Enjoing the famous Rock Bar in Bali

The Ayana Resort in Jimbaran

This place is huge. Enormous. Covering 190 acres of land, and stretching along 1.2 km of rocky Jimbaran shoreline, it feature 78 private villas and 290 rooms built over two wings. Wide open spaces abound everywhere, making the upkeep and landscaping of the properly require an army to mow grass, rake away leaves, etc. Three large pools plus a smaller kiddies pool provide lots of tanning opportunity.

There is a spa, an 18 hole putt putt course, and several restaurants featuring cuisine from native Indonesian to fine French Cuisine.

The Rock Bar

Finally, there is the focal point of the property, the island famous Rock Bar, located at the base of the cliffs, surrounded by rocks, reachable either by a long staircase or an inclinator that takes guests down eight at a time. When we arrived at the hotel, the GM met with us and gave us a reservation for the Rock Bar that evening (apparently, seating is first come first serve). As we rounded the corner to the inclinator, there was an entirely too long of a line full of non Ayana guests waiting to gain entrance. Fortunately, guests use the 'cut to the front' right side of the rope for an immediate entrance.

Rock Bar from atop the inclinator

Shot of inclinator from above

Inclinator at top position

Inclinator in action

Once below, the vibe is cool and smooth, light electronica pumping out of the speakers, dozens of hostesses and servers coordinated like an small army to move the guests around. We were expected, and led to the very top level - reserved only for hotel guests - where the primary bar is located and the best views of sunset is to be had.

Bartenders hard at work

View of the cliffs with the Bali airport in the far distance on the right

Other parts of the Rock Bar

DJ spinning the smooth electronica

Where everyone lines up to gain entrance and catch the inclinator up

Unfortunately, in the hour before sunset, the sun is baking hot, reflecting off the sea. Solution? Parasols - hundreds of them passed out to guests to block the hot sun.

Leslie in the setting sun

Lily and Leslie

Leslie earlier in the afternoon with her parasol to keep the heat away

Lily sitting in a great cliff side location

Leslie relaxing

One of Liam masterpiece photos...:)

Liam and Mommy

Liam

Drinks were varied - everything from rum and coke to more exotic fruit and spice concoctions. My signature drink was the Caipiroska (Vodka, Lime, Brown Sugar and ice), and I had many of them, Yummy! As the sun fell, Liam saw several large crabs crawling around the sand and rocks three stories below.

As the sun set, the magical golden light bathed then entire bar and cliff side. Cameras and videos were snapping and whirling away. Once the sun dropped below the horizon, twilight quickly followed suit (in the tropics, the sun drops like a rock).  Once the dusk faded, the light of hundreds of table top candles and lights shining up on the face of the cliffs. Yet another beautiful setting.

Lily's photo designed specifically for Instagram

Sun approaching the horizon

Sun about to kiss the horizon

Clouds and cliffs absorbing the final rays of the day

We ended up visiting twice. The people watching is fun, and everyone has their cameras popping away to capture the sunset. A warning - the drinks aren't cheap. My cocktails ran $14 a pop, in fact, everything at this resort runs at poppingly high prices. But being way out on the cliffs, on a huge resort, with no tourist center near without making a strong effort to get a cab and head towards Nusa Dua or Kuta (as opposed to Ubud, where shopping and dining is just a walk away). We expected this, but was still shocked by it.

The Rock Bar was worth visiting as a guest of the hotel. Given the long, long lines of people lined up just to get to the bottom and the bar - where they then have to wait for a table to open up - I wouldn't go out of my way to visit.
 

Enjoying the Westin Nusa Dua and surrounding area

I apologize in my lack of timely updates recently. I've been soaking up the sun, and generally enjoying the ideal Bali winter climate (as opposed to the extremely hot and muggy Thailand summer, smoky Singapore, and overheated Dubai).

On June 30, we began our travel to Bali from Thailand. Again, we chose to go on the cheap (since our frequent flyer miles didn't cover this inter-Asia travel), and took Tiger Airways from Krabi to Singapore, then on a separate flight to Bali.  As with our last Tiger Airways flight, we allowed ourselves to be hit up for almost every imaginable fee in order to ensure our massive amounts of luggage (around 160kg!) made it with us, and to ensure we had enough overhead space for our bags. Finally, on the flight to Bali, I shelled out the extra $11 so my wife and I had the extra leg room for the 2.5 hour journey (they are so strict about losing potential revenue, the flight attendants placed signs on the unoccupied seats effecting telling other passengers that the seats were available - even after departure! - for an additional fee...no switching to empty exit row seats after leaving on Tiger Airways!).

Waiting for our flight at Krabi 'International' airport

Liam, apparently having just ingested some type of methamphetimine

We had a three hour layover in Singapore. Since Leslie broke her Kindle by kneeling on it as it lay on her lounge chair (the blame for which was, naturally, put on me since she was trying to open the pool umbrella, and I obviously should have done it, saving the destruction of the device). I picked up one of the new Kindle paper white models. Unfortunately, it was Wi-Fi only, but with the great feature of being backlit for night reading. It cost just under $200 in USD, which is a premium over buying on Amazon, but what choice did we have with four weeks left in the trip, and no physical books for Leslie to read. The girls picked up a 220 volt hair straightener, which they had been without for the first part of the trip. Apparently, it's an important part of the female beauty regime.

As I documented in a previous post, we arrived in Bali and utilized a VIP immigration and transportation service which whisked away from a Bali airport that seems to becoming closer to the grand opening of its new terminals. Last summer, Leslie and I had to walk a long, long way to get to where pickups were made - even then, it took a good 15 minutes to get out of the airport. This time, curbside of the terminal served the chauffeured car services, which was a pleasant surprise. I assume this reflects a further completion of the airport's construction.

Nusa Dua appears to be a planned development of resorts and similar tourist construction. It's almost like a gated community. Well before reaching the Westin, our van (and cop car in the lead) left the busy, congested streets of the city, and entered a peaceful park like atmosphere. Normally, there'd be a security stop for cars entering the Nusa Dua community, but given our police escort, we just scooted by. Several resorts, from the high end of the St. Regis Resort, to the lower end Melia resort (and everything in between, including a sad, run down looking Club Med) are located within the planned community, and therefore the entire area is very chill and quiet. No clubs, no all night parties. Those are found in nearby Kuta where the 20s Australian crowds spend the night drinking (and likely, drugging in many cases). Kuta was also the location of an Islamic suicide bomber sending himself to Allah along with hundreds of innocent partiers in a club.

The Westin Nusa Dua

Frankly, I didn't have very high expectations for the Westin property in Nusa Dua. In my experience, Westins are pretty vanilla, built to serve the middle tourist market, and is typically not extraordinary. I was pleasantly surprised upon pulling up to the lobby. Two very beautiful Balinese women in full traditional dress were on hand to greet us (even at the late hour of our arrival), there was no line at reception (in fact, I never encountered a line with all my encounters with the front desk), and check in was quick and painless (it was one of the two hotels we had to prepay to ensure the best rates. The lobby was spectacular - large, airy and well air conditioned.

Westin Lobby

Costumed Welcome

The hotel's general manager came to greet us, and personally informed us that in addition to the two bedroom ocean view suite we had booked, the hotel had added as second room. Fortunately, there was a double door entrance behind which lay the entrances of the suite and the second room - in essence, creating a super suite of rooms. Lily laid claimed to the additional room, while Liam happily domiciled in the suite's second room.

Messy living area of suite

Even messier master bedroom of suite

View from our suite balcony (with one of the ubiquitous squirrels)

Located on the eastern shore of the southern Bali peninsula (separated from the main bulk of the island by the airport's runway), the trade winds flooding over Nusa Dua were wonderfully fresh, keeping temperatures and humidity to comfortable levels around the clock. In fact, we'd open the door that leads from our room to balcony simply to fall asleep to the strong trade winds blowing through the trees and rustling the lush vegetation.

The pool was the focal point of the property. A large circle surrounded by two rows deep of lounge chairs and ample umbrellas for shade, the water was a surprising two meters deep throughout. At one end of the pool, two narrow channels led to a shallow, kid friend end which featured a waterslide and a pool bar (which surprised me - why put the pool bar where the kids hang out...strange).

K

Main pool area

Kids pool area

Liam in the deep end

Enjoying the slide

Link between deep pool and kids pool

Between the pool and beach (where several warnings about stinging jellyfish and poisonous sea urchins kept most people out of the ocean), was a nice recreation area feature ping pong tables, a bar, a few restaurants and the towel station where, besides resupplying pool towels, also rented out beach cruise bikes to ride along the paved trail that ran the length of much of Nusa Dua, past the various resorts.

Nusa Dua Beach

Recreation area leading to the beach

Warning of the strong currents

This is where the comparisons to Kaanipali seemed apt. Both areas have resorts lined up one after another facing the beach, and both areas feature a dining and shopping area which provides alternatives to eating at the hotel (The Bali Collection in Nusa Dua and the Whaling Village in Kaanipali). Moreover, both areas feature islands across the water. However, Kaanapali's sunset view of Lana'i is far superior.

The paved path that follows the shoreline past numerous resorts in Nusa Dua

Since the Boxing Day Tsunami of 2004, signs like these are *everywhere* in Bali and Thailand

The clientele are a mix of Asians (Koreans, Japanese, Chinese, Malaysian, Sinapore, etc.), Australian, British, Russian and other Europeans. Americans were in the extreme minority. Independence Day, understandably, means nothing in Bali, and our family celebrated with simple toasts to our Fourth of July.

I did use the spa at the Westin, and it was a terrible disappointment. They are constructing a new spa complex, and have transformed several guest rooms into the temporary spa. It wasn't a very relaxing or indulgent as I would have expected from a resort.

To be honest, we didn't recreate a whole lot. Lots of pool time, lots of visits to the Bali Collection where I was able to get fairly drunk (the kind of drunk where I'll go up on stage and sing with the band), and enjoy massages and a pedicure (nothing like a foot massage to close a late night of drinking).

After a visit to the Bali Collection with Leslie one afternoon, I thought we were going back for dinner. She was tired, so I hit the night solo. First stop - my favorite restaurant, Pico Tapas. I downed a couple of liters of Sangria (for the second night in a row), and had my Kindle to keep me company while I enjoyed the band. After stumbling out, I headed to the grocery store and loaded up on candy, chocolate, chips and soda - after all, it's so expensive on the resort, and it all looked so good. Finally, I enjoyed a drunken foot massage and closed the place down (more sordid details of this evening can be found at this post). I just realized that I had written about most of this before (after I arrived back at the room drunk, naturally.

Before a final family visit to Pico Tapas (again, a night not to be forgotten, documented here), we headed down the beach and the four of us received impromptu beach side massages. At $15 a pop for an hour, it was an inexpensive treat.

All in all, we enjoyed the Westin. The drinks at the resort was reasonably priced ($8 for a cocktail) as was the breakfast buffet ($17 per person vs. $50 in Singapore).

Would I recommend the Westin to a friend, and would I visit again? Absolutely. The two bedroom suite was reasonably priced (in high season, no less) at $500 per night, and there were lots of things for kids to do (Liam even tried the kids club one of the days).

Little did we know, that our next destination would raise the bar on luxury, amenities and (especially) costs. But what a property. Next stop, the Ayana resort we're we will be spending four nights.

 

A much needed pedicure

Lily (and the rest of us) enjoying a $15 massage down the beach

 

Beach bike cruising

Lily and her beach bike

Funny looking dude

Perfect Bali Weather

The requisite shot of 'feet at pool'

Balinese Dance Performance at the Westin

The kids hanging out at the hotel bar during happy hour (25% of drinks from 5-7!)

Happy Hour

Liam with glowing orbs

One of the rare shots of me

Friendly Balinese Chef

The Constant battle to keep Liam lubed up with sunscreen

 

Our National Anthem is so awesome.

Francis Scott Key really nailed the experience at the battle of Baltimore, of which Fort McHenry was took the brunt of the British fire. Key was a guest of the British as the battle begun, and because he was privy to too much tactical battle information, we was forced to watch the battle from the decks of the British HMS Tonnant.

His amazement that the American flag was still flying in the morning was all the inspiration that this practicing attorney needed to pen what has become our national anthem. It really does give me chills when I listen closely to the lyrics, and the imagery it represents. "..and the rockets red flare" is a reference to the British continuing experimentation with rockets in battle. Horribly inaccurate, they were introduced in the Peninsular war against the French a few years earlier. Though a terrible weapon, they must have lit up the sky and induced tremendous fear among the American soldiers.

The 'bombs bursting in air' referenced in the poem was likely fused shell cannon fire from the ships at anchor. Cannons typically fired heavy balls of lead used to breach fort walls, or fired fused shells that exploded when reaching their targets (typically human ones). There is also case or grape shot that consisted of hundreds of small lead balls that rendered a cannon to be large shotgun.

It surely overwhelmed Key with emotion to see the Stars and Stripes still flying after a long night of constant bombardment. Even now, when I hear the national anthem played, I get chills at the beautiful, dramatic and terrifying imagery so well writing by Francis Scott Key.

I think many more Americans would find themselves choking back tears if they really listened to the words being sung - a beautifully written first hand account of American tenacity.

Yet another drunken night...but I'm not the only one to sing with the band

Tonight, our final night in Nusa Dua, we made our way at sunset over to the Bali Collection. Nusa Dua reminds me quite a bit of Kaanapali in Maui, and the Bali Collection is the analogue to the Whaler's Village.

After the short walk, where, for the first time, we saw distant volcanos (I'm not sure if they were on the northern part of Bali, or on another island), we arrived at the scarcely populated Bali Collection outdoor mall. Given that it's the high season. I would expect greater crowds there, but according to a cab driver, most of the tourists hang out in Seminyak and Kuta.

On the way to the Bali Collection

The girls

Leslie and I

Sunset photo

Leslie and Lily did some clothes shopping, while Liam picked up a kite that we plan to deploy in our next stop of Jimbaran. After raiding the grocery store for goodies (knowing we'd be isolated at our next resort destination), we headed to the Pico Tapas restaurant, by far our favorite dining establishment when visiting Nusa Dua.  Leslie ordered a bottle of wine, I ordered a few Caiparoskas (Vodka, sugar and lime - the vodka version of the Caiparina). I followed it up with (yet) another liter of sangria. After a while, Leslie and I were feeling no pain.

The girls shopping for clothes

However, before we sent the kids in a cab for the 3 minute ride to our hotel, I was buzzed enough to repeat my performance of The Girl From Ipanema. This time, I brought my camera, and the kids took some photos. After the kids skoodadled, Leslie got the gumption to jump on stage and sing - along with an Aussie lady. It was a great time. The band was (as usual) terrific, playing one Latin hit after another. So strange to be singing along with a song by The Buena Vista Social Club in Bali.

Singing The Girl from Ipanema in Portuguese

The handsome and fantastic lead singer of the house band

Leslie and her Aussie partner in crime crooning awa

Leslie having a great time

The Staff joining in for some dancing

Leslie dancing with this beautiful Balinese woman

Soon enough, the staff joined in the dancing, along with Leslie and myself. Finally, after many, many drinks, we stumbled towards the taxi stand. However, a hostess with the restaurant was kind enough to provide a complimentary taxi ride to the hotel (saving a whopping $3 USD in cab fare).

Right now, it's midnight on July 5. All my friends and family are just starting their Independence Day holiday, while we passed without a single mention from nary a tourist or a hotel staff member. There just aren't enough Americans to pay any attention to one of the most important holidays on the American calendar.

Tomorrow, we head to a resort on the west coast of the southern peninsula. That means lovely sunsets, for one thing, plus a lovely new venue to explore for the next four nights.

Thai vs. Balinese Massages, and a Drunken Night out Solo

 

Leslie and I had a wonderful afternoon free from the kids. Leaving them behind, giving them carte blanche to order room service, we headed over to a nearby outdoor mall called The Bali Collection. Lots of high end fashion shops, lots of low end tourist trinket places, a multitude of massage houses, and a plethora of outdoor restaurants. It was a short 20 minute walk along a manicured path, that passed a few other resorts, before arriving at the entrance tot he mall. After fueling up with a few cocktails, Leslie and I partook in a 60 minute full body massage, followed by a pedicure. All for only around $100 USD (granted, given the touristy locale, this is more expensive than can be found elsewhere. A full two hours of pampering.
One observation I'd like to share is that Balinese massages aren't nearly as good as Thai massages. No, I'm not talking about the lack of any 'happy ending', but with Thai massages, they want you stripped down naked, and really go at your buttocks and inner thighs. I swear, with Thai massages, given the way they drape the towel when they cover me, they must get a fleeting glimpse of my privates. Nonetheless, the Thai method is much more pleasurable (not enough to get me excited, if you know what I mean). On the other hand, the Balinese are much more modest. When asked to dress down, they provide these flimsy, disposable briefs that, on my big ass, pretty much tear as I put them on. They also avoid the areas that the Thai so readily engage.

My 60 minute Thai foot massage for only 200 baht (around $6USD)

Liam relaxing, enjoying his foot massage

So far, on this trip, I've enjoyed a (Thai) chocolate mask treatment, two 90 minute (Thai) massages, a 60 minute foot message (Thai),  a 60 minute Balinese massage, an hour long pedicure (boy, that poor girl was going at my heels with a razor, scraping off dead skin for a good 30 minutes), and after a lovely, solo dinner and two liters of sangria, I went for a late night 60 minute back, neck and foot massage (for a mere $16 USD).



This poor girl spent 20+ minutes with a razor, shaving off the dead skin from my heels. What nasty feet I have!

Back to my story - after our visit to the mall, and a few drinks at the hotel bar during its happy hour, Leslie jumped into the shower. The kids had ordered room service, so I thought she was getting ready to go out together with me for a nice dinner. Nope. She was tired and was heading straight to bed. With her glad permission, I headed out, walking the beach path, passing several other resorts (the layout reminded me of the Kaanapali area of Maui), making the 20 minute trek to the Bali Collection outdoor mall. I made a beeline to the same restaurant where, two nights previously, I sang The Girl From Ipanema (in Portuguese, naturally) with the band. However, this time, I brought my kindle along, since I was riding solo.

As with the other night, I ordered the Churrascuria, the endless supply of barbequed meat served at the table. Of course, I also imbibed one (ok, two) liters of sangria. Needless to say, I was feeling no pain, and was quickly losing my inhibitions. I struck up a conversation with the couple adjacent to my table (normally, I'm too shy to do this). I discovered that they had lived in Curacao for four years (a place I've visited a few times in my cruise ship lifetime), and now resided in Hong Kong.

The lead singer of the band (yes, the same one with whom I sang the other night) was trying to coax me up to the stage. I told him, quite honestly, that I was simply not drunk enough to make the leap. That said, after my second pitcher of sangria, I ended up dancing with the staff of the restaurant (I couldn't figure out why the entire staff - cooks, servers, hostesses, were dancing to a latin tune). In any case, one of the servers pulled me up, and I ended up showing her some latin salsa and merengue moves (vestiges of my time teaching basic dance lessons on cruise ships).

Well buzzed (nay, drunk) at this time, I settled my bill, and headed over to the supermarket, and basically filled my basket with Oreos, large bottles of Coke and other sweets that seemed yummy and desirable at the time. My attempts at idle chit chat with other shoppers was met with a hundred yard stare, but that didn't bother me. I charmed the Balinese staff with my limited vocabulary - Ohm Swasti-ass-tu & Sook Samon (how are you and thank you, respectively). Westerners clearly don't bother learning these basic phrases, so it always got a smile from the Balinese on whom I used the phrases.

After completing my purchases, I was in the mood for a foot massage. The trade winds were blowing strongly from the east, and I was in a grand mood; what better time to enjoy the skilled hands of a professional?

Waiting for my massage, a couple was also in line, awaiting the therapists to free up. An attractive blonde was waiting as her (later learned) husband was visiting the loo, so I struck up a conversation in my innocent, uninhibited drunken state. She was Russian, from Moscow, living in Germany with her German husband. She was a flight attendant for Aeroflot (I really had to hold my tongue, so tempted was I to make a few jokes about how awful a reputation that airline has). She told me she met him when he was a passenger, traveling to Moscow from Germany. She kept serving him bottles of beer, and he wouldn't drink them, but rather ensconce them in his carry on. Apparently, that strange behavior - and also because she thought he was cute - was the start of a relationship that eventually led to the altar. A very cute story.

It turns out my neck, back and foot massage therapist was very talkative as well. He grew up in the northwest of Bali (an area we'll be visiting in 10 days or so), and goes by the name of Alan. Not very native, clearly; however, his Aussie friend gave him the moniker when his friend couldn't pronounce his Balinese name, and it stuck.

When my foot massage came to an end, I paid the $16 USD plus a $4 tip (the practice of which isn't widely adopted in Bali), and then headed to the entrance of the Bali Collection. I was too drunk to make the 25 minute walk back via the beach, so I hailed a cab to take me the short jaunt. I wanted a night cap when I arrived at the hotel, but everything was closed down - and it was only 11pm! That's Nusa Dua for you. A quiet, isolate area dotted with high end resorts. Not the real Bali, by any means, but also not the backpackers and drunkards' center of gravity either (that's reserved for Kuta - where Islamic extremists set off bombs in nightclubs on two separate occasions years ago). The security is omnipresent at resorts across the island - mirrors checking under the cars, obligatory passes through metal detectors upon entrance to hotels).

I had a really fun night going solo. Tomorrow, Leslie promises to have the energy to return to Bali Collection (and the main reason is that the restaurant prices are half of the resort prices - yet only a few minutes walk away), and have a nice meal with the entire family on our last night in Nusa Dua, before moving on to our next destination in Jimbaran (on the other side of the peninsula sprouting like a tumor from the bulk of the island).

We're excited to visit the Rock Bar, a venue with beautiful sunset views located at the base of a towering cliff overlooking the crashing waves. An Aussie couple with whom we chatted told us they had to wait an hour and a half to take the funicular down to the bar. Fortunately, hotel guests - which we'll be - can cut to the front of the line and get down in no time.