Bali with me! #2

To continue my first Bali with me! blog. 

Feeling like under spotlight, under or above tens pair of eyes watching me. I was feeling misdirected by myself as I was confused many people are waiting. Couldn't see their faces better but turned out they're drivers from hotels waiting for pick up. 

Where is he? 

Lol 😂 this is the moment and I could never forget. I took out my phone to call him, I had decided not to ask him what clothes he was wearing as I wanted to keep it secret but he already showed me his clothes he was wearing in a video he sent me. So yeah. 

I asked him where he was. He told me to go left but I walked up straight to the right. And then he told me to walk the other way so I made 180° rotation and tadaaa ✨ 

He was there. Waving hand to me. The first impression I got was, he is so bright!  😂 What I meant was his skin. He was pinky white with plumpy essence while I am yellowish.

The moment we walked closer to each other was kinda awkward. 

I was thinking whether my eyeliner was still on or it had lost 1/3 part of it. Yeah, fck it. So based on my memories, I said hello first then he talked to me about his suitcase, etc. Then came to the most awkward moment when we both looked at each other. 

What should I do? 

So yeah, I really didn't remember who made the first move. I just remembered that he put his one arm along my shoulders then done. And I held his hand first. 😆

Duh!  Why so aggressive? 

If I didn't make that then I wouldn't give first good moment. Kinda logic, right? 

A lot of things that are different from where he is from. All hot. 

In the airport we were confused as we just arrived. All I could see were mostly bule. I felt like I was traveling abroad 😂. And I saw too many people in a place. A 'driver' from online cab noticed us —i think. He walked to us and then told us to type our destination so we could order the cab from his own phone. It wasn't work like that, right? 

I quickly said that there was friend going to pick us up. He looked unhappy with what I said, but yeah, I didn't trust him. So, one thing once you're in Bali, be cautious. 

I didn't say that Bali isn't safe but just use your sense and be cautious. I'll tell you some other frauds that came to us in the next days, later. 

We felt that we walked too far, then we crossed the zebra cross one more time and decided to choose blue cab. There was an official stall for that. The fix price for it was 120k plus some rate for the regions you're going to. 

We were staying in Legian for few days ahead, so Legian it is. So for the blue cab it costed 120k + 30k (based on what I still remember). 

I didn't know why, Bali has comfortable vibe. The way the sun shines there. Maybe that  influenced  as my first holiday after many years wandering and wandering, so it left deep memorable impression for me. 

    Grandmas Plus Hotel Legian. 

Grandmas Plus Hotel Legian located on Sriwijaya Street, Legian, Bali,  was a very strategic and minimalist place for staying. It is eco friendly hotel, mini and  has no front door but once you came in it gave you good vibes. 

The receptionists welcomed you friendly. They offered you cold tea with lemongrass in it as welcome drink. The room I stayed wasn't that big but it gave comfortable vibe and strangely was sound proof from crowded road outside. The hotel has two glass windows that is the reason why it is sound proof. 

I like the hanging creepers in the ceiling and wall. They provide good breakfast every morning. There's buffet with breads, then heavy food that serves differently every morning, and then there is porridge with kerupuk. Jan spelled keropoek. 

The staff would asked what was your room number for their data and then they offered you their four different dishes to choose one for breakfast that morning. 

So it was other menu for addition. There was also table for four different types of drinks: orange, guava, infused water, coffee or tea, milk for cereals, and fruit or vegetable salad. Took the glasses under the table. You're welcome;) 

We usually had breakfast at ten after morning walk at the beach. Thanks to Jan for ticking 'include breakfast'. 

Grandmas is really comfortable hotel to stay and there is a board with some instructions written in the toilet. The instructions are about whether you wanted to change bed sheets you need to put the board on the bed. And put towel on the floor if you wanted the staff to change it to new one. So if they didn't see any towel on the floor that means you didn't want them to change. 

Surprising fact is that the Grandmas's black slippers are comfortable to wear. 😂 Jan decided to purchase it before checked out. 

For more details photos and price you can go check them on google. Grandmas is affordable and comfortable —I know I repeated comfortable three times 😂— place to stay.

Some tips for ten days holiday in Bali: do not pack too many clothes. Just bring one or two t-shirts, shorts, tank tops, many panties and some bras, swimsuits or bikinis. Why I recommend you to pack some clothes only? First, so that you could put your luggage in the plane cabin —as long as it is less than 8kg based on Citilink rules. Then you don't need to wait for luggage though if you're waiting for luggages, it won't take that long, too. 

Second, you can wash your clothes by buying detergen liquid in the market then wash them in the sink and hang it somewhere under AC. But remember to hang it in reasonable place as the water might drop to electronics or wood or floor that could be dangerous for you. 

Or, actually the real reason is that so that you could buy pretty and cute tank top, bralette or flowy and thin dress in the stores along the street 😜🤘in which you need to be good at bargaining. 

Back to Grandmas's topic. It is located in crossroad with an Italian café next to it and a spa between them. Every different directions served different explorations. You could go to Legian beach by walk for about 10 minutes. Passing fancy and private hotels. Or you can order cab to go to Kartika Plaza for having KFC, McDonald's or Burger King. 

We quickly decided to go to Legian Beach by walk after arrival for... sunset! We walked pass lots of café and restaurants. There are too many mini marts, too. 

Bule were walking pass by wearing tank top and shorts, or bikinis and shorts. And then some were bringing their surfing boards. 

When we arrived at Legian Beach the sand was hot. We didn't bring any towel to sit on, so yeah Jan's bag came to the rescue. 

    Sunset at Legian Beach. 

A henna tattoo artist came and talked with us. Yeah, he was friendly. Too friendly. I thought yeah okay I would go for a henna. I kept asking him how much but he didn't want to tell me. Almost had jump scared when he told me how much was it for a random sun tattoo inspired that I got from Pinterest just few minutes after he sat and offered me for tattoo. For me it was quite pricey for a sun. 

One more tip: tell the price you want if he/she didn't want to tell you how much. Otherwise you'll get hit once hearing the high price he said. 

Then, I thought once somebody succeeded to get close to tourists, other sellers like bracelets seller would come to you and then other random seller, too. 

So if you really didn't want to buy anything, just firmly said, "No, thanks."

There was one day when Jan thought to buy a fedora hat then we applied what we learnt how to bargain after few days being in Bali. Tip and trick for quick bargain in Bali with reasonable price? Stay tune for the next blog! 😜🤘

Bonus photo for my readers below ⚠️

                                       .... to be continued.