Author: JellyfishKing

Another weekender in Bali. We always tend to find ourselves in Bali around this time of the year. It’s our anniversary 10 November. On this trip Jane and I celebrated 11 years together.

It was only four nights – three full days, so we just used it to relax, sleep and eat. However,…   eating has become an issue for me lately.

We stayed at the Legian Beach Hotel. A big resort style hotel, with arguably the best location in Bali. Right on the beach on Jalan Melasti. We stayed in a Garden Villa, which was stunning. It was spacious and private.

The hotel itself is very large. It has normal hotel rooms, small villas and private pool villas. We chose the mid-range “Garden Villa”. At $183 / night it wasn’t cheap, but it gave us a little luxury without blowing the budget (too much). The pool villas were over $270/night. We swam in the big pool with all the other plebs.

There two pools, one restricted to just adults. The hotel was fairly empty and there were only a few kids. The pool that allowed kids wasn’t too busy and was a nicer pool – it was shallower too, which suited Jane. Each pool had a bar, the adult’s pool having a swim up bar.

There were two other bars and 3 restaurants. We didn’t eat at any of the restaurants however. A few years ago we ate at the Yuyake Teppanyaki restaurant. That was pricey buy a lot of fun.

The hotel was excellent and I would definitely recommend it for families wanting a safe, reasonable resort style hotel close to the heart of Legian and Kuta. The staff were friendly and efficient. The buffet breakfast was extensive and delicious.

A boy watches the huge carp in the lobby area

Hindu statues

Hotel staffer lighting the candles for the evening’s dining

View of the beach

One of the hotel’s pools

Food and Beverages please

Sunset from the hotel

Another weekender in Bali. We always tend to find ourselves in Bali around this time of the year. It’s our anniversary 10 November. On this trip Jane and I celebrated 11 years together.

It was only four nights – three full days, so we just used it to relax, sleep and eat. However,…   eating has become an issue for me lately. I had Sleeve Gastrectomy surgery 28 August. Most of my stomach was removed. I decided to have this surgery to control my weight and hopefully add a few more years onto the end of my life. This was my first vacation since the surgery and Bali holidays are usually an exercise in gluttony, I was curious to see how it would go.

Saturday

We stayed at Legian Beach Hotel.  My review here. Breakfast was included. There was an extensive choice. “Here we go” I thought.

Breakfast

Omelette, coffee. Some fruit. There was three omelette stations, all manned by Teppanyaki chefs. They used those grill spatulas cooking instruments and quickly crafted a delicious omelette. I surprised myself and managed three (small) cups of coffee.

Mid Morning

Rum and coke at the pool. We bought a bottle of Sailor Jerry spiced rum duty free. We just bought straight coke from the pool bar and sneakily added the rum from a used coke bottle.

Lunch

A visit to one of our favourite restaurants in Legian, Lemongrass. Jane has her usual Nasi Goreng and I just chose the “Mixed Entree”.

It consisted of satay sticks, Thai fish cakes, spring rolls and calamari. I really struggled to eat only half of it.

Afternoon snack

Our “Merianda” was just a rum and lemonade and seaweed chips in the hotel room.

Dinner

Jane promised to take me to a restaurant she and Bianca found called Fat Bowl. We each ordered a cocktail and shared one dish, Popcorn Prawns Sushi. It was delicious and just the right amount.

Sunday

Breakfast

Pancake, waffle and coffee from the buffet.

Lunch

Jane organised her massage and hair cut, so I settled into the Posers Pub and watched the cricket. I ordered Mixed Satays and ate them slowly. There was nine sticks with a mix of chicken, beef and pork served in their own little barbecue. I also had my first Bintang for the trip. I was avoiding the beer because of its gassiness, but it was fine – so fine I had three. It didn’t help Australia’s performance in the cricket match though!

Afternoon snack

Rum and coke at the pool in the afternoon

Dinner

For dinner we tried Garlic Lane restaurant. It was close by and had excellent reviews. I chose their specialty creamy garlic prawns. It was a large portion so I knew I was going to struggle eating it. I managed to eat all the prawns and some of the chips and salad. It was delicious. I didn’t order a drink. Jane’s fried pork belly was OK, without standing out.

Monday

Breakfast

Omelette again with sausage and some (beef) bacon. Perhaps a bit much this time. I couldn’t finish a whole cup of coffee.

Mid morning snack

We missed as we were sleeping!

Lunch

We just lazed around the hotel pool. Jane ordered a couple of cocktails while I stuck with rum and cokes. We ordered spicy chicken wings and curly fries to share from the pool bar.

Mid afternoon

Still at the pool getting drunk!

Dinner

Out last dinner was at a Sidewalk Cafe restaurant on Jalan Melasti. I ordered the Seafood Mee Goreng, knowing that it would be too much. I picked out the seafood and ate some of the noodles. I was excellent. Jane was impressed with her chicken maryland with sambal sauce. I didn’t order a drink.

Some final shopping and early to bed – we have a 7am flight home.

Final Thoughts on eating

If I were to share this blog post with my dietitian she wouldn’t be happy with me. I didn’t take my Protein, Calcium and Vitamin D supplements. Some of my meals were… um.. just alcoholic drinks. I did however, concentrate of eating as much protein as a could.

I think my eating was pretty good. I still enjoyed the taste of Bali. I think I managed the portions well, but I felt like I did waste some food. I felt guilty leaving half to a quarter of the dishes that I ordered. I imagine the Balinese wait staff and chefs were angry with me paying for wasting their food. Throwing away good food that these people would be grateful to have for their own families. I felt like a rich fat cat. But I took solace in the fact that this cat is getting thinner.

As I’ve said in my previous post, this holiday is all about relaxing – we didn’t do anything new and exciting.

We’ve spent a lot of time eating, drinking, sitting around talking BS.

Here are the highlights.

Happy Chappy

Tuesday night we had dinner at Happy Chappy Chinese restaurant. We had a variety of dishes, but the standout was the Hot and Sour soup. The cocktails we’re good too.

The Hot and Sour soup was so good, we ordered takeaway from Happy Chappy Thursday night.

Jimbaran Bay Seafood Club

Wednesday night we had dinner at Jimbaran Bay. I’d heard a lot of Jimbaran Bay, but I’d never been there, partly because its a long drive, I’ve heard tourists can get scammed there plus I’m not a huge seafood fan. They have tables set out on the beach sand and you watch the sunset while eating your expensive lobster.

The most disappointing thing about this place was the condition of the beach. It was filthy. Lots of plastic bags and other rubbish washing up on the shore. You couldn’t see this from your table though.

Shopping, bar hopping and Lemongrass

Thursday was mostly spent in Legian and Kuta. The girls went shopping while Gordon and I sampled ales from various establishments.

LemonGrass is an old favourite. We met up and had lunch there. I had my favourite Penang Curry. Jane had her predictable Nasi Goreng. Cristy had Mee Goreng, while Gordon had the Jungle curry (three chilli strength). We all enjoyed it.

Friday was much the same. Gordon and I met up with Sukma Purnawardi to arrange some Tattoo work.

We had lunch at another old favourite, Bamboo. (yes Nasi Goreng for Jane)

Weekend surprises

Saturday was the big day. Mike and Dorilyn arrived from Singapore and we had Cristy’s surprise birthday party.

More on the birthday operation here.

We all got up late on Sunday and Mike treated us to lunch at one of Gordon’s old haunts Zanzibar at double six beach. My Garlic and Chilli Prawns was a bit of a let down, but we had an enjoyable lunch with plenty of stories and laughs. Jane didn’t have Nasi Goreng here believe it or not.

Sunday night back at the Villa was a hoot with Mike and Dorilyn in fine form. Both were extremely funny.

Tattoos and Ling Ling’s

Monday was our last day.

After saying good bye to Mike and Dorilyn we headed back into Legian for final shopping and our tattoo work.

Maker:0x4c,Date:2017-10-14,Ver:4,Lens:Kan03,Act:Lar01,E-Y,E-ver:20180127.4571296.001.002

Jane, Cristy and I had a quick bite at Legend Bar while waiting for Gordon’s tattoo – you guessed it – Nasi Goreng for Jane.

I had been following Ling Ling’s restaurant on Instagram for a few years and I’ve always wanted to go there, but its always been too far to travel from Kuta/Legian. As we were staying in Seminyak I finally had my chance. We had dinner there Monday night. It was stunning. All of it – the food – service – price and the cute waitresses. We had an assortment of dishes including sushi rolls, sushi style burritos, bao tacos and shashimi.

The cocktails weren’t that bad either. They have a unique “happy hour” concept. When you buy a cocktail you get to roll a dice and predict whether it will be odd or even. Jane correctly guessed and won a free cocktail. Gordon and I both guessed incorrectly. 😦

Best restaurant of the trip.

Home time

Up early on Tuesday for the trip back home.

It really was a fantastic holiday. Many thanks to Gordon and Cristy for suggesting the Villa style and for keeping us laughing the whole time.

We’ll definitely do something again with them.

Where to next….?

Months of planning – secret communiques – lies – deception – conspiracies.

Cristy’s birthday (Black Ops #IV_423423) was successfully executed with military precision. Led by General Gordon, ably assisted by Lieutenants Alan, Jane, Mike, Dorilyn, Pedro and Kerry, Cristy’s 50th birthday surprise was just that – a big surprise and a great night was had by all.

One of the main reasons we came to Bali was to celebrate Cristy’s birthday. Turning 50, she didn’t want to stay home and have a big party and definitely NO SURPRISES! Gordon, Cristy’s husband wanted to do something special. He organised a seafood feast at the Villa next door, owned by Gordon’s friends Pedro and Kerry. That wasn’t the big surprise.

Gordon and Cristy’s old friends, Mike and Dorilyn wanted to come to Perth to celebrate the big birthday. Gordon explained to them that we wouldn’t be in Perth, but in Bali. It just so happened that we had a three bedroom Villa and we had a spare bedroom – why not come for the weekend? Great idea!

Gordon kept this information from Cristy, so it would be a surprise. Jane and I were in on the plan – sworn to secrecy. As weeks went by it was difficult not to let the cat out of the bag.

After the great passport issue we finally made it to Bali. Our driver, Made on the way kept saying “Your friends are coming on Saturday, right? Eeekk Shut up Made. Jane tried to change the subject “Are you married Made?” Made told us about his wife and kids and then went on again asking about our friends coming on Saturday. Quick thinking from Gordon suggested it was Pedro and Kerry’s friend arriving on Sunday, who coincidentally, was also named Mike. Made seemed to accept this but looked confused. When we arrived at the Villa, Gordon took him aside and told about the secret.

Saturday arrived. Jane took Cristy out for a pamper session in Legian, while Gordon and I stayed home and watched the football (but really waiting for Mike and Dorilyn to arrive. They arrived about noon and we waited for the girls to come home.

When they came home Mike and Dorilyn hid in the bedroom. Gordon told Cristy “you just missed a call from Mike, he wanted to wish you happy birthday. I’ll call him back.”

Gordon called Mike (who was in the next room remember)

Gordon: “Hello Mike”

Mike: “Hello”

Gordon: “speak up mate, can’t hear you”

Mike: “Hello”

Gordon: “still can’t hear you…”

Mike bursts through the door saying “is that better?”

Cristy: SCREAM SCREAM SCREAM SCREAM SCREAM…

It was the reaction we’d hoped for.

Mission accomplished.

Later that night we went out for dinner, but first a drink with Pedro and Kerry next door. As we entered their Villa, Cristy saw the Happy Birthday balloon and realised we were already at the party.

Cristy: SCREAM SCREAM SCREAM SCREAM SCREAM…

A great night was had by all – lots of food, drinks and laughs.

Yes we’re off to Bali again.

This time its something different. We’re travelling and staying with our good friends Gordon and Cristy. We’ve rented a private villa in Seminyak for 9 days. The main purpose is too veg out – relax – recharge. We’ve all been looking forward to it for ages.

At last the big day arrived and Jane and I were in the taxi going to the airport, when Jane got a call. From Cristy.

Jane to Cristy: hello

Jane to Cristy: Shit!

Me: what?

Jane to Cristy: Oh no!

Me: whaaat?

Jane to Cristy: Oh my god!

Me: WHAT IS IT!!?

It turns out Gordon and Cristy we’re at the airport already, and they’d just realised they’d left one of their bags in the OLA car – containing their passports! They had taken the new ride-share company OLA for the first time. OLA were giving away free rides as a promotion to get themselves established in Perth.

When we got to the airport Gordon and Cristy were frantically trying to contact OLA or the driver. Jane and I joined in the search. It seems that OLA is an Indian company with little little customer support. There was one “support number, which Gordon called a few times. As he doesn’t speak Hindi, he didn’t get far. Jane found a OLA Perth Facebook group and immediately joined the group. Gordon recognised the driver as a member of that group and we messaged him. He didn’t respond. We we’re getting desperate. We were supposed to be relaxing – chilling – laughing. But it was the exact opposite!

Anyway, minutes later we got the call we we’re praying for. “Hi its Frederic, the OLA driver, I have your bag”. Whoo hoo! Five minutes later, Gordon had his bag and passports – let the relaxing begin! On the plane Gordon fell straight asleep. Cristy developed a headache. But at least we’re on the plane to Bali.

We arrived in Bali and made our way to our Villa. We were met there by Wayan, our housekeeper. She showed us around – the place was stunning.

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Maker:0x4c,Date:2017-10-14,Ver:4,Lens:Kan03,Act:Lar01,E-Y

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Maker:0x4c,Date:2017-10-14,Ver:4,Lens:Kan03,Act:Lar01,E-Y

My photo album is shared to Google+ for a short time only.