My boyfriend, let's call him Braveheart (30), and myself (22) headed over to Bali for 10 nights on 23rd June. Fifth time for me and 2nd for Braveheart. 5 nights staying in a villa in Seminyak, 3 nights of a birthday surprise (for Braveheart) stay at the Conrad in Nusa Dua/Benoa, and 2 nights back in north Seminyak. I had to head home early as my grandfather became very sick, so Braveheart stayed on the last couple of nights by himself. Apologies in advance for the length! Day 1 follows.
Day 1:
Flew Adelaide direct to Bali, touching down at 5.45pm. Very quick through immigration, our bags took about 20 minutes to come out and then quickly through customs. Airport pick-up by Umah Watu villas with a lovely 'Happy Birthday' name sign. Traffic wasn't too bad, the lovely driver Ketut took the Sunset road through to Seminyak. We stayed on a gang just off Jl Sari Dewi and near the Elysian hotel- so about a 10 minute walk to Jl Laksmana (Eat street).
The villa (technically a 'guesthouse' as it was one floor of a two-storey villa) shared the gardens and pool with the owner who lived in the opposite villa and looked out onto rice fields. Braveheart's first time with an outdoor bathroom but he came to love the freshness of it. Wasn't so keen on the clear view to the workers in the rice field below though!
First night we freshened up and walked down to Jl Laksmana to decide on dinner. It was about half 8 by this point so restaurants were filling up. Settled on Moroccan/Indonesian fusion at the beautifully renovated Khaima. Not hard to miss this place with its 2-storey bamboo frontage. It's opposite the quirky-cute Divine Wonderland, which is essentially a human-sized dollhouse.
Dinner was about $37, consisting of a delish apple mojito, caprioska, entrée of gorgeously presented 6 spoonfuls of garlic mushrooms, chicken tagine, stir fry vegies with black bean sauce, and rice. They had a belly dancer come out every half hour or so which was great entertainment but accompanied by very loud, jarring music something like a cross between Bollywood and drum & bass music! Wandered back to the villa, trying to avoid the cute but ferociously territorial black sausage dog along the way (he terrorised us most nights...)!