Yes, 9th to 13th June was a little family retreat for all of us :) We're always so busy studying, working and trying to achieve something greater than what we already have that sometimes we forget to stop, take a break and do a lil' stock check.
Anyway, this trip has been fun. Spending time with the people that you see everyday and with the people whom will always be your pillar of support no matter what happens.
This time I am seriously TOO LAZY to chronologically arrange the photos. Blogspot should like have a picture arranger programme or something like that man...I think that's not implemented because they're not bloggers and don't know the pains of chronologically arranging 100+ photos. Haha.
If you're wondering which part of Bali we went, we spent the 1st half of the trip in Jimbaran and the other half in Nusa Dua.
Day 1 to 3 was spent in Ayana Hotel at Jimbaran Bay. We went to Jimbaran Beach to have dinner and enjoyed the hotel facilities surrounded by a breathtaking yet tranquil view of the sea. We also visited some temple by the sea that was monkey-infested.
Day 4 to 5 was spent in Marriott Courtyard hotel. The thing about Marriott Hotel is that they have a private beach specially for hotel guests! So of course we paid the beach a visit and went around eating the local fare.
Yup, the pictures are not in order. If you want it chronological, go to my mum's Facebook photo album and it's all chronological there. Haha.
Upon arrival at Ayana Hotel, we were garland-ed and I had to answer the call of nature. I must say, the toilets were too good not to take photos of! LOL! I also took photos because I was hiding in the toilet...haha.
The story behind it is...we only booked 2 rooms and each room has a maximum capacity of 2. And we're a family of 5! So I became the phantom family member and appeared only after the hotel keys were drawn. HAHA!
Yes the hotel rooms were AWESOME!! It had a balcony with a magnificent view of the golf course's landscape. The rooms were huge! 1 room can comfortably accommodate 3 people...contrary to what the hotel limits it to...HAHA!
The picture below is the Rock Bar. This hotel is famous for it. It has a bar by the sea! More than that, it also has a restaurant and a swimming pool by the sea! As you go along you'll see the beautiful facilities that this resort has :D
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| Jerina & I at the Rock Bar :D At Ayana Hotel |
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| Dinner at Jimbaran Beach! :) |
This is one of the highlights of our journey at Ayana Hotel. We drove out to find a nice place for dinner and find one we did. However, being a tourist attraction, prices were not that good. Haha...The food was only average...No biggie. For the price we paid, it could've been better.
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| Rows of shops offering you dinner by the beach! |
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| This is one busy beach with tons of people feasting by its shores! |
Ok this shot is back in Ayana Hotel. Haha. After a good swim we went to play pool. The pool table was just beside the swimming pool. Here we have the fusion of 2 pools - swimming pool and pool table...HAHA!
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| Playing pool after coming out of the swimming pool...LOL! |
There are 2 swimming locations in Ayana Resort by the way. One is not by the sea, one is by the sea. The swimming pool by the sea is slightly more inaccessible. You have to take something like a cable car ride to get there...
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| The ride downward to the Rock Bar and Rock Pool :) |
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| Jeravan and myself in the "cable car" |
That's the interesting part about the place. After the ride, we are at beach level...same level as the Rock Bar, Rock Pool and the Restaurant :D So here are a few photos of the swim at Rock Pool :D
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| Mummy :D |
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| Yes the guy lying upside down with his legs up is me...HAHA! The guy on the right is Jeravan. :D |
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| Me & Jeravan in the Rock Pool :) |
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| A view of the rock pool :D |
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| One of Ayana's Resort's restaurants :) |
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| Massage area...or something...haha |
Isn't it pretty? The facilities there really make use of the elements of nature such as water, trees, flowers, etc...to create a real peaceful setting.
The picture below is upon arrival at Ayana Resort. Haha. Remember, this post isn't chronological. HAHA! A picture of the 3 of us at the water fountain :D
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| Jeravan, Jerina & Myself at the water fountain :D |
I cannot help but notice the "awesome" sculpture at the fountain. I don't know if it was a failed attempt or they wanted to portray a certain level of melancholy through the sculpture...
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| A really sad lion! HAHAHAHA! |
Oh, the picture below is me eating a bowl of Mee Bakso noodles :D This is their local fare...something like a our mee pok in Singapore. Just that ours is like 20x nicer. HAHA!
Mee Bakso is a noodle soup dish with tons of vegetables, crispy wanton and meatballs. The wanton really was just crispy flour bites and the meatballs were just a ball of flour rolled and boiled. Haha! The taste came from the soup and coupled with the chilli, the dish was still not too bad. Haha. The thing is, one bowl costs like 50cents? Haha!
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| Me posing with my Mee Bakso meatball :) |
These noodles were sold like everywhere in these carts. Sometimes we wonder how clean the dish is...Haha! Oh well, I'm still typing this post right? LOL!
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| This is another beach...Tanjong Benoa jetty. |
The cool thing about this beach is they had para-sailing. It involves a person going on a parachute tied to a boat and the boat will pull you around in your parachute! It's a good superhero moment that doesn't come cheap. You get to fly for only 1 to 2 minutes? And it costs around S$15 if I remember correctly. Haha
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| Jeravan & I...Can you see the para-sailor in the background toward the top left of the picture? Yeah, that's para-sailing :D |
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| The restaurant at Rock Pool |
Yes we're back at the Rock Pool at Ayana Resort. The picture above is taken at the restaurant by the sea :) A second shot was taken (below) to show that the pole I'm standing beside is BURNING!! HAHAHA! It's a lamp la basically. Haha.
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| Me at the Rock Pool Restaurant :D |
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| Me & Jeravan sitting on the hotel's buggy...Taken at the entrance :D |
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| This is our last destination actually...We went souvenir shopping...haha |
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| Seashell lamps!! SO PRETTY!!! |
Pictured above is the seashell lamps!! They put all the seashells together and place a lamp inside and whoa-lah! A beautiful beside lamp is made! This is actually at our last destination...we went to some souvenir shop 2 photos up...haha!
The picture below is at Marriott Courtyard's private beach for guests! :) They even have a nice van to drive hotel guests to and from the beach :D Yes, it's quite a distance away from the hotel. Unlike Ayana Resort, the beach is quite far from the hotel rooms.
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| Me posing with a bag of Cassava chips which we enjoyed by the beach :) |
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| Us at Marriott Hotel's private beach :D |
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Take 2 with Daddy as the photographer...haha
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| Lunch at some deserted zi-char restaurant |
The picture above is our lunch session at some road side local zi-char restaurant. The food was average and so was the price. But this was the only restaurant with parking lots so we ended up there. HAHA!
The whole restaurant was empty. No sound of cooking, no cooks present...Only after we ordered then did we hear the kitchen start...HAHAHA!
The next few photos below are taken at the Uluwatu temple, a major attraction in Bali...I don't know why...I guess it's because the temple is located by the sea...Haha.
Before we went a lot of people told my mum that the temple is monkey-infested and that some of the monkeys are trained to steal your spectacles.
Well, our uncle is one victim. The monkey took his spectacles and he paid the temple people to get it back and they returned him a maimed, broken pair of spectacles...HAHA! So much for paying to get it back eh? LOL!
So when we went there, mummy was telling us to watch out for monkeys and to hold on to our spectacles. Hold onto it we did, like weirdos...HAHAHA!
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| The Lee Family in sarongs :D HAHA! |
If you're wondering why we're draped in sarongs, it's because we were all wearing shorts. As a sign of respect and modesty, we had to wear sarongs to enter the temple. And the sarongs didn't come free -.-" So to me, the sarongs were more of a form of extortion rather than respect and modesty...haha!
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| Posing for a shot in the temple :D |
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| Take 2 :) |
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| Now you can see that the temple is by the sea :) |
Let me bring to your attention the stick in my right hand and the big rock in Jeravan's hand...Yes we were armed to ward off monkeys if they come to near us and try to take our spectacles...HAHAHA!
I think we were the most violent family around there. I was brandishing my stick and we were throwing stones at monkeys throughout the journey...HAHA! Instead of them terrifying and taking our spectacles, we were terrifying them and taking away their peace...LOL!
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| Us again and I'm still holding the stick and Jeravan, his rock...haha |
Ok now the pictures lead us to Marriott Courtyard's swimming pool :) The facilities were really nice and scenic too. But it was nice and scenic in a more urban way compared to Ayana resort.
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| Me & Jerina at Marriott's swimming pool |
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| 3 of us by the pool :D |
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| Yup, still by the swimming pool...haha |
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| Still at the swimming pool...haha. |
The next 2 pictures are me posing for mummy's camera at Marriott Courtyard's hotel room's balcony :) Our rooms had a lovely view of the pool :D
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| Enjoying the room's view :D |
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| Standing up pose...LOL! |
And the pictures lead us back once again to Ayana Resort! LOL! Non-chronological posts are pretty interesting too eh? Bring you back and forth...hahaha!
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| Jerina & I getting charmed by the sound of the crashing waves |
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| Playground in Ayana Resort...haha |
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| Our Ayana Resort hotel room view of the golf course |
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| Yes, the balcony is this comfy, perfected by a calm, natural ambience brought about by the golf course :) |
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| Beautiful, scenic landscapes in Ayana Resort :) |
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| The Ayana swimming pool...the one not by the beach..haha |
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| The pretty flora exhibited in Ayana Resort :) |
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| Bridal Glass Pavilion |
Yes they have a lil' church-like structure there which they name "Bridal Glass Pavilion". It's a fully glassed building that lets you see the outside from inside...Haha. A really nice place to get married.
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| Mummy & Jerina at some walkway in Ayana's vast land area :D |
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| Another shot of the awesome Rock Pool @ Ayana Resort :D |
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| A shot of the Rock Bar from the "cable car"..haha |
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| Take 2 :) |
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| A few wallpaper shots try-outs in Ayana Resort...haha |
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| Still trying to get a nice wallpaper from Ayana Resort...haha |
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| Another wallpaper try-out at the Rock Pool :D haha.. |
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| Jerina at the Rock Pool...yes they had these huge mattresses by the pool for you to relax on :D |
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| Another wallpaper try-out at rock pool...haha |
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| Mummy getting irritated with Jeravan cos she wanted a shot of herself only...hahaha |
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| And she managed to chase Jeravan away...but not totally...His hand is still inside...LOL |
And we're back at Marriott Courtyard! HAHA! Here's a view of our hotel room :) Yes we reached there in the evening :)
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| The room view in Marriott Courtyard :D |
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| A view of the balcony from behind the transparent door :D |
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| View of the balcony without the glass door...haha...I'm like doing a science experiment to see how much light the glass door reflects light...LOL! |
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| Jerina & I posing for mummy...haha |
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| Water leakage at the light |
A few problems we encountered at Marriott Courtyard...When we arrived, our room was undergoing a little repair work and we had to wait a few hours before our room was ready.
After that, as I was relieving myself - big business - suddenly the light splurt water out. I got a shock of my life..."How can a halogen light in the toilet spray water??" was my first thought. I thought it was some kinda spiritual attack! LOL!
I came to my senses and my intellect told me that it was probably a pipe leakage...hahaha...Anyway, for these 2 incidents we went to ask for some compensation during out meal time and we got 20% off our bill! Below is a picture of our awesome dinner at Marriott Courtyard's restaurant :)
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| Dinner time! At Marriott Courtyard :) |
The food served was really good! Yes it was kinda expensive compared to the roadside food prices but the food quality was really UP THERE. We ate to our heart's content..haha!
Yup below is a few more shots of the awesome, more urban landscape showcased in Marriott Courtyard...
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| Balcony view of the pool :) |
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| Another balcony shot :) |
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| A pool, ground level shot of the swimming pool :D |
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| Take 2 :D A bit distorted though...haha...You can see the tree trunk on the right is wavy...LOL! |
The 2 pictures below are shots of an interesting sculpture along the road on the way back...It's like some sculpture of a warrior fighting enemies on a chariot or something like that. An interesting sculpture you don't see on Singapore roads...haha!
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| Sculpture take 1 |
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| Take 2 :D |
Yup, that was Bali...And I didn't mention that the McDonald's there is really cheap and they serve Chicken rice! Ok, more like fried chicken with rice...Haha. The McDonald's there also serve Chicken porridge! LOL! It was really good..haha.
All in all, the trip was a really lazy one...as always...Haha. Ok, not for the past fishing trips though...haha. Had a fantastic time enjoying the peaceful, azure sea and swimming in the Rock Pool is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. What I experienced was so surreal, something we don't get to enjoy back here in busy Singapore.
Once again, the beauty of nature simply made my heart cry out that there is a God, a really beautiful One that made all these. That speechless cry of wonder and amazement just overflows whenever the sound of the crashing waves charms my soul. The refreshing sea breeze that siphons through my hair, warmed by the eastern sun never fails to remind me that there's a Creator who made all these.
This Bible verse just came to mind as I adore His creation...
Psalm 8:3 “When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have set in place, what is man that You are mindful of him, the son of man that You care for him?”
In spite of all these beautiful landscapes and scenery, nothing is more beautiful than us - humans, the epitome of beauty...for we are crafted in God's image :)
Thank You God for giving us the ability to stand in awe to be in wonder...for without this ability, life would be so much less meaningful. Life would be so bleak and purposeless if all nature and cosmos were a result of a random big-bang.
So thank You God for being You! :)
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