Bali

Well, are more pics and stories from my Bali trip. It was a few weeks ago, but I finally have the type to blog it.

As mentioned, we got a very nice room at a bargain of USD 60 per night. H and I stayed at Inna Kuta Beach Hotel, which is next to the beach, close to Legian Street. It a peaceful, safe (IMHO) and clean hotel. Good facilities with free breakfast. Staff is friendly, speaks English (as possibly other languages). In short, yes, I would want to return to this hotel if I visit Bali again.

Pool at Inna Kuta Hotel.

This is our 'room'. Large room with a dining area. No kitchen, but we didn't plan on cooking. The down side is, there is another room right next to us, in the same bungalow. The two rooms are separated by two wooden doors. Let's just say that the doors are not very solid and there is a little, just a little sound that passes through. The problem is, during our very intimate (long) moments, H would make a lot of noise, if you get what I mean. We try to keep it down, but it's difficult. We don't care if they neighbours know that we are screwing, but I don't want to bother them.

Hmmm. That's my idea of good fashion. H's sexy dress by the bed side the next morning. Hehehe. It took me some time to find my shorts, which was between the bed and the mattress. Don't ask how.

In general, we made love twice a day. It's so nice to wake up in the morning, hugging H. One thing leads to another, and we will end up having sex. At night, we would definitely take our time making love. I enjoyed kissing her, hugging her, eating out the breasts - she gets noisy already, playing with her pussy, eating her out; doggy style is her favourite but we both love to hug each other, kiss and fu*k at the same time. Very intimate. In the afternoons, she's naughty - she would give me blowjobs but won't let me cum - to save it for the night. Hehehe.

While having sex on the beach sounded very naughty and tempting, the both of us didn't want to risk it. We were not afraid of getting caught but didn't want any sand on the more sensitive parts of the body!

Speaking of the beach, this is the view right outside our room. Wow! The other quirky thing was, they have lifeguards. Safe areas to swim are marked with a red and yellow flag (Swim between the yellow flags). Unsafe areas are marked with red flags. As usual, most would think the red flags are for decorative purposes only, swimming and diving in areas marked unsafe. I sure hope nothing bad happens.

Like any tourists, no holidays would be complete without souvenirs. The worst places to buy souvenirs are from the stalls outside tourist areas - such as just outside a temple. Bad idea. It would be a major rip off. They have no price tags, and super inflated prices. You need to bargain for a 90% discount. That's not my idea of shopping. I am on holidays. Why should one waste his time and energy haggling over price? Why get ripped off?

So, with some luck, we found a great place to shop for souvenirs - Omega Handicraft which is along Legian Street, Kuta. It's about 10 minutes from the hotel, by foot. Everything has a price tag and the prices are reasonable. Very wide selection of products. Highly recommended place to hunt for souvenirs.

Something very puzzling - dicks for sale. To be precise, wooden phallus on sale. They cost about Rp 25,000 each (or RM 10 / USD 3 each). Like real-life, they come in all shapes and sizes. The puzzling part is, why sell dicks? I wonder does the local women use them as dildos? Surely their men can satisfy them.

In any case, I bought some too, as a gag gift. And bought the biggest I could find - for only one purpose. No no, not to use it as a dildo. My original equipment works fine. If my partners want a dick, they can just give me a call and I will satisfy them. :) If I ever resign from Nible2 - correction, when I resign from Nible2, I will show it to my bosses and ask them to ... You get the idea.

Could they at least sell wooden phallus and a statue of Buddha separately, for crying out loud?

I bought a lot (Rp4.5 million) of Indonesian Rupiah before I left KL. Ran of money into Day 3. The gross under-estimate was due to the fact that credit cards are not widely accepted. Cash is preferred. So, I had to buy more currency in Kuta. There are many currency traders along streets. Some would offer Rp2650 for each ringgit. Some were offering up to Rp 2980 for each ringgit. At first, I didn't know. I went to one which offered Rp 2980. I wanted to sell RM 300.

That stall itself was shady, at the back of a shop, under a staircase. Figured out it was illegal. In any case, I was feeling brave (H was waiting outside). They proceeded to give me the Indonesian currency, close to Rp 800,000, all in Rp 20,000 notes. It was a huge stack. In Indonesia, they have Rp 50,000 and Rp 100,000 notes. But these crooks, preferred the Rp 20,000 bills for only one reason. They cheat.

After I've counted the stack of Rp 20,000 bills, one of the guys helpfully stacked it back nicely for me. That's when I knew I was being tricked. During the stacking process, very quickly and I didn't observe it, he must have removed some of the bills. I recounted the stack again, and sure enough, it was short of Rp 200,000 this time. I told them that it's short. So, they had to cough up the 'missing' cash. I did get a good bargain (they suffered a lost in exchange) but I was nearly cheated. One has to be brave to deal with these crooks.

Moral of the story - after one has counted the notes, do NOT let anyone else touch it.

I could not help but to post another picture of Jimbaran here. A must visit and must dine place in Bali. Very romantic place.

Strangely, there were few Indonesian food outlets along Kuta. Most of them served Western food, or Japanese food. H and I preferred local food when we travel. Fortunately, we were introduced to Made's Warung along Legian street. It has good food, cheap, good service and most important - Indonesian cooking!

That's the sign of Made's Warung. Always busy. Starts at 8am. However, I don't see many tourist up and about at that hour. I certainly would be in bed with H enjoying each other's body. Anyway, back to the subject of food. How good was Made's Warung? We dined there for four meals, including a breakfast. Each time, we ordered different dishes. My favourite was the noodles in soup ( I cannot recall the name ). H loves soups.

On Day 3, we took a cab to Denpasar. One way was about Rp 80,000 but it is a lot cheaper to rent them for a day. The cheapest being the cabs by the road side - but do be careful. We went to Denpasar Market. A local lady, speaks English, decides to tail H and I. At every shop, when we asked the proprietor for the price, she would interrupt, mumbles to each other in their local dialect, and replies to me in English. The problem was, the prices were greatly inflated. Mind you, Malaysians can speak some Bahasa Indonesia, we needed no translator and we definitely knew the products well! They weren't foreign to us. Bananas went for Rp 15,000.

So, it took us something for H and I to shake of this unwanted agent. We did so leaving the market. Then, we got smarter - we approached the market from a side entrance. Looks like the agents were only waiting in front. Oh, I got some good avocados, bananas (for Rp 2500 only, but decided to pay the old lady Rp 5000), rambutans and some spices.

Denpasar Market.


For the rest of the day and Day 4, we went touring, to various tourist spots: temples, beaches. I cannot recall where some of these pictures were taken but they are certainly beautiful places. As for temples, we only walked on the outside. I don't like to enter the temples per-se as a tourist - it is meant for prayers! Anyway, that's my belief.

An elaborate door arch.

This would have been a great place for a beer, with H on my lap. It was really windy, overlooking the sea beneath, listening to the waves breaking.

Not to be left out, we attended a Barong Dance - a traditional Balinese dance. It tells a very interesting story. The only damper was the rain. It did clear up eventually.

I end this blog with a picture of the memorial at Legian, Kuta - to remember the victims of the senseless 2002 bombings. I feel sad that the world has to come to this. I still think business in Bali is affected. Kuta certainly isn't very crowded. Oh well, that's part of life. If only people learn to accept things and not fight it. Even if they must fight it, go face to face with the US Army or the Australian Armed Forces. Why take it out on a group of innocent tourist?

Holidays in Bali

I am about to leave for New Delhi in an hour, so, a brief post on my holidays to Bali. ChilliLady, you want something from Bali?

As usual, the hotel sold my pre-booked room ( a USD 60 room) to someone else, as I arrived only at 8pm. The good news is, I got to stay in the most expensive room which is just by the sea. It's worth USD 440 per night, but I didn't mind paying USD 60 only. With the USD at an all time low against the Ringgit, I was actually paying peanuts.

The highlight of the trip was dinner at Jimbaran - a fishing village just south of the airport. Extremely romantic setting, excellent and relaxing environment plus good food. To get there from Kuta cost me Indonesian Rupee Rp 150,000 - which is about RM 30. Dinner was Rp 500,000 - abotu RM 175.


A temple by the beach.

This is Jimbaran. It has a lot of restaurants, all with table set up along the beach. Watch the sunset with a cold beer in hand and enjoy dinner listening to the waves. Nothing could be better. Oh yeah, of course I had H next to me.

Sunset at Jimbaran. Relaxing, isn't it?

H and I went to this volcano. Suppose to be still active. Great view of the volcano and its surrounding lakes. Food was only 'so so', nothing much to shout about. But the view... money cannot buy!

That's all for today. I really should pack for my trip to India. As I always say - India, never a dull moment!

My trip to Germany

Oh my, what a trip it has been. This post shall be a summary of the trip - more details a lot later.
It was an adventure, almost like that in India, for me. The last time I was in Frankfurt, it was an adventure too.

Many years ago, I was on transit in Frankfurt. The air ticket was arranged by the same old PA (Personal Assistant) who gave me an extra day in Frankfurt this time. Not the brightest PA. Back then, the final destination was Graz, Austria. She only booked flights up to Frankfurt and told us (I was travelling with another lady engineer) to get connecting flights Graz when we are at Frankfurt airport. It was a disaster. We found out that the cheapest tickets (we had to fly one way - our travel was Kuala Lumpur to Singapore to Frankfurt (transit) to Graz to Marseilles (transit) to Paris) - was EUR 1000 per person. This worked out to be RM 10000 for the both of us. Where the heck were we to find RM 10000 on a cold morning in Frankfurt airport?

Thankfully, the Lufthansa staff took pity on us, manage to scrape together RM 10000 and got our tickets. Mind you, the initial offer was more than RM 20000 for the both of us, before Lufthansa gave us a discount. Apparently, for one way tickets, only business class tickets were sold! Cheap tickets are available in EU, but only with advance booking - not tickets on the spot.

Anyway, back to my latest trip. When the flight landed, we were greeted by a message, in German, which sounded like " ... airport strike, ... no bags, ... delay getting of the plane...". Rob came to mind immediately. More on Rob later. There was a full strike by the ground crew. All passengers were worried not getting their bags. Thankfully, MAS manage to employ some other ground crew (Lufthansa was on strike) and we got our bags an hour late. Sadly, some other passengers left the airport after believing rumours that bags will only be offloaded the next day. How could that be true? The MAS plane had to leave for Malaysia 6 hours later. The bags must leave the plane before that!

The result of the strike. All were sitting around, awaiting for luggage.

I then got myself on a Inter City Express (ICE) from Frankfurt to Hannover. Good grief! The bloody thing was full to the brim - it reminded me of a very high tech version of the mini bus. Mini buses use to service Kuala Lumpur and they were packed like sardines. Ended up standing for 3 hours. Not a bad thing to do after sitting for 12 hours on a plane. Being a bloody idiot, I got down at Hannover Masse instead of Hannover HBf. One station too early. Had to drag my luggage and catch another train. Not smart!

Finally, I arrived at Etap Hotel, where I spent about five nights. A budget hotel which has all the basics. Nothing fancy. Because of peak demand, the rates were EUR 140 per night. Normally, it would have been a EUR 45 room. Basic and clean. However, I must warn readers that when my colleagues were there last year, two laptops were stolen. No idea who did it. Maybe they did not lock their doors properly. Other laptops in other rooms were OK. In any case, I took along a lock for my laptop. Better be safe than sorry.

Etap hotel revising the rates when the exhibition was over. When I was there, the rates were EUR 120 per nite. Now, it is happy EUR 43 per nite. Simple demand and supply.

Made my way back to Frankfurt after my stay in Hannover - managed to squeeze in a day trip to Hamburg. Hamburg's a very nice city - full of life. This time, I got smarter - booked a seat on the ICE. The bad news was, there was a train strike. However, thanks for Rob, I got myself on one of the confirmed trains - trains that will run even the strike is on. Talk about German efficiency. Unfortunately, when the train reached Frankfurt HBf (main station), there was a long announcement in German. A fellow passenger was kind enough to translate it to me, saying that the train suffered some technical error and passengers need to find an alternative train. Being me, I summarized the situation in a simple "Kaput" for him. He had a good laugh. Frankly, if they announced train kaput, I would have understood. Kaput is the German word for "koyak" (in Malay)! So, the adventure continues - searching for another train which was in good order and not on strike.

I then checked in to a Steigenberger Hotel, near the Frankfurt airport. Good grief. It took me 45 minutes to queue at check-in. When my turn came, the room which I booked for was not available. Jokers sold it to someone else. But, they offered me an upgrade to a very luxurious Executive Room. After 5 days in a budget hotel, this is like a palace. Very cool deco. Comfy beds. Very nice bathrooms. A huge LCD TV. Reasonably cheap high speed Internet access. A very welcome change indeed. But there was a price to pay. The room was in the executive tower. Had a different room number from the 'normal' rooms. I did plan to dress very casually in jeans and all for my stay at the hotel, excluding formal business meetings. I was rather shy. Had to dress in something better. Don't want to look like a bum staying in the Executive Tower. Anyway, I think I still look like half a bum but bad luck, I've done my share.

The weather in Frankfurt was rotten for the two days I was there. Turned sunny on the day I left. What more can I say. Guess my trips to Frankfurt has been nothing but adventures - since my first trip there.

On yes, and now, the juicy bits. Who sat next to me on my flights? When I was there, I sat next to a German chap - about my age, perhaps younger, very friendly. Don't think I was very friendly because I was dead tired after work. Wasn't rude, but just slept all the way! As usual, my ass started to hurt after we flew past India. That's another 7 hours before Germany!

On the way back - oh yes - the best thing happened. Always my dream - and it came true. In the waiting lounge, I saw this very cute gal. Later found out she's from Indonesia. Long hair, slim. Sweet smile too. I boarded the plane first. And a few minutes later, guess who sat next to me? Yes, this sweet young thing. I took the aisle seat and she took the window seat. We exchanged smiles and looked at each other. Then, we both realise that the seats in the centre of the plane, (row of 5 seats in the centre), were all empty. Smart gal. She made a dash for one of them. Smiled at me. I was very happy too. For one reason or another, there were about 80 empty seats.

So, the seat to get, is an empty seat next to you. A pretty gal would be good, but nothing beats an empty seat. Bet you, that pretty gal had exactly the same feelings! Don't get me wrong. I love to have friends, mix around but when I am on board a plane, in economy class, sitting for 12 hours - I rather be really comfortable. No point having the sweetest young thing and being darn uncomfortable. Of course, if I had a sweet young thing back in the executive room in Steigenberger, it would have been a very different story.

An Inspiration.

I was in Hawaii way back in 2005 for a holiday. A quick summary - it is not what we think Hawaii is. A very relaxing, laid back place. Food was only just OK, but the best was our own cooking (this says alot). Very slow, quiet and oh well, just laid back.

There is one memory which I treasure the most from this trip. My cousin, Chris, took part in the Ironmnan race. Naturally, we all turned up to support him. The Ironman race has three stages, in the order - swimming for 1.2 miles (1.9 km), bike for 56 miles (90 km) and finally, run for 13.1 miles (21 km) - which makes a total of about 70 miles (113 km). It is gruelling. Very painful.

I cannot remember who the winner was, or how my cousin fared. I could remember Sarah. Sarah Reinertsen (http://www.myspace.com/alwaystri). She was the first female emputee, to complete an Ironman race. We were cheering widely when she was close to the finish time. To my memory, it was very exciting because she finished so close to the cut of time. I think it is was 8 hours - the cut-off time.

She showed real determination. She is a symbol to show us all that everything is possible. It can be done. I am able-bodied but not, just running 13 miles would be horrible for me. In life, there is really no such thing as cannot be done. It is just whether we want to do it or not. Sarah has shown that it is matter of will, not physical conditions.

To all those who says, "It cannot be done", "I cannot do it", all I tell them is, the real reason is, they do not want to. Don't lie, just say, "I do not want to do it". Sometimes, there is nothing wrong in not wanting to do something, but please, lame excuses... urrggh. By the way, I have severe crap intolerance!