Trip Report Asia 2013: Day 12: Singapore to Bali

Our last morning in Singapore, always a sad time however at least we are heading to our other favourite home-away-from-home Bali.  We headed down to the usual breakfast destination – Kopitiam on Bras Basah Road.  It would be my last chance for Kaya Toast and Sock Coffee for ages, plus proper Pork Buns and Shrimp Dumplings!

Headed back to the hotel to check-out and grab a taxi to the airport.  Considering it was still around 9:30am the traffic wasn’t too bad total price for the Taxi was only $20.40 (which included a $3 surcharge for peak-hour), quite reasonable really.

Through check-in and security we grabbed those “essential” Bali duty free items and headed to the gate lounge.  The great side effect of eating so well the past 6 nights in Singapore – neither of us felt particularly hungry so avoided most of the airport food options. 

Welcome to Bali

A fairly uneventful flight, landed a little bit late at about 3:15pm – we had the ‘pleasure’ of getting to go into the new airport terminal.  The terminal had only just opened about a week ago so was still experiencing what I could only call “teething” problems.  The building looked amazing, a real improvement on the dodgy 70’s wood panelling of the old airport – the waiting time however had not improved. 

The staff seemed totally bewildered with the volume of people coming through and really struggled to maintain an effective queuing system.  It took us about 2 hours to get through the Immigration and Customs line.  Fingers crossed this will improve soon – not a very enjoyable welcome for tourists to have to experience.

Jumped in a taxi to head out to our Villa.  Joining us in Bali on this trip are some friends of ours from back home – so since there would be 4 of us it made sense to rent a villa for the time.  After much research and comparison we decided on Villa Yulia (now called – Villa Raja). 

Chris the Manager was there to meet us at the door, the villa is located just off Jalan Double Six in Seminyak.  It is in a handy location short walk to the beach yet secluded enough that you are not bothered by the noise.

Rough guide to the location of the Villa

This place is amazing, the pictures really don’t do it justice – every possible thing you could need was in here as well as perfect attentive service from Chris and his local “Mr. FixIt” Win.  The Villa is also cleaned daily. 

This is the driveway to the Villa, the door is just to the before the scooter, this driveway has a big gate from the road so is totally secluded from the street.  Perfect location actually.  There is also a lovely little Spa/Massage place out the front gate.

The entraceway, the round door opens out to the driveway then there is a second entrance door.  So you are well removed from the crazy traffic and noise of Double Six.

The dinning table and kitchen, you can also see the outdoor area.  This place is huge, it is only 2 bedrooms but you could certainly have a great party here.  Those doors open up onto the pool area.

Great comfy lounge chairs, the villa is also well connected with Bose Audio system throughout, also a DVD player is there incase its a rainy day and you want to stay inside.

The pool, not huge but deep and cool enough to relax after a hard day in Bali.  The Bose Audio also extends under the water so you can relax knowing that as you dive under water you will be able to hear the audio clearly!

The upstairs lounge area, another big screen TV and Bose Audio system.  This would be handy if you had kids or just wanted to escape your travel companions.

Master Bedroom, nice Queen Bed and plenty of cupboard space.  Each room also has an electronic safe to keep your stuff secure.  You can also open the big sliding doors if you like natural air/sounds – however the place is totally air-conditioned.

The master bathroom, huge bathtub, and large shower (behind this shot), the water pressure isn’t too bad either.

Second Bedroom – also another queen bed.

The second bedroom ensuite, another large shower and plenty of space.

Waiting for our friends to arrive we relaxed on the couch and enjoyed a couple of drinks – had the First Bintang of the holiday! 

Our friends were flying in from Kuala Lumpur and we had also arranged for our trusty driver Fredy to pick them up.  If you have followed my Blog from last year you would know about our fantastic driver Fredy from Drivers With Distinction.  http://discovering-bali.blogspot.com.au/ – If you are heading to Bali and need a quality driver, someone who takes you to the greatest spots (including some hidden seldom seen spots!), Fredy is your man.   I have no hesitation in recommending Fredy he is our No. 1 guy in Bali and someone I am proud to also call a close Friend. 

Check out his page here: Fredy – Bali Driver with Distinction – Facebook Page.

Once our friends arrived we headed out to grab some dinner, it was a little late so some places were closing but we ended up at Cafe Marzano on Jl. Double Six.  Amazing pizza, we were all really hungry yet 2 pizzas between 4 was plenty for us.  Really attentive and fun staff as well.

Back to the Villa for a few drinks before we all headed off to bed.  Bit of a quiet day today, just getting to Bali – tomorrow we will head down to do some shopping and get our “essential” supplies.  Plus we can initiate our two new travel companions (who have never been to Bali before) into some of those unique Bali experiences.

Thanks for reading my travel blog – as always let me know what you think of my posts – thanks for reading and see you tomorrow.