Just a quick trip to relax, eat, drink cocktails and chill out for partner and myself and think we ticked all those boxes!
Flights - Air Asia both ways, all good !
Weather - total crap!!! Rained 7 days out of 8 , the sun finally came out the last day we were there - had to laugh. Couldn't even hire a motor bike as the roads were so bad. The first night there the storm was terrifying - a huge concrete power pole came down outside the hotel with the lightning and wires were everywhere. Give the locals their credit - much quicker than Synergy at replacing it all and getting it back to normal.
Restaurants:
Highlights (the following four all require bookings and smart casual dress standards)
Sarong - have been dying to get here the past couple of trips and it was worth the wait!!! Beautiful decor, attentive service and incredibly good food. I loved the way the dishes automatically came out as shared plates . We had the scallops and pork belly for starters followed by caramelised duck breast and a soft shell crab salad for mains! Food was so good. NO room for deserts unfortunately. Meal for 2 with a couple of cocktails and a wine each about $130.
St Regis Brunch at Boneka - Wow , thank you to those of you who raved about it.... It was everything and more and definitely a highlight of our trip. What a total spoil for us that I am so pleased we made the effort to do it. I still dream about the blinis with caviar and the lobster omelettes! Washed down with French champagne it was totally divine! Approx $200 for two with the drinks package. My partner said the freshly shucked oysters were the best he has even eaten. If possible, put this on your to do list (...)
Mama San - A part of the Sarong Group and I think personally that I enjoyed the food here more if that is possible! Again share dishes that are more 'street food' style and amazing. Great atmosphere. Only complaint is that if you eat upstairs in the lounge area you will have to tolerate the smokers grrr, so make sure you have a downstairs table. And try the snapper dumplings with black bean oil and chilli! Again, around the $130 mark for two including a glass of wine each and a couple of cocktails.
Pearl Restaurant - again another rave from the forum put this one on my list. What a lovely little romantic restaurant! We had the sharing plate for starters, duck breast and the barramundi for mains. We somehow managed to squeeze in a cheese board shared to finish. With wine and cocktails again about $130 ish. Jeremy is a delight coming round offering suggestions for your meal and everything is impeccable.
Others we went to were Zanzibar on the beach for first day breakfast, O ce an for really good fresh seafood, Tekor on the beach for dinner (about $50 for two) Cafe Marzano for pizza (yummo) Nuris Warung in Ubud for great Nasi Campur and Mie Goreng ($5 each with a beer) the Kitchen Club in Jl Laksma for a quick curry, Drops for lunch out of the heat and rain , Seaside for really good grilled Mahi Mahi, Warung Ocha for very cheap fresh Indo food. All were great, good value and delicious food. Not a single bad meal.
Accommodation:
Stayed at Kusnadi once again and must say we were disappointed this time round. Despite the price hike the only thing extra were really bad toiletries, a pair of thongs each to borrow and a bottle of water each per day. Even though the room was really clean, the bathroom had mould on the walls, the bed was broken on the base, the paint was peeling off the walls, the fridge broke down and the toilet door jammed one night and we had to use the loo in the garden during the storm until the 'engineer 'could come in the morning to fix! Started to lose the sense of humour at that stage. It is such a shame as the staff are amazing and the pool and grounds really lovely. The location is great too and it is a small property which we enjoy. Hard to justify $60 a night for this when the brand new hotels nearer the beach were offering $35 USD a night for opening specials. Not sure if the answer is to maybe to upgrade to a better room or not. We have both come home with severe chest colds too which I am concerned about with relation to the mould. Would we stay there again, not sure at this stage?
Day trips: with only 8 nights we just had the one day trip with our fave driver up to Tegagalling for a browse then on to Ubud for a visit to the Neka Museum. This is a great museum if you like art and in particular photographs from the 1930's. Naught Nuris across the road is a great spot for lunch.
Shopping: As we were there for Nyepi most of the shops closed down on Nyepi Eve (Thursday from lunchtime onwards and some were still closed on Sunday before we left! Still managed to get some cushion covers made at Jaya Pillows, partner found great jeans at Mata Hari, some dvds and other odds and ends. Bought heaps of toiletries as usual at Carefour! Thought Geneva was pretty tired, didn't get much there just some table runners. Both got our hair done at Mutiara next door to Kusnadi - very good.
Nyepi Day - what a wonderful experience! The parade of the Ogah Ogah was amazing and felt so privileged to be a part of the fun. The looks on the kid's faces were priceless! The day itself was so relaxing just floating in the pool, eating, reading our books, napping and generally doing nothing which is what the doctor ordered! The evening was so quiet and could not believe how totally dark and quiet it was - not even the dogs barked! We really enjoyed the experience, but feel we would not go back there again for Nyepi as you really lose up to 4 days which would be an issue if there for just a quick break or business. Must say though I did feel nervous going in to Carefour on Nyepi Eve with the Terrorist dramas that week. The place was packed and queues an hour long. Got a bit spooked as could not see any fire exits and the crowds were huge. Lucky we had gone there first day for our main supplies so just left there and went to Bintang instead for Nyepi supplies.
I hope I haven't waffled on too much, any questions fire away!