Bali Bali Bali...
I'm sure you've all heard about Bali, tropical beaches, pretty scenery, friendly locals, world class surfing, full of Aussies and cheap as chips. And it certainly lives up to its name.
We decided to go to Bali as there were cheap flights from Perth and it is cheap when you get there and it is only a 3 hour flight. According to Aussie TV it's like a Australian Magaluf, full of young, drunk Aussies drinking themselves into an obvilion, throwing up on the streets and crashing mopeds.
However we were lucky to miss this view of it as we stayed far away enough from the party strip (Kuta) in a village called Petitenget close to upmarket Seminyak. It is about a 20 minute crazy taxi ride from Denpasar Airport.
We stayed in Villa Bunga, which had amazing Trip Advisor reviews and was small and boutique like. We a lovely little swimming pool and traditional trees, and statues in the small garden. Our room was basic and we didn't have a view but it didn't matter as it didn't plan on spending much time in there.
We arrived early evening so after dumping our things in the room after having a welcome drink, we headed into the village for some pre dinner drinks and food. We stopped at Luna rooftop bar for our drink and it was posher than we thought, luckily we got there during there happy hour and we had two cocktails and a bowl of nuts. I had a Strawberry Daiquiri and Nath had Frozen Mango Margarita and they were the perfect start to our holiday.
We then went for dinner at Bonita in our village, which was set in a picturesque garden with lanterns and served traditional Indonesian food.
We both stuck to traditional Indonesian food, Nathan with Nasi Goreng which was fried rice with shrimp, chicken satay, local vegetables and chilli and me with a prawn, squid and tuna spicy stew/curry with rice. Both interesting and tasty!
For our second day in Bali we headed to Potato Head Beach Club. This was recommended to us by a friend who visited it a week or so before us and just seeing her Facebook photos had us convinced.
It's set on the beach front, but not many people visit this particular beach as it has black sand and to be honest there are many more that are nicer. Potato Head has a infinity pool and a jacuzzi with a pool bar and beds with umbrellas surrounding the pool, with your own waiter to get you drinks, food etc. You'd think it would be posh and i guess it was but actually it was quite inexpensive. For a pool bed, it was a minimum spend of 500,000 Rupiah. Sure sounds a lot but it actually translates to £25, which is definitely worth it if you spend all day there. Nathan feasted all day on whole coconuts and I had cocktails, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic and for lunch we shared a mixed Mediterranean focaccia sandwich with chips which was delicious.
After a long day at Potato Head suntanning we headed back to Villa Bunga to get out of the sun, shower and relax before dinner.
That evening we had booked to go to Rayjin, as Japanese Teppenyaki restaurant very close to our villa. There were only a few places to sit which was why we had to book. I'm not sure the particular meaning for the word Teppenyaki but I'm assuming it means watching your food being cooked. As all the places you cook sit surrounded the kitchen. It was a great atmosphere with all the chefs greeting you in Japanese and chanting throughout the evening.
We had Snapper Carpaccio and Tuna and Avocado for starters.
This was also massively tasty. Then for desert we shared a Matcha Creme Brûlée, which is basically Green Tea flavoured. It was good but didn't taste as indulgent as a normal dessert would. Now how much would you expect to pay for all this including a garlic rice and 2 large beers? Well we paid the equivalent of £15, I for one was shocked it was so cheap but ridiculously good. I would have been happy to pay so much more.
The following day we decided to go to the beach in Seminyak. We walked there to save money which took us a good hour in the morning heat. The beach still had dark sand but the waves were huge and there was lots of surfing so it was OK because it seemed popular. We paid for a sunbed as no one was lying on the sun which I think is because it is too hot and relaxed. Later on in the day we hired a surfboard between us and Nathan went out first with swimming close by to film on the GoPro.
Because the waves were quite big (Bali is renowned for good surfing) it was difficult but Nath did a cracking job, with a bit of body surfing and knee boarding but also managing to stand up a few times. When I was filming in the water I found that every wave I was getting taken off my feet so no surprise I was nervous to attempt to surf. My first go I just body boarded and on my second go I was about to attempt to surf when someone else's board hit me a some speed at the back of my head. I got straight out the water and had a cry as it was quite painful and decided to give surfing a miss for the rest of the day.
We stayed at the beach for a little while longer before heading into Seminyak for a small (very late) lunch of pitas.
That evening we went to Buki for dinner, which was another traditional Indonesian restaurant which was also very busy (a good sign). Nathan had an amazing meal of another Nasi Goreng and I had a Dhal as I fancied a curry. However never again as it was quite possibly the most untasteful meal ever. It didn't even look nice so as you can't probably guess I was pretty disappointed. So on the way back to the Villa I had a magnum (for 70p) as a pick me up.
The next day we spent at our own pool as we thought we might as well make use of it.
That afternoon after a shower we headed to the 'party' capital for the night markets
however not actually buying anything and then went for a drink at a roof top bar overlooking the beach for sunset. We both drank Lychee Beers.
We then walked to Legion Beachfront in search of a Lonely Planet recommendation, Mozarella. We were hoping that this was the same place as the one we went to in Singapore as the food was so good. It took us ages to find and it was quickly getting later and later and when we finally found it we discovered it definitely wasn't a chain and there was literally no Mozarella on the menu and it was a bit pricey. Anyway we ordered still and I had a delicious salmon and spinach pasta and Nath had ribs.
The following two days we spent at Potato Head Beach Club with Nathan drinking copious amounts of coconut water and me drinking water and the occasional cocktail.
We ate Italian the one night sharing another delicious pasta and a pizza and on our final night we are in Seminyak at The Junction and I had incredible tuna.
On our last day we also both had an hour
long traditional massage which included our feet, toes, collar bones, backs, faces basically all over and it was amazing if not a little painful at times.
Our last day was an early start with a quick breakfast before saying goodbye to Bali and heading to the airport.
Xoxo
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