Bali Hai

I went for another Teambuilding trip organised by the Company early September. This year, the location was Bali. If you remember from a previous post, the trip last year was to Kota Kinabalu. My, has it been a year already?

The Company seems to have a thing for Whitewater Rafting. Last year it was the Kiulu River in Sabah, and this year its the Ayung River in Bali. Afraid I don't have pictures of the rafting this time because I opted to stay on dry land, due to my knees. The sheer climb to and from the starting and finishing point to the basecamp was totally killing, so I was told. Apparently the number of steps was much higher and steeper than Batu Caves! Besides, I didn't fancy risking injuring my ligaments again, especially when they are still recovering.

Fortunately, the one or so hour spent waiting for the rest of the team to arrive at the finishing point was rather pleasant. The air was cool and the breeze was deliciously chilly. I was told by a Balinese that we had come during their musim dingin. It wasn't too cold, of course. Just pleasantly cool.

Of course you couldn't go to Bali without going to a Spa! In fact when I arrived together with the first group, some of the ladies and I went spa hunting almost immediately. The merry group of women found a quaint Spa and due to time constraints, could only opt for the 1 hour Balinese massage. Being used mainly to the Malay and Thai traditional massages, we found the Bali massage pretty "gentle" It was good though. Just not as "brutal" as those we were used to! The oils used at the Spa was made in-house and comprised 3 flowers ... jasmine, ylang-ylang and something else. Not as fragrant as my usual aromatherapy oil made by Dr Jariah (formerly of UKM). I wanted to do the full works ... lulur, massage, flower bath, steam and all, so I made a mental note to go Spa hunting again in the next few days.

I didn't do much shopping though, because it was more teambuilding than shopping, and time was limited. Its a shame really, since I was actually looking forward to some Balinese paintings and wood carvings. And by the time our daily programmes ended, the shops were already closed. So, after dinner, I hovered around the hotel and since I have pretty much distanced myself from the nightlife scene, I didn't join the colleagues on their clubhopping rounds.

Security was still rather tight, since after the bombing. Luckily nothing happened. The tourism industry was badly affected, though. Wanted to share some photos here but I seem to be having some problems uploading the photos. Next time perhaps.