When in Bali

by shz

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Well, what can I say? Bali was not like the way I remembered it, at all. Four days was not enough, and I am annoyed by the fact that we didn’t get a chance to go to Kuta beach. I missed watching surfer dudes in shorts running around in their six packs, and Fakhrul lost his chance to act like one. Hahaha, geez he can hardly swim and his packs are hardly six, but I love him still. 

The journey from airport to the hotel was quite a way, one hour away to be exact. We were welcomed by our supir who was going to give us the tour for the next two days. I was amazed by what I saw from the van’s window, a lot of motorcycles with women wearing kebaya and batik looking lovely came back from their rituals, as it was full moon that night. The cultural vibe is certainly strong there.

I can’t remember all the names of places that we went, but what I saw will never be erased from my memories for sure. People washing clothes by the river, the green of paddy terraces arranged so systematically on every hills, the galleries that sell incredibly cheap good arts or the beautiful walls on every houses are just too good to be true. But most of all, I am startled by how artistic the people are. Even the way they lay bricks for pavements are like the work of arts, if only we have the same appreciation over little things like that in Malaysia. Its a slow life there, people are not rushing themselves. Hence so is for their works, be builders or artists.

We stayed at Taman Harum which live up to its name. It really is a beautiful place and a true Balinese stay. The rooms are limited and I think it was the first time in many of my travels where I stayed in a place without a buffet breakfast. I mean, they’re only catering like 10 guests when we were there and breakfast was almost ala carte. With so few guests around, we kinda had the pool all to ourselves every morning. And the garden, phew… the gardens are harum indeed.

Well, I did some few photographic attempts despite the hectic of bringing an one year old around, they’re not very impressive but I think they’re worth showing. Bali is one of the most photographed places in the world, so really, there’s nothing you haven’t seen before from mine. On the other note, the weather was quite crappy in October. It rained a lot but only for few minutes and then it gets really hot and humid. Normally on shady, bleak, rainy days like that my pictures will be very, very shit but surprisingly I love the soft tones and the mild light it brings to my subjects. Maybe its just different in Asia and hey, what a good news because I plan to stay here forever. 😉

I’ve uploaded them in my Facebook account, and yours truly’s pictures, well, obviously in this blog. I hope you enjoy them, as I did.