Today we were suppose to check out of Sheraton and head towards Seminyak, where we had booked a villa to spend the rest of our time in Bali. We woke up rather early (well early when you consider we were here for vacation) to find a rainbow casting over the seas on Kuta Beach greeting us. It has been awhile we last saw rainbows, and naturally we were rather excited about it. Looking out from the balcony, having a cup of warm coffee, enjoying the view granted by the rainbow, this is what a vacation should be. Kuta at this time of the day is very different from what we saw and had imagined at night. In the night, it is bustling with life and activities, however at this time of the day, Kuta seemed to be asleep. It seemed like the area is resting from the busy night life and is recuperating for get ready for another night's activities. We headed out breakfast, as the hotel room we booked did not comes with breakfast. We decided to head out to grab one from a nearby eatery that we saw the night before and seemed to be rather tasty. However the shop did not open till 9am, we decided to head across to the infamous Kuta beach that tourism on Bali is believed to have started. Moreover my friend had not been to Bali before and I thought it would be good to show him what Kuta beach is about.
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| Rainbow over Kuta Beach from our room |
We crossed the road and hit Kuta beach. There were beach chairs scattered along the beach with vendors lazily paddling their wares to us. However no such luck for them as we were only here to take a look at the bench. My friend and I snapped some pictures and headed to the pancake restaurant we saw the night before. We settled down and placed our orders. Breakfast was rather disappointing as my pouched eggs were overdone. We quickly had our breakfast and strolled towards the Beachwalk mall, that was right below Sheraton Hotel where we put up. This shopping mall featured some mid to high end boutiques. As the day was still early, most of the shops were still closed or in the process of opening up for business. After walking for awhile more, we decided to head back to the hotel and go for a dip.
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| Kuta Beach |
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| Kuta Area |
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| Beachwalk Shopping Mall under our hotel |
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| Beachwalk Shopping Mall under our hotel |
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| Me at the entrance to Kuta Beach |
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| Kuta Beach |
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| Breakfast |
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| Overdone Pouch eggs |
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| Breakfast platter |
We dipped and tanned for about 1 hour. The pool in Sheraton was smallish but is great, as it is facing Kuta beach, overlooking the sea beyond the beach. The view was to die for! We tanned for awhile more before packing up and heading to our villa in Seminyak. The driver from Bali Islands Villas and Spa was slightly early to pick us to the villa. Despite being early, the driver was rather professional and did not rushed us at all. When the stipulated time was up, we received a call from the reception informing us our transport was waiting for us. It is very thoughtful of the staff from the villa to do so. After checking out, we soon find ourselves in the van heading towards Seminyak. the drive through Kuta area was uneventful as we saw how commercialised Kuta is, with shopping malls, pubs and hotels after hotels sprouting up in the area. It totally ruined the "Indonesian-ness" of the area. Kuta and Seminyak seemed to be very close to each other, we had crossed into Seminyak area without even realising we had done so.
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| Scooter in front of Sheraton Hotel |
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| Time for a tan |
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| Nice pool in Sheraton Hotel |
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| Pool overlooking Kuta Beach |
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| Driving towards Seminyak at Kuta Area |
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| Driving towards Seminyak at Kuta Area |
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| Driving towards Seminyak at Legian Area |
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| Traditional Balinese architecture |
The check in to the villa was fast and efficient. We soon found ourselves exploring the villa, covering every inch which was enclosed in the self-sufficient villa. We then headed out towards Seminyak Square to explore the around abit. Seminyak Square seemed to be the centre of the area and is the only shopping mall around here. There isn't alot of shops and compared to the mega shopping malls found in most countries, one would be disappointed as the product offerings are rather limited. The whole area feels lazy with shop keepers simply did not bother to tout tourists with their wares. We soon got bored of this place and decided to walk around on foot to see where our feet would take us. My friend and I wanted to find a spa for the infamous balinese massage as well, while walking around looking for a decent spa we found ourselves heading towards a beach.
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| Seminyak Beach |
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| Seminyak Beach |
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| Seminyak Beach |
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| Seminyak Beach |
The beach here in Seminyak was fantastic, as it offered views and miles and miles of the beach with relatively lesser crowd as compared to Kuta. One can see people enjoying the beach more here as compared to Kuta, and the amount of vendors touting their wares is significantly lesser. This enabled one to enjoy the beach more compared to Kuta. We chanced upon the infamous Ku Te Da, where one can find visitors to this Island of the Gods chilling out with a cold drink awaiting for sunset. We walked towards the main road, trying to find out way back to Seminyak Square through Ku Te Da. At this point, my friend and I were hopelessly lost, we did not even know where we are. We continued walking, based on our instincts, hoping that we would eventually end up in Seminyak Square. We chanced upon the Seminyak Resorts and was hoping to find a spa where we can settle for a good massage. However we seemed not to have any luck with spas on this day. We ended up exploring around the hotel grounds and found ourselves settling our butts on this couch facing the sea waiting for sunset. The ambience is great and we felt relatively undisturbed. We ordered some drinks and finger food, while awaiting for the sun to call it a day. Though the day was relatively overcasted, my friend and I did enjoy the sunset and the lazing around.
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| Ku Te Da in Seminyak |
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| Me at Seminyak |
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| Balinese Guardian |
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| Statue of Garuda |
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| Seminyak Beach |
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| Seminyak Beach |
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| Seminyak Beach at sunset |
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| Seminyak Beach at sunset |
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| Seminyak Beach at sunset |
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| Enjoying Sunset with cocktail in Seminyak Beach |
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| Seminyak Beach at sunset |
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| Seminyak Beach at sunset |
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| Seminyak Beach at sunset |
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| Seminyak Beach at sunset |
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| Seminyak Beach at sunset |
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| Seminyak Beach at sunset |
After the sun has set, we decided to continue our search for Seminyak Square. As we were walking, we realised we had hit W Hotel Bali. To access the hotel, one would either have to walk about 5 mins into the hotel ground through what seem like a bamboo forest before a huge W greeted visitors. We took a buggy into the hotel and it really looked hip and funky. We explored around the hotel grounds abit before calling it a day and wanting to hail a cab to head back to our villa to rest for the night. At this point I switched on my goggle map on my mobile phone, I realised we are just 2 blocks away from our villa. We asked around and soon found ourselves heading into our villa. At this point we realised W Hotel is really near to where we stayed. This is an important information as we would use this to guide cabbies back to our villa in the next few days. We washed up and rested for the night for our day trip around Bali the next day.
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