Beaches, Bintangs and Balinese people

A highly recommended place to visit – Bali!  Although we only spent 7 days in Bali, we had a fantastic time and really enjoyed the time there and the island hospitality.

Thanks to John, we bought our tickets in July, but didn't get around to planning until September.  Our first real vacation in about a year plus, and although we spent a total of 36 hrs (including a long layover in Suvarnabhumi) in travel time from SEA to Bali (DPS), it was well worth it.  Some pictures attached here (courtesy John).  More photos to come.

Here is how our trip unfolded...

Day 1 

Arrived in Denpasar airport on a hot, humid afternoon in October and headed straight to Nusa Dua  (Westin).  Nusa Dua (“two islands”) houses at least a dozen resorts, and all of them lining the Eastern side of Bali’s southern tip.  I tried to remember the few Bahasa Indonesia words that I had learned during my Bandung trip, and the cab driver helped me learn a couple more as well.  Upon check-in, we were pleasantly surprised to have been upgraded to a suite (no complaints here!).  A combination of jet lag, hunger, laziness and the sheer need to relax was starting to hit us, so we knew our evening was going to be a short one – maybe a quick bite to eat and a beach side stroll was all that was in store.

Even though the colonials have left Asia, they forgot to take the concept of “high-tea” back with them.  The resort offers a spread of scones, jams, spreads and coffee/tea every afternoon – an invitation to indulge.  Glad we stopped by!  The saffron scones were fantastic, and so was their mango-lemongrass jam (welcome back to a tropical country!). 

The beach side promenade was very inviting, so we took a stroll along the beach - was extremely disappointed by the beach.  It looked awful!  Did I end up in the wrong side of Bali???  What about the pictures that I had seen on the Westin’s home page?  Continued the walk complaining to Lea about how disappointed I was with this beach….

A wedding was taking place at one of the resorts next door, and unfortunately the beach walk was right behind the main stage, so Lea and I might have been part of some of the background for the couple’s wedding photos!  I tried to put on my best behavior and not make any faces as I was walking by.  Now comes the best part what was in store for the rest of this trip….Bintang!  A cold, refreshing beer is always a good way to start an evening, but add a beach side table and tropical sea breeze to that mix – cannot get any better than this! 

We ended the evening with a beach side Balinese massage.  This is when I figured that it was “low tide” in the afternoon, and hence the sorry looking beach!  As the evening progressed and high-tide was nearing, the waves go stronger and so did the sound of the waves hitting the beach sand.  A vacation that we were very much looking forward to…had arrived!

Bahasa tips:  Selamat Datang (Welcome), Terima Kasih (Thank you), Apa Kabar (What’s the news?)

Day 2

The Johnson arrives early…and wakes me up!  We had agreed to meet up at around 11 AM, but he decided to show up at 9:30 AM!  Rough life indeed.

High-tide at 1 pm, which meant we had 4-5 hrs to enjoy the warm waters.  Bintangs started at 11 and continued till 2 pm or so, and of course, more language lessons from the locals. 

Nusa Dua Beach (Westin Resort)

Bahasa Indonesia is the language widely spoken in Indonesia, but Balinese is quite predominant (in Bali) as well.  When someone says Terima Kasih (Thank you), Indonesians usually reply back Terima Kasih Kembali (You are welcome), but Sama Sama is what most Balinese people say. 

“A swim, some sun, one Bintang” was the motto…until a volleyball showed up.  Water polo became the sport of choice (second only to Bintang drinking).  Wrapped up the fun afternoon by 2 pm ish, and decided to head to Kuta beach after some “high tea”.  Couldn’t pass up on the scones!  John went back for seconds too!

Kuta Beach (@ the Beer Garden)

Kuta beach – where most of the tourists go.  A surfer’s beach, and one that is filled with tourists.  Being a Sunday, there were many locals too.  Also happened to be the last day of the Kuta carnival.  we walked towards the “beer garden” and live-music stage, and figured it was going to be best to park ourselves under a beach umbrella and order some beer, to secure a spot for the sunset view.  We had mini-kegs for seats, and Bintangs to quench our thirst.  The “beer garden” was part of the carnival and Kuta’s version of Oktoberfest.  While we were glad not to have picked a hotel in Kuta to stay at, we all agreed that this was an excellent place to people watch, and the sunset as well. 

Dinner time – we chose a Lonely Planet (LP) recommendation (Made’s Warung).  What does Made (Ma-Day) mean?  We will get to that on Day 7.  Warung means restaurant or “eating joint”, and we had heard that Made’s was a good place to try local fare.    The food was excellent – both the regular and the vegetarian “Nasi Campur” (Na See Champur; assortment with rice).  John and I tried an Arak (local spirit) cocktail – I thought it was good, but guess it wasn’t John’s cup of tea. 

Walking around Kuta beach, all you hear on the sidewalk is vendors asking you if you want “massage, mushrooms or ladies”.  Indonesia hands out a death penalty for drugs, enough said!  We walked to the hotel where John was staying (he digs the Kuta scene), and ended up taking a cab to one of the beaches north of Kuta, to get away from the crowd and seeking some good live music and Bintangs!  Legian beach, here we come.  A 15-20 minute cab ride took us to Legian beach, which was much quieter than Kuta beach, and had a lot of beachfront hotels and restaurants, but no live music in sight…we ended up in a beach side shack which had no lights, but plenty of cold Bintangs in store, and an owner named Sky.  Sky was very friendly, and opened up a couple of cold ones for us, and started talking to us about Bollywood (how did he know we were Indians?  Does Lea also look Indian?) – Shahrukh Khan is their favorite and they are still stuck in the Kuch Kuch Hota Hai days.  Someone needs to do a better job selling Munni and Sheila in Bali!  We enjoyed our Bintang by the beach, watching the night sky, and hearing some on and off loud music…wondering where it came from?  Sky told us that Kuta beach would be a 30 minute walk along the water, so we thought we’d at least walk back to Kuta and enjoy the stroll along the ocean.  Since we were with Johnny, who is a walker (depending on his mood, he is red, black, green, blue or gold), we decided to walk back (along the water). 

We got the first signs of how “time never flies” in Bali.  Our walk to Kuta beach was 15 minutes, and we ended up back at the “beer garden”.  I guess the laid back life in Bali means that locals don’t really keep an accurate account of time J  and hopefully, this overestimation doesn’t come back to haunt us later in the trip.

Kuta…the action never seems to end.  I managed to convince Lea and John that we should stop by for another drink in Kuta, and we found a nice bar/restaurant, which had a karaoke/live singer, and little did we know that some of the clients would participate in the singing and dancing.  Thankfully those clients were not us!

One night in Kuta was plenty for us, and it was time for us to head back to the quiet Nusa Dua area.  Kuta is extremely popular with the young crowd (especially from Australia), and the bars/restaurants cater mainly to them.  Give it a skip if you are looking for a quiet and relaxing evening. 

The afternoon of water polo on Day 2 had its side-effects – a nasty sun burn for both Lea and I.  Thankfully, vitamin E and Aloe Vera lotions were available in plenty.

Day 3

Early start wasn’t on the cards today, so after a late breakfast we headed out to Seminyak beach (picked up John on the way).  Seminyak is north of Kuta beach, and is home to a lot of resorts and boutique shops.  Almost all of the beachfront is taken up by the resorts.  We started our afternoon at Ku De Ta, a restaurant right on the beach, and had a good lunch with some cold Bintangs. Looked like a lot of folks show up at Ku De Ta, and spend the entire day there, enjoying the beach and chow.  After lunch, we walked up north towards Pura Pettitenget (a temple in Kerobokan beach), which is about 10-15 min. from where we were. 

We missed the road that would take us to the temple, and ended up walking towards the next set of resorts (Potato Head and the W).  We figured it would be easier to cut through one of the resorts, so we ended up stopping at the W poolside bar (as a way to pay toll) on our way to out to the main road.  The fruit sodas that Lea and John had were excellent, and so was my Bintang. 

Like most Puras (temples), we couldn’t get in to Pettitenget, so we decided to jump in a cab and head to Jimbaran Bay and Ulu Watu to watch the sunset and Kecak dance. It was a 35-40 min. cab ride to Jimbaran Bay, which is a popular destination for seafood lovers.  All restaurants here have their tables set out on the sand, so you can enjoy a seafood dinner by the water.  We were clearly not looking for dinner (yet), so the beverage of choice continued to be Bintang.  We had just enough time for two beers, and had to jump back in the cab to head to Pura Ulu Watu, so that we could catch the sunset and the dance performance.

Pura Ulu Watu is set on top of a cliff, and is an amazing sight.  LP warns you about greedy monkeys, and we did see quite a lot of monkeys, but thankfully they didn’t want anything from us J

Every evening, there is a “Kecak” show (Kecak dance is accompanied by a human orchestra; no instruments, but just 50-60 men using their vocal chords to generate the background music).  The dancers performed an abridged version of Ramayana, and the performance ends with an enactment of Hanuman burning down Lanka.  It was definitely worth watching, but the seating isn’t the most comfortable (according to John and Lea).

Tonight was our last night in Nusa Dua, so we decided to stay back at the resort and enjoy some more cold Bintangs by the beach.  I tried to convince the restaurant manager to serve us food (from their indoor restaurant) by the beach, but I wasn’t successful.

I think we really boosted Bintang sales in October.  Bintang officials can thank us when they see a spike in their sales in the fourth week of October J

Some restaurant recommendations for Bali:

Kuta:  Made's Warung - definitely a must try

Ubud:  lot of fantastic options. Here are some that we enjoyed.

1. Bumbu Bali

2. Three monkeys

3. Kafe Batan Waru

4. Lada Warung

Worth seeing in and around Ubud (not a complete list)

1. Tegalalang rice farms - a nice spot for a refreshing drink is Teras Padi

2. Catch a show or two - lots of options

3. Monkey forest is ok

4. Take one of the Lonely Planet suggested walks/treks early morning

Places to stay in Ubud:

Komaneka at Bisma - check this place out.  Location is great, an amazing pool, food is fantastic and their spa is excellent.

Pool at Komaneka at Bisma

Looking for a good driver? We had good luck with these individuals.

Ketut Jatra (Ubud) - 081 338 657 112

Rahmat Adam (Denpasar) - 081 353254906

A handy Ubud map for your reference (courtesy: Komaneka)