Weekend in Bali

Hello Everyone!

My family, some friends and I headed out to Bali over the weekend. It's my first time ever going there so I was very excited to go there and experience it! I'm always up for a tropical island getaway every now and then, so Bali was something I was looking forward to, plus I was just excited for something that would just help me to reset myself really quickly! 

Honestly, the trip did not start off too great. We pretty much got played out by the taxi driver (in Singapore) which did give my parents and I quite the panic attack. I was pretty flustered and upset because it was pretty early in the morning and traveling, in general, does make me feel worked up in general just because there're so many things to do at the airport and it needs to be done at a specific time. 

However, when we did get to the airport (45 minutes behind schedule), it was pretty much smooth sailing from there, so I managed to take a little breather as we went along our merry way and had some lunch. 

Main point, we got on the plane on time.

Day 1:

Upon landing in Bali, I realised it was pretty darn hot over there, to be honest, I'm not even sure why I thought it wasn't going to be scorching in Bali. It didn't really feel as humid as Singapore though. I wasn't dripping in sweat the moment I stepped out of the air conditioning, but it was definitely hot. 

About an hour's drive to the villa~

And we were greeted with a nice little message! 

I forgot what was in this juice but it was sooo good!

Look at that view!

All the adults having a little tour of the place!

(I say 'adults' because I'm literally the only person around my age that went on this trip) 

This is my room~

So this part is actually a sitting area that is connected to another room (where my parents slept) and since I was around, they turned this into another separate room! The sofa is actually a sofa bed, so they did that up for me~

Like so~

The view from my room~

The bathroom opens up to this little pond-ish area at the back~

Quite a big bathroom!

By the time we reached the villa, it was about 5pm, so we settled down with all our things and walked around the house, seeing the other rooms and stuff (you can see more photos on their website here)

Some night shots~

I didn't really want to take photos of the other bedrooms just because we all had already settled in so a lot of personal belongings were around. So I didn't think it would have been nice to snap any photos of videos, but the place, is really really amazing! 

Went to Vincent's for dinner!

THEY HAD GNOCCHI!

I'm always excited whenever a restaurant has gnocchi because it is one of my favourite pasta (well, technically, they're dumplings?) so I didn't think much when I saw this on the menu! The lighting wasn't too great for pictures because we were seated outside, so it was dim and moody (in a good way). It was honestly a really great experience and if I came back to Bali, I definitely need to come back here.

Day 2:

Woke up at about 8ish in the morning, since we were going to head out at about 9.30am! I didn't really expect to go exploring during this trip, I literally thought it was just gonna be chilling by the poolside, having infinite zen moments and all that, but there were arrangements made for the ladies to wander around while the men had their endless rounds of Mahjong (in case you're wondering, this holiday was with my dad's mahjong friends LOL). 

Breakfast made by Eka~

So I found that I had taken a liking to the coffee she made for me, and I think I had about 4-5 cups that morning. Also, you guys know how much I love my scrambled eggs, its my go-to breakkie! I ate so much on this trip (everything was so good), I literally gained 2kg just over the weekend (no joke), so I need to really discipline myself now because my weight is getting way beyond control!!! 

Look at all that pretty-ness.

We did have a few stops here and there and Eka was bringing us around. She is absolutely wonderful and I had so much fun giggling away with her on this trip!

Guwang Art Market

First stop, was the Guwang Art Market! We did see quite a few things here, and more or less, a lot of the same things in different shops, It did remind me a little bit of Bangkok's Pratunam Market, you do need to have your bargaining game on though! 

It was mostly paintings and clothes in the main area~

In the shops near the roads there were loads of dreamcatchers (in a million sizes) and products made from shells! I didn't really buy much during this trip so there will be no haul video this time round!

Fruits in the carpark area~

Just putting it out there, soursop juice is freaking amazing. The fruits tasted so fresh and sweet, it really was amazing!!

Next stop: Krisna Yuna Gallery

Here, they make all things silver: pendants, earrings, rings, bracelets and even home decor items with Silver inclusions! We did get a little tour/introduction about how they go about making their products!

All done by hand!

Got myself a little citrine ring!

Lunch Stop: Bridges Restaurant

In case you're wondering why it's called Bridges, this was right outside the restaurant!

So so delicious!

Last stop of the day: Bali Pulina

Where they make Luwak Coffee

If you're wondering what that is, the coffee beans are fed to the animal, and then it's processed (by that I mean ingested and passed out) and the seeds that have not  been digested are then washed and dried then roasted and then you have, Luwak Coffee.

So before everyone cringes, I was told that there are two layers to the coffee beans and when the animal eats them, only the first layer is ingested and the 'inner' bean (which is what we need to make the coffee) is then left after it's been 'processed'. 

SO TECHNICALLY WE AREN'T DRINKING POO.

I'd say it's just natural means of stripping the 'fruit' down to the bean.

Various flavourings that can be put into the coffee!

The beans getting dried after the 'process'

It's roasted over the fire for about 45 mintues before it's ready to be ground down to powder!

You can try the coffee out at their little cafe!

Tasters!

Behold: the Luwak Coffee

Honestly, it's pretty good. It does have quite a bit of the 'sediments' from the ground bean but it's pretty much alright if you put it through a press. Yes, I did get some to bring home and I'm trading my everyday Nestle gold for this and other coffee powder that Eka had bought for me!

I know I said Bali was hot, but it was surprisingly cooling at the coffee plantation!

After taking a million photos and drinking endless coffee, we had a long drive back home. We did get caught up and missed the sunset, but it's alright since we were having a seafood barbeque dinner! I'm not a seafood lover, obviously, but there were loads of food I could eat so I was very very well fed. Everyone else definitely enjoyed the fresh seafood!

Eka makes a pretty good mojito! I think I had about 4 glasses.

Hot dogs

Vegetable soup (which I had endless servings of! YUM)

Sweet potatoes (I ate about 4 HAHA)

Prawns

Fish

Lobster

Corn (this was amazing with their homemade garlic butter sauce)

mushrooms

Fruit

I realised we did buy marshmallows but I completely forgot about them, but on the bright side, that's good because we had so much to eat that we didn't finish the corn, sweet potatoes and the mushrooms!

Had a little dip in the pool after that, obviously I didn't burn much because I can't exactly swim and I was having quite the food coma. But the water felt so nice and warm and I slept pretty well that night! I did try to take my gopro in but since it was night time, the footage didn't turn out that great, so I might reconsider putting that into this week's vlog!

Day 3:

Final day in Bali, I was having so many mixed feelings about going back because I felt like there was not enough time to really see a lot of Bali in one weekend, but I knew I had things to do back home. I was pretty much torn at this point. 

First stop: Water Palace!

My favourite place of the trip, for sure.

Had a pretty cool tour guide who took endless boomerangs and photos for us!

It's just so peaceful!

The architecture here is really amazing!

Well, technically I meant in Bali in general, but this place had so many statues and they were all so intricate and breathtaking! The wood carvings in Bali was also amazing, there were quite a few wood pieces at the villa and they were all just so nice to look at!

Look at mum being all tourist-y!

I LOVE IT I LOVE IT

The fishes were just MASSIVE too!

Had a little hop around~

And had a giant coconut!

Lunch Stop: Bali Asli Restaurant

I'm not sure what this drink is to be honest, it's like a little sweet spiced soda..?

Coolest menu ever

crackers and sambal

Moringa Soup (so so good!!)

I'm not sure what this was called, but it's like a little bit of everything, pretty much like a taster?

Palm Mojito!!

And dessert (my fave)

We headed straight back to the villa after that, we had packing and all that to do since we were leaving the villa just before dinner time so we could grab a bite on the way to the airport! Had myself a nice little nap since I was feeling sleepy (basically food coma) and I wasn't gonna do much since I didn't have much packing to do!

Dinner!

I forgot what the place was called, but it was a little shop on the way to the airport!

And.. I bade farewell to Bali )': 

The last bit of the trip was honestly quite a rush. We somehow managed to get the flight timing wrong so we had to make a mad rush for the plane the moment we hit the airport. Honestly, stuff like this happens whenever I've to sit on budget airlines, I'm not sure why (probably my luck lol), but it seems to happen a lot and I already have a dislike for budget airlines because it's so cramp and I just hate having that claustrophobia sink in for a good 2+ hours. 

But I managed to sleep through 50% of the flight so it wasn't all too bad, and there were no wailing children which was a bonus! Got home safe and on time and that's all that mattered! 

With that, I've come to the end of this blogpost! I hope you guys enjoy it, do look forward to the vlog that's coming out on Thursday as always! I'll see you guys in my next post! 

xx

Shayne