Bali Trip - New Year's Eve in Bali

The third day!

To be honest, the breakfast at that villa were not up to our standards. So, we decided to head out somewhere for breakfast.

Based on recommendation by someone, we drove to Revolver Espresso at Jalan Kayu Aya No. 50, Seminyak.

Vintage, vintage, vintage!

The interior: woods and old school~~~

Hello, Mr. Barista!

The cafe starts its operation from 08:00am and served a sumptuous choices for breakfast and brunch. We reached there around 08:30am and there were already some customers enjoying their meals.

We were seated at some cozy corner of the cafe!

We started ordering straightaway. Avocado on Toast, Double Barrel, Holster, and pancake. Caffe latte, mocha, and picollo.

Avocado on Toast - crunchy toasted sourdough with avocado and tomato. Taste was just normal.

Double Barrel - poached egg on toasted sourdough with tomato, bacon, and vegetables. Taste was good.

Holster - panini with bacon, cheese, egg, and mayo. Taste was amazing!

Pancake with vanilla ice cream, berries, and syrup. Pancake was fluffy and pleasing

Coffee was at the acidic side and not to my taste.

We waited very long for our foods until I needed to ask the staff twice. It was lucky that the taste of the foods were not disappointing. And what made the visit here more pleasing other than the food and the ambience, the service was great! The manager actually gave us 25% discount as an apology for keeping us waiting for too long. In the end, we only spent IDR 300,000 (~SGD 33) for the whole feast.

And you still can take photo outside with the photo wall!

I will surely recommend Revolver Espresso to everybody who is visiting Bali...

We left Revolver around 10:00am and we drove to Denpasar. We did not have clear schedule for the day as we heard that most roads would be closed by 04:00pm for New Year's Eve.

The first stop was to try speciality snack of bali, PIE SUSU. Pie susu is milk pie if translated directly. Pie susu is actually similar to Portuguese egg tart but the filling in the middle is milk curd instead. The pie is not so crusty as compared to egg tart.

We went to Pie Susu Asli Enaaak which is the most famous pie susu in Bali.

The 'factory' of Pie Susu Asli Enaaak

The place was so so so crowded. Pie Susu Asli Enaaak offers 2 variants of the milk tart: original and chocolate and the price is only IDR 2,500 (~SGD 0.3) per piece. We bought 5 pieces of original and 5 pieces of chocolate flavour for testing.

The cartoon says: Pie Susu Asli "Enaaak" since 1989, Special goodies from Bali

And about a few hundred meters away from Pie Susu Asli Enaaak, we stopped to taste another milk tart in a shop called Pie Susu Dhian.

Pie Susu Dhian

Pie Susu Dhian offers more flavours other than original and chocolate. There are also cheese, chocolate cheese, blueberry, strawberry. After tasting both, all of us agreed that Pie Susu Asli Enaaak was too sweet and Pie Susu Dhian suited our tastebuds. So we ordered almost 600 pieces to be brought back to our own places.

And yeah, Pie Susu Dhian is cheaper. One piece of milk tart costs IDR 1,500 (~SGD 0.17) only.

Then Bro drove us to Pasar Seni Kumbasari. Before flying to Bali, I read somewhere that Pasar Seni Kumbasari would be a good place for shopping of souvenirs, figurines, paintings, etc. But to be honest, it was not worth the trip.

The drive there was hard. Small roads. Traffic jam. Difficult parking.
The weather was hot. The distance from the parking lot to the market building was far.
Most of the shops were closed.
The building was not maintained well.

Yes, the prices there were indeed very cheap and we did shop. But I felt the time was wasted for making a trip specially there. I did not even take photo.

So I must borrow the picture from bali.panduanwisata.id

The next stop was lunch. Bro brought us to Sanur for tasting the really famous Balinese fish soup. The place is called Warung Sop Ikan Mak Beng. According to the story, the founder of this restaurant was a lady with a son named Beng. As she is the Mak (mother) of Beng, the whole village called her Mak Beng and voile, there was the name of the restaurant.

The restaurant is just a single storey low ceiling building with little ventilation and natural lighting. However, this doesn't prevent people from patronising the restaurant. When we arrived there, the place was full and many people were waiting for their turn.

People say, don't judge the book from its cover

But, do not expect to get a queue number. What you need to do is to eye on other people and stand in the close proximity of almost-finish tables. When they get up, you rush to claim the seat. Once you are seated, the so very experienced waitress of the restaurant will record your order.

The menu offered was standard. White rice + fish soup + fried fish costs IDR 34,000 (~SGD 3.7). Although the menu was standard, the taste was goooood, especially the chilli sauce.

The standard menu. The fried fish impressed me more.

Still eating. Already full. Not full at all.

Thanks for the breeze. Inside was too stuffy!

Tummies were happy and it's time to get some souvenirs. We went to a very big souvenir supermarket called Krisna and spent an hour or so to shop this and that.

You can find almost everything here but it's so shameful such a huge place does not have air conditioning system

We were still full but the culinary journey did not stop there. We came to Bali all the way so we should taste the famous gelato.

Gusto Gelato was so famous and titled (by whom???) as the most delicious gelato in Bali. We passed by this place when we headed back to Seminyak, so let's eat again.

The so so so famous Gusto

Enjoying the gelato, yeah

Two scoops of Gusto gelato cost IDR 20,000 (~SGD 2.2) and there are many many many choices of flavours. Yes, I found it nice, especially when the day was so hot, but to say it as the best gelato, I think it is too overrated. It is nice but more are nicer.

It was almost 4:00pm when we drove back and surprisingly, no traffic jam! We reached the villa quite fast. I went for shower before urging everybody to accompany me to Legian 66 Beach.

The villa is so near to the beach and it only took us about 10 minutes walk. There are shops along the road so don't be afraid of a boring walk.

It was still bright as a sunny day

It turned amber but cloud was coming

And all of a sudden, everything was dark blue

I was so sad I did not manage to catch the last sunset of the year, but I was still thankful that I had the chance to enjoy the ocean breeze for a while before it started to rain. We quickly ran back and still got caught in the rain.

Still nice to look upon, right

Actually there are a lot of eateries along the way to this beach and along this beach itself. However, we did not try anything as we have prepared something special for this New Year's Eve at the villa.

It.

Was.

BBQ.

Setting up the temporary BBQ pit

The foods: enoki beef roll, king oyster mushroom, pork satay, spiced chicken

Grilling grilling~~~

Yummy foods

The end products

The residue. Thanks to the biscuit tin. You have served us well.

P.S. All the foods were brought from Palembang and Singapore, except the nasi jinggo (white rice and vegetables) that was brought when were walked back from 66 Beach.

We ate and feasted to our heart content. After eating the main BBQ foods, we feasted on ripe and sweet mango brought from Palembang. And thereafter, we sat and played Monopoli Deal until the time to say 'Happy New Year' was ripe.

And yeah, farewell 2014 and welcome 2015!

Love is in the air,

Little Feet

Next Post - Knowing Bali Deeper through Pura Taman Ayun and Desa Panglipuran

Bali Trip - Nusa Penida with Sun, Naughty Nuri's with Stars

It was morning again and the sun greeted us with a big big smile!

Hello, Sunshine!

We drove to south again, because our itinerary for the day was cruising from Tanjong Benoa to Nusa Penida! 

Initially we planned to go for the cruise on the third day but the cruise did not operate on the 31st due to some religion events at the beach. People in Bali are quite superstitious so nobody dares to sail when the religion events are held.

That's why we shifted our itinerary forward.

Tanjong Benoa is famous as a water sport centre. There are quite a number of water sports that can be done here, like jet ski, parasailing, banana boat, helmet dive, etc. etc. etc.

However, this time we just intended to go for the cruise. There are a few cruise operators at Tanjong Benoa. The three famous operators are Bounty Cruise, Quicksilver Cruise, and Bali Hai Cruise. Bali Hai is the most expensive amongst all and Quicksilver is the most popular for Asian tourists.

We chose Quicksilver and got the price of IDR 625,000 (~SGD 65) per pax excluding pick up service.

We were reminded over and over that the cruise would not wait for latecomers. So we woke up early and reached there at 08:15 am, 15 minutes before the scheduled departure.

While waiting to be on board

The boarding was quite organised as the passengers were called according to the queue numbers. Breakfast was then served while the cruise moved towards the pontoon in the middle of the sea.

Quicksilver Cruise

Our seats, our breakfast, and us

The highlight of Quicksilver Cruise is the pontoon. After 45 minutes on the sea, the cruise moored to the pontoon and all of the passengers were asked to move. Activities that could be enjoyed on the pontoon were banana boat rides, water slides, and snorkeling. We could also choose to board small boats that would bring us to a semi-submarine and Nusa Penida Island.

As it was almost noon and we were Asian (and scared of the radiance), we chose to do another part of the tour.

The view from semi-submarine. The fish were HUGE!

And surprisingly, I accidentally met my high school friend who was having her honeymoon! It has been more than five years since the last time I met her. I would like to wish her a very happy marriage, lots of children, and magnificent life.

After watching the huge fat fish for about 15 minutes, the same boat brought us to Nusa Penida. Here we had the chance to see the roosters' fight. The locals also open the fighting pit for bidding. I tried to bid in Singapore Dollar but was rejected because the other people bid in US Dollar.

Blacky and Goldy. Fighting!

I also saw some people playing beach volleyball. But as someone with no single skill of ball games, I gave it a pass. We just continue our way inside the village to a shopping street.

A traveller in a village

The artworks on sale (and bargainable)

The cute owl I found

After satisfying ourselves, we went back to the pontoon for our buffet lunch.

Yeeehaaa~~~

Bye Nusa Penida

Actually I did not expect much on the buffet lunch, but it turned out to be sumptuous and good. There were salads, grills, cooked food, desserts, fruits, and traditional cakes. Eating on top of the pontoon with the feel of the breeze really added the taste of the foods.

Lunch in the middle of the sea

We rest for a while before we decided to wet ourselves. We went for water slide and followed by banana boat ride and snorkeling. The most disappointing activity was the snorkeling, really.

Queueing for banana boat ride

Bro enjoying his slide 

Snorkeling here will bring you only to disappointment, believe me!

At 3:00 pm, all passengers were asked to get back to the cruise for sailing back to Tanjong Benoa. While waiting for the time, we spent our time enjoying the deck!

Am I not dark enough?

Magnificent!

Hello, Dear! Enjoying yourself?

We then spent another 45 minutes to be back to Tanjong Benoa. We drove back to Seminyak and we were quite trapped in the endless traffic jam. Upon reaching the villa, we cleaned up and rushed to our next destination: Naughty Nuri's.

Naughty Nuri's is a restaurant chain specialised in grilled pork ribs. And you shall expect a very very long queue just to enjoy the ribs.

We arrived at the Seminyak outlet around 7:30 pm and we were asked to wait for 1 hour. After some time that seemed forever, we were seated at the back of the restaurant. We ordered pork ribs, beef ribs, and caesar salad.

Beef ribs. Too dry. The marination is good. Fries are good. 

Pork ribs. The star of the day.

Caesar salad. Yummy!

When we were 2 kg heavier and IDR 862800 (~SGD90) poorer

We left Nuri's at around 10:00 pm. I would like to go somewhere to chill out and bro suggested Potato Head Beach Club. We drove there and enquired about the seating but the beach sofa were full. I wanted to wait but the rest were so tired already so we decided to call it a day.

So disappointed. I wanted to chilllllllllll.

Love is in the air,
Little Feet

Next Post - New Year's Eve in Bali

Bali Trip - Catching Sunset in the South

It's a back log and I am not proud of it.

Bro has been working in Bali since August 2014 and I managed to persuade my parents to visit him during year end break.

I got SGD 300 for my return air ticket from Singapore while my parents got IDR 2600000 (~SGD 280) from Palembang.

So we decided to go for a family trip.

Bali is the only province in Indonesia that has majority of Hindu. The name 'Bali' came from the old name 'Walidwipa' (Pulau Bali or Bali Island) that was found on the stone epigraph dated since first century.

Bali got its Hinduism from the widespread of Hindu Empires all over Indonesia long long time ago and surprisingly Bali could hold its personality while the other areas were influenced by Islamic Empires and Christian/Catholic views brought by conquerors from Portuguese/Spain/Netherlands.

To cut it short, Bali is one of the most unique island in Indonesia. And no doubt Bali is the paradise on earth.

In Bali, the ladies are called 'Gek' and the gentlemen are called 'Bli'

Bf and I were scheduled to arrive at 10:00 am in the morning while my family were scheduled to arrive around noon time. Unfortunately, their flight was delayed and they reached Denpasar around 3:00 pm.

I was a bit disappointed because of the pouring rain that greeted us upon our arrival and the delayed flight from Palembang. Another thing disappointed me was the traffic jam. We just spent the time in the rental car going from Ngurah Rai International Airport to the villa for checking in and back to the airport to pick up my family.

We waited quite long at the airport before all of us could embark on our journey in this paradise.

So, first stop: late lunch at Nasi Campur Bu Oki!

The nasi campur

Nasi campur literally means mixed rice. It consists of rice, fried chicken, spicy peanut, egg, and vegetables and costs IDR 23000 (SGD 2.5) per portion. It was nice but not fantastic. However, this restaurant was so full at all times and we could see tons of chicken and rice being cooked.

After that, we drove far south to Pura Uluwatu (Uluwatu Temple).

Pura Uluwatu is located at Pecatu, the southern part of the island. The temple is facing west, unlike any other temples in Bali that face east. It is also one of the oldest temples in Bali, built in 10 BC by Mpu Kuturan from Kediri. In 15 BC, a famous 'panditta' Dahyang Nirartha chose Pura Uluwatu as his place to join the heaven.

As the temple is facing the west and located on top of the cliff about 70m above the sea, Pura Uluwatu offers a magnificent sunset to its visitors.

The view from the temple

Top of Pura Uluwatu

We climbed up to the top of the temple to enjoy the view. But it was so very crowded there along the fences. We could not even take a single clean shot without anybody else in the frame.

Two people taking shots, one person trying to feel the breeze

Another someone walking pass and some other people filling in the frame

A lady occupying almost half of the frame

However crowded it was, we still spent quite a lot of time here to view the scenery and chit-chatted like we never did before. We closed our visit with a group photo.

Going down to the exit

Group shot. Thanks, Stranger!

We then drove to a cliff-side cafe called Elkabron. This cafe is one of the hippest places in Bali currently. Initially we planned to spent the sunset here before heading to Jimbaran for seafood dinner.

So we drove and we drove and we drove. The place is so far and difficult to find. When we finally found it, we were told that in order to enjoy the place and the sunset we should spend IDR 300,000 per pax (~SGD 28). We knew that there was minimum spending required but it was IDR 100,000 per pax. Apparently the price had been increased and we found spending IDR 300,000 was not worthy.

We moved on to our next destination. Seafood dinner at Jimbaran.

Jimbaran is famous as the place for having seafood dinner while enjoying the sea breeze and sunset. When we reached there, it was almost sunset and we headed to Menega Cafe without hesitation although there were a row full of seafood restaurants there.

After being treated as ping-pong ball by the staff, I finally found a guy who was in charge of the seating. I told him that there were seven of us and we would like to be seated outside. He then signalled to me that he 'could help' and asked me to place my order.

So then we went to the front to choose our menu. Menega Cafe is specialised in grill so we just chose the seafoods. We ordered fish, prawns, mussels, and squids.

Back to waiting for our table, I gave a little tip to the person in charge and he straight away prioritised our queue. Not more than 10 minutes after tipping him, we got our table and we managed to get the sunset.

While waiting for our table

Sunset!!!

Romantic seaside candle light dinner, awwww

Kerang Bumbu Bali (Balinese Sauce Mussels), Ikan Bakar (Grilled Fish), Udang Bakar (Grilled Prawns), Cumi Goreng Tepung (Deep Fried Calamari), Tumis Kangkung (Stir-fried Kangkong)

The food + the atmosphere = delicious! And it cost us IDR 572,800 (~SGD 60) for the whole feast!

After having our tummy filled, we moved on back to the villa. For the first three night, we booked a villa in Seminyak Area called Kumpul-Kumpul Villa. The location of the villa is superb although the building is already quite old. The two-room villa with one extra bed cost us IDR 6,120,000 (~SGD 625) for three night.

We slept soundly that night. The next day adventure was approaching.

Love is in the air,
Little Feet

Next post - Nusa Penida with Sun, Naughty Nuri's with Stars