testign3230: September 2012

Sunday, September 30, 2012

September 30, 2012: Last day in Bali. Woke up early (5:30am) to watch the sunrise and headed to the breakfast buffet from there. Grabbed a cabana on the beach and read for a bit before heading back up to the room to pack. What a beautiful resort! Wish I was 1) here longer, and 2) with the girls. Next time.

Got to fly AirAsia, my favorite airline on this side of the world. I had the bulkhead row to myself, which was great. And I had the ‘red carpet service’ at check-in, which helped me avoid a line of 60-90 minutes to drop off my baggage. Definitely worth the $20.

Landed in Singapore around 4pm, grabbed a quick meal at a local Thai restaurant, and then bunkered down in my room to get some work done and catch up on email. Working here tomorrow, then back home Tuesday! Whoo hoo!

Saturday, September 29, 2012

September 29, 2012: Bali! [Morning Edition] Bobby picked me up at 7:30am for my tour of the island. We started at a traditional Balinese dance, which featured elaborate costumes and neat music. After that, we went through several villages. “This one is known for jewelry”, “This one is known for Batik”, “This one is known for wood carving”, and so on. Picked up a few souvenirs along the way.

I would absolutely love to come here, buy all sorts of furniture and decor, and put it on a cargo ship back to the US. Amazing quality and attention to detail, and extremely fine materials.

Then we went to the Sacred Monkey Forest in Ubud, which was a riot. These monkeys are so used to humans feeding them, they were not ashamed to come right up to you. I saw one guy standing frozen as monkeys checked his pockets and cargo pockets for food. I bought a few bananas to feed the monkeys and promptly ended up with wild monkeys climbing all over me… cool and frightening at the same time.

The monkeys would take anything shiny as well. Unfortunately, I saw a monkey chewing on sunglasses (above), a water bottle + cap, a plastic bag, and more. #sadface

Next stop was a local market, but I was over that pretty quickly. Every shop has the same crap, everyone wants to make you “good deal”, etc. I think Bobby was surprised how quickly I wanted to leave, but these markets look the same in every country. No thanks.

For lunch, we went to a rice terrace where I had fried rice (nasi goreng) from the field below. It was delicious!

September 29, 2012: Bali! [Afternoon Edition] After lunch, we headed to Tampaksiring to the Holy Water Temple. It was neat to be in Bali today because tomorrow is a full moon, which is always a celebration and offering period. 90% of Bali is Hindu, so there are temples everywhere for the 3 gods below Brahman: Brahma the creator, Vishnu the preserver and Shiva the destroyer.

At the temple, I saw the pig being brought in for the offering, and there was an energy about the country as everyone prepared for the full moon.

Since I had shorts on, I needed to borrow a sarong to enter the temple. Other no-no’s for the temple: being pregnant or being on your period. Sorry, ladies.

We finished the day at Kintamani, overlooking Lake Batur and an active volcano, Gunung Agung. What an amazing view! I stayed here for nearly 45 minutes, just staring out at this landscape.

Back to the resort at 7:30pm after the 12 hour excursion. Wow! What a day. Finished up with a seafood buffet on the beach and fireworks under the stars.

Friday, September 28, 2012

September 28, 2012: Started my day in Melbourne with an early wake-up call and work in the AM. Had a delicious vietnamese lunch with Sue-Ellen, so good I didn’t even get a picture of it before it was gone :)

Straight to the airport from work and on to a 6:30pm flight from Melbourne to Denpasar (Bali). Well… it was supposed to be 6:30pm. We ended up not leaving until 7:45pm because of a fuel level sensor needing replaced. Which meant an 11:30pm arrival into Denpasar (and a 2 hour time change for the nearly 7 hour flight).

When I arrived in Denpasar… chaos. 11 flights had landed at the same time (nearly all widebody planes… A330’s, 757’s, 767’s, etc.). And…. 3 immigration officials. I was in Row 3 so I was one of the first off of our plane, and I read online to be prepared to rush to the left to pay a $25 airport tax before getting in the main line, so I did all of that… and still ended up with a 90 minute wait to get through. When I cleared customs at 1am, there were easily over 1,000 people in line behind me still. WOW!

Leaving the airport was a nice feeling, reminiscent of Kuala Lumpur and Manila with drivers everywhere and very eager porters to help with luggage.

I stopped by the ATM, where the Indonesian Rupiah currently trades 9,500 = 1 USD. So I pulled out $150 and became an instant millionaire :) with about $1,400,000 in my pocket! My first purchase.. PEPSI BLUE! Discontinued in the US in 2004, it’s still available in Malaysia and Indonesia. Good stuff.

Finally arrived to my hotel around 2am (4am Aussie time) and went straight to bed. I have a 12 hour tour that leaves at 7:30am tomorrow.. yikes!

Thursday, September 27, 2012

September 27, 2012: Started my day right by having breakfast with Mike! Always a treat to catch up with him and hear what he’s up to after UIS.

Next stop was my favorite ocean lookout in the world (This probably looks familiar… I’ve stopped here over 10 times now in the past 4 years!) It’s just magical. Morning sun shining on the coast, a breathtaking view, the gentle breeze. Ahhh.

Work at UOW with my awesome mates, followed by a 6:30pm flight to Melbourne. Straight to the hotel, then to the Laundry Bar to catch my mate Jordan’s set at a bar’s 6 month anniversary. He killed it! Glad we got to catch up on my short stop here.

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

September 26, 2012: Met up with Ally and her friend Lauren as soon as I landed to go whale watching! Unfortunately…. no whales today. :( But we did see a few dolphin, so that was neat. Afterwards, we hopped in the car since neither had experienced driving in Australia! We went out to Watson’s Bay for lunch, which was delicious as always. Then tonight, I took a nice 4-5mi walk down to the Rocks and across the Harbour Bridge to get the picture that *everyone takes*. But, I didn’t have my own so now I do! Harbour Bridge + Sydney Opera House.

Stopped by McDonalds on the way back for a Serious Lamb Burger. Beetroot, egg, lamb, all together. Interesting choice, Mackers.

Came back to my room to an absolute treat from the Hilton. Bottle of red wine, cheese and cracker tray, chocolate covered strawberries and other assorted chocolates. They sure know how to treat a Diamond right :)