Bali Trip 2012 – Places

We only stayed 4 nights in Bali, so we didn’t really go around places (besides we had 1 year old boy).  But I wanted to go to Ubud from before, so we headed there on the 3rd day.

We went to Goa Gajah – one of tourist attraction place in Bali.  It was soooo hot!!!  We didn’t stay there for long.

Many small shops inside selling souvenir stuff.  People were quite annoying as they kept coming to us trying to sell things, even  after we got inside our car…

We went to see Barong Dance in the morning of 4th day.  It’s one of traditional Balinese dancing.  1 hour show – I’m glad I could see this

There was fire dance in a restaurant we had dinner on the 2nd day.  It wasn’t Balinese dancing but it was very exciting!  I could feel the flame!

We only stayed around Seminyak, so next time I want to stay in a different place to explore more of Bali!!

Bali Trip 2012 – Indonesian Food

We ate a lot while we were in Bali.  I love eating and Hiro loves eating too, so we were around the food almost all the time from the morning till the night… :p

It was actually my first time drinking coconut water.  I just never tried it.  But since I was in Indonesia I thought I’d try a sip.  …. I didn’t like it much

Hiro seemed to like it.

In Ubud, we went to a famous duck restaurant Bebek Bengil (dirty duck).  The place was beautiful – very big place, and you can overlook rice terrace from your table.  There’re many ducks (probably they are for the restaurant….) around too.

I had lots of Nasi Goreng while in Bali, but I loved this restaurant the best.

Although it’s a restaurant specializing duck, I ordered crispy chicken :p

Food was so delicious!!  And I loved the view too.

This is at Kolega Warung in Seminyak.  The review was good, so we went there to try.
You can pick food you want for your plate from the counter.  My plate was around AUD$2

The food was great but this place didn’t have air-con…  Hiro was asleep but sweating.

We also went to Kudeta in Seminyak.  Actually we weren’t planning going there because I knew the price would be expensive.

It was expensive!!!!  But I have to admit, the food and location were wonderful.  We ordered soft-shell crab and papaya salad, crumbed snapper with Japanese coleslaw and wedges, and some pasta to share.  One bottle of Bintang beer costed around AUD$6 here!!!

Coconut & Palm Sugar Pancake at Made’s Warung in Seminyak.  As the name indicates, it was super sweet!!  The dough was chewy and nice

This Tempeh (fermented soy bean) chips are at Made’s Warung as well.  Very nice and crispy.

One night we went to Papaya – a Japanese supermarket near our villa to get some Japanese food to eat at villa.  They sell fresh bread, sashimi, sushi, fried stuff, bento boxes, onigiri, etc etc along with other foods, drinks and non-food items.

I think the prices were bit expensive considering we were in Bali, but still reasonable.  We bought few bento boxes, sushi, katsu and salads.

Bali Trip 2012

Firstly…..   I really really enjoyed Bali!!  I love Bali and I’m sure I will be going back there again soon

Secondly….  It was soooooo hot and humid.  I should have known that the climate is same as the one in Jakarta, but I forgot how hot it gets in Indonesia.  I didn’t wear make-up at all.  There’s no point doing it as it will get washed off by sweats.

We flew with AirAsia.  It was first time to fly with AirAsia and we were little worried about delay etc, but everything went smooth.  Flight attendants were friendly and helpful.  We ordered meal online beforehand so we got 20%off.  We ordered assorted sandwiches and pancakes.  They’re reasonably fresh and tasted ok.

If you want to eat meal on the plane with AirAsia you should order online beforehand as it’s cheaper and sometimes you can’t get what you want due to limited stock.

We stayed at Jas Villa in Seminyak.  The place is not far from the beach, but didn’t go there.  Instead we swam in the pool inside our villa.  We swam a lot, and took shower/bath approximately 10 times a day to wash off the sweats!

The villa was so nice – it’s got 2 bedrooms and each room has bathrooms.  Living area/kitchen was comfy, and the swimming pool was great.  It’s very deep and I had to stand with my toes.

Villa serves breakfast daily and they bring to us.  We order a day before and ask them what time we want breakfast. Food was freshly cooked and still hot, with drinks and fruits.  All inclusive to the room fee.

Bathroom is half outside – shower area has no ceiling.   I loved taking shower there.

The air-con in our room wasn’t working properly so it was so hot…..  Luckily my dad’s room was ok, so we escaped there every night just to chill out….

Off to Bali!!

Time flies….!!  I haven’t updated Umeboss blog much lately.  And now I’m off to Bali!

It’s our first Bali trip, and my dad is joining us from Osaka, so I’m very excited.  We are staying in a villa in Seminyak for 4 nights. We’ll be basically relaxing, getting massage and walking on the beach!  I can’t wait to try local foods and drinks  We also go to Tegalalang, Goa Gajah, (typical tourist attractions, aren’t they?) and do little shopping in Ubud!  I still haven’t decided whether we go to monkey forrest or not – bit scared, if monkeys try to kidnap Hiro? :p

Anyway we are flying tomorrow and I think I will go to bed soon.  Hope to update my Bali trip on Umeboss soon xxx

New to Bali

As I wrote about it before, I’m flying to Bali this year for the first time!   Although I’ve been to Jakarta several times I never got out of Denpasar airpot.

My dad has bought his ticket from Japan, and so did 2 of us here (+ Hiro).  Then I was looking for a place to stay.  My husband wanted to stay at a 2bedroom villa with private swimming pool which is also close to the beach.  Men, there are soooo many accommodation in Bali!!  My friends and sister-in-law recommended us to stay in Nusa Dua, but I went with husband’s friend’s recommendation – Seminyak area.  He travels to Bali often and is very familiar with this island.

Ok, so a 2bedroom villa with swimming pool and walking distance from the beach….  There are still quite many villas like that in Seminyak.  Another issue was the price.  There are quite expensive ones to fairly good priced ones. Of course I’d want to go with the cheap one but how about their reviews??   I was searching, searching….  and sent query to several villas.  Price-wise they are about the same, but I found one villa who gave me pretty cheap deal.

In my head I was kind of thinking to decide on the villa.  ….until I received their 2nd email.  On the first email they were very polite and sounded professional, but from the second email they started to use casual language “yeah”, and  smily faces “:)” !!!
I know they’re trying to be friendly, but I thought it wasn’t professional at all!   It was kinda annoying    They used “…..” at the end of each sentence (e.g. Ume…..   I’ll be waiting for you….) and I felt it was rather creepy.

Then my friend showed me couples of other villas, and I found even cheaper one with great reviews.  Close to beach, restaurants and shops.  I bought it straightaway.  Meanwhile I kept receiving emails from the “friendly” villa.

Aaaaa, now I can’t wait to lay on the beach like this photo  Staying at a villa close to restaurants and shops makes it easy for us as my dad loves coffee and always drink one or two several times a day!  I also can’t wait to visit Ubud where I hear there’re beautiful rice fields.  My dad wants to see Indonesian style rice fields.

photos from bali.world-guides.com / flightsaustralia.com.au