Bali with "A"

Bali again? Yes, because “A” wanted a relaxing destination, and exploring the hundreds of Angkor Wat temples, or biking around paddy fields in Laos just wouldn’t do it. But unlike the first trip I took to Bali with IQballs and Mads, where it was about ex-schoolmate bonding and partying, this trip was more of a tranquil and romantic getaway. First stop, Manggis.

Manggis
Manggis is a small region in East Bali about an hour drive from Denpasar Airport. Unlike the touristy South, this region is so rural that most locals are still wearing the Balinese traditional costumes. Women young and old wear kebaya, which to me, is one of the more elegant yet sexy costumes still being worn today. It doesn’t matter how skinny or chubby one is (ok, to be fair, I hardly saw any fat women in Bali) because the kebaya accentuates a woman’s curves without it being too restrictive and difficult to work in the paddy fields or ride sideways on the passenger seat of a motorcycle.


A walking tour in a small Balinese village in East Bali.


Beautiful paddy fields in Tulamben, East Bali.


Village chief preparing coconut water for us.

Alila Manggis
We stayed at lovely Alila Manggis beach resort. It wasn’t much of a beach and the water here is murky and sand black but the resort itself is very peaceful. We (or I) tried to maximize our stay here by signing-up for free activities like an evening yoga session facing the sea, afternoon herbal tea by the pool, cycling to a traditional village and badminton.


Sunset at the resort.


It was a bit overcast but that didn't stopped us from relaxing by the beach.


Having breakfast at the resort.

Diving in Tulamben
There are a tonne of dive sites in Bali but we only had time for two. The first one was a shore dive by Manggis and is nothing to brag about. The second dive was at the Tulamben U.S.A.T Liberty wreck, which according to our dive instructor (and I totally believe) was one of the more popular dive sites and during peak seasons, you won’t be able to dive into the wreck because of how crowded it gets. I think in my limited diving experience, next to Tokong Laut at Perhentian Island, this is the most exciting and most beautiful dive. The instructor took us into the wreck and I instantly thought of the last scene in the movie Titanic. It was unnerving knowing this wreck is 40 years old and at any given time, the eroded poles might collapse. If you decide not to go into the wreck, you could swim up and down the wreck (about 20 meters in height) and admire the stunning reef formations. I don’t own an underwater camera, so I’m borrowing this picture I found on the internet just to give you an idea what it was like down in the wreck.

Ubud Hanging Garden

“A” decided that since we’ve been through much “stress” lately, we should splurge a little and stay a couple of nights at Ubud Hanging Gardens. This is one of those places I normally won’t even dream about staying at because of the ridiculous price, but according to “A” it’s “really not that bad”. Ubud Hanging Gardens is a two hours drive from Manggis and 30 minutes drive from main street Ubud. This resort is built on top of the hill in the midst of the forest and tucked away from the increasingly noisy and busy Ubud town. I would suggest having some of your meals at the resort itself because we both thought the food at both the restaurant and cafe were delicious.

Pork bun served at the cafe.


Our villa


Private infinity pool, attached to the villa.


Private deck


Pool at Ubud Hanging Gardens

Stopover at Seminyak

Instead of spending another US$500 at the Hanging Gardens and waste half of the day away (because we were leaving super early the next morning to go to the airport), we decided to stop over at Seminyak on our last night. I didn't do much research for the hotel and was a little nervous before we arrive here (because "A" can be quite picky...) but Uma Sapna turned out to be super cool. The interiors were modern, simplistic and grey, in fact, the whole place practically spells "A"!


Our villa at Uma Sapna


Pool at Uma Sapna

Click here for more photos taken on this trip.

Click here for more activities at Bali.

Dear Bali,

I just can’t get enough of you. Please stay serene and beautiful and try not too change too fast and I promise to convince “A” to come back to visit as much as we can.

Love always,
Po

Perhentian Island

Crystal blue and calm waters of Perhentian.

Our Resort


"A" studying hard for PADI open water final exam in our chalet.

Bubbles Resort is a pretty modest lodge cum dive center that is located on the southern tip of Perhentian Island. There are no roads leading to this beach and you can only get here on a boat. Beautiful as it was, I admit I was slightly nervous when I arrived because of small beach size and the lack of activities but that quickly changed. On our first night, we saw some 20-30 baby turtle hatchlings on the beach, which apparently is a very rare event. They looked so vulnerable and exposed, you just want to pick them up and bring them to the sea but we were told by the turtle-protecting volunteers not to touch them because the little hatchlings need to learn survival immediately after coming out of their shells. Two days later, we saw a large turtle laying eggs on a similar spot.


Sand hole where the hatchlings came out of. I couldn't get any photos of the hatclings because I wasn't allowed to use flash on them.

“A” and I got our Scuba Diver license in the Andaman Islands and finished our Open Water license here in Perhentian. Our instructor Eric a.k.a. Old Man here at Bubbles Resort was both comical and strict. During our dives, I must have seen at least five billion fishes but the one amazing experience I had was swimming among 20 bumphead parrot fishes, some must’ve been as long as 5 ft. They moved slowly around us and made a stone-scrapping sound when they use their big teeth to bite off corals.

We also saw a 1.5 meter black tip reef shark and a 3-legged resident turtles and had our hands cleaned by some invisible cleaner shrimps.

Proud divers.


Merv - my bff and dive master.


Big lizard under our neighbor's chalet. Apparently, a python went under the resort's restaurant during our stay there.


Super friendly Bubbles Resort staff waving goodbye.

Getting there

The Air Asia flight (round trip RM230 per person) from Kuala Lumpur LCCT to Kota Bharu took only 50 minutes. We had prearranged transportation with Bubbles Resort in Perhentian Island, so a car was already waiting for us when we landed at the airport. Car ride (one way RM30 per person) to the jetty took about 1.5 hours and boat ride (round trip RM70 per person) from the jetty to Bubbles Resort took about 30 minutes.

Andaman Islands

Let me start off by saying that 5 days is NOT enough.


Havelock Island sunset

Flight - You can catch direct flights to Port Blair from Calcutta and Chennai. We left Bangalore at 5am and reached Havelock Island at 5pm (Flight Bangalore-Chennai 2 hrs, Chennai-Port Blair 1.5 hrs, ferry ride Port Blair-Havelock 2.5 hrs and many hours to kill in between). Flight costs about US$350, which is pretty much the cost for a Bangalore – Port Blair all throughout the year. Geographically, Andaman is closer to Thailand but Andaman follows the Indian time zone, hence sunrise at 5 a.m. and subsets at 5 p.m. We were told by a local auto-rickshaw driver that a boat ride from Thailand takes about 30 minutes.

Hotel - My first choice was Pristine Resort, which offers huts the size of a single bed with shared bathrooms at Rs100 (US$2) or a double story hut at Rs1000 but because my roommate is inclined to stay at luxurious hotels, we instead stayed at Wild Orchid that costs about Rs5000/night (US$100).


Havelock is a tiny island. We rented a motorbike for 2 days and rode around the north side of the island. On the ride to the east coast to Beach #7, we passed the very tranquil and simple lives of the local villagers.


Beach #7, Havelock Island


Beach #7, Havelock Island


Elephant ride on the beach.

There’s really not much to do on the Andaman Islands unless you scuba dive or snorkel. We took a Scuba Divers course (2 chapters short to be fully certified with Open Water Diving) at Barefoot on Havelock Island. Preparing to dive is as complicated as preparing to go to space. My first dive was scary as hell but once I was 12 meters underwater, surrounded by colorful corals and circled by what seems to be a thousand blue yellow fishes, I was in a state of bliss. I had some problems equalizing the pressure in my ears on every dive and some saltwater got into my right ear and blocked it for a few days, but regardless, I find it easier to learn how to dive than to learn how to surf.


Dive boats on Havelock Island


Port Blair laundry. According to our auto-rickshaw driver, the island's laundry used to be done on the beach but had caused some polution, so they were moved to this little pond and now is free for all to use.


Port Blair Cellular Jail, aka "Kala Pani" or "Black Water" known to house many Indian freedom fighters back in the early 1900s.

More Andaman Pics