My Travel Blog

I haven’t been to Germany. I didn’t follow hubby there when he went for business trip and a short holiday. It was a nice place and he enjoy his trip a lot. I was sitting for my final year in university, if not I would follow him on a tour in Europe!

A few years from now, I may want to bring my kids to Europe and we will go to Germany as well. If we are going on a free and easy trip, I will definitely bring them to the theme parks in Germany. Not only my kids will enjoy it, I will be having a good time too as I love playing at the theme parks.

Besides that, I will try my luck on shopping as well. There are so many nice Germany brands that I cannot get from our local stores and I don’t want to miss it. If we have more time, we might even check out the concert or theater in Germany. It’s not hard to get the Konzert Tickets as well as Theater Tickets online from Viagogo, which is a leading ticket hub in Germany. You can practically find any tickets here, if there is any seller who are willing to sell their Tickets.

Since we don’t speak their language, going on a free and easy trip may be quite hard. I think it will most probably be a trip with the tour agency if we plan to go.

This post is brought to you by Viagogo.

We didn’t stay there, but my friends stayed at Hard Rock Bali. We went there for some photo shots since it’s one of the most popular hotels in Bali. It’s a nice hotel to stay in but hubby preferred some place further in which is less crowded and nearer to nice beaches like Nusa Dua. Maybe we will come here for a stay next time as the room rates are not really expensive.

But honestly, if money is not a concern, I would like to go to Bvlgari Bali and check out how beautiful this hotel is. I have found some pictures of the hotel, and I’m mesmerized by its beauty. On the other hand, I know that hubby is eager to try out the golf courses in Bali. So, I would consider staying in Le Meridien Nirwana Golf & Spa Resort Bali as well since it has a golf course there.

Nonetheless, if you are going to Bali on a tight budget, Hard Rock or Nikko Bali may not be one of those cheaper hotels around. But you can easily find discount asian hotels from AsiaHotels.com, if you are interested to make your accommodation online.

Besides Bali, you can easily find various hotels in Asia as well. Thus, it’s one of those websites that you should bookmark it down for future reference, if you like traveling just like I do.

This post is brought to you by AsiaHotels.com.

I know I have been blogging a lot about Bali, but I haven’t done updating about my trip yet. Unless I’m going for somewhere, like going for Costa Rica Travel, then I might be blogging about it!

Costa Rica is not only a nice place to be visited, it is also a nice place for retirement. That’s why there are a lot of demands for Costa Rica Real Estate as more and more investors are wiling to invest in the properties and sell them again to other consumers who are looking for a nice place for retirement.

If you are interested, check out the Costa Rica Information available from the official site.

I took some nice shots by the pool side of Nikko Bali. It’s really a nice place to stay in Bali, and the beach is great! Too bad we didn’t have more time for the pools due to our tight schedule. Hopefully, we will have more time for the pools next time.

Hotel view from the pool

The kids pool

The beach side restaurant

The other side of the winding swimming pool

Another thing I love about this hotel is you can hear the sound of the gongs in most parts of the hotels. The musicians were playing the music at the lobby, somewhere near the reception desks but you can hear the music all over the hotel! It’s very relaxing so I love it.

This is one of the most famous tourist spots in Bali. Goa Gajah is located in Beduli village, Blahbatuh Subdistrict of Gianyar Regency, about 26 km from Denpasar. The first impression you will have in this place is, you have to put on a sarong to enter the holy area! Unless you are wearing longer skirt or pants, if not you have to put on the sarong. They will wrap it up for you, and it’s free.

Besides that, you have to walk down lots of steps to get to the temple, and you better leave all your luggage sets behind in the car, if not you will be panting like hell!

Some remaining of the temple after an earth quake

The tour guide told us to wash our face with the water from the public bath area as they believe that it will bring good luck.

Part of the two deep, stone bathing pools, filled with water from spouts held by six female figures.

These are what you will see inside the temple.

The Statue of Hindu Gods

Too bad my battery was flat and I didn’t get the photo of the Buddha by the side of the river. Gee…But I got a nice shot of all of us who went to Bali together.

Group photo

We went to a coffee plantation in Bali but I can’t recall the name of the place, but it’s very near Kintamani. Bali is very famous for its Robusta and Arabica coffee plantations, so you can considerate paying the plots a visit when you are in Bali.

The Coffee Fruit

My kids loved the place. They had fun walking around and enjoying the fresh air. They have got used to playing with dirt, and no doubt they that they were happy to have a nice walk and getting themselves dirty.

The kids walking with daddy

Not all the kids enjoyed the walk though,

Zi Wei was complaining that it’s smelly. O.o

*sigh* City kid mah, not like my kampung kids

The lady roasting the coffee beans

Coffee Beans

Coffee tasting

Cheers, with coffee though

I lost something every important here. Take a look at my left wrist? I was wearing a titanium bracelet. But it’s gone after the visit at the plantation. I must have dropped it somewhere when we were there. Luckily, it’s not one of my expensive gold bracelets!

Bye bye bracelet

My gal was the happiest of all. She’s very busy running around and exploring

Do you know what keeps her busy?

Ducks! She kept chasing the ducks.

Batur Mount, the volcano

No doubt, the view was nice. I thought that it would be very cold, but it’s only windy. As long as you have a cardigan, it should be ok. One the way to the restaurant, I took some photos of the temple and the stalls by the street.

A Temple

A close up

Some stalls

One our van arrived, we were crowded by some hawkers asking us to buy all sorts of things. Now, my advice is, if you have no intention to buy, just walk into the restaurant ASAP. Not dilly telly with them!

I was disappointed with the buffet food served. If you really don’t want to take the food, tell the tour guide in advance. Even if he earns from the commission, tell him that you will still be paying him that money, but ask him to bring you somewhere else.

The buffet food

But we couldn’t care much as the kids were hungry. So, everyone ate.

We are hungry, mommy

But I got food poisoning after taking the tuna satay. I do not need a colon cleanse to clear my tummy that night!

Tummy ache after this!

Nonetheless, the view is breathe taking. You can even see Lake Batur from afar.

Lake Batur

But you have to take extra precaution if you are there with kids. See what I mean?

No fencing! There’s where they placed the tables, at the balcony.

Everyone knows what’s the consequences if my kids fall off the bench.

I love Balinese style for house decor, but for this trip, I didn’t have any intention to get anything because we had to handle 2 young kids, and shopping for bulky stuffs might not be a good idea. Nonetheless, we managed to find some nice art and crafts in Bali.

The artists are very talented. You can see how the artwork is done on the spot.

An artist at work

Some of the artwork in progress

If you are willing to buy, just pick the masterpiece from the wall and bargain for a price. Someone told me that you can actually ask for 50% discount, but we didn’t try. We didn’t have the intention to buy, but just browsing around.

Some paintings

My kids’ favorite Barong

Then we were brought to a shop that sells some crafts. It was situated in Celuk too. My kids bought some gongs and a xylophone. The house is so noisy since they have the musical instrument! But actually, they wanted daddy to get this…

Buy the horse daddy!

Lots of crafts and…

Batik and T-shirts

Another photo shot before we left…

My family and Zi Wei

No, this is not an opp from Blogitive. LOL! It’s really silver and gold!!!

The Name of the Shop

The building

We were brought to a shop selling silver and gold products in Celuk, Bali. Frankly, I was not interested but what the heck, since we were there, I might just use the toilet. Haha! Of course mah, it’s not near going from one place to another, unless you have protective underwear, if not, use the clean toilets whenever possible. Seriously, that was what I did. But I did snapped some photos on my way out to look for my kids.

Why weren’t my kids in the shop? They found something more interesting outside…

Mommy, there are rabbits…

And a dog…

Needless to say, we were only there for less than 15 minutes. After some photo shots…

My family

We cabut loh!

On the second day, we were brought to watch the local culture dance called the barong dance. We were late, and when we reached there, we only managed to enjoy the last 15 minutes of the show. It’s not really a dance, in fact the barong dance is more like a show.

This is the story behind the Barong Dance:

The final fight between the Barong (good) and Rangda (evil) is preceded by a play called Calonarang. Calonarang was a legendary queen who was accused of practising black magic. According to some versions of the story, she killed her husband by pointing with the left hand at him, in others, he just plain deserted her. Anyhow, she becomes known as the Widow (Rangda) and turns into a terrible Leyal (witch-monster) that is finally killed by a saint who assumes the form of the Barong.

Every performance starts with a short prologue that features a scene with monkeys in a forest and has no connection to the rest of the story other than to show the good character of the Barong. After the prologue, two young girls perform a Legong, a very abstract and difficult dance. After this, the main story starts:

A young prince, Sadewa, is going to be sacrificed to a terrible witch monster, and two servants of the royal household are discussing opportunities to prevent this, when Kaleka, a student of the witch, enters the stage. The servants are deeply concerned about her appearance and send for the prime minister. The prime minister arrives, followed by the queen herself. The queen is desperate about having to sacrifice her son, but Kaleka, the student of the witch casts a spell on her and the queen changes her mind, starts beating her son and orders the prime minister to lead Sadewa to the cemetary where the witch lives. At first, the prime minister refuses to do so, but the student of the witch casts a spell on him as well and Sadewa`s fate seems to be sealed.

The following scene finds the poor prince tied to a tree at the cemetary, awaiting his death at the hands of the witch. The god Shiva however, has mercy on Sadewa, appears in the disguise of a priest (but flowers are thrown on the stage when he appears to indicate that he is in fact a god) and makes the prince immortal. When the student of the witch, who has followed him, notices this, she turns first into a boar, then into giant bird. Sadewa wins over both. But then the witch finally turns into Rangda, the evil of all creation. In order to fight her, Sadewa himself turns into the Barong (a kind of stylized lion) who represents the good powers. Rangda and the Barong fight, but as their powers are balanced, none of them can win.

The Barong now calls for his followers, the kris dancers, to assist him. The kris dancers attack Rangda with their magic knives (kris), but she casts a spell on them so that they fall into a trance and stab themselves with their knives instead of her. However, the Barong makes one final appearance and releases the kris dancers from her curse. In the final scene a priest pours holy water on the kris dancers and awakens them from their trance.

Some of the photos that I took are:

The Rangda, which scared my kids a lot

My boy was so terrified by the show, and we stole the limelight when he cried as I was making our way to be seated. The masks can be very scary to little children. The background music was performed with traditional musical instruments.

The musicians

The Witch

My kids favorite, the Barong!

It was a good show, but we need to get the brochure to understand the story line. I couldn’t understand much about their language. Make sure you don’t miss this show in Bali.