19.08.07 (Malaysia to Denpasar) ... and the journey starts

Fetch Abang Azzam and his family, then off we went to Farhana's house for her brother's wedding. (Farhana is Umar's 'friend') At first we thought of not going, but it was a last minute change of plan. So there we were, in our pants and all. Like Kak Nina said la, usually we would all be in baju kurung at least so it felt weird attending a wedding wearing pants.

After the wedding, we quickly went to KL Sentral to catch a bus to LCCT. The journey to LCCT took around 1 hour. We reached the terminal around 1.45pm, so there were still a long way to go until we board the plane. We did our business in the toilet and then prayed as the guys did all the check-in stuff. Got some McD as well because everyone was getting hungry which was quite surprising since we had just eaten at the wedding.

Anyway, we boarded the plane at 4.20pm. Managed to get on the plane earlier than the other passengers because Abah paid for Xpress Boarding. We get to choose the best seats rather than berebut with others. The flight from KL to Bali took about three hours and it was pretty much uneventful. Nothing much to do but thankfully I have my trusted MP4 player and also the novel that I had been reading, 'Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood'. Other than that, what else to do besides napping? Heheh... There was this one time when I woke up from the nap, it was nearly 7pm and the sun was setting. The view outside the window was beautiful!

We touched down at Bandar Udara Ngurah Rai at 7.30pm. (We were later told that Ngurah Rai is a name of a Balinese warrior) When we walked into the terminal, we were immediately met by by the smell of limau nipis or something. It was kinda overwhelming, but kinda nice as well because it shows that we had touched a new ground and I couldn't help feeling more excited about it. Took our luggages, paid a visit to the airport's kamar kecil (toilets, actually!) and walked out of the terminal, where we were met by some Indonesian friends (from Pandrol, an Indonesian company) of my parents whom they knew from their last visit. Finally get to meet Pak Wiwik, Pak Agus and Eddy, whom my parents had been telling us about. We also met Jesse, (or is it spelled Jessy? I'm not so sure...) who is Pak Agus' son. We also met Pak Han, the rep from Anta Tour & Travel who is in charge of us for the week. We were given kalung bunga kemboja as a welcome gift. You know how in Malaysia bunga kemboja is usually associated with death? But in here, apparently they symbolizes friendship and is used to welcome guests into their state.

We boarded the bus and met our tour guide, Made, but we suka-suka hati pronounce it as Madi. We were then brought to Ganesha Pudak Cafe in Jimbaran. Nice place by the beach, nice atmosphere. Our tables were set on the sand by the beach. Really loved it and it was really romantic as well. I wonder if there is such places like that in Malaysia. Anyway, we were served with seafood platter. There's a fish that I did not eat much because it's the kind that has many bones and I was afraid of accidentally 'choking' on them because it was quite dark (we were only using candles!), crab that I also did not manage to eat much because I never got around to learn how to eat crabs, prawns that I like very much and some other things like... is it oysters? Or lala? Don't know la, but I didn't eat those. Kak Syida also didn't eat it because she said it reminded her of what Mr. Bean was forced to eat in his movie. Hehehe...

After dinner, we were brought to our hotel, Grand Mirage Resorts, in Nusa Dua, where we retired for the night. The VIP Lounge, where we had our welcome drinks, was very nice. And our hotel rooms are even nicer! It was kinda like that hotel room they used in Cinta Silver, an Indonesian movie which were shot in Bali. Not as grand, but very nice la...

To be continued...