Bali
Monday 11 Mar 2019 - we fly from Sydney Airport to Denpasar, Bali
We are staying at the Melia Bali resort set in 24 acres of tropical grounds along Nusa
Dua Beach. The Melia Bali faces a tranquil, reef fringed lagoon, views of which
can be enjoyed from the beachfront restaurant and tapas bar.
The resort offers traditional Balinese touches in a tropical environment and the hotel facilities include five restaurants, a pampering
spa and meandering swimming pool. In addition, the hotel is the first in Asia
to be awarded the Earth Check Platinum award for its commitment to
sustainability.
We arrived at surprisingly a large and busy airport then a short drive to the resort where we received a great welcome. As soon as we stepped off the plane the humidity smacks you in the face – it was so hot! We took half an hour to get through passport control – that was fun. We met our guide and directed to a mini-bus the ride to the hotel was quick – around 20 minutes and you could tell the difference as soon as you enter Nusa Dua. Where the area around Denpasar is crazily busy and the streets are lined with shops and buildings which look fairly run down, Nusa Dua is green and lush, and the streets are lined with beautiful statues and stunning fountains in the middle of the intersections.
Our room was a premium garden view room with a view over the lagoon pool. The room was clean with all white linen and towels so makes it feel crisp and freshal feels very Asian. We were ready for a good night's sleep.
We had breakfast at the El Patio restaurant, which is a 24/7 restaurant serving buffet breakfast and then later, table service lunch and dinner. You can however eat 24 hours a day here! The breakfast buffet is fantastic, as was every single meal we had in the complex. Anyone who complains about the food here needs their heads examined!
We always sat outside for breakfast and had a table by the ponds which were filled with koi and other small fish. It also attracted interesting birds. This is a large complex and leaving our room we walk through the beatifully set out gardens to the swimming pool area. Although not for us as we prefer the beach and to swim in the sea. The beach front is magnificent with loungers set out under the trees for shade - just right and close to the Sarteria beach bar, where there is also an ice-cream cart which has different flavours each day. The coconut was divine.
Within easy walking distance of our resort are some shops with souvenirs, clothes, massage places and heaps of restaurants. Food is apparently much cheaper here than the hotel, as you would expect, but we didn’t try.
There are also lots of hawkers on the beach, so if haggling and getting a bargain is your thing, you can buy beautiful dresses, sarongs, bracelets and more from them directly. You can pay £5 each for the dresses and sarongs. It’s good to support them I think as they work hard to sell just a few items each day and it benefits the local economy directly.
The hotel provides you with towel cards which you can exchange for towels each day to use at the pool or beach. There were always plenty of sun loungers around the pool, but it was much harder to find free loungers on the beach during the day.
On our second day we did manage to venture out of the hotel to see more of the island. We had booked a small group tour just 5 of us starting off at 8.30am after breakfast. Driving through the town of Denpasar full of traffic particularly motorbikes and scooters often with whole families of 4 gripping on and some carrying really large parcels. The motor car is a status symbol in Bali and not many can afford them hence the two wheeled transport dodging precariously in and out of the traffic. We head through winding streets with poorly constructed buildings and people living and working on the street.
We are taken to the usual art shops to view the display of paintings far out of our reach. We also visit a Batik shop and shown the different techniques. Eventually after about a 2 1/2 drive we arrive at Batakaru Temple referred by locals as Pura Luhur Batukaru is one of Bali's key temples located at the foot of Mount Batukaru an altitude of 2,270 metres and is surrounded by natural forests within Bali's central highlands.
The main structure features a multitude of shrines with tiered roofs and the complex is heavily covered in green moss.The walled compounds contain several shrines as well as high maru towers and bale pavilions.In the main courtyard areaThere is a freshwater spring that serves as the holy water source for prayers and ceremonies.The temple as a whole is considered sacred siteAnd missed the slopes of the heavily forested mountainEnhances its spiritual vibe.The Temple complex is frequented by visitors on most days however several parts of the inner sanctum remain off-limits to non-pilgrims. The temple is devoted to the Hindu god, Mahadeva who is considered the master of the air, water and plants.This 11th century temple shares the cool and quiet upland facility of the Wongaya Gede farming community in the Penebel village of Tabanan regency.
Moving on from the Temple we next visit the Jatiluwah rice terraces. These terraces pretty much cover the region of this upland village in western Bali. It is most famous for its landscapes that are both dramatic and truly exotic.
The site is one of the islands must see natural panoramas. The cool highlands and the breathtaking scenery of this village at the foot of the Mountain makes for wonderful wonderful photo opportunities and serves as a soothing retreat away from the islands crowded sites. This is a UNESCO cultural heritage site candidate and comprises of over 600 ha of rice fields that follow the flowing hillside topography. They are well maintained by a traditional water management cooperative known as 'subak" which dates back to the ninth century.The cooperative itself eventually won recognition as a dominant factor in Bali's cultural landscape.
On our way back to Denpasar through the rice paddies and wonderful landscape our guide stopped off to look at the new coffee craze -Luwak. We stopped at JAMBE ASRI and shown around by a woman who pointed out Civits in cages explaining about the Luwak coffee they produce She also showed the process Of making coffeeWhere a lady wasPounding the coffee beans whilst we look on.She explains the process of making little whack coffeeWhich includes partially digestive coffee cherries eaten and defecated by the Asian pole civetThen fermentation occurs as the cherries passed through the civets intestines and after being defecated with other faecal matter they are collected and cleaned. Producers of the coffee beans argue that the process improves coffee through to mechanismsCivets choosing to eat only certain cherries, Digestive, biological or chemical mechanisms in the animals digestive tract watering the composition of the coffee cherries. I'm not sure about the whack coffee myself I did not try it seemed expensive and I wonder about ethical reasons for producing it.We were happy to return to our hotel..
Overall, we thoroughly enjoyed our first Bali holiday and we would like to return but the distance may just put us off. The Melia Bali Nusa Dua is highly recommended by us as all the staff were so friendly and helpful – we’ve never experienced such amazing service anywhere in the world.
