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Thursday, May 06, 2010

Day 1: Singapore - Bali (Indonesia)

I have been telling myself that no more travelling after returning from Seoul except for the Medan trip to satisfy my cravings. But then I realized that our Qatar mileage points is going to expire this year. So in order not to waste it, I just have to do it one more time. It was difficult to schedule just a few days with him because he is basically flying out every week. Thanks to hubby for trying so hard to make this babymoon happens despite of his hectic schedule. :)

The best thing about this trip is almost everything is free hehehe... (Who says there's no free lunch in this world? That's because you don't do your homework!) For the air tickets, we paid SGD 120 per person for taxes and we also redeemed 2 nights from our Hyatt Gold Passport. It is such a good value to redeem the points in Bali because the hotel is only in category 1. Singapore is in category 4, which requires 3 times more. And then my cousin also offered us to stay at his hotel for a few days, so that's another good news. :D

Qatar Airlines
Last time my impression of Qatar was pretty good, and this time too (except for the customer service). I'm quite impressed with the interior, it was comparable to SQ but with much cheaper fares. For business class, SQ is still better because it features the flat bed. But for economy, Qatar wins as I feel the seat is more spacious and the LCD is a touch screen too. The bad thing about the entertainment system is there are too much advertisements, I could hardly finish my movie because of 10 min ads in the beginning and at the end of our 2-hour flight.


Oryx, Qatar entertainment system

We reached Bali in the evening, took a cab to Nusa Dua which cost Rp. 95,000 (SGD 15) which was pretty steep for Indonesian standard of living. If you expect Bali to be a cheap place for holiday, you are totally wrong.

Nusa Dua is the complex of many luxury resorts. Once we entered the area we had to go through many security checkpoints. Remembering of the bomb incidents in Bali, I'm glad they have these procedures especially in those places frequented by the Westerners.

Grand Hyatt Nusa Dua
There are 2 Hyatt hotels in Bali, after checking the review I decided on the one in Nusa Dua. The other one is in Sanur and the room looks a bit old and too rustic for our taste.

I was pretty excited when we finally reached our hotel. Oh my, the lobby was huge, it was my first time staying in such a big resort. :P From the lobby we had to walk about 7 minutes to our room, no wonder we were given a map and escorted to our room. I could easily lost in this jungle.


Grand King room


It has a peek-a-boo bathroom. Did you see him?


Shower room


Bath tub, did you see him again?


The best thing in this room must be this daybed! Told hubby we'll sleep one night on the bed and another night here. It's just so cute. :D

Bali Collection
Located just across the road from Hyatt, it is a shopping complex with Sogo, surfing shops, clothings, souvenirs shops and many restaurants.

We had our dinner here, after speaking Indonesian to the waiter we were given a 30% discount hehehe... The price here was very very steep, and to make it worse, the food wasn't good either. This place was totally a tourist trap, if it wasn't so late, we would go out of Nusa Dua to find our dinner. So that's the biggest problem staying in Nusa Dua, not much choices of food, everything is expensive and they mainly cater for Westerners.


Garlic bread as starter


Bebek betutu, Balinese food. It has a lot of spices but still feel bland.


Nyat nyatan, Balinese curry with seafood. The color of the curry looked yummy, but it was tasteless. Blah!!

Now it makes me wonder, is it supposed to taste like that? I never had Balinese food before so I couldn't judge.

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