40% off at NATAS last year
Land package: $684 pp
CM membership renewal: $40 pp
Return airport transfer: $50 pp
Flights on Tiger: $237.78 for 2 pax
SIN - DPS 29 March 2014 1020-1255
DPS - SIN 2 April 2014 1855 - 2130
Fellow travellers: Grace Lim, Zewei and Soo Tet.
Room: 5023 (near zen pool)
Day 1.
By the time we checked in, it was past 2pm and we were ravenous. Headed for the Batur ala carte restaurant where the guys were surprised that we could order anything we wanted, even multiple sets. After stuffing ourselves, we made it for archery at 4pm but had to wait a bit cos there were a ton of people around. Thereafter, we played tennis until it was time for dinner.
Day 2.
No sea sports on 30 and 31 March because of the Bali New Year. Boo. Started the morning with Partner yoga with Jessica from Korea W Yoga. It was real fun cos most of the postures had to be done with the assistance of a partner. We also got a gift at the end of the class for being one of the best participants - a peppermint roll on. At the end of class during Savasanah, someone would come and give a really good mini head massage. That was superb.
Met the rest for Golf at 10.30am. The instructor isn't as friendly and approachable as Wayan but he did dispense some good advice. After golf, they did basketball while I played squash for a bit. Then it was lunch. Chomp chomp. The food seems to be better in Bintan actually. Esp the white chocolate bread (most yums!).
Went for couple massage at 4.30pm (last class with Jessica!) and I ended up getting a good massage but it wasn't so for Tobs cos no matter how much strength I exert, it just didn't seem to suffice. Ended with Sha after dinner where we had looong rounds and Tst seemed to have no inkling how the game is supposed to be like.
Day 3.
New Year. Day of peace and quietness. Started the day with Happy back bending yoga with Samantha from HK Pure Yoga. Then I went for a dip in the zen pool. Boy was it hot. The thing about Bali is there are hardly any clouds around so you get maximum sunshine. The ang mohs really like sun bathing so Bali is excellent for them. I just can't understand why they choose to remain outdoors in the sweltering heat. I think I drank more coke light these 5 days than at any other point in time due to the heat!
Had extremely tight ITB, probably due to the raquet sports the last 2 days so I skipped all high-intensity stuff. Went for Yin yoga at 4.30pm and got a really good stretch which helped the ITB.
Day 4.
Water sports resume. And like all kiasu Singaporeans we needed to chope these so we queued up at 8.45am after breakfast for the watersports counter to open at 9am. Signed up for snorkelling trip at 10am and the boat cruise at 5.30pm. The snorkelling turned out to be just ok. I felt Bintan was better. The water isn't too clear and the fishes don't swim near you. Boo. But we got to use our new snorkelling gear.
While the rest went for kayaking, we went for a dip in the zen pool. I love it cos there're no kids around. The deck chairs are also very nice and comfy, especially the one on the swing. A bit of sha in the afternoon before I scooted off to do some of Slow Flow with Samantha and then rush off to be on time for the boat cruise.
Oh yes before the Slow Flow, I had a go at the Trapeze. I wanted to do bungee bounce but was told it was only for kids. Grrr. But, I had a successful try at putting the legs up and dangling myself upside down from the bar. Wheee! Shall do that again in Cherating. :))
The boat cruise turned out to be a disaster. There was nothing much to see even though I presume the intention was to watch the sunset. It was just ok and honestly, give it a miss - Tst was visibly bored on the boat and we had no entertainment.
Day 5.
We went ahead for 9am tennis even though it was an intermediate class cos we had to check out by 11am. Turned out that the other players were advanced and we were quite noob-ish during drills. It was embarrassing The tennis coach however was extremely patient and nice about it. It was a good workout even though we didn't move much but the sun caused us to drain out quite quickly.
Back in the room it was packing time. We lazed about after leaving our luggage outside the door as instructed and wondered what time they will chase us out. Turned out that they didn't. Even when the guy came to pick up our luggage, he knocked on our door just to inform us of the same, not to chase us away! This shows that we can possibly hang around in the room for longer, instead of paying like $15 bucks per hour for extension.
We only left the room at around 1.30pm in search of lunch. But another miscalculation was the fact that they had changed our departure from CM from 3pm to 4pm. So we had extra time to kill. It had to be Batur restaurant then and we basically just sat around until it was time to go home.
Overall, it was a good break. I got visibly darker. Did not put on too much weight (so bad food is a cause for celebration??). Would have been better if I didn't need to work while I was there though but CHC reply subs were due on 31 Day 3 and it was mad rushing throughout. Nevertheless, still thankful for the break! :)
