RandomThots: yooohooo... (it's a long one)

Well, i'm back from bali! Still nursing a terrible runny nose, awful mouth ulcers and slight sore throat. And a bit of a tan... Apart from the fact that I had to eat soggy McChicken burger at the Bali airport today thanks to my over-prepared taiko, notice anything different?

So Clever! I am a bit more tanned!!

Okay, maybe a little bit more than that.. (see izy, not shorter, dyed, straightened or curled!)
I think i took around 600 photos this time round with my new new camera. But how to sum a trip up in one blog entry? (can't be bothered with those... here's part 1.. and part 2 tomorrow! kind of things... ) Let's see... Bali.. I introduced my taiko to...

SODA GEMBIRA! maybe gembira, but UNHEALTHY! i figure the recipe goes something like: Rose syrup + condensed milk + evaporated milk + soda water = mix together and Voila! Soda Gembira!
We stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel in Bali which is themed just like the Hard Rock cafes all over the world.. COOL! Posed with the guitars of Sting *swoon*, Ronan Keating (for old time's sake) and, just for Eddie... snapped this one:

Honestly, most of the time was spent shopping. Can spend millions in a day. Seriously. But then, 1 million rupiah = rm 400. *shrug*

Oh, and there was lots of eating too. The worst time to have mega mouth ulcer when ALL BALINESE FOOD CONTAINS CHILI. *groan*

We did eat lots and lots of Balinese food though. Refused to fall prey to McDonalds and KFC although they beckoned around most street corners. Instead, we decided to go local. Like really local. Like eating local dish babi guling local.

Like eating it at a freaking sawah padi by the side of the road local.

Look yonder and sight ye the greenness that is sawah padi

The verdict? Hhhmm.. i think i'll stick with siu yuk, but at least there was teh botol.
Did most of the touristy things. Visited temples, watched the cultural shows, etc. Balinese architecture is amazing and the landscape is so beautiful.

The volcano Kintamani - with black soil!

Rice paddy terraces - so green! This is my postcard shot...

The view from the Temple on the Cliff (the one with monkeys)

I did think of the architects and am not surprised at the amount of 'oriental influence' that seems to be popular lately.. ALL balinese houses are like that! They all look like temples! And every house has to have a temple in it. So devout!

Tanah Lot - The temple on the sea

At every tourist attraction you go to, there are at least 3 different people (some armed with children!) to attack you with cheap paraphernalia and souvenirs. It's kind of annoying saying no but being battered with cries of Please Mam.. Very cheap missy.. You just look... How much you want? We went down to take pictures and here's some evidence of "the gang" waiting for us at the head of the stairs. There were 3 others out of the picture but they seemed rather amused I turned my back on the scenery and took them instead. For an economy pretty wholly reliant on tourism, times have been bad since the Bali bombings...