I and my wife woke up early for Subuh prayer (4.45am remember but we woke up around 5.15am). 6am hari dah terang but my kids (yang sulung and second) continued back to sleep after Subuh and my little girl was still sleeping. Letih agaknya. I decided to take a walk around the resort and onto the beach.
The resort is huge and it has 4 swimming pools, one is actually called lazy pool and only meant for adults (more info on "The Resort"). As on the photo, this is the kids' pool. Look at the slider, man...I knew right there and then my kids would enjoy it.
A view of Kuta Beach
I then walked to the beach just behind the resort. Along the way (and almost at the front of every shop in Bali) you could smell something (kalau kat Malaysia baunya macam bau bunga rampai). A lot of my friends who have been to Bali told me that this was due to the Hindu religion. But later I found out that it has got nothing to do with the religion. It is purely adat (my supir, Putu, told me this). Mengikut kepercayaan orang-orang Bali, "bunga rampai" ni diletak di depan kedai, rumah, etc every morning and late afternoon for good luck. I did not take photo of this "bunga rampai" tapi ianya diletakkan di dalam mangkuk bulat kecil yang dibuat dari daun mengkuang. Bahan-bahannya terdiri dari bunga-bunga dan daun- daun yang dihiris which I suspected was daun pandan (sebab baunya sama macam daun pandan). Orang kata baunya macam bau setanggi tapi to me jauh sekali.Another view of Kuta Beach
The beach was still empty as it was still very early. You could see some tourists jogging on the pathway along the beach. Here I was approached by one 'pria' (lelaki la tu). He comes from Pulau Jawa (Surabaya). Actually you can easily tell which one is asli Bali and which is not. Yang berkulit gelap are mostly from Pualu Jawa. This guy sells paintings at the beach and he showed me some of the paintings but I was lucky I didn't bring any cash so I used that excuse although he asked me to take first and pay later but politely I declined. He then bought me a cup of Nescafe (just what I wanted) and then showed me his other business. He is also an agent for Bali Tour and gave me an offer which I found it hard to believe. A trip to Turtle Island, snorkeling and Glass Bottom Boat would cost USD75 per person but he offered me the same rate for my entire family. That was simply crazy. But I just layan dia since he bought me a Nescafe kan. Around 7.30am I walked back to my room and found all my kids were already dressed up.We had bread for breakfast (which we brought from home) and I told the kids our first activity was to survey the shops (Kuta town centre is just within walking distance from our resort). I knew they couldn't wait to splash themselves in the pool so I told them when we got back they could have all the time there.
Kuta Street
9.00 am we were already out of the resort and man oh man just outside the driveway we were approached by this one guy. He handed us two cards (macam gores dan menang) but this one was actually a lucky draw from another resort. After opening it I got two t-shirts and my wife got 3 stars which meant she could win one out of four main prizes (USD1000 cash, discount vouchers, complimentary stay at the resort and digital camcorder). The guy said in order to claim the prize we had to go to the resort located in Nusa Dua and attend a 60 minute session. We thought why not, after all the trip was free and off we went. Nusa Dua is about 15-20 minutes drive from Kuta.Peninsula Resort, Nusa Dua
Arriving at the resort (Peninsula Resort) I requested for an English session and yes I made the right choice as the facilitator was an Englshman. Man....I've been waiting for ages to actually talk to an Englshman because I speak damn good English with British accent. He was a nice guy and explained that the resort was only for members. To become one you have to register and pay RM25,000. What???!!!!! He must be nut. We came to Bali for holiday and not for this kind of stuff but a free round trip to Nusa Dua who cares. He could read my mind and after claiming the t-shirts we were then chauffeured back to Kuta. (I am not going to take up this offer again after the terrible experience I had with Swiss Garden Resort).Shops in Kuta
The time was 11.30am and the weather was sunny. We went from shops to shops. Cara dia orang berniaga kat sini sama macam di Madinah dan Mekah. Suka tarik-tarik orang dan bukak harga bukan main tinggi. Alhamdulillah I and my wife had this experience when we did our Umrah so tawar menawar not a problem. I told my wife not to get herself caught in the bargain as our mission was only to survey but being a wife...... you know laaaa.....Around 1.00pm the kids and wife headed back to the resort while I walked to buy nasi padang about 5 minutes from our resort. Before that we stopped by at one shop (equivalent to 7eleven in Malaysia) to buy instant noodles, bread and biscuits (makanan halal agak susah sikit although KFC and McD memang halal). I bought 5 nasi, 3 ketul ayam, 2 ketul ikan, tempe and sayur and cost me a staggering Rp103.000 (around RM38). Mahalnya..... Dah la tu bila rasa memang tak sedap langsung..... Sedap lagi nasi padang yang aku makan kat kedai rumah aku.
Kids at the pool
Once we had our combined prayers (jamak dan qasar la tu) apa lagi pool le. Ramai jugak orang tapi okay sebab semuanya orang putih. Tak de orang Malaysia. lega sebab orang Malaysia ni busy body sikit. Sorry ek. Jangan ambik hati. What my kids enjoyed most especially my first two was the slider. I played water volley ball with my son and I was happy because both of us enjoyed it. The pool management organized some games in another pool for kids but my kids did not take part so during this time we had this pool to our own and this was the time when my wife splashed herself in.
My little girl playing with sand on Kuta beach
After spending nearly two hours at the pool, we headed to the beach. It was not high tide yet but then even if it was you wouldn't get high waves due to rift just off the beach. Me and my first two kids played with the water but only for a very short while because the water wasn't that clean. Agak berlumpur and according to the locals this was due to rainy season but it wasn't raining. You would get crystal clear water along Nusa Dua beach. Macam biasalah when we were there ramailah tour operators approached us offering dia orang punya packages. You just have to turn them down very nicely indeed. Ada tu pulak siap offer my son for tatoo. Tatoo ni temporary and would last for two weeks. Tak kiralah temporary ke tak as a Muslim memang tak boleh. You can see majority of the men here bertatoo.We didn't stay long on the beach and headed back to our room. The time was almost 6pm. Maghrib jam 6.30pm. After Maghrib, we had instant noodles, bread and some nasi padang left overs for dinner and gosh we were too tired and off to bed very early indeed. There was a program on local TV called "Take Him Out". It was a local reality program where a lady is called to the stage and choose 1 of 30 men lined up for her. The best part was the men had the choice of being selected or not. If the men didn't like the woman all they could do was to push the button and the light would go off. Then the woman would ask several questions before the selection began. The sad part was the "cowok" kebanyakkannya ganteng-ganteng tapi si cewek....huh hampeh...
9.30pm lights off.
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