STOP AND REWIND: BALI TRAVEL DIARY

"And then I realised, adventures are the best way to learn."

 

 

BALI DIARY

- April 2014 -

This is my 2nd year anniversary with Yi Fei. This whole two years together has been great! We seldom quarrel but we debate a lot, even the simplest things. I guess that’s what keeps our relationship smooth sailing. We celebrated our 2nd anniversary by going to Bali. I think I have already mentioned many, many times that I love island vacations! So we both stayed at Grand Mega Resort & Spa Bali @Jalan Ngurah Rai. Just a small travel tip at the airport: Do not allow the bell boys at the airport offer you help with your luggage. You will have to tip them if they do. And if they do, please have small change of money to spare because they do not give back change for big money. That happened to me. SIGH. Anyway, so for my first meal in Bali I went to Poppies Restaurant @Poppies Lane 1. The outlook of the restaurant was very traditional and had a back to nature vibe. Yi Fei and I tried their authentic Indonesian dishes Nasi Campur and Nasi Goreng. These are rice dishes. The food for me was not bad. Some of the side dishes were a bit weird. For example, stewed nangka. I’m not a big fan of nangka at all. So it depends on what sort of daily selections you get for your side dishes in the Nasi Campur.

 

Travel tip on taxis: We ensured that the taxi charges us by the meter and we keep small change of money to use for the taxis as they do not give back change of money. The taxi’s we often use are Bluebird Taxi as I researched, they have the best reputation. Do try to recognise the Bluebird Taxis as there are other taxi companies who try to imitate the Blubird taxi logo. So moving on, we went to Kuta Beach by taxi. The beach was really packed with lots of tourists and the sea water was not so clear blue as I expected. I guess to see those kind of beaches has to be a not so famous tourist attraction area. We walked over to the Hard Rock Café to check out their Rock Shop. We also went to the Beach Walk Mall @Kuta area. I did not shop much in Bali as they have a lot of boutiques and their clothes are pricey. I wanted to eat at Cold Stone Creamery @Beach Walk Mall for dessert, but it was closed! I loved the one in Singapore so I wanted to eat it in Bali too! Sigh, bad luck. We ended our first day by eating dinner at a random restaurant somewhere along the streets of Poppies Lane 2 with a live band.

 

We already had a whole day planned out for our second day in Bali. We took the Uluwatu Tour by Detir Bali Tour (http://www.detirbalitour.com/uluwatu-tour.html), contact no: +62 813 377 87741. This package is actually just hiring a driver for the day (IDR 400.000) to take us around anywhere we want to go. So we mainly went to four good beaches (Nusa Dua Beach, Dreamland Beach, Padang-Padang Beach, and Blue Point Beach),Turtle Farm, Coffee Plantation, and the Uluwatu Temple. First we went to Nusa Dua Beach. You can play water sports at this beach. We did not play the water sports as in Malaysian beaches, we have the same. So instead we went to the Turtle Farm. We both paid for the boat transportation from Nusa Dua beach to the Turtle Farm. Do bargain for the price as they tend to rip tourists off. I got to see, touch and feed the turtles! The next location we went was Dreamland Beach. I LOVE this beach! It was so serene and breath-taking. The sea was so clean and clear blue! I could not stop staring at it. Swimming is prohibited in that beach, that’s why it is so clean. What we, tourists can do there is relax by the beach and sunbathe. We visited the Coffee Plantation to try the Kopi Luwak (Civet Coffee). Civet Coffee is made from coffee berries that have been eaten by the Civet Cat , excreted and processed. In the Coffee Plantation, we got a tour to look at the coffee trees, spices, traditional methods of making Kopi Luwak and other Balinese coffee. There we got to see the civet cat. We got to have free tasting of different types of local coffee, natural flavoured tea like ginger tea, red ginger tea, and berry tea. They do not offer the expensive Luwak Coffee for free tasting, so Yi Fei and I ordered a cup each. It costs IDR 50,000 per cup. I bought the ginger tea and Luwak Coffee back for my parents to try. So expensive. A packet of Luwak Coffee can cost up to RM100 plus.

For our third and final beach was Padang-Padang Beach and Blue Point Beach. These two beaches are suitable for surfers. To get to these two beaches, there are plenty of steps to go through. you can still sit on the sand and enjoy the scenery at Padang-Padang Beach but at Blue Point Beach, you will arrive from the top cliff. So you will need to walk down lots of staircases to reach the bottom. If you want to enjoy the scenery there are many cafes and pubs there for you to choose from while half way down to the beach. The beach spot is much hidden as it is below the cliffs. In my opinion, the beach is actually mainly for surfers as the beach spot seems like a small entrance way for the surfers to start out to the sea. I even tried to take a dip at the shore of the beach and it is quite hard to maintain your balance as the wave currents are quite strong. All in all, I still love the sea views no matter from the top of the cliff or the beach view. So when we were done with the beaches, we went to visit the Uluwatu Temple. Our driver gave us the tour and we got to feed the monkeys there. The Uluwatu Temple is on a long stretch of cliffs from one end to the another so we got to see more sea views from the top of the cliffs. We had to wear sarongs (long cloth wrapped around our hips like a skirt) as we were wearing shorts. For respect of the temple, everyone has to be dressed until the knees are covered. At the end of the day, we both looked like red lobsters. Hahaha. It was quite tiring from the whole beach hopping to the Uluwatu tour, so we ended our day early by resting at the hotel and ordered in dinner to our room. That's how tired we are.

We started our third day by having lunch at Sea Circus @ Seminyak. They have such pretty colours in this café and their staff are friendly. I ordered Avo Eggs: Poached eggs & squashed avocado on toast. Yi Fei ordered Standard Eggs: Eggs on toast with bacon, mushroom & tomatoes. I like the food so far. I would definitely come back again for more. We didn't do much shopping except for souvenirs at Seminyak Square. There are other shops along Seminyak, but majority are all boutiques opened by expats, so the prices are too pricey for me. For dinner, we went to Naughty Nuri's II @Jalan Batubelig. Recommended by a friend and also researched online, they have the best pork ribs which I agree to it. Their food portions are big and I would definitely come back here if I go to Bali again. We left for the airport the next day and had to pay airport tax. In Bali, everyone has to pay airport tax when leaving the country. We paid IDR 200,000 each.

 

Time flies by so fast when you're having fun.Overall, it was an awesome trip with my love. This place was new to us and I love that we got to explore it together. It was a great and adventurous anniversary trip! Here's to more fun and adventures for us!

That's us, red lobsters with all the three days of being out in the sun. GO LOBSTERS!!

♥deborahk.