Culture shocks ...

...in Bali (that was almost a month ago ... damn, time really flies!!) ... My first encounter of 'yuck' ... is the food!!! Their nasi campur taste is like peanut-butter mixed with chilis and unknown raw veggie!!! Even by looking at it, all your eating mood is gone ... anyhow, with little choice, and since this Bali-style-of-economy-rice cost me around 40,000 Rp (~RM15) ... i have to gulp it down ... :S My second shock wave is the Balinese people themselves ... majority population here are Hindus and they are really proud on being one ... too proud i guess until, they shunned other races and religion ... eehh .. especially 'i' religion ... Such feeling occured to me during our trip to Bedugul where the sacred Temple of Ulun Danu Bratan (temple itself is located in the middle of a lake) ... ... our driver is a typical-Balinese-Hindu who speak 'fluent' English ... that day, by the time we finish touring the temple, it's already noon, so we planned to have lunch at Bedugul (is a muslim area where most of the people are from Java) ... but our driver insist driving us to somewhere else for lunch ... we were baffled ... somehow, we suggested, why don't he joined us for lunch ... and he gave us the reason ... THE FOOD HERE IS TASTE DIFFERENT ... and he don't like it ... we were totally speechless ... I guessed it's due to the 2 bombing incident that rocked the world which changed their whole perspective on 'i' religion or maybe, he really don't like the spicy food ... whatever we really enjoyed having the Bakso Mee :D

Why I still choose ...

... to be at Npark ... :D Ever since our current landlord want his apartment back, we were all scrambled and searched frantically around the blocks (there are 4 blocks in Npark), floor-by-floor (there are 32 floors on each blocks), door-by-door (there are 8 units per floor) ... for our new shelter!!! Yes, it's a tedious task and with some unhelpful management staffs (who only offer those 'expensive' unit - fully furnished) ... as well as facing difficulty finding unit owners although there are available units around ... phew ...  We did put on notice on the Npark bill board ... even at 7-11 and Happy Mart ... only a handful of agents and 'mou lei' (annoying-illiterate monkeys) called up ... and amazingly, no owner calling us at all!! dammit ... anyway, with little choice, we accept the 'help' from agent ... (of course, will cost us extra ... :S) But why still Npark? ... i think, besides having stayed here for ~4 years and being convenient for us to move our 'stuffs' around ... ... is the feeling of light and cool sea breeze (which i yet to feel from other place - i mean, cheap place :P) .... ... the nice Penang island view everytime i walked to the lift ... ... the wonderful and peaceful view of sunset from balcony, everytime i come back from work ... ...and sometimes, there is rainbow view from my room, and it's totally make my day colourful ...   i guess ... again, we make the right choice on insisting staying put at Npark ... :D