It's the holiday seasons!!! I'm so excited. Usually, by this time of the year, me and my family will be on a fun vacation, to unwind, relax and enjoy togetherness. Actually, I'd also hope for romantic time together with hubby, but time like that is hard to come by when you're with a young child, who seems to think that it is our utmost important obligation to keep her entertained at all times.
This year we pick Bali as our holiday destination*let's do cartwheels. I'm not exactly a fan of beaches, or sand, or even sunlight for that matter, but I agree that Bali is beautiful and enchanting. The landscape, the culture, the people, the food! Yummm....most importantly the food. I revolve our vacation to always be around food, and that is how I always base my itinerary on :). Do you do this as well?
I always find Bali food to be on the spicy side, which is awesome because I love spicy food! But knowing myself and the delicate stomach that I have*so sad, I decided not to go crazy on trips overseas. I tend to keep chili at a minimum, just to be on the safe side, but not completely denying myself from the joy of eating.
We flew KLM to Bali, took the afternoon flight. The reason we choose this air line is because the price is somewhat budget, but the service is that of a....a....hmmm what's the antonym of budget airline again? Anyways, the service is that of a non budget airline; in-flight entertainment, meals, baggage, seat allocation, etc.
Entertainment on board is very important as it will keep my daughter busy and prevent her from asking me if we've reached our destination constantly like a broken record. I need time to sleep, because I get motion sickness easily. Her endless questions about everything from the itinerary, the hotel we're going to, what's that on my dress, and even my outlook on life, will somewhat prevent me from peacefully napping. If I don't sleep, I'll get dizzy and loose my appetite (wait a minute, maybe that's a good thing? I do need to loose a few kilos).
It's usually a blessing if I can sleep throughout the whole flight, but I'd wake up whenever it's meal time, naturally :). We didn't arrange for any halal meal, but thankfully the stewardess told us that they have prepared halal meals for all, so we can consume them*so happy I could cry.
I'm not sure what this is called, but there was rice with chicken cooked together with some peas, some veggies and spices. It was pretty good, it was actually delicious for airplane food.
As usual, the main course was accompanied by salad, a warm roll with butter and a dessert. The salad, I didn't really care for, too sour for my liking, but the roll was great with generous amount of butter. The dessert was a slice of banana chocolate cake, which was moist, sweet and rich tasting, not bad. But banana in cakes is not my favorite to say the least.
We reached Bali at about 08.30 pm, and from there we drove to our hotel in Ubud. We rented a small car, Suzuki Splash, which costed us IDR 200.000,- per day, a pretty sweet deal! This is the second time we do this, and we're always happy to have made the decision. We like the flexibility to be able to drive anywhere we want in Bali. From Ubud to Denpasar, then to Uluwatu, then to Jimbaran, and so on.
The accommodation we picked out for the first part of our trip was the Lokha Ubud Resort, Villas and Spa. More information can be found here.
We booked this place through Agoda as we can always get a very good price from this website, and able to save more money to be allocated on food. It helps if you sign up as member of Agoda, that way you can get on the 'insider deals' which means even cheaper prices!
I have to say, it was an adventure in itself to find this hotel. It was right in the middle of wilderness!! We had to go through long winding roads up hill then down hill and up some more, and it was dark too because the streets had no street lamps, exciting...
When we finally got there it was around 11.00 pm, we could not appreciate the beauty of the surroundings since it was dark, but we were pleasantly entertained by the festive sounds of nature. It was just raining shortly before we arrived, so the frogs, crickets and other wild folks were singing their tunes, trying to attract gals for a date on this fine cool night. This is what I told Naylla as I explain to her what the weird sounds were. I have no idea what she made of that, but it was entertaining to see the look on her face.
We were also treated with some nice, cold welcome drink; mango and pineapple juice. A bit too sour for me though, but it should be refreshing during the day:).
Anyways, as we were trying to sleep that night, we realized the sounds were too loud, but for those who appreciate white noises as they sleep, this will be great. I'm not used to it, I'm sorta a light sleeper, but I slept through the night like a baby anyway :). I learnt that it was easy to get used to frogs singing in the background as you get your beauty sleep....or maybe that's just me who can easily sleep on demand. It's both a curse and blessing I tell you.
In the morning, this is the view from our balcony. Breath taking indeed. And this is the view that we got to enjoy from the bath tub as well, oh they pamper us so much.
This view is the reason I come to Ubud, so beautiful I can just spend hours looking at it, drinking tea, eating martabak manis. Divine.
This is the view of the property, it blends right in with the beautiful surroundings. I feel like I live here. This is the relaxing moment I look for in my vacation (always involve food though).
It was a cloudy day, so the sunrise cannot be properly seen, or so I thought as I went back to bed after the morning prayer :p.
It must sound odd that I'd go all the way to Bali to see views of the hills or paddy fields, as what Ubud is famous for, but it is the case for me. My daughter is fond of the beach though, so she can't wait to go there. To humor me she said that she loves this place, it's one of her favorites, but ended that with, 'Now, can we go to the beach?'. Ow Naylla, you will grow up to be a very interesting woman.
This is the restaurant where we had our breakfast. Unfortunately, they don't serve halal food. Well they did said they can arrange for it, but that was for room service. I approached one of the staffs at the omelette station and had a little chat with her, I found out the protein being used that morning was pork. She offered to make me a vegetarian omelette though, but since she made it on the same pan she just made ham omelette in (interestingly she said the meat was pork, but added it was 'sapi' which means beef in bahasa. Weird, but it was definitely pork, double confirm), I could not eat it. To be safe, we also did not order room service again from that point on, in case they don't quiet grasp what 'halal' really means. It's not just 'no pork no lard' what.
So what muslim guests can have here are the pastries, fruits and cereal I guess. Naylla had cereal and milk, while my husband only had tea.
Speaking of room service, that one time during the first night, we ordered fried noodle and fried rice. They tasted okay, but the fried noodle tasted better. The fried rice seem to be missing some salt.
One downside coming to this place is the place was advertised as a 5 star hotel, but looking at the property it was looking pretty 3 star to me. One of the staff also confirmed it was 3 star, though another said it was 4 star. They were confused. The closest to 5 star about the room was the bathroom, and that is because the view outside the window next to bath tub saved it.
I love the place for the view (love love love), but also kinda disappointed because it was not 5 star as advertised, and it is too overpriced to be a mere 3 star. Somewhat conflicted. Will I come back here again? I'm not sure, probably? They have some good points, but also some down points as some things were not as expected. Depending on what your priorities are, to each his own I guess. But this might or might not be a deal breaker for you: this place is highly recommended by tripadvisor, which means a lot more people are happy with this place.
Anyways, if I'd ever come back, most likely I'd try the villas, I think I'd have a more enjoyable time there (ooohhh this gives me an idea:maybe I could go there some time in the near future, you know to make a more informed decision, lemme ask my husband muahahahah).
From the looks of it, for the luxuries they're offering, the villas are offered on pretty cheap rates!
Perhaps to help you decide, you can see the video I made that shows more of the hotel room if you care to watch :).
So if you decide that this is the resort for you (overall it was a pleasant stay for us), you can book a room through this link. And this place is pretty popular, so better act soon before they're fully booked.
See you on my next posting, still in Bali, enjoying my tropical vacation :)
This year we pick Bali as our holiday destination*let's do cartwheels. I'm not exactly a fan of beaches, or sand, or even sunlight for that matter, but I agree that Bali is beautiful and enchanting. The landscape, the culture, the people, the food! Yummm....most importantly the food. I revolve our vacation to always be around food, and that is how I always base my itinerary on :). Do you do this as well?
I always find Bali food to be on the spicy side, which is awesome because I love spicy food! But knowing myself and the delicate stomach that I have*so sad, I decided not to go crazy on trips overseas. I tend to keep chili at a minimum, just to be on the safe side, but not completely denying myself from the joy of eating.
We flew KLM to Bali, took the afternoon flight. The reason we choose this air line is because the price is somewhat budget, but the service is that of a....a....hmmm what's the antonym of budget airline again? Anyways, the service is that of a non budget airline; in-flight entertainment, meals, baggage, seat allocation, etc.
Entertainment on board is very important as it will keep my daughter busy and prevent her from asking me if we've reached our destination constantly like a broken record. I need time to sleep, because I get motion sickness easily. Her endless questions about everything from the itinerary, the hotel we're going to, what's that on my dress, and even my outlook on life, will somewhat prevent me from peacefully napping. If I don't sleep, I'll get dizzy and loose my appetite (wait a minute, maybe that's a good thing? I do need to loose a few kilos).
It's usually a blessing if I can sleep throughout the whole flight, but I'd wake up whenever it's meal time, naturally :). We didn't arrange for any halal meal, but thankfully the stewardess told us that they have prepared halal meals for all, so we can consume them*so happy I could cry.
I'm not sure what this is called, but there was rice with chicken cooked together with some peas, some veggies and spices. It was pretty good, it was actually delicious for airplane food.
As usual, the main course was accompanied by salad, a warm roll with butter and a dessert. The salad, I didn't really care for, too sour for my liking, but the roll was great with generous amount of butter. The dessert was a slice of banana chocolate cake, which was moist, sweet and rich tasting, not bad. But banana in cakes is not my favorite to say the least.
We reached Bali at about 08.30 pm, and from there we drove to our hotel in Ubud. We rented a small car, Suzuki Splash, which costed us IDR 200.000,- per day, a pretty sweet deal! This is the second time we do this, and we're always happy to have made the decision. We like the flexibility to be able to drive anywhere we want in Bali. From Ubud to Denpasar, then to Uluwatu, then to Jimbaran, and so on.
The accommodation we picked out for the first part of our trip was the Lokha Ubud Resort, Villas and Spa. More information can be found here.
We booked this place through Agoda as we can always get a very good price from this website, and able to save more money to be allocated on food. It helps if you sign up as member of Agoda, that way you can get on the 'insider deals' which means even cheaper prices!
I have to say, it was an adventure in itself to find this hotel. It was right in the middle of wilderness!! We had to go through long winding roads up hill then down hill and up some more, and it was dark too because the streets had no street lamps, exciting...
When we finally got there it was around 11.00 pm, we could not appreciate the beauty of the surroundings since it was dark, but we were pleasantly entertained by the festive sounds of nature. It was just raining shortly before we arrived, so the frogs, crickets and other wild folks were singing their tunes, trying to attract gals for a date on this fine cool night. This is what I told Naylla as I explain to her what the weird sounds were. I have no idea what she made of that, but it was entertaining to see the look on her face.
We were also treated with some nice, cold welcome drink; mango and pineapple juice. A bit too sour for me though, but it should be refreshing during the day:).
Anyways, as we were trying to sleep that night, we realized the sounds were too loud, but for those who appreciate white noises as they sleep, this will be great. I'm not used to it, I'm sorta a light sleeper, but I slept through the night like a baby anyway :). I learnt that it was easy to get used to frogs singing in the background as you get your beauty sleep....or maybe that's just me who can easily sleep on demand. It's both a curse and blessing I tell you.
In the morning, this is the view from our balcony. Breath taking indeed. And this is the view that we got to enjoy from the bath tub as well, oh they pamper us so much.
This view is the reason I come to Ubud, so beautiful I can just spend hours looking at it, drinking tea, eating martabak manis. Divine.
This is the view of the property, it blends right in with the beautiful surroundings. I feel like I live here. This is the relaxing moment I look for in my vacation (always involve food though).
It was a cloudy day, so the sunrise cannot be properly seen, or so I thought as I went back to bed after the morning prayer :p.
It must sound odd that I'd go all the way to Bali to see views of the hills or paddy fields, as what Ubud is famous for, but it is the case for me. My daughter is fond of the beach though, so she can't wait to go there. To humor me she said that she loves this place, it's one of her favorites, but ended that with, 'Now, can we go to the beach?'. Ow Naylla, you will grow up to be a very interesting woman.
This is the restaurant where we had our breakfast. Unfortunately, they don't serve halal food. Well they did said they can arrange for it, but that was for room service. I approached one of the staffs at the omelette station and had a little chat with her, I found out the protein being used that morning was pork. She offered to make me a vegetarian omelette though, but since she made it on the same pan she just made ham omelette in (interestingly she said the meat was pork, but added it was 'sapi' which means beef in bahasa. Weird, but it was definitely pork, double confirm), I could not eat it. To be safe, we also did not order room service again from that point on, in case they don't quiet grasp what 'halal' really means. It's not just 'no pork no lard' what.
So what muslim guests can have here are the pastries, fruits and cereal I guess. Naylla had cereal and milk, while my husband only had tea.
Speaking of room service, that one time during the first night, we ordered fried noodle and fried rice. They tasted okay, but the fried noodle tasted better. The fried rice seem to be missing some salt.
 |
| Fried Rice |
 |
| Fried Noodle |
I love the place for the view (love love love), but also kinda disappointed because it was not 5 star as advertised, and it is too overpriced to be a mere 3 star. Somewhat conflicted. Will I come back here again? I'm not sure, probably? They have some good points, but also some down points as some things were not as expected. Depending on what your priorities are, to each his own I guess. But this might or might not be a deal breaker for you: this place is highly recommended by tripadvisor, which means a lot more people are happy with this place.
Anyways, if I'd ever come back, most likely I'd try the villas, I think I'd have a more enjoyable time there (ooohhh this gives me an idea:maybe I could go there some time in the near future, you know to make a more informed decision, lemme ask my husband muahahahah).
From the looks of it, for the luxuries they're offering, the villas are offered on pretty cheap rates!
Perhaps to help you decide, you can see the video I made that shows more of the hotel room if you care to watch :).
So if you decide that this is the resort for you (overall it was a pleasant stay for us), you can book a room through this link. And this place is pretty popular, so better act soon before they're fully booked.
See you on my next posting, still in Bali, enjoying my tropical vacation :)
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