22/6-24/6
My OH and I went to Ku De Ta for breakfast on Wednesday morning. We both ordered the big breakfast (120k I think). The big breakfast cones with your choice of juice (orange for me and pineapple for him), coffee (latte for me and Cappachino for him) toast, sautéed mushrooms, tomato, baked beans and two eggs any way (mine fried sunny side up him, scrambled). We also got a plate of mixed fruit and it was pretty decent with a bit of everything. The breakfast was rather filling and we thought it was good value for money.
After breakfast we made our way to the Bintang Supermarket to exchange more money at the BMC. The rate on the day was 9070. We walked back to the villa from here and I was shopping as we were doing so. In terms of shopping, I really like it in this area.
We spent the remainder of the afternoon by the pool suntanning and swimming.
The plan for dinner on Wednesday night was for a romantic one with OH and I. I was left in charge of selecting the venue. I made reservations during the day for a romantic table for two at the Breeze Restaurant at the Samaya for the sunset.
We arrived a bit before 5:30pm and we were escorted to our table on a patch of soft grass closest to the beach. The ambience of the venue and setting was very romantic. I enjoyed watching the sunset whilst sipping on my cocktail. The staff were more than happy to take photos of the diners as the sun was setting.
They bought out a trio of bread to share. We ordered some chicken satay and squid to share for the appetizers. For the main, we ordered the 600grams of Wagyu beef to share. It came with a huge side of spinach and pureed mash potato. Both sides had a drizzle of garlic. The food was presented on the plates very well.
For desert, I ordered the canoli (it was listed as cannelloni on the menu). I think it really was a brandy snap filled with cream on a bed of strawberry sauce and jelly. My OH ordered the Creme Brûlée. Presentation once again was impeccable. Our meal and experience here we rated very highly. I'm sorry I can't recall the cost of our meal in Rupiah however, we worked out at the time that it cost us a bit over $150AUD for our meal and drinks, which we thought was reasonably priced in terms of Aussie dollar cost for fine dining when comparing like for like back home.
For those that like to treat themselves to fine dining, I was keen on a meal with a bit of this and a bit of that so, I asked if they had a degustation menu. I was advised by the waitress that they only do al a carte.
Mum and the rest of the clan decided that they were going to eat in by ordering the villa room service. They all selected a main and a desert from the menu. They thought the price seemed steep for Bali but thought we are on holidays and lets do it! 2 men arrived an hour after ordering with two massive hot boxes. I was told that mum went to set the table and they said "no, no, no - we bring everything, we do everything". One of the staff was the chef, wearing the chef attire and the other man was dressed in the male Balinese attire. They had bought all the silverware, crockery, glasses etc. They set the table and presented different types of bread and condiments. They served the party as you would be served in a restaurant. They rated the experience a 10/10. The others thought that they were ordering takeaway and they were going to dump the food and run. They were surprised and not expecting the full service provided.
On Thursday morning (23/6), we (all but mum) were picked up early by our driver from Pelangi Bali Mountain bike tour. We set off for our long drive up the mountain. On the way up, we stopped off at the coffee plantation and we were shown around the plantation and provided information about the different coffee and teas that they grow. We were shown the paradoxurus, a tree-dwelling animal that is a kind of civet. It is a nocturnal marsupial who eat the coffee beans. The stomach acids and enzymes the beans ferment in have a very different affect than fermenting beans in water. This coffee is known as the Kopi Luwak.
We were seated on a table and provided with a selection of tea and coffee to sample. We had the Balinese coffee, lemongrass tea, ginger tea, ginseng coffee and hot cocoa. We were game to try a cup of the Kopi Luwak. The others didn't like it and I didn't mind it. I liken the Kopi Luwak to Turkish Coffee. The coffee was thick and full flavour like the Turkish coffee.
OH and I really enjoyed the lemongrass tea and ginseng coffee. I didn't like ginger tea, but then again I don't really like ginger. OH likes it though. We purchased at the store some of the lemongrass tea, ginger tea, ginseng coffee and the Kopi Luwak. We bought 2 packets of the Kopi Luwak, one for mum to try here and one for dad, my brother and his wife to try back home.
From there, we made our way up to the mountain and had breakfast in the restaurant overlooking the volcano. Breakfast consisted of 3 fried bananas and some pineapple and honeydew. We had all overdosed on coffee so didn't have anymore with breakfast.
After breakfast we were briefed and commenced our journey. The bike ride is a 40 km ride into Ubud. We stopped every so often to have something pointed out and explained to us. We were then taken through someone's home (compound) in a village with an explanation of village life in Bali. I thought it was great for the kids to see that the whole world don't have Wii's and flat screen tv's and the difference between their diet and culinary experiences to others around the world.
The bike ride has one very steep hill which nobody in our group got up. Other than that, the other hills weren't bad and most of us got up without stopping. I would have to say that a majority of the ride is downhill and on even ground.
As breakfast was very light, we were starving by 1pm. You have the opportunity to stop at a rice paddy however, as we were starving and we has seen rice paddies on previous trips, we cycled and made our way straight to the Bintang Puri Cottages for lunch. The restaurant has a stunning pool overlooking the rice paddies.
Lunch consisted of boiled rice, fried noodles, veggies and chicken in a buffet, for self service. The boys went for a dip in the pool after lunch and us adults enjoyed a drink whilst the boys were in the pool. We left for our return journey back to the villa at around quarter past three.
SIL and I were so sore after the bike ride that we declared that there will be no Jiggy Jiggy tonight, much to our partners' horror. The seats were quite firm and the area where our a$$ cheek meet the thigh is so, so sore. I was standing up for some of the time and took myself back to the time when as kids you pedal standing up on your older brothers BMX bike.
We had a coffee at the villa on our return, to help wake us up some what as we all felt pooped. We went to Magic fingers. BIL had a 30 min massage, I had a foot massage (Reflexology), mum, SIL and Master 12 had the fish spa. OH and master 10 remained in the villa during this time.
We were feeling hungry so checked out the menu at Ultimo. We were told it's a 15 minute wait for a table for 7 which would be perfect considering it's a 15 minute walk from the villa. I had the barramundi, mum had the lamb off the bone, SIL and master 12 had the chicken, master 10 ordered the Spag Bol (just like we are at nonna's), BIL had oysters for appetizers and the Ultimo pizza for main and the OH had a steak. All up I think our meals were 750k for the 7 and the presentation was really good. This place was really busy though and it was loud indoors. We were seated on a table outdoors which was nice as we could all have a conversation without yelling.
As we were all pooped from the bike ride, we all crashed once we returned to the villa.
We are checking out of the villa today and checking into the Dynasty for the remainder of our trip.
I personally really enjoyed the villa and really enjoyed the shopping and restaurants in this area. I think the kids may have been bored some of the time however, they have the Dynasty to look forward to now and meeting other kids.
I'm personally looking forward to knocking back cocktail buckets at the Dynasty and the buffet breakfast!
Until next time......