HadesNL

Hotel is now at 50% occupancy
This is at 9.50 morning the level of crowds at breakfast at Taman Gita.
All dishes still stocked and service still prompt.
I drank a bucket load of jamu to soothe my stomach.


Taman Gita breakfast room at 9.50
Not pictured to the left are the Tatler film crew going to shoot at this afternoon's sunday brunch at Bella Cucina restaurant.

This is how the fab rich live in Indonesia: https://www.indonesiatatler.com



Two Indonesian celebs featuring in this afternoon's Tatler filming, both are friendly!
(famous from a very melodramatic sinetron soapseries so sugarly your dentures are dropping)
(grainy picture = old android)


We ofcourse retired to our usual smoking corner:


Ah a place where smokers can still be themselves
I feel my stomach grumbling so after this i am making a beeline to my new favorite place in the hotel...

The Indonesia Tatler models are in residence


Stylish but.....



Does carry some heavy load in attitude



Tatler film crew





The two friendly Indonesian celebs at the filming location next to the club pool today....

demue

Thank you for sharing. Hope you'll feel better in no time HadesNL .

HadesNL

Travelling with 2 elder teensons and a S/O whom are all beach and sea dwellers, we decided to go to Melasti Beach at the south point of Nusa Dua at Ungasan. I was thinking i could make it with my stomach as G-d in his infinite wisdom created Imodium
I was actually against it but my lads kept nagging we should go...... more on that later...
They actually wanted to go by themselves alone but i insisted to chaperone first to see what the situation there is...
If it is acceptable then they can go there any time they wish by themselves.


I know from the 80s/90s that Nusa Dua beaches were or private or you have to park your vehicle and climb some rickety bamboo ladder down, not so nice anymore for those over 50+ but my lads assured me we can get there easy by car.

Melasti beach is about an 25min drive from IC Bali
Nevertheless these are the entry fares


Cash payment only for entering the road to the beach


An easy road to the beach itself


Actually quite nice and reasonable calm water in the light blue section.
I warned the others not to go beyond the deep dark blue,
because you never know with local legends of
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyai_Roro_Kidul
Some sceptics actually claim it is actually the strong undertow currents ....
but then again why take any chances ...




I settled myself with all our stuff at origano beach club where there is a minimum spend to use the gazebo,
no problem to me as no price to much to escape to shade:
service was good, food & drinks perfectly fine


And why did my teen lads nag me to go to Melasti beach?
It seems on their socials that there was a big Australian holiday group coming there...
I leave you to it why it caught their interests to go there too...


Yes Aussie hen groups/parties were present at the beach which was the real reason my lads wanted to go there .....
fortunately for a gay man such women are nothing more than just mere statues!


Time to return back to the hotel for me and S/O
I thought it safe enough for the lads to stay longer and make their way later tonight back to the hotel.
We didn't want to cramp their style

In the car .....
I had the feeling my stomach was going to explode like a volcano.....
I said to our driver... where is the nearest place where i don't need to squat behind a bush...... and with any comfort can use the toilet.

The closest place with western style toilets was the Apurva Kempinski hotel so while i sprinted to their toilets and took my time.....


These are the photos made by my S/O, whom commented that it looked like a bed factory disguised as a palace waiting to buckle under a swarm of tourists like the Singapore Marina Bay Sands hotel. He stayed there before and compared the overun hotel to the plague of locusts.... Stunning building but managed by morons.

Hope Kempinski won't fall into the same problems as Marina Bay SandsSingapore

Lobby view

Lobby patio

Peek into guestroom's private pools



Lobby

Labradorite floors, they didn't buy them from me as i would have striked rich with the sheer amount they used for the lobby floors....




Restaurant promo

My only comment of this Kempinski is that their public toilet has Toto washlets !


We have made it safe back to the haven of IC Bali.
Where my S/O commented that at least our hotel portrays the spirit of Bali without attempting to be chi-chi frou frou designer style devoid of Balinese elements as the Kempinski we visited.

Anyway both Melasti beach and the Kempinski are close to IC Bali to warrent a short visit.


For now i am going to zone out and get my stomach back in order........!

HadesNL

Before all pills and medication kicks and i'm passed out in sleep.
My S/O had a talk with someone from management and learned this:This is the specialty suites collection inventory at the moment:

Club suite 4x

Balinese suite 3x

Uluwatu suite 4x

Jimbaran renamed to Sanctuary suite 2x

Bukit suite 4x

Pecatu suite 1x

Villa 2x

NOTE: if the owner + entourage stays then inventory will fluctuate
---------------------

Concerning Singaraja:

These rooms / duplex suites will be in wings 4 and 5

Singaraja lounge is now in building 5

-------------------

Now under renovation are:
- building 1
- grand ballroom
- Japanese restaurant Ko
----------------

The hotel is also converting rooms to permanent residences.

There has been local demand and it is not yet clear if these can be made available for foreign interests.....

As the hotel has right of the resort still a lot of own open land,
IHG+owner are considering for the future,
developing extra real estate as in or
- more extra luxury villas or
- an adults only section building or
- an extension of private owned residences.

HadesNL

binman wow!
That is one massive suite.....
Congrats!

Care to share what cardtrick you pulled to get that upgrade

demue i am sure binman will keep your suite tidy or at least let you compare notes if there are any differences between his Bukit suite and your allocated Bukit suite

demue

Interesting on the speciality suites inventory. Balinese suite used to be 2 and now has 3. Jimbaran (now Sanctuary) had 4 and now has 2 only. Actually last time two of the then Jimbaran Suites were used by GM / Resort Manager as residence IIRC.

During Covid times they offered the Spa Villas (across the lawn from Club Wing) as Sanctuary Villa. Not sure what they are using them for now, maybe as Spa again or rather as owner residence in addition to Jivana and occasionally Imperial Villa.

There were talks of putting up to 50 villas onto the open land near the Club Wing before, but the financial investment needed to pull that off wasn't forthcoming back then (not a monetary issue for the owners if they want to) as the major renovations of the main resort were still under way and questions whether they could sell / fill those villas on a regular basis. Residences could be a possibility, but to be seen. Maybe to be seen how the Kimpton (all villa resort) will do before moving on this, YMMV.

Also, on a side note, what is now the Raffles in Jimbaran (kind of "behind" Four Seasons) was originally developed as an upscale villa / housing complex, but pricing was very ambitious and it didn't sell well so ultimately it was turned into a resort as an afterthought.

At the IC, while it is nice to see owners interested and involved in the property, it does add a layer of complexity for IHG Management as well, especially if they get too involved in day to day operations. I have seen that go off the rails in other properties.

HadesNL

nicolas75 : seems sebastian has mellowed : https://loyaltylobby.com/2022/07/31/...o-authorities/

And quotes exactly my strategy for entering Bali:
- NOT on Fridays
- not in the window of mass arrival flights (so go in early)
* fly in from a domestic airport in Indonesia / regional flight as from Singapore

edsh

A review of the Apurva Kempinski just posted on the best YouTube hotel channel I have ever watched. Photography, production, and a deep knowledge of the hotel industry make his videos both informative and entertaining.

HadesNL

Thanks!

Will watch the video as i am currently bedridden !
Good tip to pass away the time...

EDIT:
AHUM:
i heard Kevin mentioning the human statues in the lobby as Javanese, actually these are from Toraja region : effigys of elder tribespersons (it said so on the explaination sign)

demue

If I'm being cheeky here, in my mind, the only thing that has mellowed him is the Bali immigration authorities showering him with attention and making him feel mightily important. Nothing helps quite like stroking someone's ego big time.

Get well soon HadesNL , sounds like a nasty stomach bug you caught there.

HadesNL

demue : thank you for your concern,
I've sweated and played the butttrumpet in similair style as Linda Blair in the exorcist,
now feeling better but still feeble. I ran out of clothes so had to do with makeshift towels.

Anyway i sent the lads to bring the laundry to the closest laundryette before they went back to the beach.
If you exit the main gate and go to the right, coco laundry is the closest one.

They snapped a picture of the pricing:


Pricing coco laundry

binman

The 2-3 hour service is 15,000/kg and next day 9,000/kg. I have used it three times now. Very good service. There is also a laundry

on other side of the road but it appears to be self service. I am not doing that while living in a Bukit suite!!!😛🤣

binman

As an update to the fake 5 hour immigration queues at DPS, put out by Loyalty Lobby last week, I see the English press in Bali are catching up

https://coconuts.co/bali/news/immigr...airport-claim/

Not sure I have a lot of sympathy, things can be bad anywhere (twice this year plus 2 hour waits are T5 arrivals) but this story was always seriously exaggerated. There are neither the flights nor the passenger volumes to cause this, unless every international arrival is at the same time.

IAN-UK

I hope they found one that doesn't add whatever it is that gives the characteristic sickly-sweet smell to clothes from street laundries. I think it's addeded to promote the idea of flowers and freshness - but it could well put you back into the Bukit suite throne room where you've been spending your time

Enjoy a speedy. recovery !!!!

HadesNL

After last time's fiasco with icecubes, my S/O wanted to have seafood at a Jimbaran seafood restaurant before we leave back to Amsterdam.
How adventurous!, you like to live dangerous! i said to him. Fortunately he had asked around and went out to double check the restaurants by himself.
.
Most people he spoke to, recommended going directly after lunch as then the kitchen has full focus on your order instead of trying to cope with multiple orders at the same time during dinner rush hour. Also the undeniable Balinese logical advise they gave him was that during the day at least the cooks can see which fishes/seafood are off while at night it is anyone's guess and it can already be to late.

I was a bit apprehensive but he said to get out of the comfort zone of the Uluwatu suite throne room and battle your fears.

He chose Menega café seafood.

When you exit the hotel using the Jimbaran beach exits, you walk to the left towards the hills and then you stumble upon the multiple seafood restaurants.

This is the street entrance:


Street entrance

Fresh coconut : kelapa muda


inspection of the seafood



Beach entrance

Menu 1

Menu 2

Menu 3

Menu 4

Menu 4

Menu 5

Outdoor seating

Nasi seafood

Clams

Squid satay

Fish and prawns

More prawns

Extra fish

Sambal sauces : atomic heat : i was jealous both my sons and S/O could eat and handle this

Comfy seating

This will gave others an idea what to expect at the Jimbaran seafood restaurants in pricing and portions.
I can proudly say i didn't suffer from anything extra so can fully recommend the Menega Café for a meal!