Bart is in action again! Never got enough or tired running 10 kilometers!! This time is 2nd GARUDA BALI MARTHON 2009, at Nusa Dua, Bali. Sunday was supposed to be my ‘pause’ day, but here we are : woke up at 4am, left the house at 5, and the run started at 06.05am.

This year’s marathon event was held on 18 October 2009, Sunday, 6:00 A.M. at Nusa Dua, Bali , Indonesia with GARUDA INDONESIA as its Official Event Presentor,  and offers Half Marathon (21.0975KM), 10K and 5K with several categories. The Organizing Committee has planned it to become an annual marathon event with the aim of offering full 42KM Marathon (can you that, Bart?!) by next year and reverting to its original schedule of every 3 rd Sunday of October for its succeeding stages starting 2009. The Organizers have also applied for recognition with the Association of International Marathons (AIMS) with the view of becoming a distinguished annual marathon event at par with other international marathon events in the Asia-Pacific Region ( source : http://www.garudabalimarathon.com/event ).

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My almost 2 hours road trip with Bart this time is to the east of Bali, to Karangasem Regency. Destination: Water Palace Taman Ujung Soekasada. Not many people in Bali or coming to Bali wants to visit this place for its distance that is far from main tourist spots and I have to admit it is so crazy hot there specially if you come after 10am.

No wonder some professional photographers we met were just on their way back to the parking lot at 10am, exactly the time of our arrival, as they began shooting the place at 5 o’clock in the morning! So my suggestion, come around 7am when it’s cooler and you can avoid the heat.

Taman Ujung Soekasada was the residence of Karangasem Royal Family between 1909 and 1945. It was built in 1919 by the late King of Karangasem, I Gusti Bagus Jelantik. The King of Karangasem Djelantik with his wives (yes, plural..) and children lived here, and it is also their proud place to welcome royal guests from other regions and even countries. It is very interesting to look at their private rooms with old style traditional bed, old family photos hang on the walls.

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