Showing posts with label Bali. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bali. Show all posts
A photo posted by Carla Chanliau (@cbardian) on

What makes a girl's day?

When she found a great new restaurant 2 minutes from her workplace that serves the BEST salad she's ever tasted.

This restaurant is called Braga Garden. As its name suggests, it looks like a garden or a forest from the outside. I've been wanting to come there ever since before it was opened. I LOVE the greens and vintage feelings inside with all the antiques they have. I'd go there just for the ambiance. So when I tasted the food, OH. MY. GOD. I fell in love with this place!

I'm not a big salad buyer.
I'll correct that: I am a PICKY salad buyer. I don't like dressing that is too sour, too sweet, too mayonnaise-y, and the list can go on. If I want to eat salad, I'll make the salad on my own to match my taste bud.
However, I wasn't that hungry at the time. I was with a friend who was much less adventurous in trying new restaurants, and she was in only for coffee. So, when she saw me going to the 7th sky for my salad, she gave it a try and immediately ordered another plate of salad of different variant.







You're welcome, Huri!

To top it off, they allowed me to dance my latest choreography in this vintage setting so that I could make a nice video clip of it. Here is a snippet of the dance!


To visit:

Braga Garden Restaurant & Lounge
Address: Jalan Kunti II No.99X, Denpasar, Bali 80361, Indonesia
Phone:+62 361 4741717
Hours: 
Open today · 12:00 pm – 12:00 am

1:29 pm
Day 73 of 365 grateful days project:

"I'm grateful for having been pampered at the famous Rob Peetom Bali last weekend."

My good friend, Annerie, was staying at our place last weekend and she invited me to get this cool makeover at Rob Peetom's. Upon arrival we were greeted with a glass of cappuccino and a little biscuit, only later to be served with a glass of cold white wine as the girls were polishing my nails. Then I was brought to the hair wash room, which overlooked a green view of paddy field. As I hit the chair and relaxed, it vibrates and gave my back and legs a light massage. At the same time, the friendly hairdresser massaged my scalp.
Before

I looked pretty that night, with blue nail polish and curly hair. The latter didn't stay for long since my super straight hair refused the curl and the wind conspired with it to return it to the straight state. But it was a good good night. :)
4:17 pm
Day 70 of 365 grateful days project:

"I'm grateful that the manager of the villa is very accommodating and helpful."

I suppose it's already his job description to be accommodating and helpful, but I've lived in Bali long enough to have met the so-called managers who simply can't care less.

But Wayan is nothing like that. He's young, polite, helpful and he can do many things, too. As a manager, he's not as diplomatic - as in giving much selling value of this very villa - because he's too honest to the clients (us). But that makes me respect him, despite the so many daily problems we encounter in this new place. Instead of defending the villa for its other good qualities, he admits its shortcomings and tries to fix the problems.

If only the other Balinese/Indonesians were like that. :P
12:53 pm
Day 68 of 365 grateful days project:

"I'm grateful to have Annerie staying over for a night with her friend, Laura."

It's time for a girl's day (and night) again!!! Annerie pays a visit today bringing over Laura, one of her close friends to the south. They're staying the night at my place today and leaving tomorrow back to Candidasa. With the sad windy, rainy, stormy weather the past three days, I thought it would be nice to be surrounded with nice people (Annerie, Laura and my sister Ita).

So we dined, we shopped (this one allocated waaaaay much more than the other activities), we gossiped, we karaoked (can never escape from this as long as you're with Annerie) and we drank champagne! Yes, Annerie brought a bottle of champagne and the three of us (my sister not joining) toasted for 3 different celebrations - based on what each of us was grateful of at the moment. Swell!

As if Mother Earth knew that these girls wanted to go out too, she stopped the rain and the scary wind and brought a bit of sun back to us. The view at our parking place was so gorgeous today I just had to stop and photographed it.


It's a beautiful day.
11:05 pm
Day 65 of 365 grateful days project:

"I'm grateful for having Ita at my place while Vincent's gone."

So, because of the grateful project, I had to put the positive side of something even when I was so negative. :P

I was negative because:
Not even a week after Vincent was back from France, he has to go again for 2.5 weeks to Thailand and Vietnam for work. We haven't even enjoyed the garden together. We haven't even enjoyed the jacuzzi together. He hasn't even contributed in the unpacking task - though perhaps he never would if he stayed. :P But it was really annoying. I haven't been able to sleep well in the new house. Yes, it's nice and all, but it's a new bedroom, a new smell, a new space, new everything... Vincent was as annoyed because he was really tired from everything and he wanted to bond with the new house, too.

There was another negativity that didn't concern us. My sister, Ita, was kicked out of her boarding house (kos). THAT was familiar and rude. I had that too once with my first kos. They just kicked me out just like that because they had another tenant that was willing to pay higher for the room. And just the day before they were still smiling wide to me as if nothing was wrong. MONEY IS EVIL, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! And greed is consuming Bali and its people. SHAME!

However, that event forced her to find whatever kos she could find within days upon her arrival from her Christmas/New Year holiday in Surabaya so that she could dump her things there and I'd offered her to stay at mine instead while Vincent's gone. Win-win solution: she's got a place to stay and I'm not alone in a house I don't feel attached to yet.

So yeah, we're looking forward to fighting again. :D Well, that's what she and I do more than anything else. But better that than be lonely.

Here's Ita at the Jacuzzi.
3:14 pm
Day 61 of 365 grateful days project:

"I'm grateful to be waking up to the sounds of birds and to the magnificent view of rice fields and mountains as I open the bedroom window."

After over 4 years living in Bali, I finally feel like I'm living in Bali. :)

8:19 am
Day 60 of 365 grateful days project:

"I'm grateful for my first-ever, most beautiful little garden."

The new house has some nice features that I love... such as the wooden second floor, the thatched-roof style, the smart dining table and the spacious bathroom. But the centre of the attraction is really the garden. I've seen huge gardens with swimming pool, etc. and my garden is far from huge. But then big doesn't always mean beautiful. Big gardens that feel empty suck a lot. But small gardens with careful planning and care make the perfect ones. I'll say no more and just let the pictures speak.


Yeah, I'm that one lucky girl.
5:33 pm
Day 59 of 365 grateful days project:

"I'm grateful that we've managed to move to the new house today, despite the terrible, terrible hangover."

First of all, HAPPY NEW YEAR! I hope the year 2012 brings you lots of happiness and success in whatever you do. :)

Second of all, who in their right mind thinks that moving to a new house right on the first day of the year is a good idea?

US. Vincent, especially, but also me for agreeing to it. And of course, we were so damn wrong.


But the timing couldn't have been worse. We just arrived from our travel just a few days before we had to move. And if we'd have stayed longer in the previous house, we'd have been charged daily rate. So for the New Year's eve this year, we planned not to party. We planned not to go home early in the morning like we usually did. We planned not to drink too much to celebrate it. We wanted to be sober and excited as we entered our new beautiful house. After all, we were all tired - Vincent from the jetlag and me from packing things into the so many boxes.

But none of the plans worked out. Naturally. Greg called to invite us to have a small celebration at his place with one other couple. Vincent said we would just go there, have one drink and go to celebrate New Year's eve on our own, just the two of us. That never happened. :P

Don't get me wrong, it was a nice gathering with nice people. I enjoyed it very much. However, when we went home at 3 (still earlier than usual), we were absolutely drunk. And dead. And nobody heard the moving guys ringing the bell at 11 AM. They tried to call me three times and I only answered the last ring. Then it rained.really.really.hard.

It must have been a sign.

Vincent was so sick he couldn't get up. So we asked the guys to come back later when the rain stopped.
They did go, except that when I felt better at around 2, they refused to come back because they were out enjoying the New Year's holiday. Perfect. Perfect, perfect, perfect.

My maid called another moving company, and we were lucky to get one that worked on 1 January. We agreed on a price, which was a lot more expensive than our previous guys, but we just couldn't wait until we could be in the new place.

It was drizzling during the move, Vincent and I were both sick, we arrived at the new house and the manager wasn't around to open the door and give us the key to the gate. We couldn't even get into our own new house! Yes, you can laugh now.

So.... we were stranded outside of the villa for at least half an hour, or maybe it was an hour, until someone handed in the key. Alas, the loading and unloading process only finished at around 8 PM.

We thought we were dying. And starving. So Vincent wanted to order some pizza. I was ready with my phone to order it until...

"What's our address?" I asked him.
"Shit. I don't know," he said.

And after half an hour waiting for the SMS reply from the owner of the villa about the address, Vincent gave up and said, "I'll find something to take away."

Dinner was at 10.
11:12 pm
Day 58 of 365 grateful days project:

"I'm grateful that we will be moving to a better place TOMORROW."

It's a busy day today. We're preparing for our big moving day tomorrow to a new better place in Umalas. It's only 10 minutes ride from our present house and the building itself is smaller than the one we are living at the moment, but it's got a beautiful, beautiful garden. And jacuzzi. In the garden. Yay!

We decided to rent this house - or villa, as it claims to be - long time ago after our trip to Sidemen (remember my birthday and diving trip?) We compared the house we were staying in Sidemen with the one we were living in Seminyak. The Sidemen house was also a much smaller house, but all around it was so green and peaceful and lovely - not very surprising since it's located at a very strategic spot by the foot of the moutain. Of course it would have been too much to expect that there would be many places in Kerobokan that had such an excellent view. But really, a garden would have been enough. Also we thought it would have been a better place for Mouche the cat. She never really had a chance to explore outdoor world. And she will never now. :(

Anyway, it's still exciting to be moving out of this house. There had been more pain than laughter taking place in here, and both Vincent and I could use a little more spark in life. The new place is expensive for our budget but I hope and think it'll be worth every penny.

Here's a YouTube video Vincent found on the house we will be moving to tomorrow.

6:32 pm
Day 55 of 365 grateful days project:

"I'm grateful that I get my fast internet back!"


You simply don't know what you miss before it's gone. I was working while I was in Surabaya for Christmas and my brother nicely lent me his modem and internet line. But oh how slow it was! Apparently he didn't have the same internet connection as he did in July. This time, browsing for one single web page took forever. Very frustrating when you had deadlines waiting.


Anyway, back in Bali and at home, back to fast internet. Life is awesome again.
7:30 am
Day 54 of 365 grateful days project:

"I'm grateful to be back in Bali after the Borneo and Christmas trip to Surabaya."

I had great time during the Borneo trip and the short Christmas one to my mom's in Surabaya. I spent the whole time coughing madly and no matter how many cough syrup bottles and other meds that I took, I never seemed to get better. And for the first time in life, I threw up every time the cough attacked. Yet, every moment of this holiday mattered. Borneo took my mind away a little bit of the unfortunate event we had with our kitty and my family kept me busy with their incredibly idiotic jokes and rude Surabayan-style madness. Kabuki, the only pet left in my family after Zwartje and Mouche passed away, looked healthy though his fur was falling off. Note to self: get a vet check him for any skin disease.
Kabuki, Zwartje's son
A giant fly digging into the ground for, I don't know, lying its eggs?
This is not a macro picture. The photo is sharp as it is because it was.simply.the.biggest.fly. I've ever seen in life.
The holiday would have been perfect if Vincent had been with me. But it wasn't bad at all, either. Anyway, it still feels nice to be back home.
11:33 pm
Day 51 of 365 grateful days project:

"I'm grateful that I had finally won against my fear of deep water."


We dived!!!

Because of my inconsistency in blogging my 356 grateful days project, I missed to state one of the most awesome highlights of the year: my lovely birthday trip in Amed and Sidemen.

After my devastating 31st birthday last year - not how I spent the day, but this referred to my feelings back then - I decided that I didn't want any party this year. Vincent actually didn't either for his birthday, but his family was here in August and they threw him a nice birthday party in their villa. He couldn't escape his own birthday party, could he? But before anybody was thinking to throw me any party, I told Vincent that I didn't want to have one. Instead, I wanted to travel. He said, "Great idea, we can do that."

So we packed our bags and went to Amed for our first diving experience. Especially for me, this was a big thing. I was once that little girl who was running about in my grandparents' house and fell into the big underground water tanks whose lid was open and had water phobia ever since. I remember before I was twelve years old, I had to get my mother to wash my hair every.single.time. She'd get me to face the ceiling as she shampooed and rinsed my hair. If any drop of water was slipping through my forehead and reaching my eyelids, I'd immediately panicked, screamed and gasped for air. Only in 2007 I managed to beat my water phobia and learn to swim. And 28 August 2011 marked the day when I finally dived. Something that was out of the question with me before. But I did it anyway!!!

I was proud of myself.

Yes, indeed in the second dive I was choked at the bottom of the sea, most possibly because the fried squid I ate for lunch half an hour before wanted to escape my throat. I coughed it out, lost my primary regulator, managed to get it back but couldn't clear the water at all! I signalled the dive instructor that I had problem with it, he tried to fix it, but water still came in. I couldn't breathe for a period that I thought the longest time I held my breath in my life, and when finally I realised I had nothing but salty water for the next forever, I grabbed, scratched and chocked the dive instructor. He took us to the surface after he managed to get away from my violent strangling action, and let me tell you, my friends.... I've never felt so RELIEVED in my life EVER. I'd never been so grateful for the oxygen; the cheapest, most important yet often taken-for-grated thing in life, until then! I spent the next two minutes crying out loud while floating, throwing up tons of sea water out of my stomach and taking as much as air as I could into my lungs. But then a question was posed by the instructor. Did I want to go back to the beach or did I want to go back down the sea?

Although my first thought was that it was so mean to ask this kind of question when I hadn't even finished puking, I knew that I had to answer that anyway. And after like 5 minutes thinking - that was long by the way if you were floating in the middle of the sea - I decided to go back down the sea.

I was proud of myself again.

My throat fucking hurt and I couldn't stop coughing even when diving, but I tried to distract my attention to the beautiful fishes, the ruins of a small ship and the feeling that I was safe with these two guys. It wasn't a very long journey, but the satisfaction that I actually chose to go back to the sea after I thought that I was gonna die was incredible. For a water coward, I felt very brave.

Anyway, we went back to the hotel very, very tired that day, but we definitely got such unforgettable memories.

Practising at the pool before diving in real.
Just before our first dive
Finding Nemo
That was me, during the few seconds when I let go the hand of my dive instructor. Hehe
Vincent, a natural first time diver

Us

holding seastar
1:37 pm
Day 48 of 365 grateful days project:

"I'm grateful that I'm fine after the earthquake."

A 6.2 richter scale earthquake shook Bali at 11.30 today and I was scared to death! As usual I was working alone from home and without any subtle warning, the ground shook hard. I quickly realised that it was an earthquake and started calling Mouche the cat. I spent about 2 seconds looking for her before realising that she might be in a better hiding place than I was. So I just rushed outside on my own. I was about to step out of the porch when broken roof tiles flew off over my head and I knew instantly that I wouldn't be safer from the falling debris this way. I heard my neighbours scream as more roof tiles broke and I was really not sure if I should be inside the house with chances of the ceiling fell over me or outside with the violent flying debris.

Fortunately it was over before anything chunky fell over my head. It was reported that at least 50 people were injured from the earthquake, most of who were highschool students.

I decided that outside was better than inside, since repeat quakes were most likely to happen for this scale. So I quickly took a shower and went to Inga's place in Sanur. On the way there, I had to stop in front of Carrefour on Sunset Road because of this:




God has a funny way to show us how little our problems (that we think are big) are.
3:43 pm
Day 39 of 365 Grateful Days Project:

"I'm grateful to have attended my first Balinese wedding."


Kadek and Kadek
I've been wanting to photograph Balinese wedding. For both the experience and the photography portfolio. I've offered this free photography Balinese wedding service in my Facebook page for a while but only a few days ago I could finally complete the wish. Kadek, one of Fabio's domestic helpers, got married to her long time boyfriend, Kadek. Yes, they are both named Kadek. :)

I wanted to be there by the time the ceremony was performed, which according to the bride would take place at 3 or 4 PM. So my sister and I left at around 1.30 to Klungkung, the groom's village. Only half way to Klungkung it started raining very hard and we had to pull over and put on the raincoat. We arrived there at about 2.30, where the ceremony JUST ended. Apparently they held it earlier than planned and it really didn't matter that the guests who lived far away weren't informed. Another funny thing was that in the wedding invitation it was stated that the event started at 5 PM. So this means I still have to attend another Balinese wedding ceremony to get the real portfolio done.

However, I liked some of the photos. It was a very modest wedding. The only people wearing makeup and fancy kebayas were the bride and the groom. Others were wearing white ceremonial kebayas and nothing else artificial. People were relaxed and they threw jokes most of the times. I liked attending weddings like this, when every one was actually happy and not stressed out. (Trust me, a lot of weddings display too stressed, unhappy bride and some others are so business-like) So the following are some pictures I shot during the wedding.
Decoration outside the gate, made of Janur (palm leaves)
Kadek, the Bride
Kadek, the groom - tired from the long procession
Snacks, given to guests as soon as they arrived
Dogs celebrated the wedding, too
Left: Kadek and Gede, a shy boy who didn't want to have his picture taken.
Right: Decoration from Janur
Finally got Gede's face when he slipped
My sister and a black Balinese dog that reminded her of Zwartje. Except that this one bit her on the neck!
All in all, it was a truly fine wedding.
2:20 pm
Day 33 of 365 grateful days project:

"I'm grateful that Vincent was alright after the nasty fight last night at the African party."

I don't know why, every time I thought I was finally enjoying a party, it always ended bad.

Last night was the White Party - an annual event held by the owner of Animale clothing line. Someone said that this was always such a great jet set party in Bali that you must simply come when invited. Vincent was invited since lately he's become friends with a new poker group; and the whole member of this poker group was invited.

So we went there after hours looking for "nicer" white outfits for both Vincent and me. We both have A LOT OF white clothes as we both love white. But every white thing we have is so Bali-style. Nothing fancy about them. So we were looking for the better looking white clothes after my rendezvous with Michelle.

Again, it was full of French. But this time it was totally different. This group of French somehow speaks more English than French; perhaps because half of the invitees are of different nationalities or perhaps because the wife of the host is Indonesian. So I really enjoyed it.

This one particular woman who speaks excellent English (perhaps better than Indonesian) was very interesting and we clicked in everything we discussed. Her previous husband was English and she found so many different experience when she finally settled down with a Frenchman. Somehow, I could relate to that. :-)

And guess who I met there and in every party I attended? AYU! My ex workmate at IALF. The party animal 4 years back and still. I met her at La Plancha party the week before and there she was again at the White Party. When I asked her which one of the host who invited her, she said, "Oh, my girl friend is friends with the wife of the host; I'm just tagging along." Hehehe... I can't remember the last time I came to a party whose host I didn't know. Well, I didn't know this one either; but I came as the capacity of Vincent's spouse. Anyway, it was good that Ayu was there because it kept me from feeling misplaced. And she brought a camera which she and her friends kept snapping. This is one she tagged me on Facebook.
(I wonder why I always write so much before the real subject of the blog)
Anyway, by midnight I got bored, and so was this sweet girl called Tini. No, she's not Indonesian. So after the empty promises her boyfriend and MY boyfriend had given that we would leave very soon (NOT), Tini and I took off on our own to the African Party at Batu Belig beach. I had a wonderful time the first 30 minutes I got there with Tiny. But after that I had a physical breakdown since I was up so early in the morning as usual and kept moving until then (around 1 o'clock). I went upstairs and fell asleep under the open sky. YEAH, only Carla can sleep at parties surrounded by LOUD music and strong sea winds!!!

Vincent and his boys didn't arrive until about 2.30. And that was because one of the boys was beaten up by some drunk Aussies. So they came as quickly as they could to give support. Only 15 minutes after he found me, there was another fight going on (apparently there were 2 other fights before that perhaps happening when I was asleep). So I was saying to Vincent who was standing next to me, "Boys are so stupid. Why...."

Apparently he was no longer beside me!!! I was looking around and found him IN THE MIDDLE of the fight with Anael! How could he move so fast?!?!

But my concern that he was there changed to worry when someone broke a beer bottle and hit someone else's head. It seemed to me that Vincent was trying to stop the fight. But really, for drunk jackasses (both from the Australian group and the French group), how could you really see that? Especially with the uniform clothes the French's are wearing after the white party, it was so easy to locate enemies, right? Even if you meant to stop it. Then I saw someone grab a beach chair and throw it to someone else. I was terrified.

The rest involved many bottle beers flying about, white clothes stained red from blood, wounded heads full of blood... I didn't care about everyone else. My eyes were locked to Vincent.

In the end, he fortunately didn't get wounded. Not even a stain of other people's blood. But I stomped when I could finally express my feeling and I insisted to go home immediately. Anael came to me and apologized it happened (I didn't even understand why he apologized) and he tried to defend Vincent for being there. He said that he just wanted to stop it and not join the fight. Bladibladibla.... But I just wanted him to be safely home. Vincent kept saying that he was not fighting and obviously I didn't understand where he was coming from.

Guess what, he was right. I don't care where he was coming from but I do care when he's hurt! Even if he constantly fought when he was young, it is a different case now that I'm with him. I want nothing to happen to him ever and he'd better listen to me!

BOYS!!!!
8:33 am
Day 31 of 365 grateful days project:

"I'm grateful for having attended La Fete de la Musique held by Alliance Française."

Vincent was not going because there were only girls from his office going to this event. But I'm going anyway because I promised Audrey I would.

But apparently Antida was so far away from Kerobokan! Took me about an hour to get there. Anyway it was nice. It seemed like a reunion for me. I met my classmates, Vincent's workmates, the wives of Vincent's workmates and my funny teacher Monsieur Putu. The music, however, was not really for me. Most featured rock or heavy metal, which Balinese seemed to really, really love. I actually think the best performance was the contemporary style of Kecak Dance. It was super funny and entertaining, with most dancers clap on their bodies to make the sounds. There was hardly any instrument used but that body-clapping, though at the end there were some bamboos that were hit on the floor consistently that produced such beautiful sounds together with the body clapping and the tongue clapping. I wish I had the video camera with me. But here is the picture I took of them.
The coolest Kecak Dance I've ever seen
Later that night, children started to get tired from running everywhere. And this particular cute young lady was falling asleep on her brother's knee.
7:30 am
Day 26 of 365 grateful days project:

"I'm grateful for a Sweet Girls Sunday Time."

Pam almost begged me to come to IALF Open Day, where she would participate in the Acehnese dance. She said that it would be at 3ish in the afternoon. I SMSed my sister and asked if she would join, and she said yes because she was curious to see how Pam danced.

Well I came a bit late... at 3.15 or something, and we missed the show. But then Pam performed earlier, too, so even if we came on time at 3 we would have still missed it. When we confronted Pam about it, she was happy we didn't see her performance. She said it was a total mess. Now we really wished we had seen it!

So, since the reason why we came wasn't there anymore, we were looking for some food stalls at the bazaar. But there was really.... hardly any food! How come a bazaar doesn't have food but roasted corns??? Most of the stalls sold clothes - and not very interesting ones, I must say - and fertilizers. :P Weird for an English course bazaar. So we went back just before the stage (the music was great) and I met with my old workmates and socialized for half an hour.
Ita in front of a wall with green palm prints.

From left to right: Some girl, Pam and Ita

This kid loves dangdut!
And the way she dances with the pole reminds me of a pro dancer.
So no food, not even coffee, we are leaving. I took my sister to the nearest Dunkin Donut near Simpang Enam, and had a great coffee rendezvous there. Pam joined us an hour later and conversations got even funnier.
Hot cappuccino and chocolate filling donut for me

I bought half a dozen donuts for Vincent who is waiting at home. :)
3:14 pm
Day 24 of 365 grateful days project:

"I'm grateful for having had a nice hair spa at W Salon this afternoon."

Nothing beats the me time as I take my own free time and pamper myself having or doing the things I like. Hair treatment is one of them. It leaves me totally fresh on the head afterwards and my shoulders will be very relaxed as well! If I could do it every week, I would. But too much chemical is not good either, so I'll just be happy with once a month. :)

If you ask me which is better; the full body massage or hair spa, I'd go with hair spa. First of all my hair becomes absolutely great, it feels light and glowing and at the same time my body relaxes a lot thanks to the shoulders, arms and back massage. A full body massage is of course also great. It's only that I'm a sucker when my legs are being massaged. A masseuse can't put the same pressure intensity on my back and on my legs because the latter is way more sensitive. Often I will find bruises on my skin because of the strong massage. The hair spa, on the other hand, focuses on the health of the head scalp, which helps a lot for someone who works (and plays) almost all the time in front of the computer like me. It releases a lot of tension on the areas around my eyes.

So.... now that I feel pretty, I'm ready to party! There's a party at La Plancha, Seminyak tonight and I intend to come. Vincent already announced that he would have a poker night tonight, so it's perfect for me to have a dancing night tonight. :)
5:46 pm
Day 20 of 365 grateful days project:

"I'm grateful for feeling good to party again."

After last year, my view of parties and alcohol got very ugly. I saw how aggressive an excessive abuse of alcohol was and how it could lead to stupidities that were not necessarily a part of someone's real personality. No, I'm not talking about myself. I ALWAYS know when to stop if I want to stop. But many people don't.

But I'm still not against having fun at parties. Alcohol is great when consumed within limits and not very often. But it is especially bad when drunk to run away from reality. Tonight, however, nobody was running away from reality. We were having a good time. And though a clash did happen at the end between Vincent, David and Laurence and I got just slightly upset because for a moment I thought nothing changed at all, overall it was still a nice outing. The music was great and I danced so much like I never did for a long time.

I didn't even expect to have a party tonight. I went to the ad print meeting and I thought I went just for that. But it appeared that the office was celebrating Sandrine's birthday. Since I was there, I was handed a glass of champagne and a piece of chocolate cake. It didn't stop there. After the apéro, we went for dinner at Warung Made. Vincent was already tipsy from the apéro, yet he ordered more and more vodka (and this is the same guy who said that he hated vodka the first time I knew him). So he got really drunk.

You could tell that Vincent was drunk only by his nod on dancing. And not any dance, a Tango.

Of course it wasn't a real tango, but Vincent's drunk mouth claimed that he could do Tango dance very easily. He danced first with Sandrine and then with me - yes, far from how you described how Tango should have been.

there's no such clapping on Tango dance, but this is Vincent's style

When I got back to my seat, his friends said: "Wow, you were so brave!!! Embarrassing yourself like that."
Marie drinking from flamed glass

Bahiana



After that we went to Bahiana when I danced happily with Laurence, Marie and Sandrine (and Vincent and David). But as usual, my eyes couldn't stay open that long. I'm a morning person and I wake up at 6 AM no matter how late I started sleeping. So I retreated when it was almost three o'clock. I knew as usual the boys wanted to go on and on at La Vida Loca (they really never know when to stop) but this time I wouldn't care. It's really too tiring to argue about it every time we go to the bars.

So I said good night to everybody, left Vincent to argue with David and Laurence, and went home.
10:44 pm
Day 8 of 365 grateful days project.


"I'm grateful to have at least 1 nice photo from the underwater shots Vincent took when we went snorkeling."


I had the disposable underwater film developed today. And though I did expect to have 27 nice photos coming out of it, I guess one nice photo is still good enough than nothing at all. Nobody had told me that the disposable camera sucked in quality; and if only my stupid toenail wasn't broken that I would be strong enough to snorkel myself without having to hold on Vincent's hand, I wouldn't give the camera to him. He said that he couldn't see the viewfinder well with snorkel on. I think he was just not used to it. But he did take some great shots if only the camera's quality is a bit better.


I tried to play a little bit on Photoshop but it's hard. However, in small resolution, the result doesn't look that bad. And at least now I get to have an underwater photo to put on my Facebook profile picture. Hahaha...


Here goes...
Me

Me and Vincent

Menjangan sea garden

School of fish
Next time, I'll just buy this waterproof DSLR case for my camera. It'd save a lot of money because I'd be using digital camera; and the quality will be so much improved too! Can't wait for our next snorkeling trip!
7:26 am
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