Travel: Trip to Bali (Part 1 - Hotel & Places)

It was my 1st time to Bali, Indonesia & what a long-awaited vacation it was! Mum, sis & I had a great 5 days 4 nights at the much-visited Bali :) In these few posts, I will be sharing with you the places that we've visited & the food that we've tasted.

We left for Bali on Saturday evening. I was surely excited to leave the heat in PJ for some vacation.

The new Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali is impressive! It's a mixture of modern & traditional architecture, showcasing the rich culture of Bali.

 

We stayed at the Sun Royal Hotel, Jalan Sunset, Legian. It's slightly further from the beach, but I love the location of this hotel as it's not too far from the airport & it's pretty central from all major places of interests. We paid around RM80.00/night for a room with a king size bed. The price was a steal! It even comes with a welcome drink.

Bathroom
Simple, clean & the water heater works perfectly well.

Superior room
King-size bed, complimentary bottles of water, air-conditioned, seating area, kettle jug, complimentary tea/coffee, satellite TV, & high-speed wifi. Thumbs up!

Swimming pool (night view)
The pool was right outside our room on the ground floor! *yay* If you're staying upstairs, fret not for the hotel has an elevator.

Lobby area - simple, clean & has no yucky/musky smell

Hotel from the outside (night view)

The in-house restaurant where they serve breakfast, lunch & dinner

Morning view of the swimming pool area

We headed out on Day 2 of our trip to Ubud & Mount Batur, the active volcano! Traffic was quite crazy as it was Indonesia's school holiday period :(

It took us approximately 2 hours to arrive at Ubud. Our first stop was the Sari Amerta batik producing factory, where the production starts from weaving the cloth to batik painting, sewing of products & selling of the finished batik products.

Songket weaving

Batik drawing

Batik painting

Batik isn't something new to us from Malaysia, so I didn't pay 100% focus on this place. But it was interesting to just have a look at the way things are done here at Bali & compare it to how it's done back in Malaysia.

After a short visit to the batik factory, we made a stop at the Yan Yan Silver-Products Factory.

Making 92.5 silver rings

It amazes me how the locals are so patient in crafting the jewellery that we wear pretty much on a daily basis. I really love some of their artwork, but it was too expensive for me, so I didn't buy anything from this place.

Hand-made silver earrings

Pretty hand-made brooches

Beautiful hand-crafted silver ship

Lunch was at Teras Padi Cafe, Tegal Lalang (I'll share that in the food-specific post). Right after lunch at the scenic paddy teres, we headed off to Mount Batur, Kintamani; an active volcano area with a serene lake beside it. The view reminded me of being at the Mount Kota Kinabalu's observatory deck, where we overlooked the majestic mountain from afar :)

Mount Batur + Danau/Lake Batur

As the 'observatory deck' was also on some highlands, the air was slightly cooler & refreshing. It was a great treat from the heat back in PJ.

After the scenic treat at Mount Batur, we headed back to the Ubud Market for some shopping. Stalls at the market closes at 6pm, so we had a couple of hours for some window shopping & souvenir shopping.

Lovely colors!

Crafts of all sorts :D

We basically ended Day 2 with a good meal at the Bebek Bengil (Dirty Duck) Cafe at Ubud before heading back to the hotel to rest, relax & swim! It was great that the swimming pool is opened 24 hours & most importantly, it was clean *thumbs up*

*****
We bade farewell to Sun Royal Hotel on Day 3 of our trip as we've booked the next 2 nights at Diwangkara Holiday Villa in Sanur.

Last photo at Sun Royal Hotel

We will miss this place & I highly recommend this hotel for its value-for-money room, facilities & strategic location.

Day 3 calls for a trip to yet another far-away place i.e. Bratan, Tambanan. The entire journey of 2 hours was serene, scenic & filled with villages. Loved it! It felt like a 'balik kampung' trip :)

Pura Ulun Danu Bratan is one of the many well-known temples/pagodas on the Bratan Lake (Danau Bratan). The weather on Day 3 was just lovely for photos!

I just LOVE the vivid colors of nature!

The lake was so still that kids actually sat there under the hot sun to fish & watch other kids fishing! Hahaha...

After spending an hour or so in the blazing sun at Bratan, we left for the local market nearby for lunch & some shopping. Bratan is quite similar to Cameron Highlands as its one of the many areas where fresh produces like strawberries & vegetables are grown & harvested for sale. The cool air on the highlands of Bratan makes such activities possible for the local villagers.

We didn't plan to have lunch here at the market area, but we always love having lunch at the local warungs (not so touristy). Thus, lunch was at a small warung at the market area. I'll elaborate more on the food that we had in the other food post :)

Our last stop for the day was to the famous Tanah Lot, a must-see place when you're in Bali. The tide at the time we arrived was low & the view was just fantastic!!

Check out the crashing waves right behind! :D

Picturesque

Different angles gave different colors & it just amazes me how a simple area like Tanah Lot can look so amazing.

Tanah Lot temple behind us

Superbly sunny day, but really windy as well. Enjoyed the sun-burning stroll...the beautiful view just makes you forget how hot the day actually is!

Pura Batu Bolong (background)

This area has 5 temples & Batu Bolong Temple is one of the more uniquely situated temples, I feel.

Panoramic view of the area

We ended Day 3 with dinner at Warung Naughty Nuri's on the way back to Sanur. I'll be sharing on the rest of the places that we visited plus the food that we've enjoyed in the upcoming posts.

Stay tuned with PerutBesi!

Reminiscing on the Bali trip,