Bali Field Trip (Day 4 & 5)

Day 4 May 3, 2014

The girls seemed very lazy to wake up this morning due to fatigue and sunburn they got from rafting. NAH LO. J Mr.Bob asked us to be ready at 08.30 to leave for Uluwatu. Bella, Ellen, and I went down to the restaurant to have breakfast at 08.00. (Around that time Retno and Cecil were still sleeping in their room.) On the ground floor – where we had our breakfast – they boys already enjoyed their breakfast. Aha ... in fact the boys were very excited for the plan that day : playing water in Water Bom, located not far from our hotel. We planned to go there after we visited Uluwatu.

To Mr. Bob’s disappointment – due to the girls’ fatigue – we eventually left the hotel for Uluwatu 20 minutes later than the plan. Again, due to the fatigue of the girls – and the excitement of the boys for Water Bom – we didn’t really enjoy our visit in Uluwatu. We even didn’t reach the temple located at the highest point. One so-called entertaining but annoying thing happened here: Ms. Kerry’s glasses were taken by one naughty monkey there! J After that event, they both directly left the area, to be back to the mini bus. They gave us 30 more minutes to enjoy our stay. But as I wrote before (due to the girls’ fatigue and the boys’ excitement), we did not spend much time. Soon, we followed Mr. Bob and Ms. Kerry to the bus. We headed for the next destination : to be back to Kuta beach area.

One behalf of the girls, I asked Mr. Bob’s permission to be back to the hotel while the boys had fun in Water Bom. Peter, who said that he didn’t feel well, joined us to be back to the hotel. Mr. Bob and Ms. Kerry had romantic moment by themselves around the beachwalk. J We arrived at the hotel at 11.45.

Did you know what the girls did in the hotel? Yeah, since they were exhausted, they took a nap! Yay, they spent their holiday in Bali napping in the hotel! LOL. So did Peter. Bella, Ellen and I went back to our room; Retno and Cecil went back to their room; Peter went to his own room. Ellen and I napped, while Bella made herself busy with her phone.

Around 15.00 three of us went out to have our lunch in the restaurant across from the hotel. An hour later we dropped by at Retno + Cecil’s room to invite them to join us swimming; Cecil was napping while Retno was reading a book. We then visited Peter’s room and found out that he was really not healthy: he claimed he was dizzy and his temperature was quite high. After making sure that Peter got his lunch and had some medicine, three of us went to the top floor of the hotel : swimming! Not long after that, Cecil came to join us swimming. J

At 18.30 we were all expected to be on the ground floor to have dinner in the same restaurant – across from the hotel. The boys were already back from Water Bom. Mr. Bob and Ms. Kerry eventually found out that Peter was really unwell. Julio claimed to feel unwell too. That made the situation a bit chaotic. Julio’s mom insisted that Julio get traditional treatment (‘dikerokin’) but Mr. Bob and Ms. Kerry didn’t approve this kind of thing. So, they called a doctor to come to the hotel to check Peter and Julio’s condition.

After dinner, the girls and I went shopping. We were accompanied by our sweet Vito! Despite the fact that he was exhausted, he was willing to accompany us walking as far as 3 kilometers (6 kilometers back and forth).

We were back to the hotel at 22.00. Bella and Ellen were packing, I directly brushed my teeth and ... went to bed! Sooo tired! J

Day 5 May 4 2014

Time to go back to our respective family in Semarang!

Lazy morning. We didn’t plan to do any activity except packing. We were all ready in the lobby at 10.00. After Mr. Bob finished his business with the hotel (paying the bills), we went to the airport by four taxis. One taxi was charged Rp. 60.000,00. In the airport we saw Revy, one ex student of Permata Bangsa, an ex classmate of Vito, Ryan, and Ellen. J Revy, along with his mom and sister, was also on the way to Semarang.

We left Ngurah Rai international airport at 12.00 WITeng. Bye bye Bali.We’ll miss you.

We arrived at Ahmad Yani international airport Semarang at 12.00 WIB. All students were picked up by their respective family members. Mr. Bob and Ms. Kerry were packed up by the school driver, Pak Joko. And Vito brought me home. J

What a very tiring yet exciting and memorable trip!

GG 13.13 07/05/2014 

Bali Field Trip (Day 3)

Day 3 May 2, 2014

RAFTING TIME!

It was a dream come true day for me. J I have wanted to have white water rafting for years and eventually the chance came to me. At first, in fact, rafting was not on our list to do on our field trip. Mr. Bob offered us this and we happily agreed. J

We left the hotel around 09.00 WITeng, after having yummy breakfast. Mr. Bob chose ‘LapamA rafting’ for us. They picked us up in the hotel with two cars. The location of our rafting is in Telaga Waja river, Muncan village, Karangasem. It is located around 60 kilometers from our hotel. Without traffic jam, we needed one and a half hour by car. The driver of the car where I was sitting at the front was very friendly. After leaving the heart of Kuta I realized that in fact Denpasar was not that crowded. J He explained the route to Sanur beach, Safari Park, etc on our way to Telaga Waja river.

For rafting, each of us was charged Rp. 270.000,00 (I got the information from internet though, Mr. Bob had paid for our rafting.) In order to get documentation of our activity, Mr. Bob asked LapamA rafting to have our pictures taken during rafting. And for that, they charged us Rp. 700.000,00 because there were 14 people in our group! WOW! Expensive, eh?

The rafting was really fun! Tiring, but it was worth it. Telaga Waja river is well-known as the best rafting place in Bali due to its high difficulty; the obstacles are rocks,bamboo bridges, falls, with its high density of water flow. The more positive side is the river is located in the middle of terraced paddy fields, plantation and tourists can see beautiful view of Agung mountain from the distance. The trek is 16 kilometers long and it needs two and a half hours to do the rafting. The most exciting part of the whole activity is the 5-meter fall where we have to jump while staying inside the boat!

For beginners, don’t worry because LapamA rafting provides trained guides in each boat. They also give brief instruction how to do it before we start. It is really fun and safe for those who love challenging outdoor activity.

After finishing the trek, we are provided with lunches where we seat ourselves in a strategic cottage so that we can spoil our eyes with beautiful scenery.

We left the village around 14.30 and arrived back at the hotel at 16.15. Mr. Bob didn’t give us long time to rest because we were asked to be ready in the lobby at 16.30 for the next destination : JIMBARAN BAY!

You will fall in love with everyone you meet in Jimbaran Bay, Nana,” Ms. Kerry said to me the previous morning. WOW.

One thing I could say : the sunset is really amazing! Peter complained, though, that the waves were not as high as the ones in Kuta beach. J Yes, Peter spent some time swimming in Jimbaran while waiting for our dinner to be prepared. Some people – me included – bought some yummy grilled corns. The other boys played ball.

For our dinner, Mr. Bob ordered grilled fish, vegetables (ca kangkung), steamed white rice, and some fruit for our dessert. Each of us got one bottle of 600 ml mineral water for our drink.

Before  19.00 we finished our dinner. We directly headed back to the hotel. On our way back, 8 students (Vito, Ellen, Retno, Aryo, Julio, Cecil, Peter, and Bella) and I dropped by at around Kuta square for shopping souvenirs. The four boys (Zulfan, Ryan, Alex and Samuel) and Restu were back to the hotel, together with Mr. Bob and Ms. Kerry. But then, they rented motorcycles to go around Kuta! J

The 8 students and I were walking along the road while shopping. That night we walked around 3-4 kilometers after the exhausting rafting in the morning! Great! J Again, it was really a good exercise to burn calories after we ate a lot in Jimbaran. J (Ups, Peter still bought some munches on our way. LOL.)

As two nights before, we went back to the hotel at 22.00. Bella, Ellen, and I directly fell asleep after we were back to our room.

To be continued :)

Bali Field Trip (Day 2)

Day 2 May 1 2014

We had our breakfast at 07.30. The hotel provided us various kinds of food, from local cuisine, such as fried rice until western one. For the beverage, we could choose tea, coffee, milk and some kinds of juices.

We left the hotel for Ubud an hour later. Again, due to the traffic jam, we took a longer time than we should from Kuta to Ubud. (Aha ... in fact Jakarta is not alone for its being notorious for its traffic jam; only Denpasar – especially Kuta perhaps – is not that notorious as Jakarta. LOL. As an international city – you can find almost any nationality of people here – it is understood for being crowded no matter whether it is holiday season or not so people understand if traffic jam is everywhere. The local people understand it, the tourists – perhaps due to their holiday mood – also understand it. J

The first place to visit is Bajra Sandhi monument. This is a monument to commemorate heroic Balinese struggle against Dutch colonial government. It is located in the center of Denpasar, the capital city of Bali. It takes around 30 minutes by car/bus from Ngurah Rai International airport. This is one best place to learn the history of Balinese people since pre historical era until the twentieth century. The historical struggle is illustrated in 33 units of diorama.

The monument/museum started to be built in 1987; it was officially opened by Megawati Soekarno Putri – the then president – in 2003. Bajra means carillon while sandhi means sacred. The shape of the monument is like a carillon. This sacred carillon is usually used by Hindu priest in holy religious prayers.

From Bajra Sandhi monument we visited Pura Puseh in Batuan village. The temple is built in classical Balinese temple architecture style with elaborate carvings. Before entering the temple, we are given sarongs to wear during our visit.

We didn’t spend much time in Pura Puseh. The following place to visit is Ubud! Shopping time! Yeayyyy. As before, I was responsible to supervise the girls + Peter. This time Julio chose to be with the other boys.

After shopping for around an hour, Mr. Bob and Ms. Kerry took us to NOMAD restaurant for lunch; a very historical restaurant for both of them! (Ssshhhttt, Mr. Bob proposed Ms. Kerry to marry him here! )

As one of the oldest restaurants in Ubud, Nomad offers a mix of fresh modern Asian and Western tastes mixed in with Balinese classis cuisine. I ordered a plate of fried noodle. It was very yummy; but the big portion made me so full that I couldn’t finish it.

It was drizzling after we finished our lunch. However, we were all excited with the following destination : SANGEH.

Sangeh – a forest site full of monkeys – is not far from Nomad restaurant. Everybody had fun with the funny but naughty monkeys inside the forest. The hiking was enough to burn calories after our yummy and full lunches.

We arrived back at the hotel around 17.15. We didn’t want to pass up the stunning view of sunset in Kuta beach of course. The boys played ball using the ball they just bought in Kuta Square. Peter went swimming again, enjoying the quite big waves in Kuta beach. The girls were playing with water only.

In this second chance to spend our afternoon in Kuta beach, there was a minor accident: the boys threw some mud to one another and Aryo accidentally threw some mud to Zulfan’s right eye! This made Mr. Bob and Ms. Kerry get angry. As a result we were grounded: after dinner we were not allowed to go out from the hotel.

We had our dinner in the restaurant across from the hotel again. Well, anyway, the food was delicious. J After dinner, we all went back to the hotel. (All of us? Oh in fact NO! Secretly – without Restu and my knowing – two boys sneaked out to have tattoos! Can you guess who? Ryan and Samuel! Oh well ...) Meanwhile, Zulfan was resting in his room; Aryo, Alex, Julio, Vito, Ellen, Bella, Retno, Cecil, Peter, Restu and I went to the top floor of the hotel. But not long after that, Ellen, Bella, Retno, Cecil and Peter went down to Retno’s room to watch movies. Restu jumped to the pool and had some swim, the rest – Vito, Alex, Aryo, Julio and me – had some chats until 22.00. After that, we all went back to our room. 

To be continued :)