Highlights of the Bali Trip!

Touched down late afternoon on Sunday after a four-day trip to Bali, and as promised - pictures!


Day 1
 
We hit our villa straight after arrival. The Bali International Airport is only five months new after renovation!

Our villa (which cost only S$125 a night, and is owned by a Russian couple who currently live in Bali) in Seminyak was a rather touristy area that's like a mini town with shops and cafes and restaurants packed close to each other and is only a stone's throw away from the sea.

This is where I spent my early mornings

Bali was crazy hot, so it was a relief to step into this quaint cafe named Corner House for TWO glasses of freshly-squeezed watermelon juice:

The nicest, most street-savvy girls I have ever been on tour with

 

 

Followed by some shopping (yes, in that heat):

Local handicraft - look how cute!

And, of course, the beach

Then dinner at this hip Italian restaurant called Ultimo, where we got drunk on music, laughter, wine, and food.

Day Two

We brunched at this adorable diner called Sea Circus:

Sea Circus is well-known for its brunch menu

And then hit Karma Beach, where you have to pay about S$10 for a magnificent view:

 

 

We took a cable car down to the beach

On the cable car ride back up

The hotel room there costs 800SGD a night, apparently

Lastly, we went to this temple in Uluwatu called the Water Temple to view the sunset:

The temple was on a cliff overlooking the sea

It was like monkey kingdom there, and our guide told us to hold on tightly to our belongings or the monkeys will snatch them away! Our sunset viewing was punctuated by periodic screams of tourists who got their hats or cameras or scarves snitched by frisky monkeys.

 

We concluded the day with dinner at a seaside restaurant, where we had a seafood spread at Jimbaran Beach.

Day 3

We had a light breakfast at our villa before heading on a two-hour drive to Ubud to see the padi fields, lunch at a famous barbequed ribs place, and do some shopping at the local market. Our driver for the day got a little too enthusiastic and drove like a fiend. We swerved in and out of traffic and sped towards Ubud, and by lunchtime the girls and I were feeling too queasy to stomach much of our lunch (although the ribs at Naughty Nuri's were good).

Shopping and padi field sightseeing made us feel slightly better, though.

By the end of day 3, the effects of too much sun and food kicked in. One of the girls had a bad case of food poisoning, while I was dehydrated and had a sunstroke. So we headed back to our villa and completely crashed.

In the evening, Huimei's food poisoning got worse - she was throwing up every few minutes - and we had to take her to the BIMC Hospital in Kuta.

Thank goodness we all felt better by the next morning so the trip didn't end on an entirely bad note.

Plus, I managed to get some writing done on the plane.

Still, it's good to be home. See you again, Bali! Thanks for having us.