i'm like SO overwhelemed w/ the beauty of Bali that i was in tears when i left. we booked through expedia & spent 5 nights in nikko bali in nusa dua (gorgeous but overpriced & remote. not really worth it) and 5 nights in ubud village hotel (enjoayable & comfy but the open air shower hasa HUGE cockroaches. eeew.)
anyways, we checked out kuta on our first day & i was NOT impressed. it was a tourist trap full of obnoxious drunk peoploe & hawkers on the beach that grab ur arm & force braid ur hair. i said no thank you & still they persisted. finally, i said it loud & they stopped. worst part was this DVd store we went to on legian where this dude was trying to sell my BF triple X porn like right in front of my face. WTF? i thought porn was banned in indonesia? i gave both my bf & the dude a mean stare & they stopped.
so after that we went around kuta & ate at some non-descript restaurant where half naked eoropeans frolicked. in fact, skin was seen everywhere. i'm filipino-american & i personally think that when u visit a foreign country, it is their custom & tradition that u should respect, not the other way around. for the most part, the balinese are quite conservative so i wasnt about to dress like a ho since most balinese think that i look balinese anyway (filipinos are austronesian malay just like the rest of indonesia)
so we hired a driver by the 3rd day. his name is Made Swastika & he was recommended by Mr. Don, a frequent poster here on BTF. mt. don, THANK YOU. made was an EXCELLENT laid back fun driver. we did a 12 hour tour that included the waterfalls (not a big deal, full of hawkers & the place was filthy), hot springs, and BREATHTAKING mount batur w/ the lake & awesome temples. we also drove by singaraja which is by far by favorite twon. its the REAL bali, in my opinion & very far removed from the chaotic vulgarity of kuta beach. LOVINA is a MUST see. WOW. just plug in ur ipod & put ur sunglasses on & the hawkers do not exist & u can FINALLY enjoy the view.
on the next days we went to ubud village hotel & went to the ubud public market. BEST PLACE EVER for shopping. talk about bargains galore. my bf is an expert on debating prices & we got 6 absolutely fabulous fake bvlgari & rolex watches for like under $28. that included my one dior, and two chanel sunglasses. then we bought two huge cat wood carvings from another seller that thought we were suckers. thankfully, my bf got the price down.
then we went to denpasar & i REALLY liked it. i mean serious bargains here & at FIXED prices at that. like where else can u get a Razr phone thats triband & hot pink for under $100? boght some AWESOME indo music. oh man... i LOVE Superman is Dead! very greenday-esque slash linkin park. Dewa & Radja are awesome, too. like REAL good. it was hot. im listening to it now. i bought radja & superman is dead at a non-bootleg store but i regret that i bought dewa at a bootleg store coz it REALLY roxx. its like evanessence but in bahasa indonesia.
anyways.. theres more like outrageous hair care cosmetics bargains at matahari that im going to mention on my nest post.
thats all for now. PREMA KASIH!!!