When Bali island shuts down

Hari Raya Nyepi will fall on 9 March 2016 this year, where for 24 hours long the island shuts down. No flights in or out of the island, no ferries operating, no cars or motorcycles passing, not even people walking on the street.

Nyepi gives off quite an eerie feeling at first, to imagine there's no way to leave the island for almost two days long. Despite the fact that we rarely travels outside Bali, or often in needs of quick getaway from the island. It's a sort of claustrophobia, but after several Nyepi spent in Bali we can (almost) outgrow the worries.

During Nyepi there's a very worthy trade off to get though, that can hardly recreated anywhere else on the planet: the silence and time-stopping experience.

As during Hari Nyepi the Balinese are prohibited from lighting fires, working, having entertainment or pleasure, anything that might interfere with the purpose of self-reflection is prohibited, hence the island's shutting down.

Only some critical facilities like hospitals, and tourism businesses like hotels are excluded from the prohibition, however the activities must also adjusted in a way that it wouldn't interfere the practice of Nyepi for general Balinese population.

"Let's go in and check out their resort, pretend we're going to held an event here" said my boss smiling before turning our rented car to enter The Westin Resort Nusa Dua front gate. Judging by Nusa Dua's reputation as the staying place of movie stars and presidents, this invitation alone gives a sheer feeling like we're doing something forbidden.

But that was about ten years ago, when the image of staying in one of Bali's top resorts is just a distant dream, especially for someone with entry level salary in an IT startup company.

Our perception of Westin changed however, since the early years of us moving to Bali. Westin has been a highly supportive venue, and a close companion for our Bali food blogging activity. Starting from the numerous invitations to Prego's Family Brunch, participating in charity shows for Unicef involving nation's rising stars, invitation to annual appreciation dinner, and last but not least, a staycation chance!

Just a fresh reminder, "staycation" is a form of vacation where we focus on experiencing the whole offers that a destination hotel have, to take advantage of the hotel's included amenities and facilities. Recently staycation has also been recognized as the sustainable tourism way to make our travel more eco-friendly. With the huge size of Westin Nusa Dua, and lots of entertainment options, we eagerly started our journey.

The Westin Nusa Dua Bali Experience

Westin has one of the largest hotel lobby on the island, definitely, with high ceilings all the way to the roof. The interior emits the conservative luxurious feel, dominated with dark brown solid woods and white marbles. This condition alone helps setup the feeling that we're starting something grande.

After a smooth check-in, we're escorted to our room in Westin's new hotel wing, right above Prego Restaurant, which has becoming quite familiar for us as one of the island's top family brunch destination. More on it later, as our staycation includes Sunday Brunch at Prego!

Our room exist almost at the end of the alley on the third floor. While it's not the biggest room we ever stayed in, it comfortably fits two huge beds, a couch, a receded desk, and there's also a comfy balcony with garden view.





By the way, please don't mind our kid's expression, it's something he caught from his friends at school which seems to be their smiling standard now, and he's been practicing this style constantly in every picture we shot that day. So this is his happy face, for now, please bear with it. And no it's not contagious, not to adults at least.

On the bathroom, beside of the large bath tub, we were also pleased to find the scented soap and bathroom amenities ready to help us refresh after our long travel.

Kids Activities at Westin Resort Nusa Dua

After we settled down, now it's time to scout around the resort for facilities that we can enjoy. Our kid surely love the pools, and there's even an artificial cave with waterfall that feels like you're on a treasure hunt.


The biggest draw for our kid attention though, was the resort's Kids Club, and beside the pools, that's his benchmark to determine if a resort is cool or not. After taking a long walk passing the lobby and the restaurants, we finally arrived at the Kids Club at the other end of the resort.

The first kids club

We're there just in time for a kite coloring session, and our boy thinks it's cool, so I left him there with all the small people. Outside there's also a lot of physical activity facilities, so if he ever get bored with the all the drawings and kite flying, he'd have a lot of options.

The second kids club

What's interesting with Westin's Kids Club is that it's a complex made up from three different facilities organized by age. The one that my kid in, was for children whose in early school years. For even younger children under 5 years old, there's a separated facility right next door. It was less populated than the main one though.

The third kids club!

If you think the two grouping is already impressive, turned out that Westin has a third section which devoted for teenagers! Here you can find youngsters enjoying their time watching movies, playing Playstation, or simply reading books from the library. It was set as a lounge, so it has this nice relaxing feeling.

Pinky White Beach and Interconnected Swimming Pools at Westin Resort Nusa Dua

Outside nearby, Westin has a pinkish white sandy beach complete with sheltered and non sheltered beach bunks. It's an ideal space to laid back and enjoy the serene beach with gentle breeze, something that Bali is best for.

Not ready to jump into the salt water yet? Westin's interconnected swimming pools is the one you should be at then. It's made up of several swimming pools with close distance from one to another, together creating a huge swimming pool complex, with the water that still feels fresh, despite its closeness to the sea. Something hotels in Kuta area are now struggling with, due to the sea water abrasion.

Breakfast at Westin Resort Nusa Dua

On the next day, we eagerly rushed down to Seasonal Tastes restaurant to have our breakfast. Staying truthful to our epicurean nature, breakfast is certainly something we're looking forward to.

We were quite surprised to see there's a Halal Food station set up during Breakfast. Beside of some hotels targeting domestic tourists, we almost never seen such feature, especially in a five-star resort like Westin.

Other than the halal station, most of breakfast items in Westin are clearly labeled whether they contains pork or not, vegetarian or not, that help the guests to quickly recognize which food matches their dietary rules.

Outside of the traffic and the commotion of breakfast, we found food at Westin was good, very well catered, heap of menu choices to pick, and we especially love their Indian food station, it was awesome! One of the best breakfast we ever had in Bali hotels.

Temperature is a bit challenging though, as we're staying in Westin during one of the hottest seasons in years, we found the heat is quite high, even on the corners of the restaurant which have air conditioners. As basically the restaurant is open spaced, make sure you dress lightly, and come early to get the coolest spot on the venue.






After we've done with the amazing breakfast, now it's time to try the waters, so we heads down to the swimming pools which located right outside of the restaurant. Sadly we found most of the ideal spots have been reserved, but this is something we now realize as a common happenings in Bali hotels: mark your ideal pool side bench by leaving something of your personal belongings, before you go for breakfast. This way you can ensure to get the best pool experience later after you eat, which usually meant shaded benches, and this is important as Balinese sun tends to be unmercifully hot. Good for skin tanning, but not for someone already on the dark side like me. The skin, not the force.

Family Sunday Brunch at Prego

To close our staycation experience in Westin, we're thrilled to end it on a high note with Westin's Family Sunday Brunch at Prego.

Prego is an Italian restaurant that focuses on "fun dining not fine dining" and it's Family Sunday Brunch is designed to entertain the whole family.

As Bali food blogger, my focus lies on enjoying the treats that Prego have:

My favorite part of Prego are their fresh pasta station, where I can order any kind of pasta Prego have, and it's a lot, cooked upon our order. Next is the cold seafood table where prawns, crabs, and mussels are lying down gorgeously on the ice rocks. The rather new grilling station is responsible for the delicious seafood bbq and meats, including steaks and kebabs.

There are special of the week's menu which revolves between fish or other type of meat, some options for soups, grilled vegetables, a long table of antipasti, lots of delicious cakes and gelato, and last but not least, the cheese station. Well in fact it's among my favorite stations in Prego, as they have a good selections of both young mellow soft cheeses, and old mature strongly flavored ones. I usually comes to this section first and assemble my plate of cold cuts, grilled vegetables, cheeses, seeds, nuts, and even fruit jams from the nearby bread station.





As a father however, I want to also ensure that my kid is having a good time as well. As he's quite picky with what he eats, he find the fresh pasta station as the only choice, and he always go with the Bolognaise.

Pancakes and chocolate cakes are also his favorite, but we don't usually let him roaming in those stations unless he finished his plate of pasta first.

Outside of the food, we find the activities in Prego Family Sunday Brunch really engaging. Whether it's playing Playstation games with newly met friends, outdoor activities like face painting or ball games, Prego has cute mini stations to cater for our kid's sweet tooth, like popcorn stall, ice cream cart, and cotton candy corner.

They even have magic shows that made our kid both entertained and curious.

Westin Staycation in conclusion 

It's been one kind of a stay, a little bit hectic due to the high season, but we find the quality service made up for what Westin might lacked. Our concerns are promptly addressed, the food was good, and our room was comfy. Nice surprise for the halal section on breakfast, and everything else creates memorable impression.

As a blogger with two kids, the availability and quality of kids activities sits high in our checklist, and with the three kids club which includes outdoor activities, kids friendly selection during our breakfast, large bath tub, and huge swimming pool, our kid was surely entertained.

Thank you Westin, until we meet again! (byms)

The Westin Resort Nusa Dua

Address:
Kawasan Pariwisata Nusa Dua, BTDC Lot. N-3,
Nusa Dua,
Kuta Selatan,
Kabupaten Badung,
Bali 80363
Indonesia

Phone:
+62 361 771906

Fax:
+62 361 771908

Email:
reservation.00035@westin.com

Website:
http://www.westinnusaduabali.com/

Spending our family weekend in Bali, Epicurina Bali Food Blog was invited to experience the staycation at Le Grande Hotel in Uluwatu, near Pecatu Beach.

Set in the tranquil and rejuvenating neighborhood of the New Kuta Golf Course within the huge Pecatu Indah Resort complex, Le Grande Hotel Uluwatu vibrates the rustic and intimate atmosphere. While the hotel is no longer young, just like people said about good wine, it aged with charm.

Pecatu Beach itself is located at the south western coast of Bali, about 15 km from Ngurah Rai International Airport, without traffic, that's about 30 minutes away. With the sunset traffic along the Garuda Wisnu Kencana stretch of road, expect 60 minutes at least.

Entering the complex from the main Uluwatu street, roads are continually intersecting with the golf cart track, meaning you have to continually watch your surrounding for passing by golf carts. The road leading to Le Grande itself is might pose a challenge for first-time visitors, so pay attention to the road signs.

Or set your Waze/Goggle Map to look for "Hotel Le Grande".

Checking in at Le Grande Uluwatu

We were greeted by the female security officer at the stone entrance gate, and after informing our purpose of visit, we proceed to the lobby area and park our car.

There were not many cars parking when we arrived, which is something quite usual for resorts in Bali by the way, since most of Le Grande Uluwatu's guests are visitors from out of the town, and they're arriving at the hotel using either taxi or other type of chartered transports.

The lobby of Le Grande Uluwatu itself felt casual, spacious, with wall to wall glass meaning there's a lot of outdoor lights flooding in, very uplifting.

Epicurina checked in into Le Grande Uluwatu's One Bedroom Suite, which located in the main building. While it says one bedroom, the title was a bit misleading.

The Suite has one single big bedroom, yes. With huge bathroom that comprising of a toilet, and a bath tub that's connected to that main bedroom. Our 6 years old kid surely getting very excited about this feature, as bath tub sits highly on the list of factors to determine if a hotel worth a second visit or not, and now he can take his bubble bath while interacting with the whole room!

The most interesting facility of Le Grande Uluwatu One Bedroom Suite though, is the adjoining living room so large we could held our own small party here!

The living room itself was also equipped by a pantry, complete with electric stove and large refrigerator. For long staying guests, the hotel also lend out simple cookwares for free.

Outside of our window, the inner garden was dressed in green, with roofless top to allow air circulation.

From the outside, the building itself looks tropical classic with wood elements dominating the facade. There are several pools accessible for the hotel's guests, one right outside of our room -- which also house D'Bar's poolside bar and dining deck suitable for weddings and medium large parties (first photo above), the others are located within the rear building complex like this one below.

Traveling with a baby, we found Le Grande is mostly accessible for baby stroller, except for some few facilities where we need to maneuver the cart carefully through the stair steps.

Dinner at Le Grande Uluwatu

While we noticed some food shops on our way to the hotel, and there were nothing really interesting we headed down to The Grand Cafe restaurant instead, which offer various dishes from different corners of the world, and we're managed to get a glimpse of the restaurant's specialties.

While the food was good, and the drinks were refreshing, what also excited us during our dinner was that The Grand Cafe adhere to the general halal standard, meaning outside of some obvious liquor related choices, there's no pork on the menu. The executive chef is also a Muslim thus fully aware of the Halal standard.

Breakfast at Le Grande Uluwatu

Personally my favorite part of a stay-in vacation. Breakfast at Le Grande is served in full buffet style, comprising of both European and Asian style cooking. As always, I immediately heads to the European section and construct my regular starting plate of salad, olives, capers, topped with some cold cut meats, sausages, cheeses, and grilled vegetables. I have some difficulties locating their egg station though, but managed to get some omelet near the end of the breakfast.

Our kids was happy enough to find there's Bubur Ayam on the menu, and proceed to devour on some chocolate pancakes afterward.

As Le Grande Uluwatu is located in the middle of New Kuta Golf Course, our breakfast was embellished with the beautiful morning song of the wild birds living in the neighborhood. Some golf carts passed by occasionally, and you can also spot some gardeners tidying up the gardens.

After the breakfast, we found ourselves back by the pool so our six years old kid can take his last dip before checking out in the afternoon.

Outside of some technical issue with the air conditioner in our room, we found our staycation in Le Grande Uluwatu really rejuvenating and fun for the whole family. Spacious luxurious room, Beautiful view, good food, and quite secluded location, with only minutes away from the famous New Kuta Beach, and the happening El Kabron. (byms)

Le Grande Uluwatu

Block 5,
Pecatu Indah Resort.
Jl. Raya Uluwatu -
Bali 80361
Indonesia

Phone number:
+62 361 848 1388

Fax number
+62 361 848 1366

Email:
info@legrandebaliuluwatu.com

Website:
http://www.legrandebaliuluwatu.com

Serving as the base camp for our Ubud Food Festival activities is the charming hotel Alaya Ubud. Looks narrow and unassuming from the front, the hotel is actually big, just that it's stretched a couple of hundred meters deep.

Located next to the Yoga Barn, Alaya is easy to spot, and ample of parking spaces are available. There are three main attraction at this beautiful resort hotel: The room (definitely), Dala Spa, and Petani Restaurant with live music performance featuring Bali's best talents. During the day, Petani also serves as a good meeting ground with its elegant chic interior.

Around Alaya Ubud, there's a lot of attraction you can visit by walking, eliminating the need of a cab. A major supermarket sits almost right next to the hotel, 15 minutes walk to the Monkey Forest, and a lot of interesting restaurants and shops only a walking distance away.

The Stay

First, service is awesome, loosely structured and feels genuine, no cliche. With only 60 rooms capacity, this is among the luxury you can experience from the staff in Alaya Ubud. For example, when I got back from my talk in Ubud Food Festival, the guest relation staff recognized me almost immediately, even though I'm sure that was the first time we met. Wanting to quickly get out of my sweat ridden t-shirt from the earlier activity, I was then accompanied by a younger male staff, who's also already know me by name, all the way to my room where my wife and kids are waiting.

On the down side the walk to our room on the third floor was unexpectedly long, given the narrow-deep hotel layout and our room was located quite to the rear end of the resort. There's also no elevator or ramps available meaning we can't carry the baby stroller either.

The view was amazing though. While I'm no stranger to rice fields, since I grew up with rice fields surrounding my house and treat them as my playground, the view is soothing nonetheless. I heard that the hotel bought those rice fields around the hotel, just so it can be preserved as is.

The room itself was simply beautiful. I love how the design makes the room felt cultured, with the texture, colors, and artworks, but not bare traditional, as the in-room facilities and the honeycomb patterned door nicely adds the contemporary feels.

The bowl shaped bathtub with natural lighting was surely gained my 6 years old kid attention, who's favourite hotel activity includes either swimming, or bubble bath, or both. Both the shower and the bathtub occupied an open space though, divided only by curtain with the rest of the room. Suitable for couples and families with little kids, it might feels a bit awkward for those not used to open space bathrooms.

The room was spacious, and its bed was enough to fit the whole crew of 2 3/4 people (2 adults, 1 kid, 1 baby). And what begun as a joke to address the daybed as "kid's bed" ends up with our kid actually slept on it, believing that joke to be true.

Outside of the room (literally), the other wonderful feature of Alaya Ubud's rooms are the balconies. Facing the lush green rice fields, it's equipped with comfy couch perfect to snuggle with your loved one(s), while enjoying the fresh air of Ubud.

While Alaya also have afternoon tea down at Petani as complimentary of our stay, we skipped it as our agenda for the rest of the afternoon was to enjoy the luxury treatment of Dala Spa.

Mesmerizing Dala Spa

Located at the at the hotel's farthest end, Dala Spa's lobby is at the second floor and the treatment room downstairs at the ground floor. What's special with Dala Spa is that each room have different themes, all were elegant and mesmerizing in their own ways.

Surprisingly, Dala Spa also has their own Spa menu which includes a nice set of high tea, with array of unique tea blends.

As we took quite a lot of beautiful shots here, it's only proper to put the Dala Spa experience in its own article. Stay tuned.

Dinner time at Petani Restaurant

For the evening, I heads down to Petani Restaurant. The view turned into dramatic with the lights turned on.

As Mrs. Epicurina suddenly experiencing a terrible headache, I have to enjoy the dinner alone. A pity, but still enjoyable nonetheless, especially with the live entertainment by Bali's own prodigy music artist Balawan.

Known for his double necked guitar and his unique tapping method, Balawan performance that night was both joyful and stunning. Combining intricate tunes with Balinese elements, Balawan combine technical prowess with ethnicity nuance beautifully blend it. This is for sure not your usual dinner band.

Later during the end of his performance, Balawan was also joined by one of his audience in a three way "battle" of scatting, Djembe drum playing, and Balawan mimicking gamelan on his guitar!

To accompany the evening, I ordered Grilled Jimbaran Bay Tuna. Two slabs of thick and juicy tuna, stacked on top of purple potato puree and edamame beans. The tuna was marinated with Kintamani lime and soy sauce, lightly grilled to create the firm surface, while at the same time maintaining the pinky juicy tuna meat inside. Well done!

I did find the dressing of spiced orange reduction a bit challenging though, since the purple potato is already sweet, and the dressing was even sweeter.

Breakfast in Alaya Ubud

Several options are available for breakfast in Alaya Ubud, you can pick from the Indonesian Nasi Kuning Komplit, Eggs, or Pancake. I certainly went for the poached eggs, on top of toasted baguette, perfected by a layer of smoked salmon. Delish! I always love the moment I sliced the poached eggs open and let the runny egg yolks melted out.

We find the Nasi Kuning a bit too mellow for our local tastebuds though, while our kid certainly enjoyed his freshly made choco chips pancake.

All of the breakfast choices includes a set of sliced fresh fruits, juices, homemade yogurt, bread basket with homemade jams, and a choice of coffee or tea. While it's not a buffet breakfast, it's surely fulfilling.

Conclusion and feedbacks

On overall our stay was awesome, the staffs were attentive, their Dala Spa's High Tea has definitely one of the best savory snacks among all the high teas in Bali. We love the bedroom and the bowl shaped bathtub, and the balcony was relaxing.

I would love to see flavor enhancement on some of their food, and there should be a better way to address family traveling with babies, or with elders, as for both cases the long walk might be an issue.

Where's your favorite place to stay in Ubud? Share with us!

Thank you Alaya Ubud for introducing your lovely resort to our Epicurina readers. As usual, all opinions are of my own. (byms)