Day 3: Shopping, shopping and more shopping!

Day 3
17th November 2012

Today is when my version of fun begins... shopping!

After hearing so much on how low prices can get and the varied offerings that Bali has to offer (especially from house deco, clothing and souvenir aspect) plus reading up on Bargaining Skills for Idiots 101, not to mentioned all the past stories from friends who came back with such interesting loot, I was gamed and excited.  Of course, the best part was I know I had nothing to lose as I was going with my "si fu" - the man who bargains even better than most women whether aboard or locally.

Just a short background that I have never, ever stepped foot in Bali before, nor tested out my haggling skills in the Mother Land of Haggling aka China.  But hubby... he has been to China and back a couple of times and brought back stuff for everyone of us, at such irresistible prices that we burst out laughing, and this was his 2nd time to Bali.

I have a weakness when I see something I really like, my face is a giveaway.  I try my best to contain my smile, or the glitter in my eyes, but sometimes I can't.  Our strategy this time is this - if I see something I like, I'd haggle a couple of rounds before passing the deal to hubby who will go for the kill.  Worked a few times, but at a few places like Sukawati Market and Ubud Market where we had to split to maximize our shopping, I managed to pull of a few great deals myself.  : )

OK, enough said.  Here is a summarized itinerary for the day with the time (estimate):

 930am - Our private tour driver, Charlie picked us up from the Hotel lobby at the agreed time.

1100am - First stop, Sukawati Market.  It was enroute to Ubud which was originally our first destination.  Charlie was gracious enough to slot in Sukawati without any complains.

12:30pm - We left Sukawati to Mt Batur for a scenic lunch overseeing the famous volcanic mountain.

1:30pm - Tegallalang rice terrace.  Bought two decorative porcelain plates for less than RM15 in a less-than-5 minutes bargain.  Totally proud of myself and regretted not buying more. 

3:00pm - Ubud Art Market

5:00pm - Departed Ubud (shops closed at this time too)

6:30pm - Jimbaran Seafood

8:00pm - Headed back to Hotel, arrived about an hour later.

We planned this day tour before our trip, and intentionally cancelled out visits to the gold & silver works, wood carving and cultural dances. 

Sukawati

If your intention is to shop in Bali - this is a MUST VISIT.  You will find many clothings, souvenirs, paintings and decorative items here at opening prices that are much lower than the other markets.  That means, you can press their prices even lower, unless you feel obliged to pay more to the locals.  Otherwise, have fun buying and buying, and then laughing your socks off!

Budget at least 2-3 hours here.  Best to go in the mornings, in fact, this applies to any market because the locals are very superstitious (just like the Thais) that they need a sale - ANY SALE - to start the day for good luck.  So take advantage of that and "help" them to start the day.  Very likely, they will be willing to go dirt low on the price that you can never get elsewhere or anytime later - provided you are a good haggler.  ; )

Think 70% discount for everything.

Ubud Market

Loads of artsy decorative items here, besides clothings and souvenirs.  Opening retail price can be rather high, but then again... go ahead and have fun.

Bought clothings and souvenirs here.  One of them was a mirror which I haggled 70% off down to IDR50,000 but I was surprised the seller gave in after only a few attempts to push the price back up.  So my first thought was that I didn't got a good deal although it was already a very good price for me.  We can never get anywhere near this price for this beautiful, hand decorated mirror in Malaysia.

As I did a quality check on the "sold" item, I found a small mark for which hubby did some talking to the seller and finally we got the mirror for IDR30,000 equivalent to RM10!!!  Perceived value is definitely 5 times more!!

Tegallalang Rice Terrace

A lovely stop along the way back from the highlands in Kintamani.  As William was sleeping, I was the only one who went down to snap a few pictures and bought two pieces of lovely porcelain plates for only IDR40,000.

Snapped a picture of this old farmer who was posing for some "gwai los"

Kuta Market (on other days)

Prices here are rather high.  Our first day shopping here didn't reel in much except for a handmade Elvis Presley guitar-cum-casing souvenir, a dolphin with a surfboard souvenir and some other stuff.  Like I said, the afternoon attempts were disappointing as the seller seemed non motivated, but I made it up on Day 4 and 5.  Advice is best to get your stuffs from Sukawati and Ubud.

In Kuta, you have also the option of a departmental store at "local" prices, not tourist prices, called Krishna.  Some of the stuff we bought earlier were cheaper than what Krishna offered, so you can imagine what bargains we had.


Mt Batur at Kintamani 

We were brought to this buffet lunch place - tourist place and paid IDR80,000 per adult, and IDR40,000 per child.  You get local food, but variety and quality not quite there.   However, the lunch was enjoyable because of the welcoming cool weather (I did not expect this, probably missed out in my readings) with the volcanic mountain in the background. 

Buffet lunch with local balinese food up in Mt Batur, with nice cooling weather ... 

Enjoying her food.  It is good that Victoria can endure and even enjoy eating spicy food. 

The scenery during lunch time.

My bad... forgotten the name of this mountain.

This was Hubby's lunch Part 1

Jimbaran Seafood Dinner

The place is rather romantic.  Rather, I say, because there are many people there.  If you can just blank them out, and imagine it's just the two of you, yes, than that will be indeed, a very very romantic place to be.  But the food is crap.

The prawns were overcooked and served cold.  We also ordered a red snapper, a minimum of 1 kg was also slaughter on our wallets because they didn't have smaller fishes, so they claimed.   The fish was grilled, and tasted tough and dry.  I think I can cook better fish than this!  The vegetables were pre-cooked and cold.  Only the grilled chicken tasted fairly good, and that was ordered for the kids.  Portions were way too small.  Only the rice was served warm and free-flowing.  You get "free" peanuts too. 

The dinner was pricey and not worth it.  There was a live band going round serenading the patrons and expecting receiving tips thereafter.  We hoped they never come to our table, and they never did.

We got home past 9pm, which was 12 hours of Charlie's service and in our deal earlier, he had adviced us not to exceed 11 hours for the price he asked for.  However, he did not grumble, nor did he even hinted at the time.