Bali!

Mr Ng and I had the pleasure of attending a wedding last week in Bali - the first time either of us have ever visited Indonesia (although I wonder if Bali is to Indonesians what Hawaii is to Americans as in it's not really Indonesia lol). For some reason we've never really had the urge to holiday in Bali and so we thought why not take the opportunity seeing as there was a wedding there and all.

Things didn't get off a great start when airport 'porters' at Denpasar tried to force us to give them some tips after they took our luggage through customs without our permission (thank goodness they left us alone after we refused). But after a short wait we were able to escape the dodginess of the airport and were soon being driven to the hotel in the comfort of the hotel van.

Since the wedding location was in the Seminyak area, we stayed at a place called the L Hotel Seminyak which is part of the Small Luxury Hotels chain. The hotel is in fact still in its soft opening period and so we found that every single staff member we encountered really went above and beyond to help us out and make us feel welcome. And there were so many of them! I think only about 5 or 6 rooms were occupied when we were there so it really did feel like we had the whole place to ourselves.

 lobby

 

pool area right next to the Lola restaurant

our very open plan Legian suite

 detailing above the bed

 rice paddy view from our room

best part about the Hotel - Kiehl's amenities!

free minibar drinks replenished daily

waiting for us in our room one night, so cute

Two other great things about the hotel that proved to be indispensable:

- the free transport to anywhere in the Seminyak area which was an absolute Godsend in the heat, especially considering that the L is a fair few minutes drive away from the main Seminyak restaurant/shopping district;

- our very own butler who made us restaurant and spa reservations and even arranged a sightseeing trip to Ubud for us complete with driver.

 But more on Ubud later. After breakfast, our first day was spent exploring Kuta:

 Kuta Beach

We then tried to escape the heat at the yet to be completed Beachwalk shopping mall where we cooled down with Andersen's ice cream and had a not-so-great lunch in the food court:

looked better than it tasted

But our dinner later that day at a place called Ultimo more than made up for it. Who knew that Bali had such great Italian food?

Day 2 - a quick lunch at Lola

 

and then it was off to Ubud, with the first stop on the agenda being a coffee and tea plantation:

our first (and probably Mr Ng's last) encounter with the famous kopi luwak, Mr Ng said it was way too strong for him

my little packet of saffron and tamarind tea souvenir

The rice terrace was next and it was by far my favourite part of the trip and the one thing I had really wanted to see in Bali:

enjoying the view with some banana fritters

Absolutely breathtaking. And the fritters weren't bad too! Next was a Balinese temple:

and then our driver dropped us off to explore the Ubud area at our leisure before we headed to our dinner reservation at Tripadvisor's highest rated restaurant Melting Wok Warung:

best table in the house

 

This place is super small (I overheard they only have about 7 tables) and so we were relieved we had a reservation since so many people were turned away during the time we were there. But everything about it was absolutely fantastic from the food to the atmosphere to the lovely French owner whose Laotian husband is the chef in the kitchen. It was definitely worth the 1+ hour drive from Seminyak just to dine here.

Day 3 began with a walk along the quieter Seminyak beach,

followed by some relaxing spa time back at the hotel's L Spa - truly one of the best value massages I've had to date,

a quick bite to eat again at hotel,

and then it was wedding time and what a truly beautiful wedding it was..

Weddings are so much more fun when you're a guest!

Our final day in Bali was spent exploring the many boutique shops along Jalan Laksmana where I managed to pick up a few things to remember the trip by (much to Mr Ng's annoyance),

followed by a very satisfying lunch at a place called Grocer & Grind,

 

and before we knew it, it was time to go to the airport. 

To be honest I'm not sure we will ever go back to Bali but I am glad we went. For me Bali falls in to the same category as Perth - once is probably enough!