Mia's Travel Log: Bali Day 1 - Uluwatu Temple and Jimbaran Seafood Bay

Earlier this month, I finally stepped foot into Bali with ZH and KK for a 4D3N short trip. Through my cousin, who visited Bali earlier this year, I got the contacts for a Driver and Guide, Bli Made, and planning became a breeze as we only need to provide him a rough idea of our expectations and likings, and he will come up with a well planned itinerary for us. Being the ever so indecisive us, we randomly asked questions to change bits and parts of the itinerary, and then in the end changed our mind again and decided to stick to the original plan, however with just one change to it. 

Hahaha, sounds annoying yeah? But Made remained very helpful and friendly throughout our endless email exchanges until everything is settled via a confirmation of our flight details. 

And off we went via Air Asia (my favourite budget airline carrier so far....)

Having Batam as the only place in Indonesia I've ever visited before Bali, I was pleasantly surprised to find some awesomely clean washrooms at the airport when I touched down. To be honest, I have a westerner's expectation of a clean washroom, and that means, wet floors = dirty. Be it just cleaned (hence wet) or what, I'll still feel annoyed and slightly grossed out by the wet floors. So a clean washroom to me is really kind of a big deal. :) 

Custom clearance took a while, though. About 1.5 hours. Our flight touched down at almost 3pm and after more than a hour of queuing, we finally found Made waiting for us outside, holding a tag with my name on it, at around 4:45pm and off we go to kick start our half day tour for Day 1. 

Ulutawu Temple, which was about 1.5 hours drive from the airport. 

Entrance fee is 20,000 RP, which converts to about SGD $2.20. Upon being handed the tickets, we were called over by a few uncles sitting by a stack of sarongs and stashes at a corner, who will tie the sarong (if you're wearing shorts or short skirts) or stash for you. After which, they will usually give you a bunch of bananas to feed the monkey, after which they will ask you to pay for it. So if you do not wish to feed the "resident monkeys" of the temple, just tell them no and do not take the bananas.

And look who's here to welcome us as we enter the temple premise! Two monkeys, one enjoying a banana and another battling a corn.
The monkeys here are pretty mischievous, so be sure that you do not carry any loose articles and accessories like glasses, caps or necklaces as you enter the temple. Backpacks seems to be one of their target, for a poor lady got mobbed by one of the monkey, who sprung out from nowhere and jumped onto her back, trying to snatch her backpack. Thank goodness the sarong uncles were nearby and they quickly came to shoo it away. Else, I doubt any other tourists will dare to lend a helping hand, regardless of how gorgeous the damsel in distress is.

A very humble looking entrance...

That literally led us into the sunlight. Hahaha!
The view that awaited us was simply breathtaking.

And mind you, my samsung note 2 camera did not do the scenery any justice.

Nope, not at all.

And while walking, we saw a curious sight. This male monkey, very fat indeed, was sitting side by side with other two uncles by the parapet wall like 3 old friends. And yes, as I snapped the picture, the monkey peed, hence that trail of wetness down the wall. Errrrhmmmm....

Basically the number of monkeys there is alarmingly huge, so if you're not a big fan of monkey, or worse, terrified of them, you might want to think twice on visiting Uluwatu Temple. And yes, you'll be missing out a lot of awesome scenery too.

A shot of why I believe the monkeys here are exceptionally mischievous due to training by the locals. As a tourist couple walked past us, this monkey reached out with lightning quick hands and snatched the glasses off the man's face. I was really shocked as I thought the monkey went crazy and scratched his face or what, turned out it just grabbed his glasses and ran off to sit by the wall near a local little boy, who immediately used an apple to exchange for the glasses. Needless to say, at a price. I have no idea how much the boy asked for, but I heard the lady mumbling, "I don't have it either..." as she rummaged through her purse....

 One final, and also my favourite shot of the monkey.
"Rise of the Great Sage"

Due to our delay in clearing the customs, we ended up watching the sunset (hidden by a huge piece of cloud) here instead of during our seafood dinner at Jimbaran.

A group shot before we leave... heeheehee!

And the rest of the premise basically just look like so. Stairs and pavilions, which got me scratching my head and wondering, just where is the main temple building? We never got to find out, for we quickly rushed off for dinner at Jimbaran, which is about another 1 hour drive away.

Jimbaran Seafood Cafe is basically a stretch of humble looking restaurants located side by side, and according to Made, their prices are all the same. So we chose this restaurant, Teba Mega Cafe, with fresh seafood in tanks and took up a couple set, which can easily feed the 3 of us, at 600,000 RP.

 We were given a number tag and asked to head into the seating area at the back...

 Surprise, surprise! We're dining by the sea! If only we made it for sunset over here, it's going to be the best dinner ever.

And here's our dinner for the first night in Bali...

 Some pretty huge clams (spoon size), grilled fish and grilled squid on skewers.

Prawns and lobsters...

And kangkong.

All these, along with 2 bottles of beer, cost us about SGD $65, which I do believe is very pricey (in their local context) as you can't find a single local diner there. Diners are 100% tourists, and mainly Caucasians.
Food wise, it's good. Hard to find fault with dishes made from very fresh seafood. However, the squid on skewers did pale in comparison to the rest, for it's pretty tasteless and a little overdone, thus rubbery.
Even though I'm pretty bias towards the clams, and they're really all so fat and chewy, I guess the prawns have to win the best dish for the night. I'm not really a prawn eater but I loved every bite of the fat, juicy prawns, which were so fresh that pulling them out from the shells were a piece of cake.

And after the satisfying dinner,  we hopped back onto Made's car for yet another 1.5 hours drive down to Ubud, where our accommodation, Matahari Cottages is located. Prior to setting off, Made was really thoughtful to help ring them up to inform that we will be on our way while we were having dinner, just in case they decided to close off the reception and take it as a no show.

And here's where our nightmare started.
Upon checking in, the staff told us that the room we booked, CinnabarTearoom, was having a leakage issue and they have no choice but to shift us to a bigger family room, the Gua room, which is the largest room at Matahari and also perched high over a ravine.

 Here's a picture of the reception area.... Really simple and humble looking place.

 The area that surrounded the Gua Room, which looked a lot better in the day as compared to in the night.

As you can see, the balcony basically faces a forest. It looks so tranquil and scenic in the day, yes. But at night! Oh no, go on... freak out all you want if you're an insectophobic like me.

And yes, the bathroom is almost open-air, if not for the rattan blinds that we lowered. Yes, I doubt there's anybody in the forest to peek at us showering, but still...

Okay, so here comes the nightmarish story. First up, we were already disappointed that Cinnabar is not available and we were given this Gua room. Do check out the links above if you haven't, and you'll understand our disappointment after you view the room pictures. And after checking out the condition of the room, we were more put off by the overall uncleanliness of the room.
Floor was so dirty, it felt sandy to our feet. Bed linen has stains ALL OVER and smells salty-sourish. One of the lights in the bathroom has fused, and the staff merely nodded her head in acknowledgement when we pointed it out to her. There's supposed to be 2 ceiling fans, but one was obviously broken and removed, and we were provided yet another broken standing fan for replacement. Broken, as in it still spins and creates wind, but right up at the ceiling only. You can't get the fan to blow in any other specific directions, because it's broken. Lastly, windows were all sagging and it's so hard/nearly impossible to shut them tight. I'll get to why it's important to shut the windows in a while.
By this time, the 3 of us were either too tired from all the traveling in the day, or just stumped beyond words at the condition of the room to think of what to do or request from the staff as she started to leave the room.
And just as she reached the door, ZH caught sight of a big fat lizard hanging at the ceiling above the door and she kind of exclaimed to the staff in shock.
The staff merely look up at the lizard, and turned back to ZH, bemused.
"It's just lizard. They're harmless."
And off she went.
Mehhhh....

And so, left without any other choices, we started to unpack and wash up for the night. All was still relatively good, and we were sitting around, sharing the snacks ZH has packed for us and chatting quite happily when I noticed this big brown thing flying across the room and towards the small table outside the bathroom.
I yelled and pointed at it, thinking it was a dragonfly, until ZH shrieked: OMG, a flying cockroach!

WHAT THE F*CK?!

 Ever since we settled on Matahari Cottages (as recommended on Lonely Planet), we knew that we will not be having air-conditioned room, and we were prepared to be feeding mosquitoes for 3 nights in exchange for some uniquely good experience. But heck, dirty rooms and flying cockroaches are nowhere near good, and definitely not uniquely good! It was also after the night's fiasco did we reflect on our planning and wondered, why didn't we ever consider that we might have an overall insect problem and not just mosquitoes issue?

Anyway, we basically had a standoff with this cockroach, which was flying all around the area near the bathroom, entering and exiting, and finally entering again while the three of us clutched onto a pillow each, completely at lost for what to do, other than missing our fathers.
Oh well, the usual cockroach-killer of a household, aren't they? How noble our fathers are!

Finally, the cockroach scurried into the bathroom again and kk courageously (and also with lightning quick hands) close the door to the bathroom shut, trapping it inside.
At this point, a lightbulb went off in my head and I suggested to head over to the concierge to ask for help to raise the rattan blinds (because the last time we saw the cockroach, it was resting on the blinds), and chances are whichever staff who came will have to help get rid of this pesky cockroach as well.

Feeling slightly more at ease with a game plan in mind, we picked up our room key and opened the door, only to have ZH yelling again, "OMG, what is that flying thing? It's huge!"
Okay, plan aborted. And nope, we never got to find out what that huge UFO (unknown flying object, literally) was, for we all decided to keep all the windows as tightly shut as possible (and heck the stuffiness, protecting ourselves from more UFO is more important!) and pray for sleep to find us, making a mental note to kick up a ruckus the next day and demand that we get back our intended room.

Read about my Day 2 HERE

Till then,
Mia

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Mia's Review: Staycation at Village Hotel Katong

As mentioned in a few of my previous food reviews, DS, Sa, T and I went for a staycation at Katong V hotel during the long weekend last month. 

The new Village Hotel Katong – the flagship Village hotel, reflects the strong Peranakan heritage of the surrounding Joo Chiat and Katong district in Singapore.

Village Hotel Katong is also one of the few hotels located in the eastern region of Singapore, which is within 10-minute drive to the Singapore Expo and 15-minute drive to the Changi International Airport, Central Business District and Orchard Road shopping belt. It is also within 5-minute walk to the Parkway Parade Shopping Mall and 10-minute walk to the East Coast Park. 

-image and excerpt from stayfareast-

I'll recommend that you enter the lobby via the main entrance that leads towards Parkway Parade. The other entrance via the NTUC fairprice may be a mini maze as I could hardly remember how I managed to find the way to the lobby right now. All I remember now is that it involved going up the escalator and a bit of walking around cluelessly in circles (despite attempting to find and follow the direction boards) before T and I stumbled upon the hotel lobby filled with colourful arm chairs and seat cushions. 

After checking in, we were given 2 access cards to the room and was politely declined to be given the complimentary parking coupon. The coupons are only to be requested when we are leaving the compound and there's also a time limit (I heard the concierge staff explaining to Sa and DS) to it, so I guess it stops patrons from keeping the coupon for future usage because they will expire. But don't quote me on that, I merely overheard parts of their conversation. I might be wrong about this.

Taking the card access lift, we came to the 11th storey where our deluxe room was located.

Specially designed with a warm fuschia Peranakan colour on a backdrop of grey motifs, our Deluxe Katong rooms are located on levels 9 to 12, offering an excellent view of Marine Parade, East Coast and culturally rich Katong district. The room sizes start from 29 square metres with an accessible balcony and bathroom equipped with a standing rain shower to rejuvenate and relax in a cozy and comfortable space. The room also comes equipped with a full range of amenities tailored to suit the savvy business traveller, complete with complimentary wired Internet and Wi-Fi access and 46-inch LED TVs with in-built port access to portable electronic devices.
-excerpt from stayfareast-

And now, showing off our pretty fuschia room....

Regardless of whether it's intentional or not, I still love the reflective backdrop behind the bed head, that seems to be made up of ancient coin motifs. The two bedside lamps that kind of resemble lanterns, but in modern designs, also added on a mod-nostalgic feel to the entire room.

Don't you love the chest in between those fushia chairs? I admit I do love those medieval, old English looking chests more than these Chinese chests. But I still love them all in general. 

However, I did try to open it up but didn't know exactly how to play with that complicated lock set. 

Opening the sliding door right behind that chest, I stepped out to the very small balcony...

And was greeted with these views. Erm, not something I'll call scenic or nice. Well, unless you're lucky and there's some hot bikini babes or topless 6-pac hunk swimming at the pool of the condominium/serviced residence nearby. 

But I was disappointed to find out that there's no bath tub, only standing shower. Was still thinking that I can grab a bath bomb from Lush and watch it sizzle in the bath. :(

Disappointment of not having a bath tub aside, everything else about the room was more than acceptable. The room is spick and span, and looks new. I know the hotel facade looks pretty old and run down, but it's a whole new world inside. Trust me, I currently work for Quality Assurance in the Building and Construction industry. When I say the room is good, it is. Moreover, iPhone users can leave your charging cables at home, for you can charge your phone at the radio (or whatever it is) placed on the beside table.

Leaving the room, we ventured to the 4th floor where all the facilities are located. The pool, gym, and restaurant. Walking by Katong Kitchen, we stepped out to the outdoor area of the building and came to the pool....

Which is a pretty small round pool....

Yet deep. 

Yes, it has a slope to gradient with 1.8m as the deepest part of the pool. But even as a non-swimmer (or perhaps it's actually because I AM a non-swimmer), I can obviously see that this small round pool is more suited for dips rather than to swim laps and yet, isn't 1.8m way too deep for dips? 

Anyway, it was raining that day and so we didn't get to try out the pool. 

Right beside the pool lies the gym, which I didn't dare to snap any pictures because there were 2 ladies using the equipment. Equipped with the very basic equipment such as (but not limited to) the treadmill, cycling machine, gym ball and weights, I'll say it's a decent gym for everything inside looks extremely new and shiny, but it's really pretty small. 

To the right of the gym lies the shower room with sauna/steam room, which I didn't get to find out for right outside was stuck a notice stating that it's closed for maintenance works. Mehhhh.... :(

After our mini tour, we dropped by The Group Therapy Cafe located at the ground floor for some food to fill up our empty tummy before heading over to the NTUC located at the same floor to grab some snacks and beer for the night. After which, we returned to the room (because it's raining) and practically napped/watched TV until it's dinner time! And trust me, if there's one thing you want to strike off the list of Possible Issues, it's food. Katong is one huge food heaven and you'll be totally spoilt for choice at the sight of cafes after cafes, restaurants after restaurants, and eateries after eateries that greets you once you step out of the hotel premise via the NTUC exit. And so, as brought up in my previous post, we headed over to Guan Hoe Soon for a Peranakan dinner to compliment our staycation, and then over to Sinpopo Brand for desserts, both within walking distance from the hotel.

After a hearty dinner, we retreat back to the room and spent the rest of the night playing Monopoly Deal and Bridge, accompanied by snacks and beers we've picked up at NTUC in the day....

The next morning, we actually woke up by 830am and headed over to the restaurant on the 4th floor for their buffet breakfast.

 Pardon me, for this is the only decent picture I've snapped, being still half asleep. 

The breakfast buffet spread is pretty average, with the usual congee, some dim sum, cereals, eggs, toasts, sausages, and etc.... with some really bad coffee. 

The only more unique point of their breakfast buffet is that they serve fishball noodles, cooked on the spot as you order, just like an omelette station. However, the eye-rolling moment came when we realised that there's only one staff manning both the egg station and the fishball noodle station. And this, being a breakfast buffet serving mostly tourists who probably won't appreciate, if not don't even know of fishball noodles, the staff was practically stuck at the egg station forever, leaving the fishball noodle station empty. 

So, you can't order it. 

But lucky us, or rather, lucky Sa for she's the only one wanting to try the noodles, we were seated right at the egg station so she could constantly eye the staff until he got the point plus was freed from eggs demanding patrons to cook up a serving of the noodles for her, which turned out to be pretty decent.

Having tried the breakfast buffet at both Village Hotel Changi and Village Hotel Katong, I'll say VHC has better variety but in terms of food quality, VHK did it better. However, I was still disappointed for I've tried VHK's (Peranakan) dinner buffet and it was sooooo good, especially one of the dessert. I guess that pretty much heighten my expectation towards Katong Kitchen, which gave me a bigger disappointment when I realised that the breakfast buffet is just mediocre. 

Village Hotel Katong is located at 25 Marine Parade. 

For more information, visit their website HERE

Till then,

Mia

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Mia's Review: The Group Therapy Cafe

Once again, this shall be a 2 day combined review. I first came upon this cafe during my staycation at Katong V hotel, for it was located at the ground floor of their 'shopping and restaurant wing' smacked in between NTUC Fairprice and the hotel lobby area. If you're coming in via the NTUC side, you got to walk through the supermarket to find it.

As you can see, this is a pretty small cafe, hence the usual long queue during lunch/dinner hours. We were there at 3 plus, nearly 4 (or perhaps even later) and managed to snatch the last empty table available. Shortly after, a small queue was developed. 

A cute (and ugly) Gingerbread Man hanging on their menu board. 

And this is pretty much how big the sitting area is. Really small and limited seats available.

And showing some cute corners of the cafe....

An order made at the counter will give you a cute numbered red tin with all your cutlery and napkins inside. 

They have a cute and environmentally friendly way of keeping their sugar packets. Recycling the egg tray! 

T's Latte and my Mocha. 

Hmm, nothing fantastic about their coffee. I even find mine pretty weak, so did T. The pretty horrible latte art on my mocha wasn't helping much, either. 

Dark Chocolate Pretzel

Yeah, I know. It's like, "Huh, are you sure it's a pretzel?" 

But yeah, it is stated as a pretzel. First bite from the ends and I disliked it. It was very hard (even harder than the scone I ordered along with this), tasteless and no chocolate filling at all. But gradually moving towards the centre, the runny and rich dark chocolate filling did gave this croissant-looking pretzel some saving grace. 

Cranberry Scone

This is good! If you've tried out the highly raved seaweed scone at The Little Prince Cafe and liked those, you gotta try these! Albeit not very moist, this scone is still less dry as compared to the homemade scones at TLPC, and definitely has the 'baked' fragrance in every bite. The amount of dried cranberries isn't exactly generous, but sufficient. The outside is baked dry and slightly (biscuity) crisp and the inside dense yet relatively soft. The taste is just awesome and I didn't even need much of the butter (actually not at all) and jam that came along with it.

Fried Chicken Wings

Sa and DS got these and offered me one. I have no complaints against a well marinated, fried chicken served hot from the frying oven that is crispy on the outside and tender on the insides. 

The 2nd time I dropped by was a huge disappointment, for their kitchen closes at 8pm and I reached at 810pm. :(

But being the ever so determined me (only for food cravings), I dropped by the very weekend for lunch again! 

This time, I got a much prettier latte art on my Mint Mocha, but as usual the taste of the coffee failed to impress me. It even tasted pretty 'grainy', not smooth at all. 

T's Hunter's Chicken, which was surprising good! The chicken was pretty well flavoured with the generous drizzle of sourish, tomato-ish sauce. However, the meat wasn't tender nor succulent enough for a grilled chicken. We believe that it was only partially grilled to leave the grilled marks and then subsequently cooked in the microwave. The olive rice, on the other hand, was pretty tasteless and not fragrant at all.

My Chicken & Mushroom pie was a bigger disappointment. It does look very yummy on the outside...

But not that so on the inside. (My apologies for the blurry picture)

The insides were pretty dry, actually too dry for my liking and the pie crust pretty thick and wasn't that crispy at all.

Sorry for making this comparison, but I've had much better pies at Pies & Coffee a few bus stop down the road at Tanjong Katong. 

For more information, visit their website HERE

Till then,

Mia

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