Our 3rd day in Bali was supposed to start with a 7.30am beach jog (which would then justify the lugging of my pink adidas sneakers all the way from dear old Singapore), but as you expect, it didn't happen.
The previous night, for some strange reason, I got completely spooked out when Nicole told me close the thick curtains because she could see shadows outside on the balcony through the sheer ones. (I actually wanted to wake up to the same lovely morning sight, so I left the curtains open.) The moment I heard it, I got totally freaked out. Like never before.
I drew the thick curtains all the way, so that not a shaft of light can filter through. I switched on the lights by the mirror (which happened to be opposite my bed) and switched it off because the reflection scared me. I shut my eyes and opened them again because I saw images of the statues that are everywhere in Bali. I switched on the bedside lamp and turned away from the window and mirror. I plugged in my iPod and listened to happy songs.
And I STILL couldn't sleep. The creeps were real bad, and I stayed up chatting with Nicole until 3am! It was quite fun talking about secondary school days, our bad impressions of each other a million years ago, ancient puppy love and big dreams for the future!
So, on the 3rd day, we only saw the light nearer to 9am than the planned 7am. Hahaha. We rushed around the room like 2 mad girls late for their day. Good thing none of us are bathroom-hoggers and both of us are fast packers! You should have seen how we grabbed the cameras, water, sarongs, sunglasses, sunblock and other miscellaneous things into our bags, and later food into our stomaches. You'd be amazed!
At 10am we were at the hotel lobby waiting for our guide to pick us up already! Fast eh? Itinerary of the morning was packed - fly-fish, parasailing, snorkelling, Turtle Island tour and lunch at Nusa Dua!
Along the driveway, waiting for our tourguide to drive up.
And clouds in our shades! :D
Pretty reflection in the window.
Statue of someone important along the highways.
Lovely, lovey Nua Dusa beach! The sand is so fine they sparkle!
Fly-fish! It's really a huge float connected to a speed boat, with slots for two people to lie in.
Then, when the boat picks up speed, we ride on the waves,
while the instructor (he's actually 19 too!) tilts it left and right to get a good balance.
THEN OFF WE GO IN THE AIR!
For me, the most exciting aspect of the whole ride was the fact that YOU ARE NOT STRAPPED TO THE FLY-FISH! The only thing that keeps you on the float and therefore in the air and not in the water, is the handholds. Which means, when you're 5m in the air, 60degrees vertical, all that keeps you from falling from the sky is your own ability to hold on! I kept asking if anyone has fallen into the sea before, because it's so possible! My arms and abs were threatening to tear by the end of the second ride. Okay, I exaggerate but you get the point. Haha. That was some excitement and thrill for me!
They didn't really want to let us do parasailing after that because apparently the winds were too strong. But seeing other people in the air, we negotiated to go snorkelling first, then come back and decide if we can still parasail. I think they found us abit troublesome, and let us go ahead! :D
BUT, I think the winds were really quite strong, and while hooking me up (sadly to the parasail and not some hot dude HAHA), the wind picked up the parasail and then suddenly I was in the air! Thank goodness the harness and stuffs were properly secured. Nicole told me afterwards that the people were actually trying to pull me back down, but the wind was too strong, so they just decided to let me go.
The thing was, the strings that my left hand was holding were actually twisted, and noboy noticed. So when I grabbed it, my index finger was stuck in between the two twisted strings and the whole tension of the parasail behind me was on my finger! IT WAS DAMN BLOODY PAINFUL. And I was pretty worried because holy cow, I'm 30metres (at least I think so) high up in the air so even if my finger snaps off, THERE'S NOBODY I COULD TELL!
I had a pretty busy time up there - I kept imagining my finger getting snapped off and the blood spurting out while trying to enjoy the scenery below while praying that the ropes won't twist one more time while trying to free my finger! Hahaha. In the end I manged to shift the pressure to my knuckles, where it wasn't that painful. I was pretty happy and grateful to come out with a whole left hand!
On land again, and preparing to take off on a parasail!
Up, up, up I go!(See, the twisted strings where my red-gloved hand is!)
HIGH UP IN THE SKY!I was trying to do a Peace sign with my legs, much to the amusement of Nicole. Haha.
Back on earth with a swollen finger, and Nicole taking off in the background! 
Nicole high up there!Done with heights, we went on to take on the depths. Haha. It was snorkelling next! Now, after my previous snorkelling experience at Tioman, I was expected seas as calm as swimming pools. But once we were out there, I realised it was NOTHING like that.
The waves were pretty choppy. The boat rocked. I was getting seasick and nauseous. And they threw us into the sea with no life jackets! I'm no weak swimmer, and I got quite scared! Thank goodness the both of us had an instructor to ourselves, and he basically grabbed our arms and towed us along to where the corals were. He was really attentive, and would hold us above water if he sees us trying to spit out water or clean our googles.
After thrashing around in the water for awhile, I realised that my mask/googles wasn't really waterproof! Water kept going into my nose, despite the instructor's attempt to tighten it for me. And it was tough work trying to stay above water without getting slapped in the face by the monster waves. So, in the end I gave up and just PINCHED MY NOSE THE WHOLE WAY. Hahaha. I am not kidding. I literally held my nose the whole way!
Then, after venturing out further away from our boat, I also kept finding water in my mouth because the waves kept going over our heads. Initially I tried to kick myself up to spit out the water, but eventually it got too tiring and well I decided to... just swallow the water. HAHA. Yeah man, I swallowed like 10 mouthfuls of salty seawater. ): Oh, and at one point of time I actually found my legs underneath another boat! Scary!
And admist all that, I had to keep tugging at my bikini to make sure the waves don't come at me and somehow deprived me of what filmsy cover I had! Okay, I should probably start wearing swimsuits for snorkelling trips! All in all, it was a busy time down there, and when we came up, both of us realised that we were thinking of cutting short the snorkelling time! Haha!
Us on the boat out to the seas. 
Look at the choppy sea!
Me underwater, before I realised my mask wasn't tight.
There, the pinching nose pose. Haha
Ooh and the fish matches my bikini! :D
We take camwhoring to an all new level. Haha!
Many many fishes! The corals weren't impressive though.
Tioman is a much better snorkelling sport!
Bloop bloop bloooooop.
Our instructor dived down to get the starfish!
It's quite cool to hold it! We dropped it back into the sea afterwards. (:
Then they brought us to the elusive Turtle Island. If you ever go to Bali, DON'T bother going to this place unless it's in a package (like ours), because it's a complete waste of money. All there was to see was a couple of animals cages up and some photo opportunites with the animals. And we were forced to make "donations for animal feed" even though we didn't have our wallets with us! They had the perfect arrangement - they give us a receipt (or IOU really), and then we pay the boat captain when we get back to the shore. Quite ridiculous!
I look really terrified of the tortoise here. Haha.
And Nicole extremely friendly!
I was actually offered these things as photo partners. EEW! So gross.
Birds, on the other hand, are okay.
And Nicole the Daring with the snake.Me, I like most of my animals FAR AWAY from me. Hahaha.
This is a very good epitome of our lunch back at Nusa Dua beach -
chilled, relaxed and without a care in the world.
(And I even lugged one of those Coke bottles home!)
Back at the hotel we cleaned up, had some rest, and watched the AngMohs take part in the funny Big Splash competition in the pool. Haha it's really quite funny to watch these fat white men cannonballing themselves into the water!
While Nicole took a nap and waited for her 2hour spa at the hotel's Spa Villa, I packed another beach bag and pranced off to explore the beach abit more! Well, abit more turned out to be a 2/3km walk to the main Kuta beach. I was very pleasantly surprised!
We had only managed to venture out the little patch of sand of a beach behind our hotel the previous evening to catch the sunset, so we were actually pretty disappointed with Bali beaches. Until I decided to take that hike and discovered the real Kuta beach! It was so pretty! Lots of people, lots of activities going on!
It was Saturday afternoon, and the beach was crawling with both locals and tourists. There were kids digging the fine, black volcanic sand. There were peddlers trying to sell their goods. There were 7yearolds venturing out to catch their waves. There were bikin-clad women lying in the sun. There were hot dudes parading around with the surfboard and boardshorts. And yet I could find my own private spot and just lie down to read and soak up the sun. It was such a wonderful afternoon.
Spot the AngMohs catapulting into the water.
On a mission to find the prettier beaches!
See, I told you, all the women can do this!Those are ROCKS on their heads, mind you.
In search of the elusive Kuta beach.It's all the way on the other side - that line in the middle of the picture!
Blue skies and greenery.
Sucked away.
And notice the colour contrast from the above!
Me, walking walking walking.
Dead corals, uneroded by the waves.
Look the shafts of sunlight filtering through the clouds.
Backwash.
Black foam!
A very ghostly picture of my dress fluttering in the wind.
The 7yrold Aussie surfergirl who's too shy for my camera. 
A local, fishing.
Apparently if you zoom in, this dude resembles David Beckham! Haha.
Pebbles, and the streaks of sand they manage to steal from the waves.
Childhoods should all be like that.
Hot surfer babe!
A peddler packing her goods. 
My blues, purples, reds and browns.
Girls, this is a MUST-TRY beach self-shot angle! Hahaha.
Pinching clouds.
Look at the crowd!
Locals gathering for prayer/worship of sorts.
I wanna do that with my husband after retirement too!I don't even mind the beer belly! Hahaha.
The uglier constructions on the beach.
A broken breakwaters, and the local kids chattering at the foot of it.
Men coming home from a day at sea.
Rocks embracing the light.
Sunset.
All that, while Nicole was indulging in this!Oh, one thing, the sun sets really early over there! Even though there is no time difference, it starts to get dark at 5.30pm and by 7pm it's completely dark. I found that pretty fascinating, but probably a good thing too - so we would have time for some night activities too.
After a long bath and a short nap, Nicole came back and we both dragged our sleepy selves down to the Irish pub for a good dinner. Nicole, ever the food lover, did some research back home, and had this restaurant nailed even BEFORE we were on that plane! Hahaha.
Gracie Kelly's is a lively pub, with a local live band and boosts the whole white population of the resort. Other than the staff, we were the only 2 Asian faces in there! We enjoyed the atmosphere enormously, and our food even more so. Both our pies were declicious, and very decently priced too. Mostly, it was great fun watching 60yrold tipsy couples, probably married for 30years or more, laughing and dancing the night away barefooted. It makes me look forward to retirement already!
Gracie Kelly's.
There's a very old Irish feel about the whole place.
The band, which was fanstastic!
Nicole and her Beef Pie, I think.
A happy me with my apple crumble dessert!What made me happier was the 23SGD bill! For BOTH OF US! :D
No comments:
Post a Comment