Bali Bound

I went to Bali for the first time in November 2006 and wasn't impressed.  I was on Kuta Beach, a this nice little place (I say "place" because it wasn't a hotel, motel, inn or villa...what are they called?) but was generally uninspired by the griminess of Bali.

However, I had no idea how amazing Bali could be until I went this past weekend.  We stayed at this amazing villa called Saba Villa, which had different options in regards to how large your party was (you could link up several villas together...cool!).

We were picked up from the airport, driven to the villas, and given these lovely lei's the moment we got out...they smelled so amazing!  The welcome drink they gave us was lovely, as well.  It was some concoction of honeydew, lemon juice and...honey?  I forget, but it was rimmed with pink sugar!  I was already smitten!

The following photos are of the general villa, though I didn't take any photos of the bedroom.  Isn't it beautiful?   We had a private pool, an open-air living room and bathroom, and an ipod deck that was perfect to play our music.  They actually had fully loaded ipods for us to use but I used my own.

Friday night we went to this restaurant called Metis.  It's pretty new, I hear, and completely romantic.  I felt like a peasant being treated like a princess this weekend!  The photos don't do it justice, I was just too embarrassed to go all out with my giant SLR.  

We had the steak tartare, some sort of deep fried flower stuffed with goat cheese, crispy pork, shrimp and scallops, and lots of wine.  The food was delicious!  How could it not be?  We didn't even have room for dessert.

During the day, Saturday, we had a great breakfast at the villa (omlette, pancakes, sausage and eggs...I haven't really had a proper breakfast like this since I left the States!).  The customer service here is absolutely perfect, everyone was super nice.  We lounged around the pool swimming, tanning, napping, watching movies, more swimming, etc. until dinnertime.  Here are a few more photos of the villa during the day.

You can see the ipod deck here!  Super nice to have, I'll consider getting one one day.

This statue is so quirky on its own, but with the whole decor, it's really nice! I would never think of putting it all together like this.

I'd love to have my own place like this one day...

We were so lucky to have sun this weekend, especially with it being rainy season and all.  Last time we went to Railay Beach it was, unfortunately, rainy and overcast for most of the weekend.  This time we traded the rain in Singapore for the sun in Bali!

In the evening, we went to the famous restaurant, Ku De Ta.  If you remember, the Marina Bay Sands Hotel opened up a Ku De Ta at the top of their hotel right next to the infinity pool.  

This year is their 10 year anniversary, so they had these adorable red lanterns hanging outside of the place with the theme of "Celebrating 10 Years of Love."

Compared to Metis, Ku De Ta is much more trendy and upbeat.  It's an amazing place and totally blows the KDT at the Sands Hotel out of the water.  Maybe the food is similar, but the venue itself is incredible.  They have several different bars and even a rooftop bar (pictured below).

Again, didn't take great photos but you get the jist.  These lounges, actually, are facing the ocean where turtles lay their eggs.  I'm not joking when I say this place is impressive!  We had drinks on the lounges until our reservation: White Russian for me, Berry Bellinis, and too much white wine. 

For dinner we had pork belly (appetizer, omg), duck confit, beef tenderloin and cheek, 4 types of creme brulee and even more wine.  It was my first piece of steak since I'd left California so it was just pure heaven for me.  

We went to Hu'u Bar after but I didn't take any photos.  It was also very pretty with its twinkling lights and mellow music.  It was actually pouring in the evening.  I swear, I've seen it rain in several parts of Asia, but I've never heard rain pour like it does in Bali.  This time and the first time I came 4 years ago both had just straight downpours that soak you in half a second.  It was nice to listen to, though.  We went back to the villa and swam in the pool while it was raining for a bit, too!  

The next morning, we had another great breakfast (eggs benedict this time...yum!), swam and sunned and then had to sadly pack up and head to the airport.  I tried taking a few last second photos of the surrounding areas since we never left the villa during the day time prior.

A shot of the entrance through the rear window...good bye Saba!

So I guess the real reason people come to Bali is for the resorts, the villas, the restaurants and lifestyle at a bargain price (I say "bargain" because I still can't afford it, but people with real jobs can).  It was seriously one of the best weekends/trips/experiences I've had so far, definitely amongst my Top 3 (the other two include driving through Bohol, Philippines, and going caving in Sagada, Philippines).

Overall, the weekend was surprising, fun, exciting, indulgent, relaxing, and completely romantic.  Absolutely perfect.