Singapore / Bali - Dec 2014

Singapore

Bali

We had started to plan this trip almost a year ago to visit Singapore and Bali with Rakesh, Simran and Ria for two weeks over the Christmas/New Year holidays.  Simran and Shawna spent countless hours planning, researching the best hotels, restaurants and activities. We truly enjoyed Singapore and thought that Bali was a beautiful island.  The disappointing part is that Bali is now over-developed and thus it was not peaceful and it took quite a long time to drive to places due to horrible traffic.  It was rainy season and rain it did but we didn't let that stop us from seeing what we could.

Singapore
We first went to Singapore for three nights to see where Simran grew up.  According to Simran, it has changed dramatically in the last 10 years given the rapid development plans underway.  We were surprised to see how much it looked like Sydney.

Accommodations:
Westin Singapore - A very nice, new hotel located in the business district along the water.  We stayed here for three nights.  Shawna had messed up and only booked us two nights but thankfully when we arrived at 2 AM from the airport, the room was available so we could book it one more night.  We had breakfast here each morning which was a nice buffet of both Western and Asian dishes.  The infinity pool, located on the 35th floor was cool as well, overlooking the wharf below.

View of port from hotel

Crown Plaza - We stayed here one night on our last night before we flew back to the States.  It's adjacent to the airport so very convenient.  Rooms were nice and clean.

Activities:
We spent two full days in Singapore and walked around quite a bit to cram in the sights.  It was VERY hot and humid so we also spent the afternoons cooling off at our hotel and napping to catch up on jet lag.  We caught up with a few of Simran's friends, including Eric and his family, Joanne (May Shin) and Siew Huey.  While there, we did the following activities:

Sultan Mosque

• Walked around the harbor and across the helix bridge.
• Went to the Raffles Hotel and had a Singapore Sling, where the drink was invented.
• Saw the Sultan Mosque.
• Visited the Malay Heritage Center and walked around Malay town.
• Walked around China town and saw the temples and market.
• Walked around Little India and saw the market where they have produce and food stalls - it was amazing to see the specialized dishes (e.g. chicken biryani) in each of the stalls.  Shawna was in awe with some of the enormous pots they used and wanted one for jambalaya!  Each of the food stalls also has a rating (e.g. A, B, C) - most were B's!
• Got lost in the maze of aisles in Mustafa Center - the largest store we have ever seen.  This store takes up two city blocks and has multiple stories.  Anything you can imagine can be bought here, even Old El Paso brand taco shells.  Words cannot express how crazy this place was.  Shawna came up with a game show idea to give contestants a list of items to find in the store and the first one back wins a prize!
• Walked around the Orchid Garden in the Botanic Gardens - most extensive orchid display we have ever seen!
• Drove along Orchard Road to see all of the high end shops and malls.
• Ate a ton of delicious food (on one day, we had two lunches)!

One of our many meals! 

Temple in China Town

Rak and Sim have a tradition to create nicknames for each other, using names that are representative of the area that you are visiting.  Our trip names for Singapore were:

• Simran - Crabby Behoon
• Keith - Shahbucks - the king of Starbucks
• Shawna - Chicky Fun
• Ria - Chili Idily
• Rak - Ohnee

Restaurants:
Seasonal Tastes (Westin) - we started every morning at the buffet breakfast here - kicking off the day with too much food.

Rumah Makan Minang - Lunch spot #1 on the first day.  Located in the Malay part of town.  We had seven dishes that we split - fish curry, tofu, green beans, chicken, beef, veggie curry, and fried potato.

Zam Zam - Lunch spot #2 on the first day.  As if we were not full enough, we stopped for a second lunch - only way to cram in all of the spots!  We held back and only got three dishes here - chicken biryani, mee goreng (noodle dish), and mutton murtabak (goat dish) with chicken curry sauce.

Jumbo Seafood - We had dinner here.  This is a very large restaurant located on the water and famous for it's seafood, in particular it's crab dishes.  We had fried rice, curry crab, pepper crab (our favorite dish), veggies, clams, and fried shrimp rolls.  We also had a few desserts which were horrible - Singapore has great food but not great desserts!

Samy's - Had lunch here.  This restaurant is located in Dempsey Hill near the Botanic Gardens.  It is Rak's favorite spot.  They are known for their banana leaf meals.  We had several yummy dishes but we think this is the place where Shawna got sick (she started with tummy issues later that night).

Ku De Ta (Sands Casino) - Shawna and Keith had drinks at the top of the Sands Casino (57th floor) at Ku De Ta.  The view was amazing overlooking the city skyline and the mouth of the Singapore river.  The drinks were crazy expensive but worth the view.  Unfortunately, it started to rain after 10 minutes of our arrival so we did not stay for long.

Having a drink at Ku De Ta

Long Bar (Raffles Hotel) - We all met up here for drinks and had the obligatory Singapore Sling which was way too sweet!  It was cool to see the place since the hotel is quite famous.

Din Tai Fung - Had dinner here and shared a bunch of dumplings.  Restaurant is located in a mall.

Bali - Ubud
We spent two weeks in Bali - the first half in Ubud and the second half in Jimbaran.  It was also very hot here but not as humid as Singapore!

Accommodations:
Chedi Club - Located just outside of Ubud, this hotel is beautiful and peaceful.  We had a two bedroom villa that was decorated in traditional Balinese style.  The villa had a large living area and two bedrooms, both with outside showers.  We also had our own pool in addition to the community pool.  The cost of the room included a butler (Supri who was so nice), stocked mini-bar, breakfast, laundry and rides into town.  The service and the setting were amazing.  We had breakfast here every day which was pretty good.

Our Villa

Activities:
We arrived our first day in the afternoon so we relaxed and enjoyed the hotel before meeting up with Charlie for dinner who was also in Ubud.  Keith, Rak and Ria played tennis and swam while Simran and Shawna planned out the next few days and walked around the grounds.

On our second day, we walked around Ubud.  We visited the Monkey Forest which was true to it's name with a gazillion monkeys that were not shy about grabbing food or water bottles from your hands.  We bought several bananas to give to the monkeys but these were gone within the first 100 feet!  We also went to the Ubud Palace which was nice but you could not see much of it since it's still occupied by members of the royal family.  We also popped into a few shops and galleries.  We were amazed at how developed and expansive the town was and how nice many of the shops were.  In the afternoon, Charlie and his cousin, wife and daughter (Dan, Viv, and Millie) came to our place to swim and have a few drinks.  After we all cleaned up, we met up with them for dinner in town.

Monkey Forest

Ubud Palace

On our third day, we got a driver to take us around the island.  Shawna had been up all night with cramps and tummy issues and thus she almost did not make the trip.  She toughed it out and joined but it was rough going for most of the day.  The driver was very nice but we were somewhat disappointed in the day.  There were two temples we wanted to see but one of them was too remote so he suggested that we not visit that one.  We visited the temple Pura Taman Ayun right outside of town which was quite nice.  We then visited the temple Puru Ulun Danu Bratan which is located on the twin lakes near the mountains - while the setting was great, this temple turned out to be the Wal-Mart of temples - way too many people and too many touristy gimmicks!  We enjoyed the drive, seeing all of the rice terraces (although we did not go to Jatiluwih which is the UNESCO rice terraces as it had already been harvested) and seeing the remote villages. We drove up to the North coast to see the black sand beach (which was more brown than black) and had a late lunch there.  The drive home took about 3 hours so we napped and enjoyed the views.  By the time we got back, we were tired of being in a car and so we opted to eat in at the hotel.

Pura Taman Ayun

We decided to take a relaxing day on our fourth day.  After breakfast, we went on a rice paddy walk for about an hour with Supri.  It was really cool to learn about the rice farming and see the fields with the temples, ducks and farmers.  We also walked through a village near our hotel before returning.  This turned out to be one of our favorite activities.  We swam in our pool and then went into town for lunch.  In the afternoon, we relaxed more at the hotel, taking a long nap and then met up with Charlie and his girlfriend Lena for dinner.

Rice Paddy Walk

All of us, except for Simran (who chilled out at the hotel), went on a canoe/bike tour with c-bali on our fifth day.  The company is owned by a couple who started a school in a local, traditional village and use the proceeds from the tour company to pay for the school.  We were picked up in town early in the morning and drove an hour north to Lake Batung.  Since we already had breakfast at the hotel, we skipped the breakfast that was provided.  We then canoed on the lake for about an hour.  The lake was created in the caldera of the volcano - it was very serene and beautiful.  We saw a temple that is used to bless the water and learned that they have to remodel/rebuild the temple each time it's struck by lightening as the temple has a long metal pole from which they attached coconut leaves.  The locals do not believe that the metal pole has anything to do with it burning but rather the 'demons'!

Ready for the bike ride!

After a break back at the restaurant, we then got on our bikes and rode for a few minutes to the traditional village nearby - it's one of the four traditional villages remaining in Bali.  Shawna had to wear a sarong the entire time as her shorts were too short and everyone had to wear a sarong while walking around the village.  When we got to the village, we watched the women who were bringing offerings to the temple.  We walked around the village, learning about their customs, laws and family unit.  One of the most disturbing parts was learning about how they treat women - women are not allowed to own anything, can only eat after the men eat, must get out of the way when a man is walking in the street and can only get married once she proves she can get pregnant.

Women carrying the offering

It rained the entire time and at one point it turned into torrential downpour so we ducked into a few people's houses and got to see how they live.  We visited one old lady who does not know her age nor remembers her name - she believes she is over 85.  She still works in the field to make money and had dislocated her shoulder so our guild provided her with anti-inflammatory medicine.  We also visited with another woman whose grand daughter is partially raised by the couple who took us on the tour - the daughter's mother had died and the father abandoned her.  This woman lived in a tiny one room house with her husband.  She had quite the crush on Rakesh - calling him cantik (beautiful) and asking where his wife was.  We sat at her house for quite a while, waiting for the train to dissipate - when it did not look like it was clearing anytime soon, we braved it and walked in the rain back to the bikes.  We got soaking wet!

Traditional Village

We rode our bikes to the school to see the facility and then rode back to the restaurant to change into dry clothes and have lunch.  Lunch was pretty good  with stir fried rice, veggies, chicken and fish.  After lunch, they drove us to another village to see the lake up close and the farm land.  On our drive back to Ubud, we saw a few parades - on this day was a major ceremony for Bali whereby they 'send their ancestors back to their resting areas'.

Lake Batung

On our last full day, we opted to relax again and enjoy the villa.  After breakfast, we read and swam and then went into town for lunch.  We returned to the villa and relaxed more in the afternoon and had dinner at the hotel that night.

Goofing off at the pool at our villa

On the day that we checked out, Simran went into town and did a cooking class while the rest of us chilled out at the villa.  We checked out and picked up Simran in town - the traffic was crazy bad so it took us about 45 minutes to get into town.  We stopped at a small restaurant before we headed out of town to get nasi campur to go which we ate in the car.  It took us about 2 hours to get to our next hotel.

Our Balinese names were:

• Keith - Budi - Because he was always walking ahead and we say more of his booty than his face.  However, budie, means brains in Balinese!  Keith also got a second name - Gunung - which means mountain.
• Shawna - Gado Gado - This is a local vegetarian dish but since Shawna was having tummy issues, we thought this name sounded like the gurgling noise of an upset stomach!
• Simran - Chety Club - This stands for underwear - Simran wouldn't let the hotel wash her underwear as she doesn't want anyone touching it.
• Ria - Bebek Bengil - This stands for dirty duck.
• Rak - Cantik which means beautiful - the name given to him by a local village woman.

Enjoying our walk with Supri!

Restaurants:

Casa Luna - Had dinner here with Charlie.  Menu is Asian fusion and food is very yummy.  The woman who owns this place is from Australia and has her own cooking school - she is somewhat famous.  Keith and Shawna split the seafood paella.

Warung Rai Pasti - Had lunch here.  Supposed to have the best roast pork but the food was not great.  View was really nice of a rice paddy.

Lamak - Had dinner here on Christmas Eve with Charlie and his cousin and family.  The food was very tasty and the restaurant was nice.  We ordered salads to share for the table and then Keith and Shawna split a shrimp appetizer and a duck pasta dish for our entree.  

Jasmine Kitchen - We had a great lunch here in Kalibukbuk (village in North Bali).  The food was Thai and we ordered several dishes to share.

Chedi Club - We had dinner at our hotel two nights - the food was better than we had expected.  Since Shawna was not feeling great, she stuck to pasta primavera which was quite tasty.  Keith tried the nasi campur which he enjoyed as well. The second evening we attended the Barbeque buffet which was delicious.

Bebek Bengil - We had lunch here, famous for it's roasted duck.  Simran had ordered the roasted duck (requires 24 hour advance reservation) and we also ordered some crispy duck.  The roast duck was more flavorful but the crispy duck had really good texture.  We sat under a bale with a view of the rice paddy.  The rain came in heavy while we were eating so we had to pull down the shades. 

Indus - We had dinner here.  This restaurant is owned by the same woman who owns Casa Luna and is located on the ridge with the gorge below.  Since the scenery is beautiful, we went early to have drinks on the deck.  Charlie and Lena joined us for dinner - the food was really good.  Shawna had the chickpea curry and Keith had grilled fish.  We tried the black rice pudding for dessert but it was not as good as Shawna had made it out to be in her head!

Keith, Shawna, Charlie, Lena

Warung Bintang Bali - We had dinner here.  This restaurant is located outside of town and is supposed to be a place where the expats hang out.  It's a very casual joint which supposedly has really good grilled meats.  Shawna and Simran ate veggie curry while the guys also had chicken curry.  The grilled corn and french fries that we had as appetizers were good but the mains were not that tasty.  The meal was very cheap!

Petani - We had lunch here.  This restaurant is located in the Alaya hotel and was one of our best meals.  We had satay and some salads and some great wine.  The food was very tasty and the decor was very nice.

Bali - Jimbaran
We stayed 5 nights here along the beach to get some more chill time.

Accommodations:
Ayana Resort - Located about  30 minutes (or so we thought) south of Seminyak in Jimbaran, this is a large resort on a cliff overlooking the water.  It is formerly the Ritz Carlton.  The rooms and pools are nice; however, there were way too many people especially compared to the tranquil place where we stayed in Ubud.  We tried to switch rooms to their sister hotel, Rimba, but we could not get it for all nights so we decided to stay put.  We got a suite room with a living room where Ria could sleep and another joining bedroom.  The rooms were quite big and decorated in traditional Balinese style.

One of the many pools at our hotel

Activities:
Most of our time was spent relaxing at the many pools between our hotel and Rimba which is the sister hotel.  One day, we took a long day and explored around the area.  We went to the Pura Tanah Lot temple which is quite cool located on a rock in the ocean - you can only walk to it in low tide.  There was a ceremony that had just ended so we got to see several people dressed up.  Yet again, it was swamped with people so it was not very relaxing.  We then went to see Echo Beach which is a tiny beach - not very nice but well known for surfing.  We drove through Changu (stopping for a snack) and went on to Seminyak and walked around the shops and had dinner.  We went to see Ku De Ta, one of the famous bars in the area - we were definitely way too old for that crowd!  Unfortunately, the traffic was crazy so it took us 2 hours to get back to our hotel from Seminyak which then prompted us to cancel our plans of going back there for New Year's Eve.

Pura Tanah Lot

On New Year's Eve, we had dinner at a great restaurant near our hotel (so good that we ate there twice) and then came back to the hotel to partake in the party there.  Before we joined the party, we had our own entertainment in the room.  Rak and Ria sang their song that they had made up earlier in the day "It's Not Easy Being Green".  This first started out because Ria was dressed in all green so Rak sang the song that Kermit sang on the Muppets.  This then transpired to Rak and Ria changing the words as follows:

It's not easy being green, 

Green like the leaves and grass not blue like the sky? 

Or handsome like uncle Keith, 

Except in winter he looks like a white sheet, 

And in the summer, he burns like a red lobster, 

And to compensate, has to buy a yellow boxster, 

And in the fall in precipitation, 

The boxster gives uncle Keith constipation, 

And when it gets warm in the spring, 

His boxers get sweaty and start to make noise like they sing, 

On second thought, Maybe it's better to be green, 

Than being red like a lobster, and not constipated like uncle Keith. 

I love green!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As you can see from the words, the need to rhyme took precedence over it making sense!  Keith, Simran and Shawna proceeded to do the dirty duck dance which was just a take on the infamous 'chicken dance'.  After this, we joined the hotel party where there was a female singer from California that was the entertainment.  When we arrived, the crowd did not seem to be dancing much so we went to the head of the crowd and started to show them how it's done.  Keith busted out his moves and of course, Rak and Ria followed suit by imitating him.

Partying on New Year's Eve!

On our last full day, Simran, Ria and Shawna took a cooking class with Bumbu Bali - the owner is Swiss and is famous in Bali.  We started pretty early in the morning by meeting the group at 6:15 am.  We then went to the local market in Jimbaran - was fascinating to see all that they sell.  We also went to the fish market but there were no fresh fish because the water was quite rough that morning.  We found out that there is hardly any fish left as there has been over fishing!  The beach area where the fishermans' boats were located was not very nice - it was littered with trash.  The class was very informative - we learned that everything we had been taught is wrong!  We made 20 dishes and then sat down and enjoyed them - the food was the best meal that Shawna had had in Bali!

Fruits of our labor from our cooking class!

On our last morning in Bali, we slept in and chilled out at the hotel.  While we were in Ubud, we had learned that an AirAsia flight from Indonesia to Singapore crashed into the sea.  Since this is the airline that Keith and Shawna were flying back to Singapore, we were quite uneasy about flying.  However, we made it safely to Singapore and spent one night at a hotel near the airport.  Rak, Simran and Ria took a later flight so they ended up just hanging out at the airport and sleeping in the lounge.  The next morning, our flight left early and we briefly saw Rak, Simran and Ria before they boarded their flight.  When we got back home, we were quite wrecked from jet lag, taking us about a week to recover.

The gang at the Rock Bar!

At Nusa Dua Beach

Restaurants:
Rock Bar (Ayana Resort) - We had drinks at this hotel bar which is located on a rock overlooking the water.  It's a very cool location but way too many people.  Luckily, we found a secret back entrance so we did not have to wait in a long line.  We sipped a few drinks (quite expensive) and watched the sunset.

Rock Bar at our Hotel

Padi (Ayana Resort) - We had dinner here our first night sharing a few different curries.  The food was not the best.

Padi and To'ge (Ayana and Rimba Resort) - We had breakfast at both of these places - Simran and Ria like To'ge better.  The buffet was quite extensive but food was mediocre.  

Dandelion (Changu) - We had a snack (corn cakes and spring rolls) and a drink here.  Very cute place.  Food was tasty.  Owner was very nice.

Gaya Gelato (Echo Beach) - We had gelato to cool down.  Shawna tried the lemongrass (which was tasty) but Keith thought it tasted like hotel spa towels.

Sisterfields (Seminyak) - We had a snack and drink here.  Caters to Aussies.  Food was very good - we shared the polenta fries, pork belly salad and a trio dip.

Grocer and Grind (Seminyak) - We had a beer here - mainly to cool down from the heat.  Good place for burgers but we did not eat anything.

Ultimo (Seminyak) - We had dinner here.  We were all craving Italian food.  The pasta was tasty and the restaurant is nice.  We all shared a pizza and some pastas.

Balique (Jimbaran) - We had dinner here twice (the first time on New Year's Eve).  The decor is very cute and airy and the food is very tasty.  We had a fish dish one night and pasta another night.

King Cole Bar (St Regis Hotel in Nusa Dua) - We had a drink here - very nice hotel located on a beautiful beach in Nusa Dua.

Toasting champagne at King Cole Bar

Queen's of India (Tanjung Benoa near Nusa Dua) - We had dinner here.  We shared a bunch of Indian dishes - food was quite tasty.

Sundara (Four Seasons Hotel in Jimbaran) - We had a drink here - hotel is a bit dated.

For more photos of this trip: