Great days

Wow it's already December! Nowdays my every post starts by apologizing how rarely I manage to actually sit down, put photos to my computer and post them here. Sorry about that.

This last month I had my brother and two friends from Finland visiting Bali and Ubud. Since the three weeks were so full of adventures and small highlights I can't share it all, but here are some moments on the way. 

The monkey forest. You could spend hours just looking these little fellows playing around!

If you stand still they might even include you to their play.

And make a fool of you.

We also climbed the mount Batur, the other still active volcano in Bali. The sunrise on top was so beautiful!

Antti, Tinja, Yasha, me, our guide Putu and Leo (taking the photo) walked around the crater.

Me and Leo  just down from the very top.

Down after the long hike.

Tinja's and Antti's last dinner in Ubud before they headed down South to the beach.

Ayu's birthday at Locavore

Leos dream was to drive around the whole island with motorbikes, but since that was a bit too long way, we just went to Lovina and back. The 8 hours ride was tiring but totally worth it. The scenery up in the mountais was so beautiful and getting lost in small villages were one of the higlights of our journey.

Lake up in the mountains.

Crazy roads, and the one in the photo was still easy.

At Lovina we went to snorkeling with small boats.

With Leo we also visited some nice restaurants and bars with cool interiors.

From Ubud we also took a car and went to Finn's beach club in Uluwatu 

Hello blue waters!

We also took our new friend Kim with us to enjoy the ocean.

On Leo's second last day we visited Tirta Empul, a temple with holy water.

Since I like the kois a lot, I could have spend a whole day just watching them going around.

Room for dessert? Yes! Great place for Yasha's, Mora's and Leo's last night in Bali.

And sometimes good things comes to an end, and these lovely people had to return to Australia and Finland. Thank you for great time and good good memories!

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If you wish to see whats happening here in Bali on a bit faster tempo, have a look of my instagram.
instagram.com/esakapila

And about the renovation? I'll post about that soon! During the stay of Leo and my friends, I was still working every day in order to get the new rooms done. We had to extend the renovation to two other rooms aswell because of some leaking pipes - so now we are working on 4 rooms.

But more text and photos later on! Have a nice day!

SINGAPORE

Five great days.

Before heading here to Bali I was able to have a short stop at Singapore. I was so lucky to be able to stay two nights at my local friend's home and meet his family and brother and see a glimpse of the singaporeans life. I also met my Finnish friend after last time meeting her in Japan.

So after arriving on Tuesday evening we had a nice dinner at one hawker centre and called it for the day.

View from my friends home. So many apartments!

First night's dinner at a hawker centre.

On Wednsday my friend's brother was kind enought to show me around the city. It was such a joy to get to know him and get a general idea of the structure of the city and it's vibe. In the evening my friend Noora from Finland also joined us. The night view of the bay was very nice and relaxed.

"Sota" school for arts and a nice looking street.

Bugis and an open air garden on the 7th floor of the national library.

Marina Bay

Hexil bridge and the art science museum.

Such a cool facade material! when the wind moves the metal plates it creates the illusion of water and waves or this kind of organic flexible material.

Garden bt the Bay, just opened new sight with huge tree-kind-of buildings.

The trees and a canal inside the mall.

Hotel that looks like it has been rendered.

 The colourful facade of the Clarke Quay.

City view

Marina Bay again.

On Thursday morning I moved to a hostel in Little India to share the room with Noora. After dropping my luggage there my friend Daniel showed us around the Chinatown. He is such a food lover so he knew nice places and things we had to try. The highlight was the Kantonese dim sum place hidden in 7th floor of a normal looking apatmenthouse. In there the food was served from metal vagons that wondered among the tables.

Our hostel, Bunck, was actually very great!

With nice interiors...

...and breakfast...

... filled with Koreans.

The kitchen/laundry space on the second floor.

Downstairs eating area.

Reception and the buncks.

Chinatown with new year's decorations.

Hindu temple

Chinese temple

Me, Noora and Daniel at the Red Star Restaurant.

It was such a cool Kantonese dim sum place with vagons serving different kind of plates.

Chinatowns colourfull facades. As you might have noticed, I really like these :)

Ann Siang Hill, the hip district.

Haw Par Villa, a wierd theme park showing what will happend to people in Chinese version of hell.

And other stories too.

On Friday morning and afternoon we had a look around Little India and the Arab street with Noora. It is so facinating how the different cultures and styles walks hand in hand in this small country! But you can really get the indian Vibe from the smell of the spices or the Arabic atmosphere from the carpet and fabric shops. The midday we spent runing around the malls and I got totally lost when trying to find my way back to our hostel. But for the evening we headed to the Marina Bay Sands for a fancy cheese and chocolate buffet that is located on the rooftop right next to the infinity pool. The clubbing after that sweet overdose was a bit hard but still naturally worth it :)  

Arab street.

The playfull Haji Lane.

ION shopping mall.

Marina Bay Sands and the biggest infinity pool with prety great view.

Cheese and chocolate buffet.

with more than 57 types of chocolate things.

Great combination.

The view from our outdoor table.

But after a while you start to feel a bit sick :)

Of all that sugar and sugar.

But still it was pretty cool :)

Clarke Quay again at night, this time for clubbing.

On Saturday we just took it easy and visited some more shops and cafés. Nooras flight back to Bangkok was earlier than mine to Bali, so after seeing her off I still wonered a bit around, had lunch and headed to the airport too.

Over all it was such a pleasant visit and it was great to see my friends again! It was almost the time for Chinese new year so every place was filled with red and golden decorations and I really enjoyed that.

But thats about Singapore. I'll start posting about Bali soon, so stay tuned (or something lame like that :))