Bali Part 1 :)

So, as most of you know - if you've been following my twitter, I have just returned from the land of Bali , Indonesia. :)

The duration of my stay was 6 days, and I did have an enjoyable time there.

Granted, I wasn't used to not having much to do except lounge around or shop, but the feeling was a welcome break from all the emotional turmoil I seem to bring upon myself all the time.

THE FLIGHT .

It was a refreshingly short flight - 3hours. All I can say about it was that it was quite enjoyable, as we had Forrero Rocher - MY ABSOLUTE FAVOURITE , and tiny tubs of vanilla Haagen Daaz ice cream. Forgive me for sounding like a child, but I do find joy in the simplest things. Vanilla ice-cream is my favourite.

We arrived in Denpasar airport & met my mother's sister (&family) after collecting our luggages. A man holding up our villas name greeted us at the entrance, and shuttled us all to the villa.

Mommy brought so many empty luggages. Can you imagine, 7 of us had to travel in TWO shuttle buses? :)

THE VILLA .

My reaction when I first steeped into the Villa was - okay this is the lobby ; where then do I stay ? When my dad told me we had the whole place to ourselves, I gave in to my inner bimbo and just went OMG OMG OMG all the way.

Example .

"OMG THERES A POOL"

"OMG THERES A JACUZZI NEXT TO THE POOL"

"OMG WE ARE ABOVE A KOI POND"

"OMG THERE ARE CANOPY BEDS"

"OMG WE HAVE OUR OWN PERSONAL CLEANERS & CHEF"

& ... you get the point .

The Villa was beautiful - TV's situated everywhere, vast open spaces, beautiful water features, our own bar, etc. Will post up pictures in the next post :) Forgive me for acting like I just came out of some well, but I definitely am unaccustomed to living the high life.

It was a treat for all of us. Considering the fact that there were 7 of us, and also all the luxuries we had - the price we paid was pretty reasonable. 599 US dollars a night.

The pictures above are what we did on the - second day, I think. It was night when we arrived. Boat ride, beach, turtle farming? I personally felt a twinge of guilt upon seeing all the turtles being cooped up like that - and we were encouraging them by visiting. But at least they were in the beach and they weren't selling eggs - not in the open , at least.

It's dusk, and I should sleep now. I promise I'll continue, and with more updates on what I've been up to lately! When I have a life-I just have no mood to blog :)

xxx

Australia/New Zealand trip Part one - Melbourne

AUSTRALIA : MELBOURNE .

DURATION : 3 DAYS .

PLACES : PHILLIP ISLAND , ELIZABETH STREET , CROWN CASINO , SOUTH WHARF DFO etc.

Day 1 - The 7 hour flight , the 4 a.m. arrival , the ciplak temporary motel .

With ecstatic hearts and sweaty palms , my father , my mother , my grandmother & my grand auntie gathered at my place early in the morning with humongous luggages in tow .

The stacks of winter wear we carried along with us were overwhelming - it was predicted to be freezing , especially in New Zealand .

We flew by emirates almost the whole trip , and I do agree that the quality of the flight , seats and especially the range of movies available was more than agreeable . :)

We checked in to the cheap motel near the airport as we only had like 5 hours to kill before it was time to go , And by gosh , it was compact : )

As in i felt like I was living in a box !

Customs were strict but thank God we were okay :)

Later in the afternoon .

We checked into our service apartments , Somerset on Elizabeth street . The place was pretty good , very homey and their staff were agreeable , by Australian standards anyway . :)

We went to Victoria market where we bought loads of souvenirs and me , loads of bracelets and opals , and of course , a revolting amount of ham and bacon .

We met up with uncle Adrian , auntie Fina & auntie Louisa over there , and later on also , Kao gong . :)

We had Chinese food due to my grandmothers sensitive taste buds , and I guess it was okay but the servings were enormous !

We headed to the Crown Casino (I'm legal yay!) for our steak . Food was slow , company was good , steak was overdone :/

DAY 2 - Phillip Island

We basically had a long drive over to Phillip Island , stopped by a town for a really good steak and fish and chips . We only managed to drop by the chocolate factory nearing its closing hours though , so we just went in and bought AWESOME FRESH FACTORY CHOCOLATE :)

It was so good , really . If I didn't need to convert , I would've bought the whole shop :/

Went to see the adorable penguins and bought more souvenirs . :)

Too bad no pictures were allowed though , they were so adorable and so close to us ! But IT WAS FREEZING :O

Day 3 - Melbourne shopping & Food .

DimSum overseas are HUGE , I'm telling you .

Sometimes its good , sometimes its bad . However I had a good meal , both at the same restaurant , SHARKS FIN INN in Chinatown . For dinner , we met up with a family's friend who was like the organizer for Asian events in Melbourne kinda thing . :)

Didn't buy that much because of the exchange rate and the lack of time in DFO , but it was good in a sense that I got 2 really gorgeous pairs of sky high heels - one from target , one from Aldo :)

They were cheap :)

After 3 days , It was off to Auckland in Air New Zealand for us , will update you soon ! :)

xxx