Entertaining Guests Before & After Sydney

Michael’s been giving me a hard time about writing things in my blog like “which I’ll talk about later” or “will blog about soon”. To him, it translated to “never going to happen”. He still feels this about our Paris trip, which I truly hope & believe that I WILL blog about…someday lah :p But for now, to prove him wrong, I’ll talk about the cool places we went to with our guests recently, that I said I would in my previous post. Tee hee…

Our friend from Sydney, Ronny, came to visit with his gal pal Reni (Ronny & Reni..hehe). We’d always try to see him when we’re back in Sydney so this time, since he’d be traveling around Bali whilst we’re in Sydney, he decided to come stay with us for the week before we left. They’ve both been to Bali before so their trip was mainly about hanging out with us, especially for Ronny & Michael, to have some good quality guy-time together.

One touristy place that we did do together and which I’d totally recommend people do, was to GWK Cultural Park. If you’ve never heard of this place before, I’m sure you’ve seen the picture of it associated with Bali at least once before, especially on one of those touristy postcards. It’s the picture of the big statue, the GWK – Garuda Wisnu Kencana.

familiar now? 

We’ve passed this place & heard about it a few times but we never got around to go see it. The park, what used to be an abandoned limestone quarry, is so huge and breathtakingly beautiful. There’s different laneways & stairs to get to the different statues, accompanied by related stories of the rich history & culture written on the stones around the place (and by the tour guide on the loudspeaker :p). When you get to the very top, the view is simply amazing. (Note: I hate stairs, but this place I really didn’t mind!)

If you haven’t seen any of the famous dance shows in Bali like kecak & barong, you can come here and watch it at one of their theaters, for free. They have different shows at different hours so might be worth checking beforehand. 

Ha was so excited to meet the dancers

There are lots of places to eat from little warungs to big restaurants as well as different souvenir shops. There’s also other interesting stuff to do while you’re here like riding on a segway and flying fox. So it could be a full or a half day trip for the whole family, covering a lot of different things.

The boys enjoyed their segway rides and Ayisha had too much fun chasing them around this massive open space park.

best buds

boys will be boys..they're riding for ages!

Squeaky had a turn too!

Ronny enjoying a creambath in our fav spa in Ubud

when in Ubud, go Sari Organic!

View at Sari Organic after dinner..walking back after sunset not recommended - too dark!

When we got back from Sydney, guess who came to stay with us?

Ronny (without Reni) again! They went to Gili and Jakarta while we’re away and supposed to go back to Sydney on the day we arrived in Bali. But Ronny decided he still hasn’t had enough Michael-time so he changed his flight and stayed with us for another week.

It was loads of fun having him around. Ronny is one of the most likeable, fun & generous people I’ve ever known, even Ayisha had a great time with Uncle Ronny. He’s one of Michael’s friends that I am very comfortable being with & talking to about anything even without Michael around.

On the last few days he’s with us, we took him to White Sandy Beach in Candidasa.

Michael & his beach babe

Ha with her baywatch dudes

It was too much fun we ended up staying there much longer than we planned. Initially we wanted to take him to Aquaria but at the last minute Michael found a great deal at Nirwana Resort for 50% off, so we tried there instead.

It was MAGNIFICENT!

There’s really nothing wrong with Aquaria but this place is just so much better, we love it! The whole place is lots bigger and gives a different relaxing vibe. The rooms, the pool and the restaurant are more spacious and that little bit nicer.

inside our room 

from outside

pool time

awesome pool view

The only minus was that the food was not as great as Aquaria. We did have some late night room service (ice cream & chips :p) there and breakfast was included (even for Ayisha!) and they weren’t too bad. Actually, their French toast was quite excellent, very thick and goodylicious. They’re soft & fluffy inside and crunchy on the outside, drizzled with icing sugar & honey…yummmmmmmmmmm.

Other times we would explore other cafes around Candidasa. The first we tried and one that I was pretty excited about, was The Dining Room, ranked #3 in Candidasa. We passed it everytime we went to Candi. I was always curious to go as the place looks so very inviting, with the hot oven pizza out front and the open space dining, we can see the lovely décor and beautiful setting of the place.

The Dining Room interior

It started off pretty good, with a lovely Mediterranean welcome and feel. We're served with complimentary yogurt drink, bread with hummus and cold towels. Service was excellent, menu not too pricey. But….the rest of the food was not as expected. They weren’t bad but it just wasn’t satisfying. Maybe I expected too much but I was glad we went there; at least I know what it was like and not just drool when we passed by next time.

Feeling quite bad for dragging Michael & Ronny to the Dining Room, I googled for the #1 place to eat in Candidasa and hoping our next dining experience would be much better.

Vincent’s was listed and it hit the mark in every way possible. The place was not as grand as The Dining Room but it’s still very inviting and looks so very comfy and relaxing. The service was top notch; the waiter memorized our plentiful order and got it all right. Service was prompt, price was reasonable & the food was EXCELLENT!

I don’t know if all restaurants in Candi do this but we were served with complimentary food here as well. It was just hot dinner rolls with garlic butter but seriously, this alone was so much more satisfying than the whole meal from the previous night. From then on, every single thing that we ordered – drinks, appetizers, mains & desserts were just ooohs & aaaahs and ‘you gotta try this’, ‘no, try mine’ moments. I know the act of swapping plates at public places are sometimes frown upon and we know people who doesn’t share food, even with their spouse (other than Joey Tribbiani :p) but we do it all the time. At Vincent’s we were swapping more frequent than normal because we both didn’t want to miss out on the other’s dish, I think we might’ve embarrassed Ronny a lil bit. Isk...

My favorite?

The Crème Brulee!!! It was by far, the BEST I’ve had in Bali..possibly better than the ones in Paris (eeeeeeek…have to go again to be sure :p)

See, after coming back from Paris, I was constantly craving Crème Brulee (ngada2) so would order it everytime we went out to eat if it’s on the menu (very rare). But none ever came close. Normally you get the crème caramel version and even that I think the instant ones you get from the supermarket are way better.

So when we saw it on the menu at Vincent’s, we just HAD to try it. Served pretty generously in a soup bowl, topped with that crunchy sugar bit on top that excites your tummy when cracked with your spoon and oh-so creamy on the inside – it was perfect. We went back the next day for seconds!

Didn’t get a picture of it but here’s one of Ayisha’s dessert – chocolate mousse cake, which was heavenly as well.

It was a very short stay at Candidasa but it was a very much needed & rejuvenating holiday indeed. Vincent’s, I’ll be baaack!