AirAsia counter but guess what? There was a long queue there!! By the time I got my print-out, my friends had already checked in and were about to have lunch. Damn!

Before I went to the check-in counter, I encountered another stumbling block. I had to put my luggage through the scanning machine. I placed my check-in luggage but not my hand luggage into the machine. The officer in charge scolded me and instructed me to put in my hand luggage too.

I asked him why the need to scan the hand luggage twice since they would be scanning it again before I enter the departure lounge later. He raised his voice and firmly said that all luggage must be scanned there.

OK, I was not about to fight with him, but I rolled my eyes and showed him my face. I was fuming! In my mind, I was saying, stupid bastard! Even if that's the rules (and it was to me, a stupid rule!) you don't have to raise your voice! Where's the friendliness that Bali people were famous for?

I managed to catch up with my friends and had lunch at a cafe in the airport building. During lunch, we heard an announcement coming from the overhead speaker that the departure gate for our flight had opened.

So fast? I looked at my boarding pass. It stated boarding time at 1.45pm. It was only 1.10pm then.

We went over to enquire the exact boarding time and was told it was indeed 1.45pm but they were announcing it earlier. What the crap for?

The announcement continued irritatingly countless times and I wondered how many people had panicked thinking they were late!

It was my first time going through as many as three unnecessary procedures at one airport! Oh well....

Despite that, I enjoyed my Bali trip and I even bought myself a T Shirt that says ....



I will definitely visit Bali again in the near future!

And for those of you who have missed some of my Bali trip posts, here is the complete list.

1. Something Happened To Me In Bali
2. Souvenirs From Bali
3. My First Meal At Ketupat In Bali
4. My First Visit To Jenggala Keramik In Bali
5. How I Spent My First Evening In Bali
6. The Harmony Hotel In Bali
7. My First Taste Of Natrabu
8. My First Visit To Pura Taman Ayun
9. Why I Must Visit Tanah Lot Again!
10. Ryoshi, Kumbasari And Batubulan
11. My First Taste Of Babi Guling At Ibu Oka
12. Why I Must Dine At Dirty Duck Diner Again!
13. My Balinese Massage At Jari Menari
14. My Lunch At Made's Warung
15. I Didn't Listen To Rumours So I Went Trattoria!

Coming Up Next : Herbal Island At Lake Kenyir

Both my female friends would be leaving Bali in the evening, so after our lunch at Made's Warung, we decided to go for one last shopping spree along Jalan Seminyak.

The day was terribly hot and we could not shop for too long without feeling exhausted. And so we ended up chit chatting at an air-conditioned cafe. Haha!

I am really quite surprised how come I did not take any photos of the cafe, but well, I guess I was too busy chatting! Anyway, we did take one photo of all of us (which I will not put up here) before the two ladies left for the airport.

With the ladies gone, what would be our plans for the rest of the evening? Nothing much, really. The three of us decided to go somewhere nice for dinner and having eaten mostly Indonesian food for the past few days, we opted for Western fare.

There were two famous restaurants located side by side at Jalan Laksamana Ober0i in Seminyak. One was called Rumours and the other Trattoria.

We were quite undecided which one to go to as both were well known for their good quality food at reasonable prices. In the end, we decided to go for Trattoria.



Trattoria is actually a restaurant serving Italian cuisines. When we reached there around 8pm, the restaurant was almost full. Luckily we managed to get a table.

Despite a lot of customers that night, the service here was good and our orders were taken almost immediately.

We did not wait long for our orders to arrive, but I did not mind waiting actually, as they served us complimentary bread appetizer.



I found these bread delicious and I was quite impressed and looking forward to the main meal!

My dish was the first to arrive. I ordered the Scaloppina Di Manzo Ai Funghi which is sauteed beef tenderloin sliced in mushroom sauce with grilled potato and green salad. It was priced at 76,000 rupiah (RM28).



The beef was excellent - tasty and tender with the right amount of mushroom sauce! I really liked this dish a lot!

My friend ordered the Scaloppina Di Pollo Al Limone, which arrived next. It is sauteed chicken breast with lemon sauce served with sauteed broccoli and mashed zucchini potatoes.



Priced at 69,000 rupiah (RM26), the sauteed chicken breast dipped in lemon sauce was delicious!

My other friend had a hard time deciding what to order, but he finally went for Linguine Alle Vongole, which is linguine pasta with fresh clams in light garlic and parsley sauce. It was priced at 49,000 rupiah (RM18).



I did not try his pasta but he said it was nice and most importantly it was al dente.

Of course we would not dream of leaving the restaurant without trying their desserts. Both my friends ordered the pannacotta.



I did not try it but both of them said it was nice.

I ordered the Mimosa cake instead.



When I took a bite of this classic creamy Italian cake, I was like OMG! This must surely be the best cake I have ever eaten!!

I do not know how to describe it, but it tasted heavenly. So delicious was this piece of cake that when both my friends took a bite of it, they immediately decided to order a slice each! LOL!



Sorry no price for the desserts as I had forgotten to note them down!

As we were eating our desserts, a waitress came and offered us complimentary chocolate-cello! Wow! I must say this chocolate liquor was the perfect ending to our very satisfying meal that night.



If you ever go to Bali, you must dine at Trattoria! I recommend it highly!

I was flipping through the menu when I saw this.



What?! Trattoria is also found in Kuala Lumpur? And I did not even realise this staying in Malaysia! Silly me!!

Well, it looks like I do not have to fly to Bali for the nice mimosa cake and the chocolate-cello! Trattoria KL, here I come!!

After our enjoyable massage at Jari Menari, it was time for lunch. We did not intend to travel too far and so we settled for this famous restaurant called Made's Warung.

Located at Jalan Seminyak, which was just down the road from Jari Menari, Made's Warung was actually established way back in 1969 as a roadside stall and since then became a cosmopolitan restaurant and a social meeting venue for expats and tourists alike.



There were actually two outlets - one in Seminyak where we went, and the other one in Kuta near to Hard Rock Hotel.



The decor was quite interesting here although I did not take many photos!



I had wanted to try Bali coffee since the very first day I touched down in Bali, but did not have the chance to do so. And so when I saw there's Bali coffee in the menu, I immediately ordered it!



I am not a huge fan of coffee, but I was not impressed with this Bali coffee. I think I have drank better coffee elsewhere!

They have Western, Japanese, Indonesian and specific Balinese food on the menu (quite an extensive variety I would say!) but we decided to go for Indonesian food.

We each ordered a plate of Nasi Campur (mixed rice).



And in addition to that, we ordered a plate of Nasi Goreng (fried rice) ...



Curry chicken (or is that beef? Can't remember!)



and Gado gado (vegetables in peanut sauce)



I would say the food here was pretty average, nothing that would make me want to come back for more. I did like the gado gado though - maybe because I am a sucker for peanut sauce, haha!

The price was also slightly on the higher side, though still pretty reasonable.

But one thing I liked was their wide varieties of keropok (crackers)!



I bungkus (take-away) quite a few packets of keropok but not before trying each of those keropok first! It's a good thing they allowed me to sample the keropoks!

Would I return to this restaurant if I ever go to Bali again? Probably not, but then again I would still recommend it if you have never dined here before.

Coming Up Next : I Didn't Listen To Rumours So I Went Trattoria!

On the morning of our second last day in Bali, we decided to go for some authentic Balinese massage at Jari Menari.

We had booked for the massage 2 days earlier. Yes, we had to book it 2 days early as it was fully booked on that particular day we originally wanted to go for the massage!



Jari Menari is located along Jalan Raya Basangkasa in Seminyak, not very far from the Harmony Hotel where I stayed. Refer to the map here.

This is the front entrance to the massage centre.



Jari Menari literally means "Dancing Fingers". Our driver told us that the massage here was good and he highly recommended it.



The unique thing about this massage centre was that all the masseurs here were males!

I guess most people would prefer female masseurs but I did not mind at all as I badly needed a massage and I figured a man would be strong enough to give me a good, deep massage that I was craving for.



There were different types of massages to choose from and I went for the Perfect Massage priced at 350,000 rupiah (RM130) for a 90-minutes session.

In fact, all of us went for this Perfect Massage as it was the most suitable.



I took some photos of the interior while we waited for our rooms to be ready.



Before we knew it, we were called and led into the changing room where we took a shower. My two female friends were led into the another changing room at the other end. After shower, we were led to our individual rooms.

Sorry but no more photos beyond this point! : )

So how was the massage? Suffice to say I enjoyed it tremendously although I must say there were some parts where I thought the masseur was a bit too rough. But I like that they not only massage your body but also your arms and hands!

Accompanied with soothing Balinese music and chirping of birds and sound of water flowing in the background, it was 90 minutes of pure bliss! By the way, the sound of water flowing was real as there was a wall behind me with water flowing down into a pond with live fishes!

It felt really good and after the massage was over, I was totally rejuvenated!



Maybe I should go for the 4-hands massage next time! In case you do not know what a 4-hands massage is, it is actually a massage done by two masseurs at the same time!

By the way, the centre also offers training for anyone interested to learn about massage.

For more details on Jari Menari, you can visit the website here.

After a good lunch of babi guling at Ibu Oka, we walked around Ubud and did some shopping.

Below is the street right in front of Ibu Oka restaurant.



A little further up the road, I could see many people entering a grand looking archway.



We did not go in there, but I learnt that it was the entrance to one of Ubud's Royal Palaces. Known as Puri Saren Agung, it seemed that this palace also served as a place for public dance performances and also operated as a small homestay style hotel.

We walked pass this palace and across the junction to one of Ubud's most famous road, the Monkey Forest Road.

There were a lot of shops along the whole length of this road and we spent the whole afternoon going from shop to shop.



I passed by a nice restaurant and took some pictures of its outdoor garden and pool.



This is how the Monkey Forest Road looks like with dozens of shops lining both sides of the street.



There were many souvenir shops and restaurants here. It was really relaxing walking along this road.



We also passed by what looked like a theatre building to us.



I was amazed by the number of interesting looking statues and sculptures outside this shop I just had to take a photo of it.



The shop owner, on seeing me taking photos of the sculptures, quickly ran out and told me that photo-taking was forbidden. Oh well, at least I managed to take one photo.

Towards the evening, we went over to the market place where all types of souvenirs were sold. I did not take any photos there as the market was cramped with people!

Finally, it was time for dinner and we had already decided on the place to eat - the infamous Bebek Bengil located at Jalan Padang Tegal which was not very far from Monkey Forest Road.



Also known as Dirty Duck Diner, this restaurant serves Bali's most famous crispy duck since 1990.

Why the name Dirty Duck, you may wonder?



Well, it seems that while the restaurant was being built, a flock of ducks from the rice fields nearby ran quacking and squawking into the restaurant leaving muddy footprints all over the place. And since the ducks were considered the restaurant's first customers, the name Dirty Duck Diner was used.



I thought the ambience here was nice. The place was huge and the greeneries were soothing to the eyes.

There was however, one regret.

Bebek Bengil is famous not only for its crispy duck but also its very popular smoked duck. We had wanted very much to try this smoked duck as it was highly recommended to us before we came here.

Unfortunately, we learnt that the smoked duck must be ordered one day in advance!



Since we would be leaving Ubud after dinner and would not be returning the next day, it would be impossible to taste the smoked duck!



Oh well! I guess we had to make do with the crispy duck then!

However, if you ever plan to dine at this restaurant, do remember to make reservation. We had actually called up earlier to make our reservations.



I found some interesting rock sculptures and took photos of them.



Can you see the ducks in the photo above?



Water shooting out of the iguana's mouth. Or is that an alligator?



Dining next to the pond and the surrounding greeneries would surely make your dining experience much more enjoyable!



There was also a huge lotus pond here and I quickly took a photo of it!



Oh look at this!



Isn't that interesting!

After enjoying walking around the place, we seated ourselves and ordered our dishes.

These were the drinks we ordered.



I had a honey lemongrass drink and it was excellent!

No smoked duck? We settled for crispy duck instead.



Honestly, I did not quite like this crispy duck. It was crispy all right, down to the bones! But it was small and dry and hard! Not my kind of duck dish!

The fried rice was quite OK, but nothing much to shout about.



I am not sure what this is, but I think it's some sort of salad with peanut sauce. I like this one!



This is something like otak otak which was average.



There were a few more other dishes but I did not have the opportunity to take photos of them.

Towards the end of our dinner, there was a musical performance by two men.



I munched on the keropok while watching them performed on the Balinese musical instruments.



I have forgotten how much I spent on this dinner but I remember it was quite expensive.

Despite that, I would not mind returning for that famous smoked duck that everyone keeps raving about!

So besides the sunset at Tanah Lot, here's another good reason for me to visit Bali a second time!