Friday, April 3, 2009

3 Days 2 Nights in Bali

Under my previous employment with United Fiber System Ltd (An SGX listed company dealing with pulp manufacturing for the production of papers), I have to travel to Indonesia quite often to understand the operations of the mills as well as to liaise with the mill's third parties e.g. bankers, auditors, government officials, etc. The 3 usual location is Jakarta, Banjarmasin and Ale Ale (You don't want to be here!). Anyway, my point is that my very first virgin voyage on flight is given to the company and Indonesia is the very first overseas country that I have ever travelled to, thus, I am supposed to be excited BUT due to its much ladened ugly news on the Jakarta riots coupled with gorish photos, I have very bad impression of the place and believe me when I said I had this nauseous feeling when I stepped onto Jakarta's ground.

During the Bali bombing, I also had the same nauseous feeling even before knowing about the news (Speaking of telepathy!) so I should not feel good stepping on Bali. However, this is not the case and much to my surprise, I really enjoyed the trip and to sum the whole trip up, there is only one word to describe it and that is "FANTASTIC!". Maybe I just loathe going on business trip hahhaha.

OK, let us start with the trip already.
DAY 1
We boarded the AirAsia flight from T1 (Yay!) of Changi Airport Singapore to Ngurah Rai, Denpasar at 1000hr (Which was only delayed by 10 minutes...phew~). Surprisingly, the jet was very new! I am very impressed as AirAsia's jet usually a little bit... lock cock (Lousy in "hokkien"). So the flight was overall, quite pleasing albeit the seats being a little cramped but I guess can't complain much as we only paid S$50 nett each for the return flight.



We reached Ngurah Rai International Airport at around 1240hr and the feeling that both my wife and I had was this "Darned... 3D2N is NOT enough... have to plan for another trip back here!". The first thing that I did upon arrival is to buy McDonalds (Not that its on my itinerary) because they have the triple cheeseburger which you won't find it in Singapore. Then we took a local metered taxi to the hotel. The ride took about 20+mins. The road is in great condition for the first 10mins ride. It gets a little bumpy then.
TIPS: Local metered taxi costs so much lesser (For my case Rp62,250 or S$8.40+) and make sure you asked for it. Hotels or resorts will charge you in between USD15-30 and even if it is two-way, it is still more expensive. So, help the local ppl earn a living, aye? ( ˚v˘)

The reception at the Ritz Carlton Bali was so extraordinary! Upon arrival, you are greeeted warmly with flower garland or 'lei' presented to you. The staff would usher us to the reception and we were promptly seated and served with a cup of refreshing fruit punch! (Speaking of relaxation and pampering). We upgraded our room to the executive club level for USD80 per night, which includes a sea view room, 5 meals at the executive club level (Breakfast + light Lunch + Hi-tea + Hors D'oeurve + Supper) and 4 pieces of laundry FOC amongst other things. We took a map of the hotel/resort and realised that it is actually pretty huge and a staff driver actually mentioned that it is about 77 Hectares! So we've decided that since we are spending that much, might as well explore the resort alone, which proves to be quite a feat in itself as the resort has plenty of facilities e.g. infinity pool, private beach, spa on the rock, wedding gazebos, etc.
TIPS: Upgrading also comes with a US$21 tax, which you can try to negotiate with the resort rep to waive it. We did!



Welcome drink


Anyway, on the first day, we didn't do much but just laze around a little bit. Have Hors D'oeurve at the club level, which was really scrumptious! I am glad we could upgrade for only US$80.



Right after that, we headed to the infinity pool which is filled with treated seawater. The dip is so refreshing and to make it a perfect day, we are able to enjoy the scenic Bali sunset!


We continue to have a stroll in the night (No mozzies!) and to take some night photos of the resort. The photos didn't turn out great but I guess as a novice, it should be good enough ba~.




After the shooting, we headed to the club level to have supper~fondue! The little cakes and stuffs was good too but I particularly helped myself to the blue cheese. Its funny, I used to have the nauseous feeling when l took blue cheese but with time... I seemed to like it really much due to the strong taste. I guess one's tastebuds aged too...


DAY 2
Actually planned to wake up early to do some photography while the lighting is good but I guess the bed is too comfy to get out of.

What motivates me to even get out of bed is this~ breakfast! Can't wait to treat myself to some more of Ritz' great food and yet again I am not disappointed. Good stuffs!


Right after the breakfast, we headed to the resort's private beach ~ Kubu Beach. The beach is actually at the bottom of the cliff and the view is really picturesque! Took plenty of photos in this location and the results are pretty good (If I may say so myself). Did some post editing though as my lense are dirty and I didnt have the time/equipment to clean it. In addition, also did some adjustment to the contrast/saturation/cropping + adding in the name hehehe.


There are altogether 184 flight of stairs and gosh, I think I needed to keep myself fit from now on. The irony is that after taking some photos on the lookout hut at the top of the stairs, I have forgotten to retrieve my lens cap!! So have to climb the 184 flight of stairs from the beach up and down again! (`Ω΄)<3 span="">

The wave is kinda strong, so its unfortunate that we couldn't swim but at least we make do with sun tanning and somemore photo snapping.




After the Kubu beach, we headed to the Villa pool to appease ourselves as the waves have deprived us of a swim at the beach. Altogether, the Ritz has 3 main pools with other smaller pools for kids and for show. One is the must go infinity saltwater pool, another is the Villa pool and the last is the main pool and the impressiveness comes in that order. Didn't really bother to take a photo of the main pool.


Lunch time!!! I am excited whenever there's food, so we headed to the club level again. Come to think of it, the next time I am coming back, I will have to stay in a lousy hotel/resort to motivate me enough to leave it and venture out to other places to visit the diversities of Bali, which I have totally missed this time round. But heck, no regrets! During lunch, there is a regular visitor, a zebra dove or 'merbuk' as it is known in Malaysia, who would always hang around the club to wait for some food. Poor bird has one of its claw amputated, so I guess no harm giving some rice to it. I know it will cause the bird to be dependent and ultimately a compulsive begger, but I guess that's part of the survival instinct as well, aye?


For the later part of the noon, we explore the other side of the resort i.e. the wedding gazebos, the sea front villas, 'the underwater world' (very mini), the restaurants in the resort (their restaurants are well-aclaimed with one 'Padi' being the no.1 restaurant in whole of Bali), and back to the infinity pool we go! Gotta reserve a good spot for the best sunset view!










The next time I am back, I definitely will reserve a romantic dinner in one of the Ritz restaurants which will costs around US$120-140 pax whereby you will get good food, exclusive butler, great spot and great services. The Ritz makes it so worthwhile because only one couple are to be allowed to have such dinner per night! Next time~
We spent the night at the club level having dinner and managed to get to know some new friends, Anton and Lyndette from Australia. Actually Anton is from Switzerland and Lyndette from Florida, US but they have sort of retired and resided 'permanently' in Australia now. They have factories in Thailand, China, etc. and are having a short trip in Bali (Short to them means a week). They are great sports and very nice to hang around with, so we ended up chatting with them for like and hour or two... maybe even three. Then we head out to take some more photos and to get some gifts for our colleagues and neighbours. That's a day spent.


DAY 3
Our flight today is at 1255hr so we have to leave our hotel by 1030hr. Both my wife and I woke up around 0830hr and headed for breakfast. We actually spent quite a fair bit of time at the club level today just to savour whatever's left for us to savour there... food and scenery. We left the club around 1000hr and proceeded to check out and arrange for a taxi to the airport. I sure leave with a heavy heart but its OK, I will be back and the next time I will be here in Bali, only longer and visit the other areas that I have missed.

**Note: All rights reserved. If you like any photos found in this blog or would like to engage me in any assignment, please e-mail me for more details at seage79@gmail.com.

No comments:

Post a Comment