It's been a while since I got married eh? Yes people! I'm a proud husband to my Cik Puan (from now on, the title of my wife in this blog would be Cik Puan, which means "Mrs", hokey). But this post is not about our wedding, not about the preparation, not about the excitement of marriage. This is about our first get away together, nak sedapnya, our honeymoon le.
We went to Bali, Indonesia. It was a last minute plan. I booked our hotel at the night of our kenduri, and our flight is the next day. Main redah kromo. Usually before going for a tour or visit ke hape, I would do my research on that place, where to stay, where to eat, how to travel. This time was totally out of plan. Being in a wedding restricted me from any planning other than the kenduri. So the planning only started the day before our flight. Searching through tripadvisor, I did manage to get a room at Rama Candidasa.
Rama Candidasal Spa and Resort, located about 80km from the airport. It took us about 1-hour drive to get there. However, the time was totally worth it as Candidasa was located at the rural side of Bali, and it is totally quite, peaceful with privacy. The hotel is absolutely beautiful, with amazing sunset view. The warm treatment and services made the stay even better. The room was spacious, comfortable, clean and awesome. However, as our trip was a short one (2 nights), we didn't stay much at the hotel. We went out at day time for tour, and got back by sunset. If we ever got there again, I'll make sure we'll spend at least a day at the hotel.
Our driver/tour guide/photographer (his facebook page... promote sikit) fetch us in the morning to go places where he finds interesting and the distance is within our 2 days trip. On the first day, we went to the rice terraces of Ubud (same concept as what I found in Philippines), watching the Barong Dance in culture village of Ubud, visiting the Batik outlet and factory and silver wholesaler and manufacturer. Other than that, there are many other cultural villages that are focusing on wood carving, stone carving and craft making which every single villages has their own specialty. Sebijik macam satu daerah satu industri like we have in Malaysia, but this one is really implemented within the each villages. Bagus gila. Nak carik silver, dah tau mana nak pegi. Nak batik, dah tau kampung mana pulak pegi. Easy eh?
My favorite place of the day is our lunch stop at Kintamani. Kintamani is located on the hill side where the temperature is a bit cooler that other parts we've been in Bali. While having lunch, the breathtaking scenery of Mount Batur and the Lake Batur made the lunch even tastier than it is. Haha, memang korang akan cakap overrated kan, tapi masa honeymoon mungkin semua benda pun best kan. LoL. And our last stop of the first day was the coffee farm. For Cik Puan whom her favorite is coffee, then this place excites her the most la kan. For me whom a guy yang tak minum kopi terpaksa laa try minum semua kopi yang ada untuk tunjuk laa appreciation kat orang yang dok tuang banyak-banyak untuk kita try. What I found Bali differs from other tourist places I've been like Vietnam or Thailand, the people here would assist and explain to you on their products, they let you try without any hope that you would buy them. They even accompany you back to your transport and leave you with a friendly wave of goodbye even if you leave empty handed. Cool kan.
The next day, the final day, we went to Pura Tirta Empul, the temple with holy water, Pura Tanah Lot and Kuta, where the happening places are located at. The beach in Kuta is just superb, but a little bit hot. Cik Puan tak larat cuma duduk bawah pokok je pasal dia kata panas sampai mencucuk-cucuk. Hehe.
Anyhow, what I can define about Bali is, it might not be a shopping heaven, but the scenery and the experience is very much worth it. The people are very warm, super friendly and very proud of their culture and heritage. A well remembered trip. For those of you who are planning to go there, then I suggest you get your tour guide first, get their advice, and I'm sure they will let you know the best place to stay, the best place to visit within your budget.
I'll definitely come again someday...
