Bali, In A Weekend

Posted on 10.22.08 to Clare, Travels by Joan

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Well, technically, it was a few more days than a weekend. But the amount of time there spent actually doing stuff, added up to a weekend, I suppose. Here are 5 things to do in Bali, over a weekend (of sorts).

1. Stay in a nice hotel

The view from the restaurant.

We stayed at Uma Ubud in Bali, which is also where the wedding was held. The service, on most accounts was exceptional – the people were polite and were very quick to offer solutions to anything we asked for.

Also, like I mentioned before, they had a pair of Golden Retrievers running around, that were absolutely charming. That was a big tick in my books, and I wish I could have brought my own doggies there too.

However, the Junior Manager at the hotel made this GIANT boo-boo during the last night there. I think they double booked themselves or something, the Junior Manager made the judgement call to move one of our distant relative’s belongings to another room, WITHOUT asking for prior permission. INCLUDING THE ITEMS FROM THE SAFE! Our relatives came back to the nasty surprise after a day out, and all of us were shocked. Imagine that! They should’ve upgraded the newly arrived guests or something, instead of moving personal belongings around, without permission even!

I was so paranoid and was going to tell room service to not come by my room till I leave the next day. But the hotel did some damage control and waived all hotel charges for that relative and the General Manager apologised profusely. I hope that Junior Manager learns a very important lesson from this.

2. Relax

The patio at my room. Watched the sunrise there on my last morning, having woken up at 5am or something.

The sunrise – taken with the iPhone.

We spent a good part of the trip eating, and relaxing. It was quite hard for me at first, having gotten used to a lifestyle that arrested all my senses. I was always doing something — driving, listening to music, watching television, surfing the internet, chatting, Facebooking… I literally had something to do all the time. I guess I was afraid of boredom and always had to find something to do. So when I was in Bali, I was rather edgy at first and it felt like I was going through detox.

However, waking up the next morning was really nice. I could hear the birds, the crickets… it really felt like a holiday getaway. So I learnt to let go, started to relax and started to enjoy doing nothing.

3. Eat dirty food

The BBQed ribs and chicken were really delicious at Nurin’s. It was just a 5 minute walk from our hotel, and we ate there almost every day. Which, on hindsight, probably wasn’t a good idea because I probably got sick from it too. I guess it didn’t help that I was eating a truckload of eggs every day too! The hotel’s egg breakfast was too delicious to pass up on, and I am a HUGE EGG LOVER. So is Clare, by the way.

The interior of Nurin’s, featuring local artwork.

Clare waiting to get fed!

And as mentioned before too, a must try is the crispy duck at Dirty Duck, or rather, Babek Bengil. Sorry, forgot to take photos as I was busy stuffing my face.

Young coconut, mango, papaya and passionfruit juice. Yum! From the hotel, at breakfast.

4. Spend precious, quality time with the family

That’s Clare after her afternoon nap. We just had a lazy afternoon of swimming, and lazing about before attending the wedding. I was out by the patio when I heard her calling very sweetly for me.

Of course, I had to endure my fair share of people asking me when #2 is coming along, and how I should be raising my daughter, but because I was mostly in this zen state of mind, I just nodded my head and said OK to everything anyone suggested.

5. Attend a wedding

This was taken with my iPhone.

It was a sweet wedding. And I’m really happy for the couple, who are so perfectly matched. I wish Arthur & Aileen many, many years of bliss ahead.

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I was serious when I said that I didn’t take much photos. This is probably all that I have! Check on Terence’s blog if you want to see more (if and when he uploads them, that is).

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