What we did in Bali, Indonesia

Jimbaran Beach

Dinner by the Sea

Seafood dinner by Jimbaran Beach!

Jimbaran Beach - Lia Cafe

One of the most iconic things to do in Bali is to have a tranquil seafood dinner on the beach while watching the sunset. Yes, literally on the sand, facing the sea and sunset. We arranged a car to take all seven of us for Rp300,000, both ways and including waiting time for us while we have dinner.

We knew we wanted to head to Jimbaran for dinner, but there were SOOO many choices to choose from. After researching, we heeded TripAdvisor's recommendation and headed to Lia Cafe.

Address: Jalan Pemelisan Agung Kuta Sel. Bali 80361, Indonesia
Tel: +62 361 709002
Check out the menu here.

Lia Cafe!

There are about 3 different sections of Jimbaran Beach with different restaurants. Lia Cafe is located in the middle section. This small establishment boosts about 20 odd tables, so do go early to secure your table with a good view!

Table facing the sea and sunset

Sunset is about 6pm, so we got our car to pick us up at 4.45pm (from Potato Head) and we arrived at about 5.30pm with sufficient daylight to take more photos and wonder around the beach. Of course, traffic is also rather bad around that timing, so do give yourself ample time to get lost or even to find a suitable restaurant that you like.

Many restaurants line the Jimbaran shore

Lia Cafe has several menu packages, most of which caters to two persons only. Thus, the guys went to select and choose our own seafood and style of cooking.

Group photo with setting sun!

We had a total of four Sri Lankan crabs, 15 big prawns, one fish, one (according to the guys - hugeass) squid and a plate of kangkong vegetables. Later on, we also ordered grilled chicken (just a chicken leg) and satay. To be honest, the seafood was much better than the meat dishes.Also, I've had better crabs in Singapore, but for that amount we're paying I can't really complain much. At least the seafood was fresh and juicy!

Seafood feast!

We spent about Rp1,300,000+ for the seven of us in total for all the food.

Lounge at Beach Clubs

Lounging by the sea

There's a plethora of beach clubs dotting the shores of Bali. During our trip, we visited two of the most popular beach clubs in the Seminyak/Kuta area. It's a perfect place to just lounge and laze the day away, drinking Mojitos and eating pizzas, while working on your tans.

Check out the full list of the best 10 beach clubs in Bali!

Ku De Ta

Address: Jl. Kayu Aya No. 9, Seminyak, Bali, Indonesia
Phone:+62 361 736969
Opening Hours: 8:00 am – 2:00 am
Website: http://www.kudeta.net/

Ku De Ta

We visited Ku De Ta on the whim late at night after returning back to the Villa after our scrumptious dinner at Jimbaran. We were tired, but we've heard so much about Ku De Ta that we just had to check it out. I initially refused to go as I was tired and oh-so-smelly. I didn't want to walk alllllll the way there in the middle of the night. I was just looking forward to soak in the tub and scrubbing all the salt and grim away. The guys persuaded me by saying that we will just take a taxi over.. I was on board! The taxi fare was about Rp30,000.

Lounging on the grass

I sincerely apologize for the sucky quality of the photographs as I was so lazy to adjust the settings and just used Auto mode all the way.

Arriving at KDT, everyone was granted access.. All except G, because he was in singlet. It was almost midnight and we only had two options. To go back to the villa to get a t-shirt or to just go outside and purchase one. We choose the latter. He bought a Bob Marley t-shirt for Rp100,000 (which was rather steep, but we were desperate). The guy initially quote us Rp300,000. Madness or what! But G being the uncle he is... Well, you know the rest..

Full crowd

There's both a restaurant (which looked really posh) & a bar lounge area. Surprisingly at 12 midnight, the lounge area was full! When my friends requested for a table outside, they said "free seating". Hmmm~ My friends found a table indoors by the bar and about 10mins later, G said there's an area on the grass patch with two small tables and beanbags. Quite a nice place to lounge, so we shifted! It was a good idea as KDT installed flood lights facing the sea, so you're able to look at the waves crashing against the shore.

Pulled pork pizza

We all ordered cocktails each, pulled pork pizza and a bowl of fries. The red stuff on the pizza is actually red cabbage! The pork is so heavenly, I swear! As the clock ticks on, people started to leave, and the wait staff shifted us to the day beds where we stayed till about 2am.

Potato Head Beach Club

Address: Jalan Petitenget, Seminyak, Bali 83061, Indonesia 

Tel: +62 361 4737979 

Opening Hours: 11:00 am – 2:00 am

Website: http://www.ptthead.com/

Hordes of people lounging on Easter Sunday!

After walking for nearly 1.5 hours from our Villa to Potato Head, we just wanted to relax and soak up some Vitamin Ds. We honestly did not expect throngs of people that flooded Potato Head Beach Club! My big mistake then was not making a reservation for a day bed! We couldn't lounge by the pool or even near the sand. The only place available was on the second floor terrace. Although it's away from the crowd and pretty peaceful, there was no shade at all. I didn't mind though, as the day wore on, the sun grew lower and we found some solace in the shadows of the surrounding palm trees.

Check out all those people on beach towels on the grass! It was crowded to the point where people just laid down on the grass and soaked up the Easter Sunday atmosphere! By the way, I had no idea how those people did it. I was just walking through the grass patch as I was returning from the beach and I got bitten by a red ant on my foot! Although, it wasn't very serious, it did hurt and itched like crazy over the course of the next few days. I might had an allergic reaction or perhaps it's because I scratched it in my sleep, but the ant bite became an ugly, angry, 1-inch wide, red patch of inflamed ugliness. You could still see the small, teeny-tiny dot in the middle where the ant bit and the surrounding area was just massively red and inflamed. Thus, morale of the story: DON'T SCRATCH! Damn, my itchy fingers!

Check out G's grumpy face

We had a fantastic view of the beach and could see gigantic waves crashing onto shore. People were being tossed around (including us when we went down) in the sea and having so much fun! Potato Head is more casual as compared to Ku De Ta, and surprisingly, the hostesses attending to the front of the club were all Caucasians, some could even speak fluent Berhasa, whereas, Ku De Ta's staff were mainly Indonesians. It was quite a pleasure because for once, I could communicate efficiently to the staff and get myself understood.

We ordered some sparkling water to cool ourselves down, fries and calamari with squid ink sauce. The squid ink sauce is absolutely divine. I suspect it was finished in 10 mins! Clean towels were draped over the day beds so it was not too hot to lie on.

It is a fantastic place to just chill and soak up the atmosphere. The staff were friendly, though they were a little overwhelmed with the large crowd that gathered over Easter Sunday. I don't blamed them though, I totally understood what they were going!

Try the Local Food

Warung Babi Guling Pak Malen

Babi Guling

Address: Jalan Sunset Road No. 5, Kuta Utara, Badung, Bali 80361, Indonesia
Tel: +62 361 7452968
Opening Hours: 8:00 am – 6:00 pm

Pak Malen

We've been meaning to try this Babi Guling (pork rolls) since the first day we arrive in Bali. We just didn't get round to it with all the activities. Now, this place is like an ordinary coffee shop, just like the shop name states "Warung" (food stall/street stall), so don't expect much for an ambiance or service.

Long long queues

Do expect long queues and sweltering heat though! The service is pretty fast so you're able to find a table soon enough. I was surprised that with such a big group, we were able to find two tables for ourselves within about 10mins of waiting. Besides, with the heat in the shop, most people will just eat and go. Hardly anyone lingered around chatting. Wear comfortable clothing (singlet and shorts will be best), bring a hair tie and lots of tissue! You're bound to perspire like you just took a shower!

Yummy Babi Guling

The mixed plate consists of the pork skin cracker, pork skin, spicy minced pork, fried pork cutlets, seasoned meat, a satay stick and some pork roll. The minced meat is really good and flavourful, but be warned! It is spicy as hell!

Have a Spa Day

 Spa Bali Seminyak

Bali Spa Seminyak!

Address: Seminyak Bali, Indonesia
Tel: (0361)-737-932/(0361)-737-933
Website: http://www.spabali.biz/
Opening Hours: 10am to 11pm
Outlets: Drupadi, Seminyak & Kuta

Spa Bali has a professional spa ambiance throughout the vicinity. There's professional hair salon facilities as well as big comfy chairs for your meni-pedi! We got the hot-stone massage as I needed the heat to ease the tension in my muscles after climbing the two volcanoes. It cost me about Rp200,000++ (Rp235,000nett) for an hour's massage.

This is considered expensive in Balinese standard as we we went to a more casual/street massage place the next day and had an hour's worth of Balinese Massage for Rp60,000. I guess you're paying for the ambiance, cleanliness and the service as the massage techniques and styles were about the same for both Spa Bali & the street one we went the next day.

We were shown to a locker room where we could keep our belongings safely and then we were ushered into a couple's room. It's a wide, beautiful room with two bathtubs which we wished we could use. We were asked for our names and the therapists used it frequently when she asked about the strength and hotness of the stones during the massage.

Usually, after the massage, we're used to having something hot, like hot lemongrass teas served in Thailand spas (even dodgy street ones), or even warm water if they're really budget ones.. But Spa Bali gave us cold water in those disposable plastic cups. Quite a funny end to our wonderful treatment I must say!

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Check out our beautiful villa where we stayed for 3 days!

Or our experiences climbing Mount Bromo & Kawah Ijen!

Villa Sanook Review - Seminyak, Bali, Indonesia

A little piece of heaven on earth..

Villa Sanook

Dates of Stay: 

04-06 April 2015

Itinerary: 

02 April - Surabaya to Mt. Bromo

03 April - Climb Mt. Bromo & travel to Kawah Ijen

04 April - Climb Kawah Ijen & travel to Bali

05 April - Bali

06 April - Bali

07 April - Bali to Singapore

Rough estimate for the entire trip:

Not inclusive of food and shopping

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I would also like to give a shout-out to my friend, Kenneth, for taking and providing me with wonderful shots during our trip! All those photos you see that are done professional and waaaaay above average shots were beautifully taken by him. Please do go to his Instagram or website and check out his photos!

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Address: Jalan Drupadi, Bali, Indonesia

Email: info@villasanook.com

Website: http://www.villasanook.com/

Room Type: 4 Bedroom Villa 

Rates: US$475 (Low), US$ 575 (High) , US$675 (Peak)

After two days of hiking at Mount Bromo & Kawah Ijen, we're headed to Bali to relax and recuperate from whatever torture we put ourselves through.

Initially, we found Villa Sanook on Air B&B. Being the Kiasu me, I went to do more research while waiting for the owner to reply me with the questions I had asked. Lo & behold, I actually found their website. It is actually much cheaper if you book the villa directly on their website as there is no booking fees charged by AirB&B.

Pool view

One of the main reasons why we chose this Villa was the close proximity to the beach and the main Seminyak street! Also, I noticed from the description and photos there were no specific Master bedroom. It was four almost identical (yet different) rooms with their own private outdoor shower and bathtub! There were a total of 7 of us and it was perfect as we do not need to draw lots nor fight who sleeps in the Master Bedroom!

Map of Villa Sanook

One piece of advice though, Potato Head may seem like it is within walking distance, but I'd rather you just take a taxi there. There are plenty of taxis going past the entrance of Villa Sanook, along Jalan Drupadi, so you don't have to wait for long. Taxi ride by metered fare to Ku De Ta was about Rp30,000, so perhaps a taxi ride to Potato Head will cost you Rp 60,000 at most? That's inexpensive and saves you time! We took about an hour and a half just to walk there. Of course we stopped for drinks and shopping around the main Seminyak street before heading over, but we were pretty worn out by the walk.

Two of the rooms were standalone pool-view rooms, away from the main villa building like the picture below. The other two rooms are located inside the villa building itself and has views of the small garden behind the glass.

That's my room on the left!

The outdoor area has a verandah and three sun beds. The pool has a shallow end as well as a deep end, which was really really deep! I couldn't even stand at all. There are ledges around the pool so that you're able to sit comfortably in the water too!

Outdoor verandah for us to lounge on!

There were quite a number of mosquitoes (but not too many that we couldn't handle), so we just lit a mosquito coil and placed it under one of the sun beds. We were so excited to be staying in such an exquisite villa, we just couldn't contain our excitement. We got changed into our swimwear and dived right in without even unpacking.

Living Room

Another reason we liked Villa Sanook was that there's sliding doors to separate the living room and outdoor areas. We looked at many villas but they were mainly open concept where it would be a feast for the mosquitoes. With this, we were able to turn on the A/C & cool off the summer heat!

Have I mentioned how comfy & soft the sofas are..? 

Dining area

We had our breakfasts and lunches here at the dining area & it can fit 10 persons comfortably. For the first morning, we had eggs, bacon and toast. On the second morning, we requested for Indonesian style breakfast so Sukra & his colleague prepared a portion of Nasi Goreng & Mie Goreng with a fried egg on top for us! It was so delicious! I would love to have more, but sadly, I was only allowed one helping. 

Breakfast of Mie & Nasi Goreng with fried egg! 

yummy eggs and toast!

State of the art kitchen!

To be honest, I opened up all the cabinets and drawers in the kitchen. I swear they had anything you could think of! It was like my own kitchen back home where I had all sort of condiments & even flour! We could help ourselves to iced water from the fridge anytime. I don't usually drink water dispensed from fridges because the water always tasted funky and plastic-y. I guess Sukra really cleaned it damn well or a lot of people had already drank from it and washed away the weird smell with each refill. This really is my dream kitchen! Just look at the space and the island counter! Even the oven was humongous and beautiful! 

If you can see on the island counter top on the right, there's this light blue speaker thing where you can just unplug it, connect it via Bluetooth to your mobile device and bring it out to the pool side. It was so awesome!

Pool view room

The bedrooms are spacious, clean and felt so homely! All rooms are fitted with King sized beds and wooden furnishing. In the photo above is the layout for the pool-view rooms.

Bathroom - pool view room

My favourite part of the room is undeniably the bathroom! Not only is it spacious, it has a bathtub AND an outdoor shower! The funny part about the bathrooms was that we could all chat while we were in our respective rooms taking showers. P would sneeze two rooms away, J would say "Bless You!", and I would start laughing like a mad woman. No, we couldn't see each other, but we could definitely hear each other.

Garden View Room

Washroom

The bathrooms for the garden view rooms seem larger though as compared to the pool view ones. I'm not complaining though. I'm happy enough! For the pool view rooms, there's a glass door and panel separating the outdoor shower to the rest of the bathroom, but for the garden view rooms, there's no such panel so mosquitoes may fly in anytime and you may feel the heat during the day. There's even rubber duckies soap dish for you to play with!

Despite the villa being so vast and beautiful, it's still the little things that blew me away! The first detail was that because the showers were "outdoors", people from the outside may climb into our villa at night, thus there's a lock from the bedroom so you may lock it before you go to bed. Of course, there's also a lock from inside the bathroom, but it's the simple slide lock that you can find in all public restrooms.

Sukra also burns mosquito coils in all the garden view bathrooms because there's no glass panel to block out mosquitoes. For the pool view rooms, he burns the mosquito coil near our bedroom doors to drive away the mosquitoes. He does this diligently, everyday!

Also, when he saw us bringing the rubber duckies out to the pool to play, he even took out a floating rugby ball so we could all play like little children.

Fresh flowers.. Fresh flowers everywhere! There were flowers decorating all the statues and ornaments in the villa too! It was on the towels, on the bed, on the dining table. Everywhere.

The only thing that I would consider a con in this villa of pros would be that I couldn't get second helping for breakfast. I wanted more bacon and coffee, but I saw that they had washed all the pottery and cutleries and I didn't think it was possible without feeling guilty. Also, we could only choose one type for breakfast. Either American (eggs, bacon and toast), pancakes or Indonesian style. I wish I would eat my omelette with pancakes though.

It was just a small little hitch, but I absolutely loved this place & I wished we stayed longer! I will definitely be back!

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Find out more about my hike up Mount Bromo & Kawah Ijen!

Or what we did in Bali!

Short getaway with the girlfriends...

Turi Beach Resort, Batam Review

After working behind the desk for too long, we all deserve a little break and it feels wonderful to be standing on the other side of the check-in desk. My girlfriends (from work) and I jumped at the opportunity when Groupon had a deal to go to Batam for just SG$99! It included round trip ferry and also a night's stay at Turi Beach Batam.

Turi Beach Batam

Address: Jl. Hang Lekiu, Nongsa  Batam - 29465, Indonesia
Tel: +62-778 761 080
Website: http://www.turibeach.com/
Email: reservations@turibeach.com

Dates of stay: 2-3 July 2014
Category: Premier Twin Bedded Room + 1 Extra Bed
Upgraded to: Deluxe Room in Riani Wing
Size: 42 sqm
Price: S$99 on Groupon Deal
Includes: Two way ferry, three adult breakfasts, & one extra bed (triple sharing)
Excludes: Ferry taxes

RECEPTION/LOBBY

reception

We were picked up by the complimentary hotel shuttle service and ferried very quickly over to the hotel! At first we couldn't find the hotel representative (very common for Batam hotels and resorts to send someone to hold the hotel's signboard) and I told my girlfriends to go to the shop to buy a few snacks while I searched for the guy. Found him after a while of searching.

my countrymen checking in

We arrived at the lobby, and it's this big, spacious area of... Space? There's a large spacious desk right in the middle of the lobby, forming an island of safety for the front desk staff, and that's about it. There were no lounge chairs or coffee tables that could surround the front desk or even scattered around the lobby. 

lobby area

Also, since nobody really greeted us, or offered us assistance with our bags, or even made eye contact, we just stood there feeling lost, and after a while we just let all the impatient Singaporeans check in first and just spammed a whole lot of selfies while waiting. After all, we're on holiday and were in no rush to really check in (or even move). We also happen to be in hospitality and understand how out comrades behind the desk feels. 

We were offered this lovely ginger tea as a welcome drink. Boy, was it spicy!

sea view from the lobby

G stayed at Turi before and he really liked the new wing better as compared to the old wing, so I tried my luck and asked the reception for a room in the new wing. Besides, the fine print on Groupon stated that we're entitled to a complimentary upgrade if we stayed over the weekdays. The kind lady informed us that there will be no elevators, and a whole lot of climbing. We didn't mind. We're all fat and need to work out a little. Haha. But, I really did appreciate the fact that she informed us, prior to us actually finding out. 

ROOM

patio/balcony in front of the room

The rooms in the new wing are all stand alone and seperate from the main hotel block. It seems like all the rooms are built on stilts and staggered down the hill. We would have a lovely view if not for the large tree right at our doorstep. 

Sliding glass door & netted door

So the main door is actually a sliding door from the patio, followed by a screen door to keep insects out (which is quite useless because mosquitoes flew in anyway). I must say they really cleaned the glass door really well, because I tried walking through it when I wanted to go out to the patio. Thank goodness the door did not shatter. My knee hurt though.

Klutz is my middle name. 

Two twin beds with a sofa bed

The room is really simple with basic necessities. Just twin beds, simple TV, hot water flask, coffee and tea, etc. The room is also equipped with both aircon and a ceiling fan! I like that they provide us options, and not just forcing us to choose between cold aircon and stifling heat. 

Bathroom!

The bathroom is almost as large as the bedroom . With all that space, I was a little disappointed that there's no bathtub. The bathroom seems very modern and is actually done up pretty well, even though the design is really simple. There's also the option of having a rain shower or just the traditional shower head.

Simple design

POOL 

Pool at Tirta (Old) Wing

There are two pools at Turi with one nearer to each wing. We mainly stayed at the pool over at the older wing because it was better maintained and also had an amazing view of the sea. There's also a beautiful lawn where we kept taking photos and doing yoga poses.

On the 2nd day, we went to the pool over at the new wing, unfortunately we were unable to spot any service staff, and while I was cold and drenched, I had to walk over to the other pool to get towels. 

Pool nearer to Riani (New) Wing

Like all gluttons, we ordered lots of food and drinks (though menu is not extensive, food quality nothing fantastic) to the pool side. Our half eaten pizza (which we were kind of saving) was attacked by birds and we had to discard it. I was a little disheartened because I really wanted to eat it. Spoken like a true piggy. 

While the pizza was attacked by birds, we were attacked by mosquitoes! 

MOZZIES!

Beautiful sunset at Island Bar

I must add that there is a pest problem with Mosquitoes!! There were mozzies flying in the room (even after killing two), there were mozzies in the toilet, at the pool and a whole swarm by Island Bar on the pier. I think I was bitten at least a dozen times the whole 15 mins we were checking out the pier and the bar. 

Pier/jetty leading out from Island Bar

At first we were commenting on how beautiful the sunset was and what a lovely place to chill and have a drink after dinner, quickly turned to us taking as many photos as we could in the fastest possible time, and getting the hell out of there. 

What a waste. 

OVERALL 

Even though I had fun, it would be because of the company I had. Turi beach seems pretty dated, even after renovation works and the new wing. The service staff were all warm and friendly, but the hardware is seriously lacking. The pools should be maintained better, the food quality should improve and not serve me soggy fish & chips. 

Personally, I feel that once a week at least, Turi should start fogging their property to rid it of mozzies. Without all the scratching and applying of ointment, I would have enjoyed myself more.

I'm not sure if I would go back though, with all the upcoming new properties around Batam boasting better shoreline and view, newer rooms and better food.