Bali has a ton of cafes springing up everywhere, and they all serve quality food for very affordable prices. Other than eating, there’s shopping, beach activities, spas and massages…
At night, there are pubs and bars to chill out at, with live bands to listen to, and new friends to make.
Travel and accommodation is really affordable too.
[Magic mushrooms have been banned after some incidents late last year, for the more adventurous ones, this should be a disappointment.]
All in all, Bali is becoming one of my new favourite beach destinations… And I think I’ll be planning more short trips there!
Sunrise from my Jetstar flight to Denpasar.
We took the 3am flight to Bali, and we landed around 7am. Managed to get this shot as we were descending, the rainbow effect is from my ND filter. No idea why it turned out this way, but it looks nice!
All flights to DPS now include the 180,000Rp terminal fee in the ticket charge, so you don’t need to keep your cash to pay at the airport upon departure. Yay!
I’m always short of cash at the end of a trip, so I was relieved to find out that it was already settled in the initial transaction when I purchased the ticket online.
We stayed at an airbnb apartment that cost under SGD30 a night. https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/4664417
The room was a little sandy, and there wasn’t an in room dustbin. We didn’t swim in the pool, and in general didn’t spend much time there. The room lighting is a little too dim for night reading.
Wifi is good, there’s hot water and a large changing room/balcony/back area.
No frills place, that’s a good price for budget travellers. Spacious and walking distance to the local market where you can get your sim cards, local food and provisions.
First food stop of the day – Naughty Nuri’s.
You might like to know that it’s now called Hog Wild, apparently cos of franchising issues etc. Whatever. The food is still fantastic.
This trip, we had the ribs, pork chop, sup buntut and for dessert we had an egg custard.
The famous ribs
Pork chop
Sup buntut
Egg custard!
I was in my devourer of worlds mood where I eat and eat non stop.
So, we stopped by a satay joint and had 10 chicken satays. The peanut sauce is very thick and nutty, with hardly any chilli in it.
And further along, near the local market near our hotel, we decided to buy back a nasi goreng (fried rice) and a maggi goreng (fried instant noodles). Both of which were simply DELISH.
The next day, we visited a friend’s restaurant called “Biku”. http://bikubali.com/
It’s a yummy, affordable place, which serves local and fusion cuisine.
I especially liked the lamb, it was flavourful and cooked perfectly to bring out the flavour.
For dessert, I enjoyed the affogato which was served with a chocolate coated spoon. Yum.
Affogato!
Lamb with Wedges
Barramundi fillet
Goat cheese pie with salad
Sup buntut
Nasi Goreng
Random Picture :
Petrol sold by the roadside… in Absolut Vodka bottles
Over in Seminyak, there’s a place called The Library that has the most yummy food ever.
I’m really not kidding, I usually hate pastas with capsicums in them, but I ate up every last bit of this one. It doesn’t look very tasty, but trust me, the flavours will explode in your mouth.
The garlic prawns were so good too. Juicy and fragrant… every single bite is heaven…
Receipts and change are presented to you in a little shopping basket. So adorable.
Prawns with Butter Garlic
Aglio Olio
he’s actually really happy
The cheerful barristers and the bar
We happened to be in town during the famous Mayweather vs Pacquiao match too. All the bars were advertising it and offering special deals to patrons who reserved/walked to watch it.
The Bayu Gita Villa
View from the living room. The waves crash on the breakwater below, sending sprays 3-4m high, and rocking the villa with a sound like booming thunder. Apparently this is the low season, and in the high season, the waves (not just the spray) reach the swimming pool.
Beef Rendang cooked by the house chef!
Happy us in the pool. There are tons of floats left over by previous guests, but we brought our own as well, including the swan float that’s photo bombing. It’s an “infinity” pool, overlooking the wide, dark ocean. There are surfers too, but only experienced ones, since there’s lots of corals on this coast.
Sausages and bacon, with freshly squeezed orange juice for breakfast. Cooked by the house chef.
Early morning, standing on
after the foot shot, I decided to look up and shoot what I saw. And that is the living room, beyond the pool, in the early morning.
the sunrise! I’m more intrigued by the beautiful cloud formations than the sunrise itself.
welcome dance by the butler
adventuring out into the sea. The waves are strong, and there’s some debris in the water. So getting hit by the waves isn’t too fun. Cyn got hit by a floating durian shell and she ended up getting a cut on her ankle.
beautiful black sand…
another view of the villa, with all our floats!!
the afternoons were cloudy, I guess it’s the time of the year. but we still had fun in the pool!
My bedroom
The attached living room, complete with media player, TV sofa…
My personal dipping pool
the 10 seater movie theatre, with leg rests, cushions, and a wide selection of movies.
Back to Seminyak.
Kedaton
Asked a taxi driver to bring me to a nasi padang restaurant, and he brought me here.
I’m not really sure what I ordered, but I can tell you it was really good.
there was some dried beef with chilli, a hard boiled sambal egg, some fried prawn thing. It was really really nice and spicy. I’m dreaming of the prawn fritter daily…. It’s a must eat.
Surfing
Most surfing schools will offer you free drinks in the package too.
If you don’t need an instructor, then you can get the board for about 10SGD an hour.
We decided on an instructor, and I think we paid about SGD40 total for an hour of instruction plus as long as we wanted to practise on the board. (which was roughly 1 more hour)
They provide a long sleeved top for you to use so you don’t get abrasions.
A terrible warung that we went to… this was one of the dishes. It was a tourist trap, so I don’t intend to tell you where it was. This is the garlic butter swimmer crab, and it was tiny, hardly any meat, overcooked so that the meat stuck to the shell… yeah… no. Not worth it at all.
A sunset on the beach at seminyak.
Potato Head.
It’s a slightly more expensive area, but the sunsets here are the best.
It’s always pretty crowded, there’s outdoor seating and inpool seating. lol.
Sisterfields. One of the nice cafes to go to. We didn’t manage to drop by, but our friends said the coffee was soso only.
A nice place to hang I guess!
