Bali - Ubud Town [Part 1]

14 July 2011 @ Ubud, Bali

I have heard so much about Bali and many people around me have been there. So, I really wanted to see this place with my own eyes.

My friends and I finally touched the ground of Bali in the afternoon. I was worried that the driver we hired wouldn't turn up as we didn't pay any deposit to him. Luckily, we spotted him almost immediately after we came out of the arrival hall.

The very first thing he asked if we're hungry. He then brought us to a restaurant full of other tourists who had just touched down like us. Seems like a common place for taxi drivers to drop their passengers off for lunch there.

Well, that was our first meal in Bali.. Not very impressive though.

Right after lunch, we headed straight to Ubud, where our hotel is located (or so we thought).

Beautiful carvings can be seen all over on the way to Ubud. And the best part of the journey was the traffic congestion, terrible terrible traffic congestion. That costs us 2 hours to reach Ubud.

First group pic: Nick, LiJing, Radikah, JooLi and Me

Upon reaching the town, we quickly got down and visited the Pura Saren Agung (Royal Palace) as it's getting dark soon. At the mean time, our driver Agus went to ask around on the location of our hotel.

We then headed on to Pura Taman Saraswati, which was just next tot he Royal Palace. The drizzling rain was getting heavier and we had to find shelter while waiting for the rain to subside.

LiJing and Nick hitting the gong

We stood under the shades of the nearby Starbucks Coffee, but the impatient us still wanted to take photos under the rain. Thus, we take turns to take photo using the pinky umbrellas provided by our driver.

After 10-15 minutes, the rain finally stopped! We walked on into the compound to see what's inside.

Entering the sacred part of the temple required everyone to put on sarongs. The sarongs were provided and oh my there are all so flowery pretty!

The sky was getting really dark and we hurried back to our vehicle where our driver was waiting already. He had no luck asking for direction and the location of our hotel is still unknown.

So we drove further and further away from the Ubud town going towards Kintamani until we reached a road which was almost pitch black. He stopped again to ask for direction at a convenience store and we finally found the Raffles Holiday Hotel!

The road to go into the hotel was dark and creepy and there were no signs of living creatures in that area. Kinda freak us out a bit until the staffs came out to greet us.

We moved in our luggage and was wow-ed by the room. It's a simple glass room with an attached open-air bathroom. Awesome concept.

One of the rooms we rented was much bigger than the other 2 - the Junior Suite. It has a living room, dining area, kitchen and really big bedroom and really big bathroom. We utilized the space there to throw our very own party.

Cheers for the adventure of the first day

Luckily we made a smart move by buying some food and drinks as the place we stayed at is far away from civilization. We had dinner, drank beer, played games and had lots of fun for our first night in Bali. Billy, out.