Bali Trip - Day 1

I figured I had better start my posts soon before I forget most of the details. I have much to tell here, most of the memories are good..some, well, you read about them soon enough.

Having slept the night before at my parents’ house, hubby and I headed to the airport around 8.30am. Our flight was at 10.50am, so we had loads of time to kill by the time we arrived at the airport. Thanks to my Pakngah who drove us there.

Once we had check in our bag (thanks to Reza, who lent us his backpack), we decided to check out the duty free shops. Hubby thought of changing a few RM into Rupiah, so we would have some money to pay for the cab ride to our motel in Kuta. We changed about RM100, which got us around Rp230,000.

The flight to Bali was uneventful. It lased about three hours, but as always I felt antsy on the flight. I took a few pictures of Bali as we were descending to land. Even from the plane, the place looked beautiful, with the beaches so white and the water so blue.


My brother had been to Bali before, so we went there with full knowledge of where we were going to stay and what we were going to do. Bro had advised us to walk a bit from the airport and take a taxi there (for cheaper rates) but the weather was so hot that we decided to negotiate with an airport taxi.

We got a fair deal and after 20 minutes, we had arrived at our motel, the Tunjung Bali Inn. The place was decent enough; after all we had planned to do a lot of sightseeing so basically all we needed was a place to pray and sleep in. Rp70,000 (RM30) got us a double bed, with hot water and breakfast the next morning. There was no aircon but as we found out that night, a fan was enough as the weather cooled down considerably during the night.


After checking in and resting for a while, we decided to head out to the beach. Kuta Beach was just a 10 minutes walk but it took us much longer as we decided to stop and take pictures at the Memorial of the 1st Bali bombing. We read the names of all the people who had died in that bombing and thanked god that nothing like that ever happened in Malaysia. We then proceeded to walk along Kuta Square where we watched a religious ceremony happening by the side of the road. We also stopped at a money changer to change more RM. The best place to change your money at Kuta would be the PT. Dirgahayu Valuta Prima, along Jalan Legion. The rates were much higher than the other places we looked at plus they didn’t charge any commission fee.

Once we reached Kuta Beach, we found it full of surfers and sunbathers. Beach peddlers were everywhere, selling handmade jewelry, to temporary tattoos, to surfing lessons. One piece of advice;
if you’re not planning on buying any of these items, try to as far away from the peddlers as you can. It’s pretty tough coz they usually come up to you and ask you whether you’re interested in their items. Some peddlers can be very pushy, so it’s best to stand your ground and just say no. Walk away if you have to, and don’t make any eye contact. If you do find the items to your liking, always negotiate at least half of the asking price or more. Bali is a tourist place, so prices on souvenir items are jacked up all the way. I bought a bracelet made of seashells, negotiated from Rp30,000 (RM12.60) to Rp10,000 (4.20). I probably could have gotten three bracelets for that price if I wanted to, but not being someone who even likes wearing jewelry, I figured I’ll buy only one.

After a few hours at the beach and getting a bite from McDonalds, hubby and I decided to go to Jimbaran for some dinner and to view the sunset. We took a taxi (only take Bluebird Taxies and make sure they use the meter) and after 30 minutes (and Rp50,000 later) we found ourselves at Jimbaran Bay Café. Jimbaran is famous for its seafood so hubby ordered some Barramundi fish and some King River Prawns. The meal was served with hot, steamy rice and Pepsi drinks. We ate for about an hour, enjoying the beautiful sunset and the antics of the waiters with the other customers. We found out that most of the waiters could speak several languages, which made sense since most of the customers were tourists from Japan, India, Australia and USA. After having our fill, we asked for the bill. Hubby suddenly became very quiet after seeing the total amount, RP433,000 (RM181).

“How much money did you bring?” hubby asked me.

“RM300. Why? How much did you bring?”

“I exchanged all my money at the airport already.”

“All your money? You mean, that RM100 we changed in KL?”

“Err…yes.”

“You mean to say, we’ve come to Bali for a 4-day trip with only RM400?” I was starting to panic at this point, just realizing the dire state we were in.

“Well, we’re staying in motels costing us Rm30 per night. I figured RM400 would be more than enough for our entire trip.”

At this point, I was starring at hubby as if he had suddenly grown horns on top of his head. Unbelievable. I did some quick calculations in my head. RM400 got us Rp952,000. The motel costs us Rp70,000 per night so that was Rp210,000 already. Dinner had cost us RM433,000, leaving us with another Rp309,000. With all the sightseeing we had planned out, there was hardly enough money to hire a driver and go anywhere. Great!! Here we were, on our first night of our long-anticipated honeymoon, and theoretically totally broke.

Luckily for us, we were able to swipe our credit card to pay for dinner. At least, Rp433,000 cash saved there. Unfortunately, the taxi drive was highly expensive because we had asked for the driver to wait for us while we had our dinner. Eventhough we had asked whether there would be extra costs for him waiting for us (and he said no), the meter was kept running, so we ended up paying Rp120,000 for the taxi ride to and from Jimbaran. Talk about getting mini heart attacks everytime I saw the meter fare going up.

Back at the motel, hubby and I complemented on what we should do. At last we decided the only thing to do, is to use our credit cards to take out some cash advance. Of course, I didn’t know my pin number and hubby thought he knew his. Great!! Hubby suggested we turn in for the night and he would try the atm machine first thing the next morning.

Safe to say, our first day in Bali didn’t turn out the way we expected it too. I had my share of tears, shed in panic while hubby had his share of trying to console me. Sigh, if we wanted to have this much drama, we could have stayed at home with the girls.

Ps: If you notice the picture of us at Jimbaran, that was taken before I knew about our situation and after hubby had seen the bill. Our faces tell it all. Me – happy, hubby – doing quick calculations in his head and getting weary. Hmm..

Bali Trip – Day 2 coming soon.