Bali March 2014 (day 4) {Spa + Rock Bar}

Welcome to the final installment of my Bali trip!

 

Spending the whole day alone = cam-whoring time!

The rest of the gang went for Canyoning at 6 am while I was still recovering from surfing two days ago. Ok I kid, I just wanted to have some chillax time instead of physical strenuous activity.

Woke up at 10 ish for breakfast, fried maggi mee! And pool time.

The breakfast on repeat mode

Made a spa appointment with Murano Spa for a 12.30 pm slot which was about 10 – 15 minutes car journey from the villa. Free pick up around Semiyak area with at least 2 people going for the treatments.

I tried out the Milk Bath Massage (2 hours) + Creambath (1 hour) amounting to Rupiah 300,000 + 10% tax (~SGD 37).

The interior of Murano Spa

I was brought to this room which looked rather oriental. Loved the bamboo / wooden blinds which allowed air to flow through while maintaining some privacy. So glad to be having a spa in a semi open area instead of four concrete walls like in Singapore (those that I can afford now la).

I find Balinese massage on the more gentle side as compared to Thai massage. Do let the therapist know if you would like to have a harder massage. My therapist was a shy young (very young) girl who was polite and serious about her work. Despite some language barrier, she checked with me about twice if the pressure of her massage is ok. I appreciate that facial / massage therapists not talk unnecessarily / make noise during the session so that I can connect to myself and the Nature.

Products used during the 90 minutes massage: I couldn’t recognize if she used the Sandalwood or Frangipani mint oil (as stated on their website) but it was pleasant to me. Milk scrub and lotion didn’t smell like some brand of instant milk powder which is intrusive to my nose. Then comes the bath soak which was my favourite (YAY).

Filled with so many rose petals!!!!!

The view from the bathtub

 

Next up for the creambath which was a hair spa with neck and shoulder massage. Maybe skip this if you are running out of time. Because the room is like a rundown salon with almost ancient equipment (super hot hair dryer) and steamer. Didn’t like the scent of the conditioner they used either, like some really cheap brand.

Cabbed to the infamous Rock Bar located at Ayana Resort and Spa to meet the rest of the gang. It was about 130,000 rupiah which was quite expensive in Indonesia standards. 

I reached about 5 pm and there was a queue forming already. They let people down to the bar area quite progressively so that people don’t have to crowd around the bar area. There was an express queue for hotel stayers which I thought was being fair to the hotel stayers. Queued for about 30 minutes in the hot sun before descending down to the bar area.

The view while taking the escalator? down to the bar area.

There were couch seats available, with minimum spending of 600,000 rupiah (two-seaters) and 1.2 million rupiah (six-seaters). I think if there are six person in a group, definitely go for the unblocked couch seats! 3 snacks and 6 drinks to be shared will easily hit the 1.2 million rupiah mark.

One page savory menu
Drinks had a few pages but we only ordered from this page

So I was all alone because the rest were still stuck in some mountainous waterfall area 😦 I was hoping that they could reach before sunset. Anyways I ordered a calamari, pretty decent, batter was well seasoned and not too thick and nicely fried. Accompanying garlic olive sauce was awesome too  The Lime Passionfruit iced tea was a great relief from the blazing sun, sweetness was just right (though it tasted like the Heaven & Earth Passionfruit bottled tea).

Rock Bar provides umbrellas for guests to shield themselves from the blasting sun before sunset commence. Quite a thoughtful gesture. 

My table under the shelter of a tree.

Then a group left and I faster moved to this table with unblocked view.

Watched sunset alone like I just got ditched. hahahs. Thankfully my friends still came down despite being caught in a jam and the sun had already set.

Clockwise from top left hand corner

 Virgin Rock Exotic Delight > my second drink. A bit too syrupy taste and over sweet. Asked for extra cup of ice to dilute the drink. The dried apricot stick was quite a nice touch.

Fries Platter > most value for money on the savory menu, a crowd pleaser.

Virgin Rock Orange Breeze > Tasted like *cough cough syrup.

 Maitai > No comments

Mojito > Addition of brown sugar was quite interesting, a rather safe choice. 

AYANA Resort and Spa Bali
Jl Karang Mas Sejahtera, Jimbaran
Phone: +62 361 702222
Bali, Indonesia – 80364

Opening Hours: 4pm to 1am daily (until 2am on Friday – Sunday)

Dress Code: Smart attire is required at all times. No singlets or boardshorts, and no alcohol-branded attire will be permitted.

Ended the night off with Naughty Nuri’s again! Stick to the pork ribs!! Didn’y enjoy the ox tail soup and bratwurst.  

 Can’t wait to visit Bali again! 

 XOXO
zibbie ♔

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Bali March 2014 (day 3) {Ubud Day Trip}

 Good morning lovelies! Today is Ubud day and we hired a driver to explore Ubud!!

The evolution of my crazy hair from the moment I wake up. hee hee

We departed at 9 am from the villa and it was a super long journey to ubud. Think it was about 2 hours? I was half sleeping and half dreaming along the way. The driver gave us some stop-by options along the way, to visit the villages specializing in Batik / Jewelry / Stone Statues / Coffee etc. I wanted to buy some Batik cloth to make clothes in the future so we dropped by the batik store.

No photos because I was busy shopping. There wasn’t raw batik cloth, but there were ready made clothes / shawls / headbands etc. I got two shawls to wear as sarong and two headbands! Total damage was about SGD 40?

Then we went to the Luwak plantation, quite a foresty area which I didn’t really fancy. Imagine the creepy crawlies around ||| -__-

 

KY with her new pet!
The cat involved in the coffee bean making process

This plantation was actually just for tourist to drop by and buy the products. The actual plantation which houses about 500 cats (if my memory didn’t fail me) is higher up in the mountainous area. Oh well, make sense, it could be a place which smell of feces and hundred of cats roaming around. That, would be somewhere I do not wish to be at. *shrudders

Free sampling of the Bali coffee / tea.

We were treated to a plate of banana fritters and some sampling of the Bali coffee / tea (which you can buy home in packets) at the end of the tour. If you want to try the Luwak coffee, its price is USD 5 / 50,000 rupiah per cup. We shared a cup (espresso cup size) just for the sake of it. No comments because I am not a coffee drinker. Skip this tour if you are not planning to buy the luwak coffee. The other types of coffee / tea were over priced at the plantation.

Next up we wanted to try babi guling for lunch, since it is one of famous dish from Bali. I just want to say… if you are used to Hong Kong type roast pork, you would not really like this dish. The skin was not crispy and I couldn’t bite it into half. The pork smell was rather unpleasant. The only saving grace was the clean toilets in the restaurant.

Not my cup of tea

Another two hours drive up the mountains to Jatiluwih rice terrace paddy field.

 Paddy fields are just… paddy fields to me.

Early dinner / redemption lunch at J Terrace at Jatiluwih rice terrace. 

The famous BBM (duck) was good crispy and well-favored, especially loved the generous serving of fried long beans. Marmite chicken tasted like our sweet / sour pork dish, not really much of a marmite thing but still nice. 
Tom yum soup tasted like prawn soup?? Red / purple rice was tough as usual. Chicken soup was like instant ABC soup. 

Try the BBM if you are in the vicinity, if not don’t bother driving 2 / 3 hours up the mountains. 

Desa Jatiluwih, Kecamatan penebel, Kabupaten Tabanan, Tabanan, Bali 82152, Indonesia

Last destination for the day: Tanah Lot, is a rock formation off the Indonesian island of Bali. It is home of a pilgrimage temple, the Pura Tanah Lot (literally “Tanah Lot temple”)

We missed the sunset as we reached about 7pm. But there was still a glimpse of  sun ray in the far-away ocean. We didn’t walk to the temple area as it was too dark already, heard from the driver that a tourist was washed off from the temple path while shooting photos. Better be safe than sorry, don’t underestimate the power of the waves! 

 

 XOXO
zibbie ♔