Thursday 28 May 2015

Holiday Special: Day 1 and 2 in Bali, Indonesia! (April 2015)

Selamat Pagi from Bali, Indonesia! After months of planning, booking and lots of anticipation my boyfriend and I took a gorgeous 8 day long vacation to Bali at the end of April! I of course did our rough itinerary planning of where we were going to stay, for how long, where we had to visit, cafes to visit and so on, all of which paid off!

Today I bring to my blog our first two days in Bali! For my boyfriend he had been to Bali before when he was younger but for me, it was my first time! For our first few days on the island we stayed at the Mercure hotel in Kuta! My choice of staying in the Kuta area was really a great choice as the location of our hotel was perfect! Across the beach, near lots of shopping, massage parlors, food and even malls and a huge water park!

Continue below for our first two day in Bali!
Holiday Special: Day 1 and 2 in Bali, Indonesia! (April 2015)
The front of the Mercure Kuta! Very modern looking, I really liked the layout of the hotel, lobby and the rooms which was very spacious and also private! It's only about a 15 taxi ride from the airport! Make sure you do not pay more than 100-150 thousand rupiah for this distance!
View from outside our room of the lobby below and the large fish pond! Love the plants and how the space is laid out!
The one way street directly outside the hotel! On the other side of the wall on the left is the beach and ocean! All the way down the street on the right are lots of hotels, places to eat, smaller streets with lots of eateries and there's even a mall, the beach walk mall just 5 minutes down the street!
Kuta beach! At low tide in the early evening! Since we visited in late April it was nice and spacious and not packed like in some photos I've seen! The weather was lovely too!
A photo on the beach on day one! Both of us sporting our freshly cut hair just two days before traveling! First time I've had a full fringe since I was 10!
Lovely low tide on the beach! There were lots of locals walking besides tourists! Also the stretch directly across the mercure hotel had lots of surfing classes going on by the odyssey surf school that has a shop in our hotel!
A shot on Kuta beach! Gorgeous fine brown sand and clear weather!
After walking for about 20-25 minutes down the one way street you will hit this structure which marks the beginning of the Legian area of Bali! There are countless small to very large structures like this all over Bali!
We decided to sit at a small hotel's rooftop bar and enjoy some cocktails, a cake and the slowly setting sun!
Like many hotels along the street this rooftop bar provides a lovely view of the beach and the ocean! I wouldn't mind having a cake and drink with this view more often!
My boyfriend had a Pina Colada and I had a Mai Tai!
We ordered a lava cake which took about 20 minutes to come out but it was soooo worth it! The cake had a nice crust on the outside and was nice and liquid and pudding-like on the inside! Served with vanilla ice cream!
The menu at a local small eatery! We were so lucky to have a square like area just 3 minutes from the hotel full of hawker stalls with menus like this! Full of local dishes and fresh seafood items!
Local noodle and rice dishes!
For those with a group of friends of your family many of the local eateries like set meals for groups of 4 or larger!
Dinner on day 1! My boyfriend and I shared the special fried rice which was delicious with the local chilli sauce and mutton satay!
Brunch on day two! After reading recommendations, we headed to this local cafe called Bamboo Corner! It was very empty at the time we visited! They're known for super cheap local food!
Fried tempeh! It was so nice and hot and crisp on the outside! It was chewy and a plain in flavor but the chilli was such a good dip for it!
Kecap Babi! Sweet sauce pork with rice! Very homey as if my own mom made it, the portion is appropriate for asians or is good if you'd like to share other items!
Taking a big bite into the tempeh! Yummy!
Our brunch at Bamboo Corner! My boyfriend had a chicken dish with the same sweet tomato based sauce! I had a watermelon blended juice (which I ended up drinking so many times on holiday)
A candid shot of me on the beach getting undressed! Of course taken by the boyfriend! Some of his shots are seriously funny or terrible looking!
In my polka dotted top from H&M and high waisted bottoms from Asos.com! On kuta beach! I swear I look a bit thicker than my bikini shots from my Krabi holiday but I've actually slimmed down a bit! Sometimes I find that a regular bikini bottom makes me look slimmer! Strange!
My boyfriend walking towards the waves! He really loves just letting the waves wash around him whereas I like staying on the beach! We did end up soaking around in the ocean together leaving our items in our water pack bag on the beach!
This photo basically sums up what we spent quite some time doing! I have a ritual of digging big holes on every beach I visit in any country! We did a pretty good job and we could both sit inside and had water coming up into our hole! Here my boyfriend is 'playing dead'!
Mid-afternoon snack at es teler 77! A popular fast food type chain that sells local dishes! This is the Otak Otak which is like a fish cake but more dense and super tasty! The portion was really a lot!
Fried banana with chocolate sauce and cheese at es teler 77! A local favorite all over indonesia! This is totally yummy and anyone would love it!
A photo of my favorite toy Doodoo chilling at the balcony of our hotel room in his rainbow board shorts I stitched him for our beach holiday!
After buying a fried rice for breakfast the next day (as we went for a full day snorkeling trip that started super early in the morning), I went back to the shop and asked if they could give me some salad! Instead of a small side portion I was given this huge portion! No wonder we waited so long for it!
Posing at Bread Life, a bread outlet much like Bread Talk in Singapore but I much prefer what they sell! Here I am featuring the Tiger roll which is my FAVORITE bread of all time! A roll filled with mayo, zucchini, the outside has a layer of egg with bits of ham and spring onion and there's meat floss on both ends!
My soft toy Doodoo with his first bread haul!
A small cafe that sells a butt load of wines and different alcohols! This shop was fabulous to look around in, I wish prices and the range was as good in more shops in Singapore!
Drinks at Havana Club! We headed to this mexican place for dinner after I read recommendations online! My boyfriend had a Pina Colada and I had a watermelon juice!
Havana Club- Fried jalepeno poppers stuffed with cheese!
Havana Club- A plate of mixed fresh dips for our food! Guacamole, spicy tomato dip, tomato salsa, black bean dip and a spicy chilli sambal!
Our dinner at Havana Club! We shared delicious beef burritos and beef steak fajitas!
Late night dessert of Dairy Queen! My boyfriend just wouldn't shut up every time we walked past the stand so we finally settled for these cones! I'm the biggest fan of soft ice cream and their was really good! I've only ever had DQ twice ever I believe!
My favorite photo from our first two days in Bali! On kuta beach with the love in my life! I always tend to cut off his head in photos but oh well, that means more of me is in it!

After only two days in Bali, I had realized many things. The locals are incredibly friendly, there are plenty of gorgeous tanned guys (yes I told my boyfriend know so he'd be encouraged to tan!!), food can be really good and super affordable and that it didn't seem like there was enough time in the world to do and see everything! We were excited by the end of day two as I had booked weeks in advance a snorkeling trip with one of the top dive companies on the Island and we were looking forward to the trip!

Stay tuned for more post from my beach holiday in Bali! We don't own any waterproof camera or case so we couldn't take any photos of the beautiful marine life during our snorkeling trips but it was so magical and I don't regret it in any way!

Feel free to comment!
Thank you!

22 comments:

  1. The full fringe looks really nice on you! Those beaches look amazing. :o

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  2. Oh, this sounds amazing, thanks for sharing! Bali is on my list of places to visit!

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  3. Looks like you had a great time. I wish I can visit Bali as well. I want to try digging big holes at beaches too and have water in it. I looks fun. Haha! Anyway, the food you ate looks delicious too... now I'm craving for fried jalapenos! :P

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  4. Awesome food shots as usual!! Your hair cut also looks super cute and I might even use it as inspiration for my next cute.

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  5. I loved the photos and reading the captions. The photo of your stuffed toy sitting on the chair while wearing the shorts your stitched him made me smile! I can't wait to see more of your trip, Sharlynn! :)

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  6. Cute bathing suit! Bali looks so amazing. My fiance went there recently too and said it was so fun (and full of Aussies lol)

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  7. oh wow, looks so amazing :) Your swimwear is awesome :) Great pics :)

    http://lovelyattitude.com

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  8. You`re so lucky, I hop to go to Bali some day too!! The food and scenery looks so great!!

    Macarons and Mischief

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  9. You two are way too adorable! Looks like an amazing vacation :)

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  10. Superb post, Sharlynn! Really very apt while I'm still contemplating if I should go to Bali. Well, the hubz would not be able to travel overseas from July all the way till the end of the year so we thought of a holiday in late May or June but then we had my birthday staycation at MBS and I was wondering if we should go off for a holiday that soon.

    This post is very informative for me as the convenience of your hotel in Kuta is already etched in my mind. I've yet to do any research at all. Only basing some facts from my gal friend who is based in Bali. Bali to me is a 3-4 day eat, sleep shit kinda holiday or a 1 week tour round the whole island with lots and lots of culture kinda holiday.

    Your digging of hole at every beach is so cute. I would never have thought of doing that! Dodo and his rainbow shorts is absolutely adorable. So cute of you to stitch the shorts. Looking forward to your next post!

    Jo
    Jo's Jumbled Jardinière

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  11. Oh yes. I didn't paste my reply to you coz they are too long so do check back on the replies!

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  12. OMG, another romantic holiday?? You guys are seriously having a great love life! My son was also in Bali with his friends last month for an entire week! xoxo

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  13. Ah SO much good food! Also I love that you did a 'bread haul" lol!

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  14. Wow..another romantic event. Seems you had a beautiful time honey. Sooo enjoyble...you look so pretty in swimwear. Bali id such a really romantic place. Kisses <3

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  15. Your travel posts make me SO envious! Seriously, how often do you get to travel Sharlynn? And lol at the bread haul! that salad looks so delicious :D

    Loving the full fringe on you! How do you like it? Also I totally get what you mean about having the boyfriend behind the camera. The photos that come out when my boyfriend takes photos of me are usually horrendous and can never see the light of day on my blog! He somehow manages to make me look fat and awkward every time :P.

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  16. Looks like an amazing and fun time! You look so pretty with the fringe

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  17. Hair looks wonderful in these photos - it's been years since I've been to Bali, Mister has never been and we hope to make it there January 2016 for a friend's wedding! Looking forward to all of your Bali posts :)

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  18. Hi Sharylnn,

    Your holidays look fun and relaxing... with lots of fun activities and yummy food. Wish that I can leave this wintery Melbourne and enjoy the sun and sea in Bali too... sign!

    Zoe

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  19. You are so adorable sweetie :) The full fringe suits you so well :)
    WONDERFUL pictures :) I really need to visit Asia one day :)
    You and your boyfriend truly is the perfect couple. You are so adorable together and just by looking at photos I can see that you both love each other a whole lot :)
    xx

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  20. Reading about your Bali trip is getting me excited. I'm going next week. Looks like you found many cool eateries, I'm definitely going to hunt for those banana deserts.

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  21. YOU WENT TO BALI??? YOU WENT TO BALI??? SO JEALOUS. It's definitely on my "to-go" list--I just love visiting islands!
    The full-fringe is quite cute on you! I actually had a full fringe back in my first year of university and though I liked it at the time, looking back, IT WAS AWFUL FOR MY SQUARE FACE.
    CAN'T BELIEVE YOU DUG THAT GIANT HOLE THOUGH. IT'S MASSIVE, WTH.

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