But in praise and recognition, there lies our strength. It’s human nature! We strive harder and we are motivated to do more when we have positive reinforcement. And each of us should share our experience and be recognized so that we may find the strength to do more .

There are those who climb the tallest mountains or who swim in the deepest oceans. There are those who are faced with the struggles of survival and make it though. There are people who are talented beyond words. I don’t belong to the  any of these categories. But I’m blessed and I choose to embrace my blessings and pass the goodness on. It’s not that I always had a smooth life but I do feel that compared to so many others, my personal tribulations are “chicken feet”. And so I want to share my luck and my love to everyone that I meet. Especially those that have less than what we consider to be normal here in Singapore.

I usually don’t share my volunteer exploits on my blog but I was reminded by Aviva ( the company that takes care of all our little important details , the largest insurer in UK and one of the biggest providers of employee benefits and healthcare in Singapore) that we all need to share the goodness in us to others from time to time. So here’s my story.

I volunteered my time to a village school in Bali to teach English. I’m not sure if they benefited more from my English lessons or I gained more from their innocent joy and easy contentment. It wasn’t easy to break the ice at first, especially since there was a slight language and cultural barrier. But once they got used to me, it just got better and better!

It’s amazing how simple things like pencils and empty note books are prized possessions with these village kids. In Singapore, kids would tell you that they want the latest Ben 10 toy or a trip to Disneyland. But these children just want a chance to learn. They want a chance to help their family and to be able to read, write and speak.

I bought a bunch of Disney pencils for my class and I would ask them to choose which character they prefer. And then I realized most of them didn’t care to choose. They would just take any without even thinking because they are simply overjoyed to have a new pencil to write with! This was the case with blank note books as well. The very things we would expect students to have.

And their enthusiasm is absolutely contagious! They are warm and excitable about learning and accepted me as an insider. Outside school times, they would run up to me to greet me and give me high fives! If they see me in the village, they are always all smiling and waving! Even kids that don’t belong in my class would hang around outside my classroom to peek in on the English lessons.

The local village teachers would sit in my class so they could learn more English as well . It was a fantastic sense of achievement when I got every one in my class of 25 to participate fully. Even the shy ones or those who felt that their English was weak.

Am I proud of my achievements with these kids? You bet I am! And I will do it again in a heartbeat. In fact I had considered quitting my day job but I need to consider my current commitments to family and my dogs so for now maybe I can try to work with 3 months stints.

Here’s a video that I did in one of the classes.

Now that you’ve heard my story, let me hear all about yours as well! I want to recognize each and every one of you and your unique stories as much as Aviva wants to. Because you are important and you matter.  It’s easy and you don’t even have to write much! Just a line or two ( of course if you are excited like me and want to share more, go ahead!) on Aviva’s FB page – http://facebook.com/AvivaSingapore

As an added incentive, every week, from now till 28 Nov, the top 3 entries with the most number of ‘Like’s will each win a 64GB iPad with Wi-Fi & 3G! So share your stories and get recognized!

This post concludes the end of my Bali trip posts. It was a fantastic beach break but I’m also always glad to go home. The thought of seeing my 2 dogs again and sleeping in my own bed again always makes me smile.

And as I had mentioned to a couple of you through emails and comments that I had some videos I didn’t post up of Daryl & Sushi’s wedding. I’ve decided to post them here as an encore to their beautiful wedding.

Here’s the video of their 1st dance as a married couple.

And here’s the video of the wild after party in the pool. When at least the starting… lol… cause the everyone joined in shortly after and there wasn’t anyone to take the video!!

PS: If you’re reading on FB, you won’t be able to see the videos… you need to go www.renzze.com

]]> http://www.renzze.com/index.php/2009/11/06/bye-bali-hello-singapore/feed/ 0 http://www.renzze.com/index.php/2009/11/06/shopping-at-seminyak/ http://www.renzze.com/index.php/2009/11/06/shopping-at-seminyak/#comments Fri, 06 Nov 2009 02:37:07 +0000 Renzze http://www.renzze.com/?p=1332 It was one of the last days in Bali and I needed to do a little shopping for souvenirs and little beach dresses so I headed down to Seminyak. I like shopping in this area cause it’s a lot less messy and crowded compared to Kuta and it’s mainly made up of boutiques instead of the street side outfits. There are a lot of very lovely clothes and maxis in the boutiques here but they aren’t cheap at all so I only bought a couple.

For more casual cheap beach wear and trinkets, Kuta & Leigan are the places to go and if you are hoping to bring home a bit of Bali with you… be it paintings or statues or jewelery and furniture, Ubud is the place to shop at.

Tea break was noodles for me. I like Mades  Warung food at Seminyak. You should give them a try if you are in the area… they are popular with both tourists and locals.

I didn’t take much of the shopping but I did take pictures at the pet clothes store when I popped in to buy some toys and outfits for my 2 dogs.

Louis and Emmie can’t follow me on my trips but  do bring them souvenirs wherever I go.

Tanah Lot in Bali has got to be the hottest tourist attraction. Almost everyone that has been to Bali has seen Tanah Lot. In fact I’ve visited Tanah Lot about 4-5 times already (you can view my last trip to Tanah Lot here)and this is considering I tend to rotate around the places I see in different trips.

In fact, on this particular trip I left out Uluwatu Temple (one of my personal faves even though the monkeys there can be scary – last trip photos here) and the Holy Monkey Forest. I also chose to leave out traditional Bali dances like the Barong dance and the Fire dance.

Lots of ducks and chickens around too!

Tanah Lot is an important sea temple in Bali and the name literally means land in the middle of the sea. During high tides, the looks like it is floating in the sea and cannot be accessed. But during low tides, you can walk to the temple to visit. When I was there this time round, the tide was still low enough for me to access the temple itself but the tide was quick rising and each wave came nearer and nearer!

There are quite a number of poisonous sea snakes in the temple which are treated as scared animals because it is said that they are there to protect the temple from evil spirits or harmful humans.

The crashing waves are quite a nice sight… too bad Tanah Lot is always crowded with tourists. Most of them come to view the glorious temple during sunset where it looks the prettiest. You can also head into the temple for some blessings and holy water if you so wish.

For some strange reason that day, while I was getting my photos snapped with my trusty little pocket camera, I had a lot of requests from the locals for pictures with them. I had no idea why they all wanted to take a photo with me but they seem so happy I didn’t know how to say no to them. In fact when they first approached me with the cameras I thought they wanted me to help them take a picture of them!

It started with one family and soon more people started queuing to ask me for pictures…. whipping out their cameras and cell phones. It was just so weird… girls, guys, young ones, older ones… and they were all so thankful and sweet, saying nice things about me. I wonder if it was a case of mistaken identity followed by the ‘monkey see monkey do’ phenomenal.

It was a little like a prize giving ceremony… photos followed by handshakes and thank yous.

Gosh… it was a little embarrassing with more and more people looking so I made a quick break once I got the chance! It’ll be nice to find out that they were just blog readers of renzze.com and spotted me in Bali… but I really don’t think so.

A last parting shot with a chicken before I scooted out of Tanah Lot!

Here’s the video.

Remember for those on FB… you can only view my videos at www.renzze.com

A short post…

Morning fruit juices keep me going… I miss the days where I can wake up to order a fruit juice served right after a morning massage. Anyways I’ll be meeting Melva later for some therapy session so I’ll feel more rejuvenated!

I’ll blog more about Bali soon I promise… but here’s leaving you with Babi Gulling. It’s a traditional Bali dish of suckling pig with lots of spices! If you can take spice then this is a must-try!

Do try this when you are in Bali. I even have a video of how it’s done!

PS – for those viewing on FB… you need to go to www.renzze.com to see the video.

I also did a lot of massages while I was in Bali. It was good and I needed the tension released after all my activities!

If you want a good, clean decent frills free massage and don’t really care for ambiance. Then try Inner Glow at Padama Utara st. Ruko Padama Utara No. 15 Legian. It’s near the Bali Niksoma Hotel in Legian. An hour massage is about RP75,000 and their Balinese massage or Lomi Lomi massage is pretty good. You can call (0361)761098 or +62 81 23761977 … I think they’ll provide 2 way transport for additional charges.

If you want something with better ambiance and a more romantic atmosphere then you may want to consider having your massage done in your hotel. Of course it’s usually twice the price.

After one of my massage sessions I had dinner nearby at a Mexican restaurant. I look kinda disheveled here cause all I wanted was to eat and go back to the hotel to bathe and sleep after my massage.

Food here is not bad. But I’m generally not a fan of Mexican food.

Another beach I spent my day at is Padang Padang beach. This trip to Bali had me spending most of my days at the beaches in the southern point near Uluwatu area. I kinda missed the beaches of black sand in the Lovina area on the other side of the island. You can see the beautiful black sand beaches on my Bali horse riding post.

Most people feel that Padang Padang isn’t as pretty as dreamland because it has a rather narrow strip of beach but the more secluded spot still belongs to the locals and has a irreplaceable relax vibe to it.

Padang Padang is another pro-surfer beach and only the best come here for the surf as the waves breaks on a shelf of reef, coral, and sharp rocks. While you get to see many surfers in surfing in gigantic barrels scoring hollowed waves, it’s extremely technical to navigate the waves at Padang Padang and only those who can surf well should try. A strong rip tide and undertow with a big swell over 6 feet gives the surfers plenty of challengers. The direction that this wave breaks is a left-hander, and can be ridden from 50-150 meters on a normal day and 150- 300 meters on a really good day. I think Rip Curl just organised an international surf competition there!

I’ve tried my hands on surfing before. In the Alantic Ocean when I was in Florida… and while surfing was fun, I find most of my energy was spent trying to get out into the water! I’ll take 3 steps forward and be swept 2 steps back when the wave hits me. It doesn’t help that I’m carrying a huge surf board that’s twice my height and size.

Padang Padang is a scenic place and here spotted is a couple doing their wedding photo shoot.

So what does one do on a pro-surfing beach if one doesn’t want to surf? Well, just enjoy the place! Swimming in the clear waters and exploring the cliffs . There are many caves and holes at the cliffs on the side which are accessible during low tide.

All it takes is a keen adventurous spirit and my trusty pair of ballet crocs. I had to keep my shoes on cause the rocks and the reefs can be rather sharp. It might take a bit of climbing too! Some of the caves contain hidden reservoirs of clear water with white sandy beaches while others are bat caves.

I can stay at the beaches day in and day out and not get sick of the sun, sand and sea. It’s such a pity my little sunny island of Singapore can’t have cleaner waters and beaches.

Walking around the coral reefs and with such clear water, you could see the corals up close even without snorkeling! There were quite a few glow in the dark ones and in the little crevices, there are sea urchins and crabs!

After my swim, I put on a singlet dress and went around taking more photos before the tide rose again.

I also bravely went to explore the bat caves. It’s extremely noisy!

And explored into more serene caves that look like a secret hideaway! It’ll be fun being a kid again and having all the imagination with such a place.

With all these beaches just 20 mins from Kuta, I wonder why Kuta beach is still so crowded!

I spent the last moments of the beautiful sunlight basking on the beach. Just lying around and resting… drying off from my swim while watching planes fly by.

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The twilight hour on the beach was almost magical. Everyone just went back to the beach to admire the setting sun and the glorious rays.

I was absolutely reluctant to see the sun go down!

But soon it was getting too dark to be on the beach any longer and it was time to head off.

Here’s the video of my adventures at Padang Padang Beach.

A few years back when I came back from Bali, I was raving to my friends and family how wonderful and gorgeous Dreamland beach was. How the pristine waters and untouched nature filled my heart with joy. But this time when I went back to Dreamland beach, I’m sad to report that it’s yet another wonderful location lost to the scary evilness of commercialization. The whole area is packed with tourists and the beach has been vilified!

Initially, Dreamland beach was the pet project of ommy Suharto, the son of the former Indonesian president. He seized the use of the land and drove the locals out, wanting to built some luxury resort and golfing area. But when the 1998 economic crisis and the Bali bombings began, the project was abandoned. Instead this gorgeous area was left alone and was only known as the most beautiful and best surf beach to the locals with insider knowledge. I still remember the first time I step foot in dreamland… it was dirt roads all the way in and definitely no car parks. The beach was almost empty except for a few locals and expats that lived in Bali.

The whole secluded area with astounding beauty stole my heart the moment I laid my eyes on it. It was possibility the  best beach I’ve seen and rivals the beaches of Maldives or Fiji. But as we all know how this sad story is going to end… this didn’t last.

Although the waters are still relatively clear and the waves are still good enough for the pro-surfers, it wasn’t as beautiful as before.

While I feel that the revival of Bali as a tourist destination is good for their economy and helps improve their unemployment rate, Dreamland beach was sacrificed in this exchange.

The rich came back to claim their stake on Dreamland, bringing with them golf courses, 5 star resorts and a slew of touts and shops hawking souvenirs and tee shirts. It’s unsightly to see how these organisations profit from what was originally the locals hangout. And while I understand that nothing this beautiful can escape commercialization, the decline of the beach from the last time I saw it is so dramatic that it breaks my heart.

Dreamland will no longer be the dream beach I experienced the first time I came to Bali and this trip there will most likely be the last time I visit Dreamland Beach. Anyways, I think they changed the name of the beach to Kelapa New Kuta Beach. I can’t bear to see the downfall of the beach any further and I sometimes worry if my children will ever see gorgeous untainted pristine beaches again should every commercialization take place with no thought of retaining that value.

For those who have never visited Kelapa New Kuta Beach before, don’t let my post deter you for it is still a good beach and a million times better than the ones we have in Singapore. But if you are looking to find unspoilt beauty don’t expect too much. It’s still a fantastic beach for pro-surfers cause the waves are one of the best in Bali.

Here’s a really short video.