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Bali with BFFs
posted : Saturday, July 20, 2024
This trip has been so. many. years. in the making.
We last went on a trip in 2017, and the trend back then was for a trip every two years. That two year mark came in 2019, but life (specifically San’s) got in the way, then COVID got in the way, another couple of lives (literally) got in the way and I thought we would never get to go on a trip together any more, at least not full attendance. But somehow an opening came, destination sorted out, and we got over the finishing line with a bit of push. At one point literally a week after tickets were booked…well the events in March threatened to derail this too - but that has passed and we decided to go ahead with the trip, under the mantra that life must go on and maybe it will be a decent distraction. Though I do feel that level of enthusiasm has dropped, and actually everybody was just in a mood to go there and relax and do nothing so research was hilariously minimal. So suddenly the last day of May arrived and off we go! Brunei duo flew thru KL because sadly RB still hasn’t reinstated the Bali route, San had been in KL for a few days because after all, the trip was born from her KL family trip where she could dump her kids with her in laws for a bit and escape, so the 4 of them flew in from KL while it didn’t make sense for me to fly up to KL and down again so I flew from SG alone. They were supposed to reach half an hour before me but their flight got delayed and they ended up two hours behind me instead. Last minute scrambling to get driver rescheduled aside, I ended up with getting frustrated with Bali Airport’s spotty WiFi connection because my eSIM failed and I was trying to get assistance but was hindered by it. Gave up in the end, got my eSIM refunded and bought a new one from one of the operators selling at the airport, not the cheapest but I think it got the job done.  Attempted to hang out at Starbucks but their wifi was so spotty that I gave up.  Ended up camping at a random corner of the arrival hall  Welcome drink which was a pink guava thing I think  Fruit platter  Living room, they could really use an aircon here too sigh, relying too much on natural ventilation.  Thank god aircon in room is in full power and cleaners leave it on all the time too even when we are not around  One of the toilets has this skylight area  Next morning shots are better. View from one of the rooms  Poollll  Villa Sehati 2 (I’m pretty sure names are not unique and repeated elsewhere) Still attempted to watch a movie on Netflix before turning in but we only managed maybe half an hour of it before calling it a night. Started day 2 with a cafe opposite our place! Because we have seen the place on IG even though it was the Ubud branch that was more famous I think, and actually agenda for most of the days are similar - look for a breakfast place, look for a massage place, look for food in general hahaha. So maybe it’s just photos (with long captions) to do the talking for the most part.  Milk and Madu. I think the Ubud branch is more famous  Some of the food items, nothing was terribly wrong.  Ambience  First group shot  Streets of Canggu  Stopped by this highly rated coffee place. Backtracked and ladies (and KH) booked themselves a manipedi session for the next day  On the way back to villa, plan was to rest then head out for lunch but we passed by this place (“oh, it’s on the list recommended by villa owner!”) so in we go. Food’s good! Bali and their pork food items cannot go wrong. Name’s Ulekan.  Interior, funny thing is we bumped into this same group again the next day at Merah Putih  Pool time!  Out for dinner, popped by beach first. Contemplated coming back the next day but nahh party isn’t for us  Sunset at beach  Dinner at this place called Alma, where I was initially surprised that we had made reservation in advance coz I thought we were just gonna wink it  Don’t have a collage of food here but I think they’re mostly okay, I remembered this mashed potato being good though  Surprise! They also gave us complimentary house made arak which I actually really didn’t like but gamely took two shots coz waitress fed me for being bday boy lol oh well  Post dinner dessert, two scoops for five pax hehe  “Eh, looks decent leh shall we just try”. Then they had slots on the spot so we just went ahead. I took a 2 hour massage+body scrub+facial package coz well it’s cheap.  Tea afterwards, I didn’t think the massage was shiok enough tbh coz didn’t feel like got stretched or cracked enough lol. Then we all attempted to pay in cash but kept getting the zeroes wrong, so ended up paying one by one and somehow it became correct.  Day 2, woke up with about 5 hours sleep because the manipedi appt was at 10am, and we HTHT till 4am the night before lolol. San and I left a bit later coz we weren’t into manipedi, so headed to brunch first while waiting for the rest. Coffee is of course mandatory  I feel like açaí bowls in Bali are so pretty.  Cafe interior. Lusa by Suka.  Added more food items as the rest gradually arrived, I remembered this choc strawberry milkshake being really good  Past noon so we decided to head back to the villa while attempting to book more spa appointments. Also our next appointment was at 4pm. Which gives me some pool time and the rest just napping/gaming/working  Koya Spa just next to our place. I think it was so much better, and also I think I have enough massages to last me for a while already lol  Some almond tea thing after the spa  Val opted out this round  Snagged a table at Merah Putih! Dishes were just as good  Group shot  Still nice ambience  Surprise number two, haha this one I think KH asked and they just delivered although we paid for this dessert, they just zhnged it up a bit only  We got home relatively early, didn’t fancy a night out to Potato Head or something. Somehow a bit hungry so we ordered Gojek eats.  HTHT day 2 coz got err heavier topics to cover  Day 3! Plan was to laze around till noon, but I decided to head out to tapao coffee (hence I was in my sleepwear) but entire gang FOMO and came along  So we ended up dining in lol and chit chat the time away  Lunch proper, bit of jam to get there and so we were running a bit late. Espresso orange so yesss I must order  This in lieu of food photo. And stel San and KH just ate at top speed and rushed off for their facial appointment, leaving me and Val to finish up the scraps and talk for a bit  This cafe just screamed Bali. 12 Urban  I think the service was okay, but there was some controversy (I forgot what already coz lol I wasn’t involved) so it turned out to be a negative one star experience (heck I don’t even remember the place, only that it had multiple branches and had decent ratings on google)  Famous bakery opposite the spa place, we decided that there’s too many people  So we settled here instead, Goat Father coffee roasters which is nestled within Avocado Factory.  Kh was feeling a bit peckish so this is pre-dinner  Went home, freshened up a bit, attempted to book but they don’t take reservations, so cabbed over and there was a bit of a wait but under half an hour.  Naughty Nuri’s as our final night dinner.  And that’s a wrap! Their flight was early afternoon so left in the morning. I was a bit on the fence but I decided to book a late flight in the end (KLM, it was similar price to AA) which gave me some alone time  Brunch at Blacklist Coffee Roasters. Dark interior theme, food and coffee decent  Sat for a couple of hours then adjourned to Acme Canggu. Not sure what came over me but decided to take a 20minute walk on the hottest day of our trip so far. But smoothie bowl was so pretty and good.  Sat here for another couple of hours. Then decided that I wanted to buy some souvenir shirts so off I go to Kuta, before heading to the airport and home. So that’s the trip done and dusted! Felt very comfortable throughout, even though I feel like there’s an elephant in the room waiting to be addressed and we did address it at some point, maybe more can be said but hey, the pledge was to make more time for each other so I guess there’s always opportunity. After all we are at a stage of our lives where the only glue holding us together is the fond memories of the past - which we had good fun reminiscing - and I think I want to make more of them. Hopefully it doesn’t take another 6-7 years for that! |
