I think this is the first holiday trip I had since the trip to Danau Batur with Rina and Jana last July, or maybe I forgot if there was any other. But I think this was the most fun trip I've ever had since I stay in Bali. So we finished our stay in The Studio Accommodation last Sunday, so I suggested to my mother and sister to leave South Bali and travel east instead.



So there we went, all the way thru Ida Bagus Mantra Bypass Road past the Klungkung area (we stopped to eat the tuna satay in front of Goa Lawah Temple), thru Padang Bai and Candidasa, to Amlapura and arrived in Amed after 3 hours driving from Seminyak. When we got there it was already 5-5.30 p.m. and was cloudy. We checked some beach front hotels and decided to stay in the first one we liked, the Hotel Uyah (means "Salt Lodge" in Balinese language).

We had a swim at the pool and stayed at the hotel on the first night because we were tired from the long road trip and there wasn't much to do in there. We woke up early the next day to see the sunrise, but unfortunately it was cloudy. At least we could still enjoy the Mount Rinjani of Lombok Island from afar and also Mount Agung behind our cottage room.

The most famous thing about Amed is the diving/snorkeling spot, so we traveled about 11kms from the hotel to the end of the only road there and turned around when we reached the village. On the way back we found the Japanese shipwreck spot and stopped there. We rented the goggles and fins there, then had fun snorkeling around what was left of the ship which had been there since 1945.


Not too deep under we could see hundreds kinds of coral and fish, each kind has groups or schools of it. This was my second time snorkeling after my mostly panicked one in Gili Trawangan 4 years ago. I think I did well this time, and found myself breathing more calmly so I could enjoy the view more than before.



I found the view was extremely calm down there, a placid life extreme to the one we have up here. The corals that seemed like either types of pine tree or cactus dancing to the current of the wave, schools of both beautiful and ugly fishes with so many colors swimming in random direction--the smaller the fish the bigger the group. All live in harmony and such peacefulness we don't possess in our hectic world. It was such a calming thing to watch the underwater life.



We finished snorkeling at 1.30 p.m. and extremely starving so we headed back to the hotel area. It was raining at the northern part, so we were lucky it wasn't raining during our snorkeling. We stopped at Amed Kedai to have grilled barramundi fish for lunch. When we reached the hotel, the three of us were collapsed for 2 hours sleep.

We had dinner and waited for midnight at the hotel room. There was a poolside party held by some staff and guests but I didn't join them. Mom and Clemy went there for a moment but we ended up gathering in the room planning not to really celebrate the old & new. But 10 minutes before midnight the fireworks started again and this time were very loud so we went out of the room and spectating.

The continuous fireworks lasted for at least one hour. The black sky was splashed with colorful dots that each time began with loud explosion and ended with sparkles before disappearing to the silent, dark sky once again. When the ones from our hotel yard ended, the ones from other part along the beach started and it happened until around 1 a.m.

It was very beautiful as usual (because I am fond of fireworks ever since I read about it in one of Martine book series when I was a kid) but I found it more enchanting because we were in a remote area when we watched this. The fireworks were happening so close and just above our heads and the fact that we didn't expect this to happen in such a silent place adds another excitement for the surprise.


By the time, one of the staffs came to our cottage yard and sat on the pathway drunk, tried to make conversation by asking me and my sister questions and in no time, his friends came around and suddenly there were 8 boys sitting on the pathway in front of our cottage and one of them brought the guitar and they started singing one Balinese song, some reggae songs made in Gili, some international songs like Aerosmith's I Don't Wanna Miss A Thing and Oasis' Don't Look Back in Anger so we could sing along with them.


Two of the boys, Wayan and Made, were trying to get my attention and kept asking my mom a permission to be her son-in-law. Well, they were drunk and at first it was funny. Thankfully it was all over before it became annoying because they were all dismissed by whom I guess as the supervisor. It was a relieved that they left us finally, but we were quite entertained. We didn't go to the party so the party came to us. Kinda cool, actually, because out of all the guests there, we were the only ones who got the 'show'.

The next morning came not as early as the day before, and it was a new beginning for all of us. We packed our things and departed at 11 a.m., heading back to Candidasa and stopped there for lunch. We found this pretty cool restaurant called The Dining Room. From the architecture itself you can tell how special it is. Wait until you finish order the food.


To our surprise, they didn't just give cold towels to wash hands and necks, but also the welcome drink. We got each a shot of yogurt + milk as starter. This is like the first restaurant to give welcome drink, I guess, because usually hotels give welcome drink and restaurants give welcome bread or nuts. Then after we finished eating, we got another surprise: a closing drink--which I had never found anywhere else I've ever been at. We were offered the shots of hot chai tea with mint leaf in it. Such a sweet closure.


The food itself were good. I ordered Tum De Siap, which I had never heard of before and turned out to be a spiced chicken being wrapped inside banana leaf (or in Indonesian is called as pepes ayam) while Mom ordered fried rice noodle and my sister had the Balinese mixed rice (or nasi campur which had several dishes such as chicken, tempe, fritters, etc beside the white rice). They were all good.


We continued our journey to the south and turned right at the Purnama Beach crossroad. We were heading to Sukawati area but stopped at Celuk instead to see some silver shops. Only two were opened during the new year and I washed the heritage ring I got from my father there. After that we went to Ubud area and found Ubud Permai Bungalow, a low-budget hotel--which to our another surprise happened to be at the second floor of the lines of shops below. It is the second building after the turn from Monkey Forest.


We checked in and went around again for some shopping along the Hanoman street, then had dinner at Pundi-Pundi at Pengosekan street. It was another pleasant meal we had. I ordered the Lotus fried rice and the fried rice was literally wrapped inside a lotus leaf. My meal of the day was 'leaf wrapped'. LOL.


We woke up the next morning earlier than the day before and started our shopping spree moment again at Dewi Sita street where I found a really nice purple handbag made from Thailand or Vietnam (I'm not sure about it). We had lunch at Tutmak, which is another special restaurant we found with a very nice view both to Dewi Sita road and to the soccer field. This restaurant offers mineral water refill for just Rp 1,500 per glass/tumbler. What a nice idea!


We started our journey back to Denpasar at around 2.30 p.m. and arrived quite early despite the traffic jam (we still got an hour before the appointment), so we stopped by at Sanur for some window shopping at Danau Toba street. At 5 p.m. we already arrived at Bendéga Deli at Cok Agung Tresna street for the meeting with a Balinese guy who taught us about a lot of new knowledge about life, some Indonesian history, Balinese culture and Hindu teachings. We hang out there for 4.5 hours just talking with him. It was really nice and interesting.

And finally, we reached Kerobokan at 10 p.m. and we all stayed at my kost. Luckily I had this single size sofabed so we could all sleep well. The next day was shorter for us because we just went to Krisna for souvenir shopping and had lunch near my kost at Warung Jepang. Mom and Clemy went to the airport with the rental car while I went back to my crib and crawled inside my blanket to have a nap in the heavy rain outside.

This was the most interesting and enlightening vacation I've ever had in my life. My regret was not having my brother around due to his work, but I believe God had different plan with him and us. I am just feeling so grateful for having my family around during Christmas and New Year. And also to experience new things, to go to new places, to be amazed with new knowledge and above all, be grateful with all of God's creation in this world. Praise the Lord!