Spa/Uluwatu Monkey Temple/Jimbaran Bay
04 Dec 2010
Aloha! Surprise surprise! I'm back to blogging... & hope this is not just a 3-min revival. Cross your fingers.
I realised I haven't written the last post of my Bali travalogue! And the reason why I've decided to write it now is because I've just came back from a 9-day bkk trip. I love travelling, & I love relishing those moments through pictures & writing about it. So pardon me if I forgot some nitty-gritty details cos the trip was taken last year! Continuing from this post...
So, we checked out of our villa after breakfast, left our luggage there, & took a cab to...
How can you go to Bali & leave without doing a body massage, right? Even though it's the last day of our trip, we managed to pack it in. And I'm one perfectionist. So prior to this trip, I did a hell load of research on every place we visited/stayed in, reading forums reviews, blog reviews, scrutinize hotel photos, compare, spent lotsa time on google maps, read advice by travellers etc. So this Jari Menari was supposedly highly raved about. They even had the guts to put "Bali's best massage".
Btw this is the 2nd time we've taken a cab in the whole trip, partly cos after the 1st time at Ku de Ta, I'm kinda freaked out, & partly cos we're here to see the island so it's better to hire a driver becos one point to the other might take up to 2hr. For people who're here for water sports & would stay in an area, it should be safe to take a cab anywhere.
We all got changed & their staff walk us through this long corridor, & bring you to this beautiful jap-styled hut. Once you step in, you'll feel very at peace inside. Throughout the whole session, you'll only hear the sound of water drippling down, which makes you feel strangely relaxed.
I had the "Tibetan Singing bowl" for my parents (a 90-min massage session which at the end the masseur will hit a large metal/bronze bowl & the vibrations which resonates through your body will supposedly restores balance & harmony), & a basic 75-min one for myself & sis. Total price is about US$157.
I love how relaxed this environment makes me feel, with the zen statue over there. But if you ask me if it's worth the price, I'd say no. Yes everything is perfect, but I really don't enjoy the massage. I think for USD$160, it's too expensive (but becos Bali is so commercialised, good massages are about this range).
There's one thing. At Jari Menari, they only hire male practitioners. I know this through their website before I book, but I didn't know how uncomfortable it would make me feel... cos I hadn't had too many spa sessions & the ones I've had were with female practitioners.
Call me conservative, but this could be the reason why I couldn't relax myself thoroughly to enjoy the massage. I even wore a bikini inside as you can see... which the masseur pull off once I laid on my stomach. I thought he'd have the manners to at least inform me he was going to start. But maybe he didn't because of language barriers so it'd be unfair to judge him. They're professional enough overall.
After the massage, with oil all over my body. And why do I look so tan in this picture?!
Feeling all giddy. I'm not sure if you're supposed to wash off the oils or let it stay on your body so it will seep in... but I took a shower all the same, which I'm pretty sure is wrong.
In the shopfront, you see all sorts of things sold there. From the attire we wear, to the massage oils & shampoos. I bought a hotpink tunic & 2 scented soap bars. I don't use soap bars, but I bought it for memory purposes.
Do you think we could actually buy this statue home?
Went back to the villa to collect our luggage, & there our driver Putu is waiting for us. Our next destination is Uluwatu Monkey Temple.
There, the only modern building we've passed by on these streets
In Bali, there're different rules when you visit different temples of different religions. Mostly you're required to cover up your legs & you may or may not be asked to wear a sash. I wanna experience the culture of this country, so of cos I did!
Now you know why this is called the Monkey Temple. I'd advise you to give them a wide berth, after hearing what Putu told me. Don't wear anything striking or wear anything on your head cos you run the risk of them stealing it, & I'm sure you don't want them climbing all over you.
Climb up a long way & you arrive at a breath-taking view of the Uluwatu coastline. The villa which I'd love to stay in (but was wayyyy too expensive) is somewhere near here.
Our driver, Putu. He's really nice, the Ayung River rafting we went to was through a lobang of his. And he brought us to eat a $1.50 noodles just outside the temple which was really yummy.
Afterwards, we head back to the car & off we drive to Jimbaran Bay for seafood! And of cos, I already know before we came here that Jimbaran Bay is too overrated & overpriced. Why would we still go there? Because no matter how many forumers warned of the highly raked up price, we still hadn't been here ourselves & I want to experience how eating in Jimbaran Bay is like.
And luckily for us, Putu has a lobang for Jimbaran Bay too! We get a 10% discount off the total bill cos the owner is a friend of his or something. Yay! :)
A whole stretch of other seafood restaurants
Isn't the beach stunning? I couldn't remember if it was clean or not, but from the pictures it look passable. At least much better than our Singapore beaches.
The evening sun is crazily hot! And irritably so. I see flies around our food & together with the sun, it pisses me off a little.
HUGE-ASS crab pincers!
This place is FULL of ang-mohs. Of cos! This place's a money winner. They're the ones providing for the bulk of the salary of people in the tourism industry. Other than us, there's only one more Chinese girl with an ang-moh bf.
I don't know how to photoshop this picture :( I don't wanna spoil the beauty of the horizon in the background so just leave it as it is
I think, this place is great for pictures (as with all beaches), food is so-so, and... those who still wanna come here to eat might want to order a beer with your all your crustaceans, because the heat will spoil your evening if you don't.
So that's it! My completed Bali trip. Oh yes, don't forget to grab some duty-free alcohol at the airport! My parents don't really drink, the Cordon Bleu is for my grandma (yes, grandma... she has tons of these), & the Baileys is because it is too fucking cheap! $27! I didn't even know it's this cheap.
So... in 4 days we've covered Goa gajah, coffee plantation, Mt batur, Spring temple, rice terrace, white water rafting, Uluwatu monkey temple, even slot in a massage & a few good dinners like in Ku de Ta & Jimbaran. No doubt all the touristy attractions, which is all what I planned (because these are one-time things, 2nd visit to Bali would be a whole different experience). The 3 things that I'd planned in our itinerary but didn't get to do is the Kecak dance, helicopter tour & another one which I forgot. Quite a feat, huh? Considering it's all self researched, arranged & planned. I'm so so proud of myself!! I would put in so much effort because these are the things I really enjoy doing. I even do it randomly in my free time. I think could be a travel planner! :)
The previous entries are all here in chronological order:
p.s: I recently saw a travel agency brochure, a 3D2N bali trip in a good resort costs about $1000+ per person. Ours is for 4D3N, about the same price & we covered so much more! I'm sure our villa is already top enough. And I'm really glad we went cos I recently checked on asiarooms.com (the site I booked from).. maybe due to customer's raving reviews, the price per night for The Seiryu has increased drastically as compared to the time of our booking.
