♥ M.a.d A.b.o.u.t M.a.c.a.r.o.n.s ♥

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Oosters Belgian Brasserie

We had mussels for dinner today.
I'm a mussel lover and we saw this restaurant selling Belgian mussels and decided to give it a try.
The Belgian mussels have black shells and have plump, tender meat. It's much softer compared to New Zealand's mussels.
Well, The Belgians eat them by the kg. But we ordered 500g each.

The super big bowls for the mussels shells.

Each mussel order comes with a big portion of fries. By the way, the fries are really yummy.

Moules au Pesto
- Mussels with creamy pesto sauce.

Moules Pedas
- Mussels with spicy tomato sauce.

I really liked the one in spicy tomato sauce. It was really spicy but also nice.
Ryan preferred the one in creamy sauce.
And it was pretty filling just having mussels and fries as a complete meal.
Well, honestly speaking, i would still prefer the New Zealand mussels anytime.
But its alright, as its always fun trying new food.

http://www.oosters.com.sg/food.htm

Monday, July 06, 2009

End of block leave = Start of slogging

How sad.. my leave ends today and i'm back to work tmr.
Sigh!! i'm gettting the signs of depression already.
Haiz but no choice.. time to earn some money lo. And plan for my next holiday.
Hopefully it will be sometime soon. But by then i will be super busy, covering my colleagues which are planning their block leave at the end of the year.

Well, the next cover gal on the list.

Friday, July 03, 2009

Bali Holiday 25 - 28 June 09

My most yearned block leave. I've been tired working and i desperately need a break.
And here we are, our Bali trip, with Ryan and me.
We got our exchange rate at S$1:Rp 7150 at Raffles place.

Day 1 (25th June 09)

Our value air flight arrived in Bali at 9.30pm. Value air flight serves free muffin and plain water.
Upon arrival, we took a cab to our villa.

We stayed at Grand Akhyati Villas & Spa for 3 nights. We simply love our villa.
Its cozy, adequate yet not too big. I'm not into super spacious villas as it makes me feel insecure especially those with big outdoor private pool, not my cup of tea. This villa's pool is exactly beside the living room.
But the huge jacuzzi tub is what i love about this villa.

Grand Akhyati Villas & Spa looks exactly as what you get from their website pics.
I've actually booked another villa but in the end cancelled that and booked this instead.
http://www.akhyativillas.com/

It cost around $220 per night, inclusive of daily breakfast in villa, tea for 2, massage 30 mins for 2, welcome drink, fruit platter and complimentary shuttle transfer to Kuta.

Ryan checking out the vast number of TV channels.

Huge Jacuzzi tub in the bathroom

Shower beside the Jacuzzi

Toilet beside the shower

Basins and huge mirror outside the bathroom

Like a ninja.

Day 2 (26th June 09)

Good morning Bali. We arranged for water rafting trip today, meeting our driver at 8am in the morning.

Inviting pool which is cleaned daily

Dining area

TV and sofa

Hot and cold water dispenser

Fridge and stove

All the pots and pans

Coffee maker and toaster

Our villa gate

Look at the list of channels.

As we are meeting our driver at 8am, we arranged breakfast at 7.30am and at 7.15am, our batler arrived to do cooking in our villa. We select the breakfast we want and they will do the cooking.

Tadah.. our breakfast is ready. With a selection of juices to select, coffee/tea, type of bread and type of main course. We had american breakfast almost everyday. But they do have indonesian breakfast selection as well.

Danish and crossiant

Yummy.

Our rafting package starts with Ayung River rafting in Ubud till noon, have buffet lunch and then continue to visit Royal Family Temple (Taman Ayun Temple) and Tanah Lot Temple for Rp450,000 per pax ~ S$63 per pax.

Our driver's name is Nengah Polos. He is a super nice guy, very sincere, hardworking, helpful and very knowlegable. I totally recommend him if anyone wish to engage tour package. Even his website is done by himself. He learned them from books.

I emailed him to book the tour and payment is on the day of the tour itself.
His website: http://www.bali-day-trip.com/ubud-rafting-tanah-lot-tour-packages.htm

Our 2 hrs rafting starts

Very nice cooling river water

Our guide

Stopping for a rest

Lunch time after bathing!! Hungry after the work-out.

Nice paddy field we saw while driving along the way.

Taman Ayun Temple (Royal Family Temple)
Entrance fee Rp 3,000 ~S$0.40 a pax

Barong creature statue

Tanah Lot
Entrance fee Rp 10,000 ~ S$1.40 each

Food and retail stalls leading to the Temple

Its high tide in tanah lot. The crashing waves are magnificant.

Me

Him

Crashing waves

Woot.

Tonnes of tourists

On our way back to villa, we wanted to try the Bali popular Babi Guling and Nengah stopped by a stall for us to purchase 2 packets of Babi Guling (Rp10,000 each).
We also bought BBQ corn (Rp10,000) and mochi(Rp5,000) from tanah lot stall back to our villa.

Another nice paddy field

Saying good-bye to Nengah.

Digging in our Babi Guling. It has 3 types of differently marinated cooked pork and some crispy pork skin. Very yummy and it cost only S$1.40 per packet. Slurps.

Mochi kinda dessert. It has coconut coated chewy skin and it has sugary filling inside.
Only cost S$0.70 per pack.

Relax

We arranged free shuttle to Kuta, Discovery mall as we wanted to eat A&W.
Its has been our craving ever since we discovered there is A&W in Bali.

Our set meal for S$17
We ordered 4pcs chix, 4 curly fries and 2 root beer float.
Very yummy. The curly fries was so good that i had 2 servings.

We spotted Rotiboy shop too. And bought a few back to our villa.
Its cheap at S$0.90 per bun.

Day 3 (27th June 09)

We arranged with another tour agent today for marine sports and turtle island visiting at Rp250,000 per pax ~S$35
The tour includes transfers, snorkling with all equipments, welcome drink and turtle island visiting. We went for parasailing and jet ski as well, not included in the tour.

Nakbali: http://www.nakbali.com/nusa-dua-turtle-island-bali-tour/

Breakfast

I asked for sunny side up today.

Reaching the marine sports centre.

We took the glass bottom boat for snorkle and to turtle island.

Snorkling

See the parasailing. I'm going for it too.. Hee.

Turtle island. The turtle are on conservation here.

Baby turtles just hatched not long ago.

Fruit Bat

Harry potter's owl

I hate monkeys.

Hot day

Drinking my coconut

Marine sports time. Ryan doing his jet ski. Marine sports is quite expensive in Bali.
His jet ski is Rp200,000 ~S$28 for 15mins

I did parasailing. A round for Rp110,000 ~S$15

Preparing.

Aww... i'm up..

After that, we returned to our villa.

Then we arranged for Spa treatment and afternoon tea back at our villa.

Yummy maple syrup sweetened pancakes and fruits, accompanied with english tea.

Aww..feels like a Tai tai.

We top-up to change the 30 mins massage to a 2 hours treatment.
We took The Spirit of Umalas treatment. It was relaxing that i fell asleep.

For dinner, we had room service as we wanted to relax in our villa just watching tv.
We tried some indonesian food that tasted like Zhi Char.

Ryan had seafood fried beehoon.

I had sweet and sour prawns with rice.

It feels bliss..I love Bali.

Day 4 (28th June 09)

Today, we bid farewell to our fave villa and head Kuta to Hard Rock Hotel. We booked it at a promo rate of $348 of 2 nights. Inclusive of daily breakfast and welcome drink.

Hard Rock hotel is located just opposite Kuta beach with lotsa ppl doing surfing.
Kuta is more crowded with lotsa caucasians and shops. Here you can easily find restaurants and do your shopping.

Reception counter checking in. The check-in proceedure was fast despite many ppl.

Exhibits of electric guitar and pictures of rock stars

Store selling hard rock items

Tour counter

Taking the lift to our room

walkway

Aww.. clean and nice room

The room card are given as a lardyard form so as u can wear it around.

Huge pool area

The sand pool with beach volleyball.

Well, you see the colour of this part of the pool is in different shade. Thats bcos the bottom is actually sandbed. Its really interesting as the water is chlorine clean like the usual pool but the bottom is actually fine white sand. I stayed in this pool the longest.

The beach bar

Pool with cabanas(for rental)

Lunch time. We spotted Pizza Hut right beside Hard Rock.

Sides. Prawns and wedges.

Their menu selection is quite different compared to Sg's menu.
We ordered Crispy Prawn Mayo pizza, Fish and chips pizza and soup. Yummy.

The we spotted Ronald Macdonalds surfing.

Then we went for a wallk by Kuta beach

See the guys surfing on the waves. Cool.

We did not include Uluwatu and Jimbaran in our tours. But we managed to charter a taxi which will bring us there for Rp280,000 per car. The price range is Rp250,000 to Rp300,000 according to Nengah but my bad, i forgot to negotiate with the driver and agreed on Rp280,000.
Anyway not much price difference. So we went back to change and meet him at our hotel.

Here we are Uluwatu. The location of the temple itself is on a steep cliff 70 metres viewing the Indian Ocean. Entrance fee Rp 3,000 each. Each visitor have to wear a sarong before entering.

And yah, there are monkeys everywhere in this temple. I hate monkeys. They grab caps, sun glasses etc from tourists so beware when you go there. And you can actually engage a guide who will protect you from the monkeys.

Sun setting

We look like Balinese uh. hee

Next Jimbaran for dinner. The ambience is very romantic. Enjoying the sun set while having our seafood dinner and they are singers who will go table to table to sing for us. And they can sing very well.

We didn't know which restuarant serves the best food as there are 2 dozen restaurant along the beach and our taxi driver recommend this one to us. Well, we can go to the tanks to choose the seafood we want and they charge by weight.

We ordered 4 Jumbo prawns, Grilled squid and chilli crab. Every order comes with free serving of white rice, peanuts and chilli fried kang kong. I find their food mediocre. But the atmosphere is nice. This meal cost ard S$60 for 2.

Singer came to sing for us.

We had a great evening and we headed back to our hotel. We asked the driver to drop us at Carrefour Kuta instead as we wanted to buy some tidbits and drinks.

Big durians

Very nice smelling fruit soap.

Back to Hard rock. The night shows have started and attracted lotsa ppl. By night, this is a happening place to be.

Surprisly, you can watch them live from your hotel tv.

Day 5 (29 June 09)

Today we had arranged a full day Kintamani, Ubud Cycling Adventure. We arranged with Nakbali and paid Rp350,000 ~S$50 each.
http://www.nakbali.com/kintamani-ubud-cycling-adventure/
This is quite a worth it tour as it is a full day tour plus it includes buffet breakfast and buffet lunch.

They pick us up at our hotel and we headed to Penelokan at Kintamani where we had breakfast at one of Balis most stunning view to the active volcano Batur and its crate lake. Then we will visit a coffee plantation where we will see how coffee is made.

Then on our mountain bikes, we cycle downhill on small backcountry roads. We pass small villages and explore the rural Bali and watch the daily life of village and country people. Our experienced guide explained the amazing nature and culture of Bali. We visited a balinese plantation, a village temple and take a short walk through te rice paddies.

One of the highlights of this cycling tour will be the traditional balinese feast lunch with smoked duck and chicken in a restaurant overlooking the green rice paddy fields.

We met 2 ladies from Germany during the cycling trip. They are very friendly and we chatted a lot. We planned to meet the next time they come to Sg.

We can see white smoke coming out of the crater.

Soon after the smoke subside. I like the pancakes they served. Very chewy type and some are wrapped with banana slices. Slurps. Enjoying the view of the volcano while enjoying the breakfast. Btw its very cold up there.

Next we visit the coffee plantation.
This is the coffee fruit.

Our guide explaining to us.

Cinnamon leaf.

Vanilla plant.

The luwak animal consume the red coffee cherries, when available, containing the fruit and seed, and they tend to pick the ripest and sweetest fruit.
The inner bean of the berry is not digested, but a unique combination of enzymes in the stomach of the luwak add to the coffee's flavor by breaking down the proteins that give coffee its bitter taste.
And the coffee beans comes out from its poot poot.
They collected it to clean it and roasted it. Eeeeks right. None of us dared to try it at the coffee house.

Well, i dont know man cos after i heard how the luwak coffee is made, it just digusted me.

Kopi Luwak is the most expensive coffee in the world, selling for between $100 and $600 USD per pound, and is sold mainly in Japan and the United States by weight.
In Australia cafe, Kopi Luwak coffee on the menu is sold at A$50.00 (=US$33.00) per cup.

Luwak baby

Luwak

Poot poot

Bali coffee, different from luwak coffee

Roasted beans.

Thats me trying to fry it.

The coffee house

We ordered all except the Luwak coffee.
Lemongrass tea, ginger tea, ginseng coffee, bali coffee, hot cocoa

Stall selling their tea and fruits

Ok time to start our cycling trip. We went into the heart of Ubud, where we travel in small routes with paddy field everywhere. Saw alot of kids whom are very excited to see us, always yelling "Hello" to us and running to see us ride by. They are so adorable.

First stopover at a typical Balinese family. They are very poor and the living standard is very low.

Their rundown kitchen. Makes me feel i'm very fortunate.

Bali pig

Buffalo

Their little puppy

Their sleeping area which looks better.

Second stopover, a 10th century temple.

Paddy fields everywhere

The Banyan Tree is Huge..

We are invited to a Balinese family wedding on the way.

Next, We will be helping the villagers do some rice harvesting.

Our guide told us that these villagers who helped in the harvest are not paid wages instead they are paid by sacks of rice.

We were told by our guide that they dont get to get meat often, usually only during celebrations or ceremonies.

After a long ride, with muscles all worked out, our hard-earned smoked duck and chicken lunch from Ubud. And very nice chicken satay. Woot.. yummy..

Chicken Satay

Very tasty food.

According to the guide, we travelled a long way.

Transfer back to our hotel for some rest.

Dinner time. Bubba Gump Shrimp Restaurant. Yummy. This restaurant is inspired by the movie, Forest Gump. In this restaurant, the movie is played repeatedly. And they also have gift shop selling their glasses and tees.

Ping pong racket dessert menu

Ryan's cookie smoothie

My frozen lemon ups

If you order a cocktail, they will sing for u.

Dig in. My Bucket of Boat Trash.
Deep fried shrimp, slipper lobster, and mahi mahi dusted with cajun spices and served with golden fries. Slurps.

Baby's Shrimper's Heaven.
4 different types of shrimps (Grilled, garlic, deep fried, breaded) with golden fries. Yummy.
We paid around S$65 for this delicious meal. I like this better than Jimbaran's meal.