Bali Travels : Part 5 – Returning “Home” to Kayumanis Nusa Dua

13th October 2010

We skipped the breakfast at Tanaya today and went to the beach for our Bakso once again. Mmm… delicious!! Today, we checked-out of Tanaya and will go into the Nusa Dua area and continue our honeymoon at Kayumanis Nusa Dua – once again, thanks to Journeys For Two :)

The pick-up from Kayumanis arrived early and as such, we arrived Kayumanis before check-in time. It was good to be “home”. “Welcome home, Ibu. Welcome home, Bapak,” was the greeting from all the staff who remembered us having our wedding here last year. And imagine our thrill when we found out that they had upgraded us to the honeymoon suite! Whoopeeee!! But because we were still early, we went out to Bali Collection for lunch first and then went back to Kayumanis to our suite. Wow, the suite was really, really beautiful with a private lap pool! Not to mention, a Jacuzzi and a ROUND BED!! I cannot describe to you how fantastic the bed looks – somebody surely knew how to put couples on honeymoon in the mood indeed! We also got a little “honeymoon cake” along with our afternoon tea.

There was a private cabana by the pool and the whole villa was surrounded by water features. We had our afternoon tea right after check-in and then we headed straight for the beach – on the bicycle built for two – unbelievable – this tandem bike is still around! Once again, a few more “Welcome home” greetings by the familiar staff along the way. Despite the 100% occupancy, we barely bumped into another soul at the resort aside from the warm and friendly staff.

MOH & I decided to have a private dinner in the villa for today and after exploring more of the Nusa Dua area, we headed back. The villa was really nice. I wouldn’t have minded if they had given us the same villa as our wedding, but the upgrade was a really nice touch indeed.

Our butler came with our meals and set-up our dining area for our private dinner. Rather than get dressed for it, MOH and I had dinner in our bathrobes – that was truly us – as fuss-free as possible ;) Dinner was great – and I had no idea why, but I ordered the Ikan Java Curry – which turned out to be really quite good. The portions were quite massive too! Guess what? They even made us a miniature cake – which was the same as what we had for our wedding last year. The colour was not right though, but it was the same chocolate cake!

You see, it was very obvious why we chose Kayumanis as our wedding spot – it was because of their impeccably warm and friendly service as well as their attention to the little things which counted. They made sure you felt at home without you feeling that your boundaries have been intruded upon and despite the 100% occupancy, you seem to be their number one priority. This type of service is a rare gem indeed. Not only that – I was always remembered by the staff at Kayumanis as the Bride Who Didn’t Want Flowers (and for the record, still the only bride at Kayumanis who didn’t want flowers) and they knew during the wedding planning that if I were to have flowers, it would have to be calla lilies. As such, a big bouquet of calla lily was in the honeymoon suite. Where do you often find people who remember tiny, insignificant details such as these?

Anyway, …….. there is no reason to continue writing about what happened for the night before bed time – as you can just imagine, this was a honeymoon suite after all! ;)

14th October 2010

I woke up to do laps in the private pool before breakfast. We both went to Kayumanis' Tetaring for breakfast and again, all the “Welcome Home” greetings before breakfast was served. I had the Eggs Benedict and MOH had the Mee Goreng and we shared the Kayumanis Toast. The Mee Goreng – ok, this one tops the list so far as the best Mee Goreng I had for this trip. The noodles were the right consistency and the flavor was just right. Unfortunately, it wasn’t spicy because it was MOH’s order :P

After brekkie, we went to the beach once again and had a swim before venturing out to explore Nusa Dua - especially the Art Market. For lunch, we went back to Kendi Kuning – but I was greatly disappointed that the chef is now a different person and as such, the menu no longer carried the Sate Kambing. We had the Sate Kambing last year and it was so good, I had packed some back to the villa too! Anyway, it was Nasi Goreng and Mee Goreng again before we headed back to the villa. We had a quick dip in the main pool of Kayumanis before we went back to our villa - not to mention lots of "Bali's Next Top Model" photo shoot :P All the times we had stayed here, we had never ventured anywhere near the pool area but since our honeymoon suite was actually right next to the pool, we decided to at least try it once!

For dinner, we went over to Fortuin Café at Jimbaran Bay and we caught a beautiful, beautiful sunset whilst enjoying our grilled prawns, sotong, clams and all. It was strange because the weather in Nusa Dua & Jimbaran was not as breezy as Kuta. In fact, it was humid and stuffy. Where had the breeze gone?

15th October 2010

We got a wake up call at 5.30am (wondering if Kris Wong would agree to this :P) for our Sunrise Breakfast on the beach. Again, it was cloudy and we were not able to catch a perfect sunrise, unlike what we had last year. But we enjoyed our breakfast, the beach, the view and each other’s company before we went back to enjoy more of the villa.

Today, my spirits were a little low, because it was exactly the end of my Bali trip for 2010. I always leave Bali with a heavy heart.

After checking out of Kayumanis, we went to Bali Collection for lunch again. This time, we went back to The Paon – which was lunch venue prior to our wedding last year. I actually did not take the Mee Goreng, but went for the Mixed Rice Set instead – where I had Pork, Fish, Chicken, Eggplant and Lalapan. It was really quite delicious! MOH - Nasi Goreng as usual.

Then we made all the necessary transportation arrangements before we headed off to Discovery Mall Kuta – for me to get a tattoo. This time around, I wasn’t so much as getting a ‘new tattoo’ but merely adding on to an existing one.

My little dolphin tattoo on my right back shoulder was my first tattoo which I did in Australia. After a rather stormy emotional set-back, I had gone to get the tattoo – various reasons – 1) It was small enough so I thought the pain wouldn’t be so painful, 2) It was a dolphin which is my favourite animal and 3) It was a single dolphin because I thought that life for me from henceforth would be forever me, alone, enjoying being single and individual.

However, eversince I’ve been together with MOH (not counting the earlier 13 years as friends before we started dating), there was much enjoyment in being a couple. Our wedding marked the end of my “singlehood”, and whilst I had never planned to get married before, I am now happily married. Which was why I thought, it was time to add another dolphin to my lonely dolphin to mark yet another significant event in my life.

Of course, MOH had funny ideas that if we had a family, I’d be adding baby dolphins to the art and I told him “Anything more than two is a CROWD,” before pinching him :P

The tattoo was not done by Dekdi – which is our regular tattoo artist, as he hurt his back. However, Dekdi’s skilled and talented uncle completed the deed this time around. I like the outcome of it. It’s a pair of dolphins nuzzling up against each other with the ‘bigger’ dolphin seemingly saying “I’ll take care of you!” Nice one.

We hung around Kuta Beach (and discovered a shortcut from the mall to HardRock Hotel!) for awhile more and had more Bakso (I cannot get enough of this because it is so good!) and watched the sunset before our pick-up came to take us to the airport.

And with that, it was bye-bye Bali. Till we see you again!