Tangerine Tangerine

Bali

21 May 2012 Leave a Comment

by Tangerine Tangerine in Daily Muse Tags: Bali, bebek bengil diner, ibu Oka, places to eat in Bali, Seminyak, ubud

Accommodation
Stayed at Annora Villa At Seminyak. It was ok but I won’t go back for several reasons. I thought it was overpriced for the condition of the villas. Depending how you see it, I thought it was kinda old and run-down. Some others may think it’s rustic. The main pool was cloudy on the day I arrived. Not exactly very inviting. It was only on the third day that I saw the water was a little clearer. So.. The good thing is, they do clean the pool. The question is, how often?
The public area was very dark after sunset, not exactly very safe because the design of the villa was such that there were many ponds and steps all around.
I stayed in the Deluxe suite which was really spacious. It had a bedroom with attached bathroom as well as an open living area and dining area. The problem with the open living and dining area was the abundance of mosquitoes. Some went into the bedroom and despite the use of mosquito coils, we still got bitten several times. The bathroom had no windows and the brownish red marble tiles all over gave it a dated feel. I had a bigger issue with the bathtub. You have no choice but to step into the bathtub if you want to shower which is the case in many hotels. But the bathtub was round and the base of the bathtub was curved which made it extremely dangerous when wet. I slipped and fell and hit my head despite being very careful. For a moment I thought I was going to die. definitely not safe for the pregnant, elderly, children and the very clumsy ones.
The air-conditioner wasn’t working very well. My toddler was sweating throughout the night even though it was turned on to the lowest possible temperature.
Wifi connection was available but signal was unstable most of the time.
Breakfast was ok though selection was unfortunately extremely limited.
The hotel was situated off the main street which made it rather dangerous to walk in . The roads were dimly lit or not at all.
Had the opportunity to view the one room villa with private pool. Almost wanted to book it, glad I didn’t . It had a kitchenette which I obviously had no use for on a holiday and a giant bathtub that was supposed to be the pool. Again , noticed cloudy water in the pool. Ewww…
The hotel had its merits. The staff were very helpful and friendly. The in-house spa was ok. The husband asked the spa lady for help to apply hot towel to my head after I fell while he took care of our son. Only took money after we insisted. Was the same lady who did my pedicure. Pedicure was good too. (Actually , I fell because of the pedicure ; lotion on my sole plus not-very-smart-bathtub- design = guarantee fall)

Food
Ubud
Ibu Oka’s Babi Guling- over hyped. We went there around 12.20pm.The place was empty except for a few people. The food was ok only. Not raving crazy good as many claimed it was. Veggie was cold and not really tasty. One miserable piece of the pork skin which was hard and difficult to bite into. Hard, not crispy. The meat was ok. Mildly spicy but really.. Nothing to shout about.

Bebek Bengil Diner- very good!

Yummy crispy duck dish. Big restaurant set amidst padi field . Nice environment . Restaurant was full at 3 pm! The gado gado we also ordered was so so only. Verdict: stick to the duck.

Seminyak
Seminyak Cafe ( beside bintang shopping centre): Liked the food here most. Honest good food at reasonable
Price. Had nasi goreng and meatball with baguette. Both were really yummy.

Cafe Seminyak @ Jln Oberoi: nice ambience, posh decor but the food was only average.

Warung Made : ordered nasi goreng a la Made and spaghetti bolognese. Average food, average pricing, nice ambience though.

Rumors: Nice spaghetti bolognese. Had the rump wagyu steak. Didn’t taste like wagyu beef at all though. Still tasty but a tad salty.

Beach
5 min walk from our hotel. Prefer the beaches in Thailand and Malaysia anytime. Not exactly the sandy white beaches I had I had in mind. No clear blue waters too.

Taxi
Supposedly, the blue-bird taxis are the ones that go by meters; don’t bang on it. There are honest cabbies around but some will still try their luck quoting you more than what you should pay. Perhaps they are the fake ones. One horrible fellow tried to drive us off to some unknown place. We asked him
If he knew where our hotel was when we board the cab. When we realized he was going further and further away from our hotel, we got him to stop the cab. He pretended not to know where we wanted to go. We got off the cab without paying him a single cent. God knows where he wanted to drive us. To a dark alley to rob us or an unknown place and ten extort money to drive us back. Idiot! Thank god my sense of direction is rather good and I was alert enough to sense something wrong when he missed a turn.

Didn’t quite like Bali as I thought I would. then again, no trip can be really exciting when you are traveling with a toddler.