Friday, March 30, 2018

Bali Day 3: Waterbom + Uluwatu


On the third and last day of our trip to Bali, our itinerary was pretty simple-- visit Waterbom Bali (Waterpark) and Uluwatu Temple. It rained so hard that morning, it took us almost an hour to get to Waterbom! We were so near and yet the cars in front of us were hardly moving. That was when we decided to wade in knee-deep floodwater-- our adventure already started even when we haven't arrived yet in our first destination!

I loved Waterbom! The place was super chill, the slides were fun (and didn't make you dizzy unlike slides in other waterparks). I tried all the slides, including the Smashdown 2.0, where you enter a capsule 26 meters up, wait for the countdown, then have the floor drop from underneath you! I felt so scared while waiting for my turn, and even considered backing out! But I saw kids around 10 years old waiting in line without any trace of fear and that instantly became my source of motivation. Lol. If they could do it, why couldn't I? I put on my brave face until it was my turn and was already inside the capsule and could no longer back out. A great sense of accomplishment washed over me when I got off the slide. I felt invincible!  Hahaha. Too bad I didn't have pictures. Would I do it again? Definitely! 

Still feeling the adrenaline from the water slides, I couldn't believe it was time to go. We needed to hurry because we still had to catch the sunset at Uluwatu Temple. We arrived just in time, if we had arrived 10 minutes later, we would miss it. Aside from the wonderful views, another thing to love about Uluwatu was the abundance of monkeys! I love monkeys and I even had a personal encounter with one of them! On our way back to the car, I felt a weight on my slipper, when I turned to look, a huge monkey was trying to get my slipper off my feet! I refused to let go (because those slippers were new lol), so I got really scared that it would try to attack me! I asked help from Ryan and his aunt and they shooed it away. Whew, slipper saved! 

After sunset, we visited some outlet stores in Uluwatu area, mostly selling swimwear brands like Roxy, Quicksilver, Billabong, Rip Curl, and dropped by a popular souvenir shop called Krisna for some last minute shopping.

Saturday, March 24, 2018

Bali Day 2: Ubud + Seminyak


The Balinese cooking class started with a tour at their local market. The cook showed us different vegetables and spices regularly being used in cooking. We were then grouped in pairs and were instructed step by step on how to prepare local Balinese dishes.

After the cooking class, we headed back to Seminyak for a Balinese massage. Prior to the trip, I searched for the best spas online and found that Bodyworks Spa had one of the highest ratings. It definitely didn't disappoint! In fact, the massage I had there was the best I've ever gotten! Before we knew it, it was almost sunset, so we headed to the beach to enjoy the view.

Wednesday, March 21, 2018

Bali Day 1: Ubud


I went on a trip to Bali last June with Ryan and his aunt. In fact, this was the second time I traveled to a different country with Ryan's aunt! The first time was when we visited Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam (day 1, day 2, and day 3), and it was just the two of us then because Ryan had an important commitment at work. She's game for anything so trips with her are always fun!

We arrived in Bali around 9am, dropped off our bags at an Airbnb in Seminyak then travelled to Ubud. We stopped by Ubud Royal Palace to take a few photos and walked towards Ubud Art Market which was just across the street. The art market is a nice place to buy paintings and cute trinkets. You can get the items in really affordable prices if you know how to haggle. 

A coffee plantation called Bali Pulina was our next stop. They offer coffee and tea tasting for free, but they charge a small fee for Kopi Luwak (civet coffee). It's a nice place to chill and hang out, plus,  it has a wonderful view of the rice terraces. 

The day was almost over but there was one last thing remaining in our itinerary-- take a cooking class! And so we decided to come back to Ubud the next day but more on that on my next post!

Sunday, March 11, 2018

Spartan Race 2018 Alviera


In my previous post, I mentioned that I would be joining the Spartan Race this February 24 at Alviera, Pampanga. In fact, I joined the Sprint which covered 6km distance and included around 23 obstacles. And yup, you guessed it, I emerged VICTORIOUS!! 

To tell you the truth though, I was hell bent on backing out when I was there. Five minutes before the start time, I haven't applied sunblock, haven't worn any of the race bands, and haven't gone to the restroom to pee (btw, didn't get a chance to pee until after I finished the race lol)! It was 1pm, everybody already started running while I was still at the starting line, hastily applying sunblock all over my body! It was such a hilarious moment come to think of it.

Thanks to my friend who convinced me to push through with the race even if it was extremely dusty and scorchingly hot that day. Spartan Race + Alviera = not a good combination. Case in point: we had to keep our noses and mouths covered for the entire duration of the race because it was really dusty. 

Obstacles I conquered (!!!):
Wall jumps
Barbed wire crawl (2x)
Slippery wall
Atlas carry
Sandbag carry
Bucket carry
Plate drag
Inverted wall
Cargo net
Over under through
Rolling mud
Dunk wall
Fire jump

Obstacles I skipped OR completed but needed help:
Rope climb
Clif-multi rig
Olympus
Monkey bars
Spear throw
Hercules hoist

I'm missing a few more obstacles but I can't remember which ones. Lol. I didn't exactly do a lot of training for this so I wasn't aiming to complete all the obstacles. I'm just glad that I finished the race (and got a really cool medal for it)! Woot!