A Sindhi Wedding in Goa

Since my last Indian wedding post, I must have attended (and been involved in) at least 2 more Indian weddings. This one was a destination wedding, Sindhi-style, most events were held in Goa and then a reception in Bangalore. It was done so grandly, I sometimes felt like I was in a Bollywood film.

Day One: The Pool Party

The bride's family arranged for some performers at the pool party.


Guests enjoying the show.

Day Two: The Mehendi and Sangeet

The bride


An outdoor area where mehendi was done.


"A" won't keep his hands off any musical instruments.


In the evening, a sangeet was held in an open air area on top of a hill. This is the entrance to the party.


A sangeet performance by friends of the bride.

Day Three: The Wedding

Guys were required to wear turbans. The groom's family hired a professional turban-tier.


Friends of the groom in turban and Indian outfits.


Groom on a horse, about to meet his soon-to-be bride.


The band plays while the groom enters in a horse.


Here comes the bride...


The wedding ceremony

Day Four: The Bangalore Reception

I didn't get a chance to take shots of the newlyweds, but here's one with my soon-to-be family.

More photos of the whole wedding

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

Goa Hush-Hush

I was contemplating for a moment if I should write this post since the places mentioned here are only known to locals and the only reason why we even found out about them was because on their first day, A’s dad bumped into a restaurant owner from Bangalore who frequently visited Goa.

Near Morjim Beach
First off, let me tell you about the place we chose to stay. Siolim House is a charming restored 300-year-old Portuguese villa that is tucked away in the leafy lanes near Morjim beach. The original owner was a governor to Macau and according to Lonely Planet, this place contains more antiques than the British Museum.


Entrance to Siolim House


Siolim House courtyard


Inside Siolim House


Our room

A Goan Greek
This place is a gem! This restaurant is located on a cliff and overlooks the sandy beach and coconut treetops. We didn’t get here in time but A’s parents sat at this table and watched sunset while sipping on freshly squeezed orange juice. We met the bubbly owner who is a Greek lady who has been in living in Goa for 25 years and started off by selling lamb wraps at the Anjuna flea market. After much persuasion from her customers, she opened this restaurant.




Customers dancing to Greek songs


Grilled fish. The food here is a bit more pungent and complex compared to what you would get in Athens or Santorini mainly because the owner came from a Greek island that is located on the west, near Sicily.

Under the Nerul bridge
… you will see a little brick building painted in sea-blue. The people who reside in this building also run a little restaurant called Amigos.


Amigos services on a mural, under the Nerul bridge.


Giant mud crab is one of Amigos' signature dish. We ordered two, this one cooked in garlic butter sauce.


Goan prawn curry with poi (Goan bread)


After lunch, with Auntie Bina’s superb negotiating skills, we went on a boat ride on the river towards the sea.


Fisherman picking sea shells.


On our boat, we saw this private mansion on Aguada hill.

More photos on Goa
Previous stories on Goa

Koh Lipe

I don’t care how last minute it is but if you suggest a trip to an island, I’m game!

Merv had the week off and Joe K was back in Malaysia for a month so what better way to spend Chinese New Year than to lay on the beach and soak up some UV rays. I thought a trip to Koh Lipe would cost close to nothing since it is literally the island next to Langkawi. An hour on the plane and another hour on the boat should be reasonably inexpensive right? Wrong.

How to get there
To maximize our stay, we took the earliest Air Asia flight out of Kuala Lumpur (LCCT) that got us to Langkawi at 8:30 a.m. After grabbing a bottle of Smirnoff at the airport duty-free store, we hopped into a cab and drove to Telaga Harbor only to find out that the 9:30 a.m. speedboat has been overbooked. We had to wait for the next (and last) boat that was departing at 2:30 p.m.


Goofing around in Langkawi

Roundtrip flight from Kuala Lumpur (LCCT) to Langkawi: RM569.00 (USD $168). Roundtrip speedboat from Telaga Harbor to Koh Lipe: RM 250.00 (USD $74).

Waiting at the Koh Lipe Immigration for our passports

The speedboat took us to the the immigration center at Pattaya Beach where we waited patiently in the heat for our passport. After that, we then hired a long boat for a 3-minute boat ride to our hotel, which was on the other end of the beach about 1km away.

I’m pretty sure there are more economical ways to get to Koh Lipe. I read that you could take a bus from Kuala Lumpur to Had Yai and then a boat to Koh Lipe OR instead of taking a speedboat from Telaga Harbor, I eventually found out that you could hire a normal boat for much less. Also, during low seasons, budget flights from Kuala Lumpur (LCCT) to Langkawi cost as low as RM49 (USD $15).

Where to stay
Another disadvantage about traveling last minute (during high seasons) is that all good hotels are fully booked! Our first choice was Castaway Resort but since there were no rooms left there (or anywhere for that matter), we booked (and paid for – most hotels here asked for full payment upfront) a room at Sanom Resort. It was reasonably pleasant except that even though we were facing the beach, there was a lack of breeze so we had to keep the windows open the whole night and needless to say, we were attacked by seveteen thousand mosquitoes. I’m exaggerating. The room came with a mosquito net and fans but you get my point.

Lunch at Castaway Resort


Our room/hut at Sanom Resort

What to do
I was hesitant to write and share this trip because in my eyes, Koh Lipe is still a gem waiting to be discovered. It’s not as popular as Koh Phi Phi or Phuket but I can tell it will get there very soon. There were rows of resorts along the beach that was housing a few thousand tourists that looked like they needed to apply more sun block lotion. Popular activities include diving, snorkeling, beach massages, reading and lazing around.


Sunset


Post lunch laze


Post-massage laze

More pictures

30 in Bali

Bali is beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeautiful! Thank you for your wonderful birthday wishes! Muaks! ~PO

Since I’m so backlogged with postings I have consolidated my entire Bali trip into this one post.

Initially, I planned this as an all-girls trip but all my girls backed out because apparently they either just got back from Phuket or Bangkok or had promised their boyfriends or husbands that they would do Bali with them, hence, just like any other weekend trips I have been taking in India, I went with two dudes. Madhu and Iqbal are people I’ve known since I was eight, lost touch and then reconnected recently. This also means that at some point in our lives, I was taller than them.



We split the trip into two locations; Seminyak and Ubud.

Hotels we stayed
It’s quite obvious that Bali is marketed to couples because I reserved rooms beforehand and wanted to add an extra bed but both hotels said it was against their policies and insisted we get another room for the 3rd adult guest. Eventually, they put us up in suites, which means more expensive but sickeningly sexy.

The Kayana in Seminyak

Our private garden and heated pool.


Bedroom


Bathroom and outdoor private heated pool, separated by a sliding door.

Warwick Ibah in Ubud

Our singles honeymoon suite


Outdoor shower.

Fun activities
1. Trekking in Ubud - There’s a path right behind the Ibah hotel that will lead you to a small temple and as you walk farther, you will get to a valley overlooking beautiful honeymoon suites on your left and miles and miles of lalang fields on your right. The locals know this hill as “bukit cinta” (love hill).


The hills are alive...

Lalang fields

2. White Water Rafting – Highly recommended. The rapids may look intimidating but this is so much fun! Along the 2.5 hours ride, you hardly have to peddle at all because the current is pretty strong. Towards the end of the ride, we had a four-meter free fall.

If you decide to do this, book directly with the rafting organizers and not through the hotel because with a bit of haggling and flirting, you should be able to get 50% discount. Madhu did for us.

This is the hike we have to take to get to our starting point.


We made a quick stop at a waterfall.


Intense rapids.


This woman climbed about 1000 steps balancing our deflated rafts on her head.


Stephanie, our raft-mate at the complimentary lunch that came after rafting.


Scenery on our way back to Ubud.

3. Surf in Kuta – If you have never surf before, this would be a good place to start. First of all, the water is nice and warm so you don’t have to rent or invest in a wet suit. Secondly, the water is shallow but the waves can go as high as 5 ft. At some point, someone’s surfboard hit my head but it was fine because I was surfing in Bali. The sunset in Kuta beach is very pretty.


Surfing at Kuta.


Sunset in Kuta beach.

4. Watch a show – any show. We went to a kecak dance call Fire, Trance and Monkey in Uluwatu.


5. Visit a temple – You are required to wear a sarong over your bottoms regardless if you have long pants or skirt on. We borrowed ours from the hotel.


6. Beach Massage – If an old lady asks if you want a massage while you are reading by the beach, say yes! This is one of the best massages I’ve had and being a massage whore, I have to say her strokes and strength was at least a hundred times better than the massages I've had at hotel spas. A 45-minutes full body massage costs US$6.


7. Clubbing in Seminyak – There’s a stretch of bars/clubs by Seminyak beach, which name escapes me but we heard this area is hopping and boy, were we disappointed. It was a Thursday night and I guess mid October wasn’t a peak season, I again find myself dancing in an enormous club with two drunk dudes. The advantage of this is that we get to club-hop without paying cover charge. We went to a lounge call Dejavu and Iqbal got hit on by a white man.

Absolutely must eat:
1. Dinner Mosaic in Ubud. The exec chef here used to work at French Laundry in . We had the Chef’s Surprise menu with wine pairing. The meal was out of this world and I was stuffed and trashed by the end of it.


2. Kudeta in Seminyak. The food is delicious and desserts were scrumptious! When you are done with dinner, head to the bar and chill out with a glass of flavored mojitos and watch moonlit Balinese waves.

Starters at Kudeta


Yummy watermelon vodka mojito

3. Babi Guling at Ibu Oka in Ubud. Mmmmmmmm… I can still taste the moist pork and crispy pig skin in my mouth. Get here by noon because we were told they sell out by 2pm and only open for lunch.


4. Nasi goreng anywhere. The one at Kayana hotel was super delicious maybe because we were pissed drunk and wanted a late night snack and the nasi goreng was super fragrant and flavorful.

5. Terang Bulan on the streets of Kota and Seminyak. This is an Indonesian delicacy and a walking heart attack. A similar pancake can be found in Malaysia with peanut, sugar and sweet corn filling call “Mang Chang Kueh” (literally translated “Frustrated Cake”). Terang Bulan is filled with sugar, chocolate rice and freshly grated cheddar cheese and if you ask for a “special” one, the chef will add about 5 large scoops of butter. We finished the medium-sized pancake in one sitting accompanied by a bottle of Moet at midnight.


6. Bebek Bengkel in Ubud. This place has yummy Balinese food but their specialty is deep-fried duck. I like this place because you are surrounded by paddy fields, so try to go before sunset and don’t forget to bring mosquito repellent spray.


Shopping
1. Balinese painting – Iqbal and I were trekking in Ubud and we stumbled upon a random painter. Turned out that his youngest daughter has the same birth date as I do so I bought a couple of paintings from him.


2. Balinese Furniture – On our way from Seminyak to Ubud, we passed by at least a hundred wholesale furniture stores and most of them very affordable. The question is how to ship it home (in my case, wasn’t sure whether to ship it to NYC or to KL), so I didn’t get any, yet.
P/S: If you tell the salesperson to ship it to a foreign country, they can make the cost appear lower for the customs.

After furniture-shopping, we drove for another 30 minutes and stopped at a jewelry store and I suddenly realized I had left my precious D40 camera in one of the furniture store. Without wasting any time, our super duper driver I Gede Suartana called up his friend, borrowed his motorcycle and rode it back to the furniture store (in heavy traffic, motorcycles is faster than cars). I just had to give him a big tip.

Our driver I Gede Suartana (His handphone #081 338 619 467)


I love everything Bali.

Thank you Oi Yen and Nick for excellent restaurant recommendations and Madhu and Iqbal for being 30 and single.

More Bali pictures