When I landed at Denpasar, I was momentarily confused. What happened to the airport? It was all shiny and new with modern conveniences, like that sensor on the baggage carousel. Although progress is usually nice, I kind of missed the statues, gamelan music and incense at the old airport. It didn’t speed up my process at all; still took awhile for my luggage to go round the carousel.
My Seminyak AirBnb apartment owner had hired a driver, at my request, to take me to her place. I could have gotten my own driver, but I never would have been able to direct him to her place, so asked that she hire one for me. I quizzed my driver on the airport and some other noticeable additions on the drive to the apartment. He said that many things had been redone when APEC was in town. The owner of the apartment is an Aussie woman who’s a dancer, thus travels most of the time. Her mother, however, lives upstairs, so was there to give me the keys, give me a tour and answer any questions. The apartment was on a little road off of Gang Mertasari, which is conveniently located by Ultimo, Café Bali, Chandi and plenty of other great restaurants. My questions for the owner’s mother were where I could drop off my laundry, as well as whether there was an iron and ironing board in the apartment. She said that the staff showed up on a daily basis around noon. If I were to leave the laundry out in a bag, the staff would drop it off and pick it up when finished. Although there was an iron in the apartment, there was no ironing board. She said that, once again, the staff would iron my clothes, as long as I left them on the kitchen chairs.
I assembled my thangs in the apartment, quickly showered up, changed clothes and went in search of sustenance. I came upon Ginger Moon, a restaurant that hadn’t been around on my last visit two years ago. I’d read abotut it, though, and it was on my list of restaurants to try. I ordered the Dim Sum and Then Some (an assortment of dim sum), along with a Frozen Mint (honey, lime and mint). The food was very good, the drink was refreshing, the restaurant was beautiful and the staff/service was fine. The overall price wasn’t bad, either.
I couldn’t resist following that up with a little window shopping. Unlike in Thailand, I wanted to buy EVERYTHING in Seminyak – clothes, native crafts, jewelry, shoes, art, housewares, etc. However, not having had a chance to check out any real shopping in Thailand yet and knowing that I love many of the shops in Ubud, I held off from actually purchasing anything (temporarily).
Within the last 6 months or less, another trendy new hotel, Double Six, had opened. Since I’m all about trendy in Bali, I wandered over there. It was right next to Cocoon across from the beach. The hotel was a big, open, modern space with supposedly nice views from the rooftop bar and the Italian restaurant. Approaching the hostess downstairs, she seemed to be steering me towards the rooftop bar, so I acquiesced. Super nice staff and, yes, a pretty good view. However, they regret to inform you in advance that, unless you’re a group of 6 (or possibly more) or you’re a guest of the hotel, you will NOT be seated in the sunken “pits” with the prime views. Otherwise, and especially if you’re flying solo, you’ll be seated in the middle of the bar, like everyone else, to gaze longingly from afar. With that realization, I departed after one drink.
My appointment at Spa Bali was for their ultimate foot treatment where they wash your feet, file your feet, give you a leg and foot massage, apply a “masque” of some sort, lather you up some more, rinse you off and slather you in lotion. My feet had new energy after slogging around in sandals in the heat and sand and surf all day.
Further down the street was a new spot called Sloki. The large outdoor space had a bar, plenty of tables and a “cart” where they produced freshly grilled burgers and a few other items. Once again, really friendly staff, but the best part was that the beer and the tasty burger cost less than $5.00. I told the guy who made my burger that it was really good, so he asked if I’d be back. Mais oui, Monsieur! He said he’d be looking forward to seeing me again.
With that, I took a cab to Chandi, indulged myself with a glass of wine and walked down the road to my apartment. It had been a long day, so I was fine with going to bed a little bit early.
Dim Sum and Then Some from Ginger Moon
View from Double Six Rooftop Bar
Sate Menu at Chandi
Above the Bar at Chandi
The Bar at Chandi