Whoosh! This June, our Poo Poo Rocket gang landed safely in Bali, Indonesia, famously known as The Island of Peace.
The staff at the W are MORE than hospitable! Regardless of how big or small their job is, they take pride in their work and are extremely friendly, always with warm smiles on their faces! :)
The W has many restaurants that serve delicious Indonesian, Asian and Western food. Be sure to check out Fire that serves the most scrumptious home made keropok as an appetiser for every meal! After all the delicious food, you can get lots of exercise by swimming in the W's large and inviting pools. If you feel tired, climb onto the large floaties or cushions for a quick rest!
Scattered throughout the W are little bowls with colourful stones in them. These wishing stones have positive words on them like 'joy' and 'hope'. Close your eyes, pick out a stone, make a wish and throw the stone into the wishing ponds around the hotel. Perhaps your wish will come true! Wyn got 'money'! Hmmm......
The W is decorated with lots of other whimsical touches like little floor tiles with words on them.
But the one word that best describes the W has to be "sensational" !
That's why we rate the W Seminyak five Poo Poo Rockets!
A 10-minute walk away from the W is a wacky beach club called Potato Head! Potato Head has swimming pools for both kids and grown-ups and a wide sandy beach! They have one restaurant but two different seating areas - one for Asian cuisine and the other for Western. We recommend eating their local Asian food, especially the curry tofu! If you like, order some jasmine rice to go along with your wide variety of dishes!
The most impressive aspect of Potato Head is its majestic 'Window Wall' ! It is made up of different windows from the provinces and islands all over Indonesia! You can even walk through this corridor of colourful windows!
Do you crave hot fluffy pancakes? For adults, what about the wondrous world of coffee? If your answer is a BIG FAT YES, then Revolver will definitely hit the spot, pun intended!
Revolver is a gun-themed cafe, so all the dishes are named after guns!
We sat at a delightful 'Money Table'. It is a table with currency notes from countries around the world, all displayed under a glass panel. The cafe's guests scrawl messages about Revolver on these bills as a momento of their visit. When you dine there, be sure to scribble on a note from your own country and leave it for others to admire !
We rate Revolver 5 Poo Poo Rockets!
We rate Revolver 5 Poo Poo Rockets!
Of course Bali has lots more to offer than restaurants! This spiritual island is home to some stunning Hindu temples.
At Mount Batukaru Temple, we had to wear a sarong to enter. For ladies, you wear a long skirt and for the men, a piece of cloth tied around your waist. The temple thoughtfully provides these at the front entrance.
With the peak of Mount Batukaru and cottony clouds as its backdrop, this temple is magnificent, with a sprawling compound and a serene pool.
Another temple we visited was the Ulun Danu Bratan Temple on the edge of Lake Bedugul. This iconic temple appears on the 50,000 Indonesian rupiah note!
The temple building is not open to the public and only priests can enter to place their offerings. But you can admire the temple's beauty from a distance.
Our next stop was another hotel - a very different one indeed - high up in the mountains! Bali Eco Stay is a hotel up in the mountains of Tabanan, a two hour drive from Seminyak. You have your own adorable little villa which offers you privacy and there is a fantastic view of the padi fields!
As you can tell from its name, this hotel is eco-friendly and supports the people who live in the village nearby by offering them employment, and training in English and other skills. Refrain from using your own toiletries when you bathe as they contain harmful chemicals that can kill the good bacteria used for fertilizing the rice. Instead, the hotel provides eco-friendly soaps made by the villagers. Most of the food we ate at the restaurant was also freshly grown in their enormous garden! We tucked into delicious meals that were made with the papayas, passion fruit, tomatoes, long beans, cocoa and much more that they harvested.
There are also various activities you can participate in, like basket weaving with Kekek (grandfather). The Balinese use dried bamboo strips to make useful things like baskets and fans. Kekek expertly lays out the bamboo strips, before weaving them together in a lattice fashion.
I helped Kekek weave the bamboo strips in a hexagonal pattern. It held the bamboo strips together really firmly!
That's us goofing around in front of a bamboo tree with our freshly woven bamboo baskets!
Another activity is rice harvesting! Sadly, it wasn't the harvesting season when we were there. However, we did enjoy a walk in the padi fields where we admired the neat rows of rice stalks! My parents kept singing this childhood song they learnt in primary school "Planting rice is never fun, bent from dawn till the break of sun...". Yes, we could tell from the farmers we met that growing rice is really hard work and swore never to waste rice, ever!
We moved to yet another hotel up in the mountains as well - a 30 minute drive from Bali Eco Stay. This time, we stayed at Sarinbuana Eco Lodge. As the roads were undergoing repairs, we took our very first motorcycle rides to the Lodge! Each of us clambered onto the back of a different motorcycle, ridden by the accommodating and resourceful Sarinbuana staff. Wheeeeee!
At Sarinbuana, the double-storied bungalows are nestled in lush greenery. The moment you awake, the first thing you see is the view of the beautiful majestic jungles!
This hotel also has a love for animals, so children will enjoy feeding the rabbit, guinea pigs, and monkeys, and playing with the resident cat Meowy and the resident dog Slappy!
For the avid trekkers out there, Sarinbuana provides jungle walks where you hike through a wide range of flora and fauna. During our walk, we also spied a cow that was reared by one of the neighbouring farms, chewing away contentedly on grass. Interesting plants, such as coffee, cocoa, raspberry, banana, tapioca, fiddlehead ferns, and snakeskin fruit (salak) can be seen along the walk.
We also sucked the nectar from hibiscus flowers (sweet!) and learnt to make a funny whistling sound with tapioca leaves!
Like Bali Eco-Eco Stay, the food at Sarinbuana is also locally grown and delectably fresh! Every meal there was a delight! Mmmmm.....I can still remember the taste of the creamy chocolate pudding made with fresh cocoa and coconut milk!
After a long day of fun and excitement, if you would like to have some enjoyable family time, feel free to borrow some board games and choose from a variety of movies that you can take to your room. We would also recommend bringing your own card games to play!
After a long day of fun and excitement, if you would like to have some enjoyable family time, feel free to borrow some board games and choose from a variety of movies that you can take to your room. We would also recommend bringing your own card games to play!
This was a truly restful, invigorating and exciting trip! The Island of Peace really lives up to its name! We recommend it for people of all ages!
Overall, we rate Bali five Poo Poo Rockets!
