PRE ARRANGED TOUR

All of us had to begin the day early as the guide I had engaged from Malaysia would be coming to fetch us at 8.30 am. No problems to the kids as they were also excited about going to an active volcano, Mount Kintamani. After a simple breakfast in the room we headed to the lobby and our guide, Putu Sudiana was already there waiting and it was only 8.15 am. The car he used was a Toyota Unser, an old model but very well maintained. Inside it was clean and comfortable. Putu said the non-stop trip to Kintamani would take around one to one and a half hour but along the way we would stop at several places and would only reach Kintamani at lunch time.

Our first stop was at a batik outlet not far from Kuta. On arrival, we were greeted by one of their staff who then guided us to show the making of batik painting and batik tenun. Tengok la gambar tu. Yang painting tu actually timbul. Inside the building was where all of their products were put on sale. My goodnesss.....so many of them. Rambang mata dibuatnya. Harganya pulak MasyaAllah murah-murah . You name it everything was here. Table cloth, cushion cover, bed sheet, baju of course la, kasut dari kain batik, macam-macam la. Bak kata Astro tagline...Macam-macam ada. Cuma malangnya dalam kedai ni tak dibenarkan ambil gambar. We bought some souvenirs for folks back home. If you don't have sufficient cash not to worry as the shop accepts credit cards. After 45 minutes, Putu came to inform us that we should get going otherwise we would miss the Barong dance, our next scheduled stop. When we reached the area, the dance had already started and I suggested that we would give it a miss and moved on to the next agenda which was to my wife's delight..... a visit to a silver factory (jewelleries made of silver).

The entrance to the silver shop/factory outlet.

Again when we arrived we were greeted warmly by one of the reps (I think this is good so that visitors won't get lost). The guide then took us inside and we were shown how jeweleries are made. Silver kat sini almost pure (92.5% silver and yang lebih tu I can't recall logam apa yang dicampurkan).





Seorang pekerja sedang menyiapkan anting-anting dari silver.




Selesai kat sini, we then entered the shop and gosh it was so huge. Banyak jenis silver dengan pelbagai design ada dijual. Harganya semua dalam US Dollar tapi boleh ditukar ke Rupiah. Untuk orang Malaysia guide tu kata dapat 50% discount. Pelik gak aku..... belum mintak dah bagi, 50% pulak tu. Emmmm...... tak pe cool dulu. My wife pun mulalah sibuk memilih untuk diri sendiri dan dua anak perempuan aku. Anak lelaki aku dah monyok. Aku tau dia memang tak suka pergi tempat-tempat macam ni. Tengok punya tengok, pilih punya pilih akhirnya terpilihlah barang yang berkenan di mata. Anak- anak perempuan aku dapat rantai dan pendant seorang satu whereas my wife got herself a silver diamond bracelet. Kira punya kira harganya after 50% discount Rp3,800,000. Haaaa....ambik kau. So aku pun dengan pengalaman di Madinah dan Mekah dulu gunakanlah skil tawar menawar. Aku terus mintak Rp3 juta. To my surprise after consulting his supervisor, guide tadi terus setuju. Actually, I was prepared to up the price till Rp3.5 million. Habis kat sini we went to another shop selling paintings (not far from the silver shop).

Kat sini there were plenty of paintings (mostly oil paintings) on sale. Tapi harganya mahal. Ada yang sampai Rp14 juta. I just don't know how to appreciate. According to the shop assistant, paintings kat kedai dia berkualiti sebab tu harganya mahal. Kalau di Kuta semuanya tidak berkualiti. But I just could not differentiate. To me who cares. So in the end I didn't buy. No way was I going to waste my money for that. The kids were already complaint about being hungry. So I said to Putu to head straight to Kintamani. The view on the way to Kintamani was spectacular and breathtaking.




View on the way to Kintamani

View on the way to Kintamani








View on the way to Kintamani







The entrance to The Lake View Restaurant at Kintamani.










Inside the restaurant

As we reached Kintamani, visitors were required to pay an entrance fee of Rp10000. We then went straight to the restaurant. putu said it was halal but I dared not take meat. Only sea food. It was buffet type of lunch. The restaurant was overlooking the mountain and the view was simply brilliant

Spectacular views of Mount Kintamani

It was simply speechless. I have never seen in my entire life a real volcano and there it was right in front of my eyes. Putu kata biasanya early morning ada asap keluar. Wish I could see that. The mountain stood at 1700 meters above sea level tapi tak sejuk. Macam biasa je. Kat sebelah luar restaurant ramai penjaja jalanan menjual barang-barang souvenirs tapi Putu advised us to ignore them cause if we started to layan one, than the others would come and make your trip miserable. After spending about one and a half hour, we began our way down and the next stop would be coffee plantation.

The plantation was located not far from the mountain. Ramai gak orang when we got there. Adalah jugak family dari Malaysia.




Ni lah dia rupa biji kopi yang belum masak.

Ni pulak biji kopi yang dah masak dan boleh dipetik.

Yang ni dipanggil Luwak Coffee. Biji kopi dari pokok dimakan oleh binatang yang bernama Luwak, kemudian najis dari binatang ni di bersihkan dan biji kopi yang tak hadam tu diambil semula untuk diproses. Binatang ni dipelihara di ladang ni. Harganya mahal sikit dari kopi biasa dan kata Putu rasanya lagi sedap. We all tak rasa pun sebab tak tahu dari segi hukumnya boleh ke tak.

Biji kopi kemudian digoreng dalam kuali panas sehingga hitam.









Ni lah rupa biji kopi yang sudah digoreng.

Selepas digoreng, biji kopi ditumbuk sampai halus dan kemudian disaring (ditapis). Lepas tu boleh minum. So we proceeded to their coffee shop.

My wife and two daughters walking down the stairs leading to the coffee shop.

Menikmati free coffee yang pelbagai perisa. But to me 434 is still the best (if you are a Muarian you would understand).

Selesai di ladang kopi, kami singgah pula di kedai menjual pelbagai cenderahati. Kat sini macam-macam gak dibeli untuk ole-ole balik Malaysia nanti.

Gambar aku dengan supir, Putu Sudiana, di luar kedai cenderahati.

The time was 3.30pm and Putu suggested us to visit some of the temples but since it would take about 90 minutes to reach our resort and we had yet to pray, I just told him to send us back. On the way he suggested us to go snorkeling and turtle island the next day for a half day trip. He said it would be a great miss if we didn't go and he even left it to me as to how much I wanted to pay him. He only wanted the kids to enjoy. Initially I reluctant but after discussing with my wife, the night after dinner I confirmed with him via sms. We arrived back at the resort at 5.30pm and rushed for Zuhur and Asar prayers (jamak & qasar). As for dinner, I called the nasi padang restaurant about 20 minutes walk from the hotel and requested them to deliver. Walaupun tak berapa sedap tapi telan je la. We didn't have much choice.

We went to bed early as well as we had another trip tomorrow.