Bali - Day 4 Dinner at Jimbaran

Dinner at Jimbaran

It was a magnificent sunset dinner at Jimbaran!

Be sure to reach there before sunset as that is the main attraction of Jimbaran. We had lots of fun at the beach, snapping photos of the scenery, watching the kids playing at the beach, locals fishing and diners enjoying the sunset. 

Sunset at Jimbaran

Orange Red Sunset

Instead of letting the driver recommend the restaurant, we did some homework and directed him to bring us to Lia Cafe. Lia Cafe was right at the end of the beach, the second last from the end. 

Try to avoid getting someone to make reservation for you or let your driver decide your restaurant as they will usually take a cut and the menu you've will be more expensive tourist version.

We did tried asking for the local menu, although not so sure if we had it.  The price was quite ok.  We ordered the Package B at Rp. 260K (S$36) which includes crab, fish, prawn and clams and comes with drinks, salad and rice.  It was kind of them to allow us to change one of the soft drink to coconut.

An amazing dining experience under the colourful skies and bright orange sunset with table and chairs on the beautiful beach and your toes wiggling in the sand. 

There was a singing band going around the restaurant to offer their singing to dinners. Fantastic ambience for alfresco dinning at the beach.

Singing Band

Not sure why it took the restaurant a very long time after the sunset before dinner was served. Well, we didn't mind the delay too much as we were enjoying the ambience.

The package B was great except for the crab, which doesn't taste that fresh. The clams was simply yummy - charred fresh clams with spicy sambal chilli.  The fish was fresh and we loved the nicely charred grilled flavourful taste.  The prawns was quite nice as well.

Overall, the food was quite satisfying and the dinner memorable.

Package B

Colourful Evening Skies

Lia Cafe
Jl Pemelisan Agung
Jimbaran
 Bali, Indonesia

Bali - Day 4

Free and Easy Bali - Day 4 Itinerary
1) Customised day tour to Ubud Village and Batur Volcano
  - Ubud art villages
  - Monkey Forest
  - Ibu Oka (Lunch)
  - Ubud Market and Ubud Palace
  - Rice terrcaces at Tegallalang Village
  - Batur Mount Volcano
  - Coffee Plantation (Bali Oka Agriculture)
  - Tirta Empul or Spring Water Temple
2) Dinner at Jimbaran

Breakfast at Nusa Dua Retreat restaurant, tranquil refreshing ambience overlooking nature and pool.

Restaurant

We ordered their Continental Breakfast - Salmon Scrambled Egg and Asia selection - Mee Goreng. There was only a small piece of salmon but their toast and jam was quite good. Their Mee Goreng was tasty, much better than the lunch at the rice terrace two days ago.

Breakfast

Art Villages
With the free 1-day car chartered with driver, we arranged for a customised tour to Ubud and Batur Volcano tour. The tour started with the Ubud art villages.  You can stop over to appreciate the batik, painting and wood carving. If interested, you can also choose to visit some of the factory outlets like Polo.

Art Villages

Monkey Forest
Since its still early, we decided to drop by the monkey forest as suggested by the driver. Maybe we can catch a glimpse of another Charmian Chen, a Taiwanese gal whose dress was stripped off by monkeys in search of corns. And yes, the monkeys there were really aggressive and they will climb up on visitors' shoulder or snatch things from your pockets all in the name of food.  Do be careful if you bring any food or intend to feed the monkeys.

Monkey Forest

Aggressive Monkeys!

Ibu Oka
Ibu Oka was famous for their Babi Guiling, Balinese roasted suckling pig.  It is situated besides the Ubud Market, opposite to the former Ubud palace.  There are a number of Japanese dining there, all came with a guidebook.

The place was quite crowded during lunch time, the waitress will not be free to find or usher you to a seat, just look around and quickly grab a free seat when available. Settings in Ibu Oka is rather simple and rustic Kampong style with long low wooden tables and mats for dinners to sit on.  Besides a plate of pork skin, we ordered the set which has a little bit of  everything - soup, chilli vegetables, pork skin, sausage and different parts of the pig with white rice in a rattan bowl.

We were rather disappointed with the pork skin, we expected it to be something similar to the Chinese roast suckling pig which is crispy and fragrant. The pork skin was very hard and challenging to the teeth, nothing near to crispy. Overall, the food was quite good, especially the fried pork and the succulent pork slices of certain premium part of the pig. There are mangosteens, prawn cracker and fried pork skin on the table, you can take the amount you want and the waitress will include that to your bill subsequently.

The price was quite ok, but its pricey in Bali standard. Well, I do enjoy Ibu Oka pork set in the rustic kampong setting.

Ibu Oka 1

Ubud Market and Ubud Palace
Believe Ubud market is a heaven for those who can bargain. A variety of stuffs are offered in the market - food, handicrafts, souvenir, textile and many more. After observing the other tourists bargain, we realised that the difference between the asking and final closing price is equivalent to 80% discount!

Ubud Market

Rice Terraces at Tegallalang Village
Since we had our lunch at Ibu Oka, we can only enjoy the rice terraces at Tegallalang Village along a road lined with various shop selling painted woodcarving and handicrafts.  Rice Terrace at Tegallalang is much steeper than that in Pacung, beautiful sight with plentiful coconut trees.

Rice Terrace at Tegallalang

Batur Mount Volcano
Batur Volcano is still active. Was a bit disappointed that we can only catch a glimpse of the volcano at a very far distant after paying entrance fee. It was quite cloudy that day, we couldn't really see the tip of the volcano crater. There is a large lake besides the volcano. It was quite relaxing to just sit at the cafe to enjoy the scenic nature and cooling mountain weather.

On the way, we saw a number of people dressed in traditional balinese garment go in a procession to the temple, taking with them the holy water.

Batur Volcano and Lake

Coffee Plantation (Bali Oka Agriculture)
Yes, coffee Plantation again.  We don't really mind stopping for another round of drinks since we need to get another packet of coffee Luwak.

Coffee Plantation

Tirta Empul or Spring Water Temple
As the name suggest, Tirta temple is built around the springs. 

It was very crowded that day, wonder if there was some festival or sacred day. There were gathering outside the temple, where people sort their offerings, prepare for the ritual bath or just sit down to rest. The granny was very kind to offer us her porridge when we were curiously looking over what's in the pot. 

Outside the Inner Courtyard

 

There is a special bathing pool in the inner courtyard where spring water bubble up through a layer of black sediment. According to Balinese legend, this spring water was created by God Indra when he fight with King Mayadenawa. The Balinese come to bathe in the sacred spring waters to cleanse and purify the body and soul.  The pool was very crowded with people for their Balinese melukat, the special bath ritual. 

Balinese Melukat

Balinese Melukat

The inner courtyard was opened to public, you just Just need to put on the sarong provided if you were wearing something short.  The Balinese came with various offering for prayers.

Offerings

Temple

Do cater some time for you to walk through a maze of stalls before you can reach the carpark.

Dinner at Jimbaran

It was a magnificent sunset dinner at Jimbaran! More details in the next post.

Bali - Day 3

Free and Easy Bali - Day 3 Itinerary 
1) Kuta Beach
2) Transfer to Nusa Dua Villa
3) Romantic Dinner at Villa
4) Complimentary Massage at Hotel

Rest and relax day.  Spend the morning strolling at Legian and the long stretch of nice sandy Kuta beach.  Swiming is not allowed here, area is only for surfing.

Kuta Beach

Besides surf boards, the shops also offer beach chairs and umbrellas for rental. Nice to see various offerings the shop owners placed on the beach.

We bought a deal from Juz Today at S$499 for 3D2N  Nusa Dua Retreat Boutique Villa Resort with complimentary 2 hour spa treatment, 12 hours car charter with driver and romantic dinner for 2.

It was quite nice of them to agree to pick us up from Best Western, Kuta, in replacement of airport transfer. The villa was quite remote, we would have been lost if we are to take taxi there ourselves. However, the driver was late for at least 30-40min!

On the way, saw those school kids riding motorbikes in their uniform again.  According to the previous guide, students under 16 years are allowed ride motorbike to/from school as long as they are wearing their uniform.

Street View
Under-aged students riding motorbike
Cart Stall
Truck transporting chickens

Cold towels and welcome drinks are offered when we arrived.  We waited for quite a well before they have time to service us.  Service could have been better if they could help with the arrangement of the dinner and transport during check-in instead of asking as to contact the restaurant directly and chartered service person-in-charge Rucky ourselves. Well, at least they help us to call Rucky to call us back to arrange our car chartered for the next day. Else we will incur unnecessary phone charges.

Reception Area

The European style villa was really spacious and nice. The decor and furnishing seems lavish - marble floors, European style furnishings and large paintings.  There are 3 large flat screen TVs, one in the living room, bedroom and bathroom.

Living Room

Nice cozy setting in the bedroom with a contemporary crystal chandeliers. The bed was larger than King size, very comfortable.

Bedroom

Bathroom was really spacious, a tub to enjoy a soak bath while watching programme from the mounted TV, a big shower room with big rainy shower head and small bottles of aqua water at the basin for you to rinse your mouth. Appreciated the privacy of the toilet at a corner behind the a tiled half-height wall.

Bathroom

There is a open kitchen cum dining room but you cannot do any cooking as there is no utensil nor gas, but only 2 cups, 2 set of cutlery and a microwave.  There is a water dispenser providing drinkable hot and cool water.

Dining Room

The private pool was surrounded by large transparent windows. The pool was connected to the dining room, separated only by sliding door. It was a bit too deep if you just want a dip. It does not have filtering system thus there were some dirt and dust in the water, not perfect but it was still quite ok for a swim.

Private Pool

The roof top open air deck was my favourite!  You can relax in the comfort of the huge nice sheltered day bed and enjoy the slight breeze, beautiful dusk and starry night skies. The villas are actually very near to each other, we were lucky that we can still enjoy some privacy there as there isn't much occupants then.

Sun Deck

Relax on Day Bed

There is complimentary tea break daily from 3-5pm.  The serving staff will bring some pastries and help to prepare tea at the villa. Nothing much but nice gesture from the villa.

Complimentary Tea Break

Dinner
Romantic dinner at the roof deck. Was a bit disappointed that the dinner was not cooked in the villa but cooked at the restaurant kitchen and deliver to the villa. They set all the 3 course on the table, including the dessert which contains ice cream. We have to take the dessert down to store in the fridge in order not to have melted ice cream.

Quiet private settings at the roof deck with nice beautiful sunset at the backdrop and occasional cooling breeze. Food was quite nice as well.

We each pick a different starter to try - Cold Kway Teow,  King Prawns with Mango.  Cold Kway Teow was so-so, a rather unsuccessful asian-western fusion. It has neither the charred fried fragrant of typical asian fried dishes nor the light refreshing or creamy flavour of western cold dish.

Cold Kway Teow
Raing: 3/5

Their King Prawns with Mango was quite nice.  Green salad with fresh prawn and sweet mango which  complement the sauce which has a tinge of sourness.

King Prawn with Mango
Rating: 3.75/4

Main course was pan-fried fish, which is quite nice as well. The mash and fish were quite nice, the diluted sauce was still quite ok.

Pan Fried Fish
Rating: 3.75/5

Dessert - panna cotta with raspberry ice cream with bread croutons.  The slightly sour raspberry ice cream moderated the milky rich panna cotta.

Panna Cotta with Raspberry Ice Cream
Rating: 3.5/5

With the beautiful scenery and tranquil setting, somehow the food just seems to taste much better.

Everything was nice until the sky starts to turn dark.  We had difficulty getting the lights on the roof deck. We wasted quite a while waiting for their technician to try to get it fixed, seeing a few technicians walking in and out of the villa, up and down the roof deck. After an hour of hassle, we lost our patience and demand for a change of villa.

They shifted us to the villa next door. Although the villa should be quite similar, however, just find that  I still like the previous villa more.

Bali - Day 2

Free and Easy Bali - Day 2 Itinerary 
1) Customised day tour to Bedugul and Tanah Lot
  - Taman Ayun Temple
  - Rice Terrace at Pacung (Lunch)
  - Bedugul (Bratan Lake) - Ulundanu Temple
  - Bali Botanical Garden
  - Coffee Plantation (Bali Oka Agriculture)
  - Sunset at Tanah Lot Temple
2) Fine Dining at Semiyak
3) Massage at Kuta

As usual, we did not cater much time for breakfast. But we were pleasantly surprised with the porridge and bee hoon goreng offered at Best Western Kuta Beach.  More information at Bali Day 2 Breakfast.

Breakfast - Porridge

We engaged a driver cum guide for a full day tour to Bedugul and Tanah Lot at a booth along Kuta at Rp. 400k. We were very lucky to have Loys (luisbguard@yahoo.com) to be our guide as he is quite knowledgeable and is able to give us a glimpse of Balinese culture and customs.

Bali Tour Operator

Taman Ayun Temple 
Old state temple in Mengwi, built by Mengwi Kingdom in 1634 and is currently opened to public.

Taman Ayun Temple

The Hindus believe that there is always good (dharma) and bad spirit (adharma), just like Chinese Yin & Yang, there is always a need to balance. That's the reason why the cloth that cover the temple guardians consist of contrasting black and white.  There are also umbrellas to provide shelter to the temple guardians.

Temple Guardian

The temple pavement are lined with many tall decorative bamboo poles, similar to those we saw outside of houses on our way to the temple. They are called penjor, which are erected outside of Hindus house to celebrate Galungan, symbolising the dominance of good spirit over bad spirit.  They are usually decorated with coconut, rice steams, palm leaves, yellow coconut leaves.  There is a small "cage" at the bamboo pole where offerings can be placed.  The offerings are placed in a leaf container which usually consists of flowers, food and incense.

Elaborated Penjor at Temple

According to our guide, temple usually consists of 3 courtyards - outer, middle and inner.  The outer courtyard is a wide area opened to all, including the bad spirit.  In order to keep the bad spirits from entering the middle and inner courtyard, there will be performance and cock-fighting to keep the bad spirit busy and entertained in the outer courtyard. The rooster's claw are fitted with sharp metal claw sometimes so that there will be bloodshed to attract the bad spirit.

Musical Instrument and Cock-fighting area (under renovation)

There is a open gate (no doors) to welcome both male and female to the middle courtyard, except female who are having their period as they believed that bad spirit are attracted to blood. There is a KulKul, big wooden Balinese bell on a high kulkul pavilion to indicate time for various ceremony and gathering.

Outer to Middle Courtyard and KulKul

There is also a kitchen area to prepare food offerings to the God and also meals for the religious workers. There were around 15 person in the kitchen area busy preparing the food offering - pressing white rice to a certain shape, folding meat containers using banana leaves, grinding coconut, frying fish sticks, grilling satay and arranging the food nicely before its offered in the temple.

Kitchen in Temple

The food were then being carried into the inner courtyard to be offered to the God. The lady was carrying a tray of cooked food on her head while the guy was carrying nicely decorated raw meat.

Carrying cooked food offerings to temple

Beautifully decorated sticks of raw meat offering

The inner and middle courtyard is separated by a close gate and moat. Doors at the gates are opened only for believers and they have some simple cleansing ritual before entering the inner temple.

Gates to inner Courtyard
Cleansing Ritual

For this temple, outsiders can only glimpse into the inner courtyard. You can see a lot of Meru, Balinese Hindu multi-tiered shrines, which resemble the Chinese pagoda. The nice looking thatched roof of Meru were made with palm tree fiber and the number of tiers is supposed to be odd numbers, usually starting with 1 tier and towering up to 3, 5, 7, 9 and finally 11th tier. As this temple was built by the royalties, to signify its prestige over the others, its Meru started off with a 2-tiered shrine.

Thanks to the guide, else this temple visit might not be as interesting.