April 2013 Siem Reap trip : Siem Reap - KL - and a last minute decision : Penang

Since our plane leaves at 08.35 AM, we have to be ready at the airport at least 1,5 hour prior, since it took around 15-30 minutes to the airport from hotel, we have to leave around 06.30. Counting this we were ready at 06.15 and took a quick breakfast.

Front of Siem Reap airport

Then we ran to the hotel’s front porch since we are already 15 minutes late from our schedule , to wait for our airport transfer. We waited there for about 15 minutes without knowing what we were waiting for, and thought we are waiting for the car transport or the driver, but turns out a few minutes later the guy that has been sitting nearby us is finally taking a car and let us in, but we were there to wait again. Finally after around 10 minutes there were another couple to join us with the transport, it’s the same couple we share the transportation as well when we arrived at Siem Reap to the hotel. Well I guess it’s fair since they were waiting for us as well at that time when we bought the SIM card at airport J

Siem Reap airport - lobby & departure area

Siem Reap airport is small but very clean and looks new. Just as at any other airport, to enter the waiting area after checking in, no liquid above 100ml in each bottle and totaling 1 liter is allowed. Inside the waiting area besides duty free shop and others, there is also the Artisan Angkor shop, and the price is just the same as the shop at the workshop, but I guess the collection is not as complete.

We boarded the airplane on time at around 08.15, everything went smoothly. The flight took around 2 hours from Siem Reap to LCCT in KL, we landed around 11.30 local time. From LCCT we took Sky Bus to go to KL Sentral, at the time there was nobody at the bus ticket counter, so we decided to go to the bus directly and it was a good decision since we can pay directly there as well. It took around 1 hour to reach KL Sentral.

In my earlier post I said that we were having a plan with hubby’s sister and her family to go to Penang after our Siem Reap trip but it has to be cancelled since little one has a schedule she has to tend to. At KL Sentral hubby was thinking what to do in KL since we will still have 3 days in our hand to our departure back to Jakarta, especially our flight is in the afternoon. Then he had an idea of buying the Sleeper train’s ticket to Penang.

Though not being 100% sure that we are able to do the Penang trip since we still feel tired we ended buying the ticket. Finally we have 2 tickets for sleeper train “Senandung Mutiara” in our hands, we’ll just decide tonight if we still have the strength to do the Penang trip. Personally I was still in a haze, not 100% concentrating when we bought the ticket, because we were just buying the taxi ticket to hubby’s sister house then in a sudden decision we bought the ticket.

For a superior night class it cost RM 40 for the top bed and RM 46 for the lower bed. The lower bed is a bit bigger than the upper one, probably this is why it cost RM6 more and of course there is no hassle of having to climb the stairs for reaching the bed.

Tumis & local paper about Tumis

After meeting up with hubby’s sister we went to Solaris Duta Mas nearby Publika mall and had our lunch at “Tumis”. The owner herself kak Yani (kak means older sibling in Indonesian) took our order and she recommend her daging maut, hubby finally ordered it since I was afraid it’s just too spicy for me, as she warned about the spiciness of this dish, I ordered spicy chicken and hubby’s sister ordered ketupat sayur. 

Daging maut set - daging maut - ketupat sayur

The food is good, really tasty oh and the daging maut is just crazy. At first bite it just feels sweet and warm plus the beef is tender, but after we chew it quite a bit than the chili will just pop in your mouth and give you the great kick… wow 1 piece of the beef is enough for me, I don’t want to have stomach problem for our Penang trip. 

The owner's  personal approach to her customer, very friendly and personally serving us made me give a big plus to this restaurant. I like her restaurant decorations as well, making it feel homey. Kak Yani herself is Singaporean but her husband is from Indonesia, so her food is a blend of the both taste.  If you are in the area, you should try it. 

After lunch we went straight to hubby sister’s house, we have to rush for packing and since it’s really a last minute decision we haven’t thought about the hotel in Penang and bought ticket for going back to KL. I just kept on saying in my head that this is crazy. Thankfully after done doing all that, we finally could take a nap for about 1 hour before leaving again.

Since we don’t have much time to review hotels in Penang, we just decided to book Tune hotel which located in downtown at Jl. Burmah (Burma) no. 100 Georgetown. We just assumed that it would have the “standard” of Tune Hotel, since both of us has tried Tune Hotel in Kuta & Legian Bali. The next decision is to book our flight back to KL using Air Asia for the day after tomorrow morning. We didin’t buy check in baggage since we are travelling light and to make it more cheaper :D

After that we hit the shower, double check our baggage and go straight back to KL Sentral (see I told you it’s just crazy timing). At 9 PM we arrived at KL Sentral, since we still have 2 more hours till the train to Butterworth leaves, we had our dinner at Mc Donnalds there.

An hour later we bought 6 little water bottles at a small convenience store there, we figured this would be enough for the 7 hour train ride, especially we already have a can of honey mustard Pringles ( I luv this a lot) we bought at supermarket in Publika mall and 3 bread we bought last night at Siem Reap. Now we just have to wait for the train to come.

That night there were quite a lot of people waiting for the train, probably because it’s weekend so there’s a lot of travelers probably going back to their hometown or just for a trip like us. Thankfully we already bought the train ticket, it’s probably run out already if we buy it that night.

Sleeper Train - Senandung Mutiara

At 23.25 they finally announced that the train has arrived, we went down the escalator and straight to the platform for our train. Looks like the train has lots of coach, not all are for sleeper (with bed) some of them are for sitting as well. We are at coach no. 8 seat no. (well to be precise bed no. ) 27 (upper bed) and 28 (lower bed). The cabin in coach 8 is clean, the bed is tidy and clean as well, they gave 1 pillow and 1 blanket per bed too. 

Sleeper train

To keep it clean they provide an extra-large garbage bags for people to throw away their trash and thankfully I brought plastic bags with me so that we don’t have trouble storing our shoes, as the other just put them on the floor. There are 2 hangers inside our bed area, so it is easy to just hang our things there. 

Upper bed sleeper train

After putting our bags in a way we consider save inside our bedding area (2 backpacks are with hubby at the upper bed and the other little things are with me in the lower bed), we try to sleep. We seriously have to sleep since we only have 1 day in Penang which we have to utilize our time to the max and for that we really need our stamina. 2 counties and 3 cities in 1 day is just a bit crazy for me… So… nite nite… and see you later.

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April 2013 Siem Reap trip : AAP 2nd day - Angkor Wat

Our tour today will start at Angkor Wat, then to Ta Prohm, and Banteay Srei.

Angkor Wat

East gate

There is only one thing I can say about Angkor Wat : Grand. We spent 2,5 hours there and we just felt it was not enough. This magnificent temple was built in the early 12th century by king Suryavarman II who was a Hindu so it is a Hindu temple. Angkor Wat was built symbolizing the center of the Hindu universe : Mount Meru, a place where the gods live. We enter the temple from the East gate, it was much more private, besides us there was only 3 other tourist around, the gate was pretty to take pictures, though the condition is not as in mint condition as the West (main) gate, but it was beautiful in it's own way. 

Path from East gate to the temple

After passing the gate we go through a path with high but not dense trees. Entering the temple from this gate since it is less crowded and has more trees, it takes lesser time to reach so we felt it was a nearer path comparing the main gate, but the true distance we don't really know.

Man made moat at East gate

The temple is surrounded by the man made moat, giving a feeling that Angkor Wat is temple on an island. If we go through the main (west) gate it will take around 1 km from the bridge to the temple. At the period where Angkor was abandoned due to the war, resulting all of the temples are surrounded even occupied by large trees but only Angkor Wat is never truly abandoned as it was still taken care of by the Buddhist monks. This is why even though originally Angkor Wat is a Hindu temple, nowadays it is used by Buddhist.

1st level - pillars nearby bas-relief mostly has carvings of a hermit (one of the
avatar of Shiva) on the below part to protect the temple, it is believed
that under the pillar has a gold coin to protect, it is said that it's still practiced by the traditional Cambodian

Once on the terrace of the temple, we can see that the temple is enclosed with the body of the naga, symbolizing that the naga or the odd number headed serpent is protecting the place, we find this in some other temples as well. The temple has 3 levels, the 1st level has the most bas-relief carving, each wall is telling each stories, including the famous "Churning of the ocean of Milk" which on the process created the Apsaras (the beautiful dancers and musicians of the gods), it is said that in Angkor Wat there are more than 3,000 bas-relief of the Apsara.

Rope to protect the bas-relief

Bas-relief in the middle is shiny due to frequent touch of human hands

You can see that some part of the bas-relief are a bit shiny this is due to the touch of many people on it (and to protect it from happening again, in front of the reliefs around 50 cm in front is now restricted using rope) and on some of the reliefs has colors on it, some says that originally it was just ordinary stone bas-relief then it was coated by the Buddhist monks but another theory is also saying that at the time it was built, the bas-reliefs are coated in gold. Before enjoying it you can read the explanation on the small info board so you can have an idea of what story the bas-relief was telling. Since we started our 1st level from the bas-relief of "Churning of the ocean of Milk" and going to the right, we finished our 1st level at the story of Rama & Shinta or the battle of Lanka, which means we missed 3 walls to explore on this floor.

Hall of a thousand Buddhas

To enter the 2nd level we have to enter the hall of a thousand gods (Buddhas) but most of the statues are gone already,

statues that are not being used as a shrine here are located in the National Museum. There are 4 pools there that symbolizing the nature's 4 elements : earth, water, air and fire which all are in the human body. But now the ponds are not filled with water anymore.

Diary of the monk

Grafiti

There are some pillars in this hall that were carved written on in Pali by the monks in the olden days on how they had lived etc such as a diary, but on some of the pillars as well sadly there are new graffiti carving of tourist names. There are some walls here that were all carved in Apsaras, it is said to bring good luck to touch their breast. On the left side of the Buddha shrine there are some other Buddha's statue but sadly most of the head had been chopped (sold by illegal dealers), some of them has a new head so we can try to imagine how it would look like originally, passing these statues we can go up the stairs to the second level.

Apsara

2nd level view of the 3rd level

Modern stairs to the 3rd level

On the 2nd level we are greeted with a terrace with main view of the main temple, there are little buildings as well on the terrace, said to be the library, but mostly it has no more roof. If you are here at noon just like us, make sure to bring hat or umbrella to cover yourself from the sun. From here we can see that they have built a new wooden ladder with metal railings to maintain the old staircase from being used and for safety sake as well, as the steepness I would say it is almost the same but the original steps are much more smaller than the new ones. The steps are 11 meters high but since it is quite steep just be careful and hold on the railings.

Pool and tower at 3rd level

3rd level towers - a large beehive on the tower

On the 3rd level, you can see the view around of the temple surroundings, most of it is the jungle. In the 3rd level itself there are 4 square terraces which I think used to be pool as well. We can walk in circle of the 3rd level to the 4 cardinal points (towers).

Buddha Shrine - standing and reclining

In the middle of these 4 pools is a Buddha statues shrine (standing and sleeping), which at the original supposed to be a Vishnu shrine and open on each side, but the monks closed the Vishnu shrine with walls and feature the wall with the Buddha statues instead. Our guide said that the Vishnu statue was brought outside of the temple in front, but at the time we exit the temple I forgot to ask where the statue was :P

Chamber inside one of the 3rd level tower

Surrounding view from the 3rd level

After finished exploring the 3rd level, time to go down, and exit the temple from the main gate, it was beautiful, especially around the bridge on the moat area and seeing the temple on the background you can see how grand Angkor Wat is.

Stone path between West gate and temple of Angkor Wat

We surely will go back tomorrow to explore it more. Now is time for our lunch, our guide brought us to the nearby restaurant (I guess it was in front of Angkor Wat itself), the food is quite ok but we preferred the food downtown better  we ordered sweet and sour pork (the pork slice is tender, but it is not deep fried with flour first as we use to have at chinese restaurants) and eggplant with minced pork, we forgot how much each food cost but it was a bit more than what we paid at downtown, and the white rice is not free as our previous restaurants, If I was not wrong, it all cost around USD 20 for both of us.

Finished with our meal, we are ready for our trip to Ta Prohm, and Banteay Srei.

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April 2013 Siem Reap trip : Night Market & Dinner at Pub Street

Angkor Night Market gate

Done with our half day tour, we ask our guide to drop us off at Night Market area, he dropped us at Sivutha boulevard and showed us the street of the first night market. There are lots of night market there, we can just choose, even the old market shops closes at night too, usually around 9.30 - 10.00 PM

Angkor Night Market shops

Map of Siem Reap at the market to avoid tourist getting lost

Had a good time looking around, we even had our eyes on an Apsara painting which we wanted to come back to but didn't because we had no time and regretted until now for not buying it. I bought Cambodian silk scarfs, but made by machine which cost USD 10 for 5 pieces and t-shirts costing USD 3 each.

Pub street entrance - no vehicles allowed

Pub street

Tired walking around, we were hungry and decided to have dinner at pub street for tonight. After looking around for the restaurant choices, we chose the Cambodian Soup Restaurant. I was tempted to try their Khmer BBQ, but opted the Khmer soup instead and it was a wise decision, after a long day walk having soup that night really restore our strength back. While waiting for our food we could hear traditional music which we assumed coming from the next door, finally we found out it came from upstairs at "Temple club" where they held the traditional Apsara dance for free.

Cambodian Soup Restaurant

At first I was a bit hesitant to have our dinner here since the front person to greet the guest was not friendly, she didn't invite us in nor smile or even make friendly gesture while we were looking at their menus which was provided in front of the restaurant. But thankfully our table waiter was very friendly and helpful, though he had to attend other tables he still manage to small talk with us, he helped us cooking the soup since we were not sure how to do.

Our friendly waiter assisting to cook our soup

Khmer Soup - delicious!!!

The Khmer soup is just like suki and it taste delicious, they gave us a pot of beef (from shreded beef and meatballs) and vegetable broth, then there are plates of vegetables, mushroom, noodle, dried tofu skin, noodle and beef slices topped with egg yolk. Turns out we have to mix the egg yolk with the beef slices, then  put them into the pot along with the others. The Khmer soup is a dish for 2 people, so we just ordered this and prepare to order others later if we are still hungry, turns out we even can't finish to cook all the ingredients because we were just too full, I'm sure the dish could be for 3 people.

We were very satisfied with our dinner and it cost USD 13 for the Khmer soup and 1 big bottle mineral water to share.

Oh by the way, most of the water available there are osmosis water, even the compliment water bottle in our hotel is osmosis water. Finally we found a mini market in Sivutha boulevard, they have Nestle mineral water  available, we bought 2 small bottle and 1 big bottle which cost USD 3, it was quite costly to compare Nestle mineral water we usually bought in Jakarta.

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ASURANSI

Sorry guys this one I will write in Indonesian since I think this is more a local thing need to know, just FYI I'm talking about my experiece with insurance here.

Asuransi... pertama tau tentang ini sekitar akhir tahun 90-an dimana pada waktu itu Indonesia sedang kena yang namanya Krisis Moneter, 1 USD mencapai Rp 15,000. Ternyata ortu mengikutkan aku asuransi pendidikan dengan basis USD sejak aku lahir dan pada waktu krismon itulah asuransiku jatuh tempo. Ortu sudah senang dan tenang dong, biaya kuliah pasti nggak akan keteteran karena basis pembayaran adalah USD bukan rupiah (meskipun waktu itu thanks God banget aku masuk PTN jadi nggak ngerusuhin banget biaya kuliah yang tinggi ke ortu).

Pada waktu mau menguangkan asuransi ternyata... pemerintah "melindungi" perusahaan asuransi dengan buat peraturan bahwa asuransi yang jatuh tempo pada waktu itu dibayarkan dengan Rupiah dengan exchange rate Rp 9000-an, padahal nasabah pemegang polis HARUS membayar premi dengan USD, nggak make sense banget kan... Sejak saat itu keluarga menjadi agak alergi mendengar yang namanya asuransi dan SANGAT ALERGI dengan perusahaan Asuransi yang dipakai pada waktu itu.

Seiring berjalannya waktu aku udah kerja, mulai sadar pentingnya investasi untuk hari tua (setelah mendengar Financial clinic di HRFM 87.6) dan menyadari nikmatnya reimburse asuransi kesehatan yang disediakan kantor sama melihat teman kantor yang sedang mulai melihat-lihat asuransi pendidikan untuk anaknya. Aku mulai mencoba investasi dengan nilai minimum ditahun 2008 saat itu sedang krisis keuangan di AS, tapi IHSG kena imbas, rata-rata harga reksadana saham menjadi setengah dari biasanya, saat yang menyenangkan untuk yang baru mencoba masuk pasar tapi untuk yang sudah tahunan BT juga kali ya...

Eh... kembali ke topik asuransi lagi, jadi pada waktu itu aku sekantor ditawarin asuransi kesehatan sekaligus investasi (belakangan baru tau ini namanya unitlink), melihat hitung-hitungannya ya kenapa enggak, lumayan untuk nambah asuransi kesehatan kantor kalau amit-amit harus rawat inap RS, karena kalau dari hitungan saat itu ke RS yang sering aku datangi asuransi kantor nggak akan bisa cover di kelas yang minimum aku mau.

Asuransi yang ditawarkan ini hanya seperti memberikan "uang bantuan" perhari sejumlah yang kita sepakati diawal (ini penentu premi yang kita bayarkan per bulannya) nggak perduli jumlah uang yang kita keluarkan di RS mereka hanya akan memberikan "uang bantuan" itu. Seperti yang aku ambil premi Rp 350,000 per bulan, dapat "uang bantuan" Rp 250,000 per malam, maximum dalam setahun bisa claim berapa malam (kalau nggak salah 100 hari deh).

Tidak berapa lama setelah bergabung dengan unitlink ini baru mendengar di Financial clinic di HRFM 87.6 juga bahwa sebaiknya jangan menggabungkan antara investasi dengan asurasi seperti yang dilakukan unitlink, karena hasil investasi menjadi tidak maksimal. Sangat sebal pada waktu itu mendengarnya, tapi berusaha positive thinking dan tetap melanjutkan program unitlink tersebut. Aku tidak bisa menjelaskan dengan lebih rinci di sini untuk mengapa tidak mengambil unit link, tapi coba browsing dan cari website QM Financial di sana mereka akan menjelaskan dengan lebih jelas atau coba dengarkan HRFM 87.6 yang setiap seminggu sekali tetap on air financial clinic ini.

Bulan-bulan awal mendapat laporan dari investasi unitlink cukup rutin setelah berjalan agak lama semakin tidak ada laporannya. Sudahlah pasti berjalan sesuai dengan yang semestinya. Sekedar sharing, membaca laporan ini aku setengah pasrah, karena persentase pembayaran untuk asuransi kesehatan cukup besar dibandingkan dengan investasi yang ditanamkan, dan ini memang sudah dijelaskan agen asuransi tersebut meskipun dia tidak mau/bisa terbuka berapa persentasenya. Selalu ada godaan untuk menutup asuransi unitlink ini dan tiap tahun pasti maju mundur untuk menutupnya.

Tahun lalu akhirnya ke-BTan pun muncul karena laporan tidak pernah dikirimkan lagi. Mau menghubungi agen asuransi yang memberikan penjelasan diawal tidak bisa karena sudah tidak bergabung sebagai sales dari asuransi tersebut (dikirimkan surat resmi dari perusahaan asuransi). Akhirnya telephone ke call center CS asuransi yang ternyata cukup sulit untuk mendapatkannya karena ada di website dan nomor telah berubah :P

Setelah membaca laporan yang baru dengan lebih detail ternyata ada biaya admin yang cukup besar (biaya terakhir hampir 1/3 dari jumlah premi yang saya bayar) dan tidak menentu jumlahnya terkadang naik terkadang turun, dan setelah menenyakan ke call center mereka pun tidak bisa menjelaskan mengapa biaya admin tersebut bisa naik dan turun seenaknya, hanya menjelaskan bahwa itu berdasarkan rate dan kondisi pemegang polis saat itu. Kondisi saya seperti apa pun tidak bisa dijelaskan karena sampai saat itu saya tidak pernah claim. Sangat disayangkan agen asuransi yang menawarkan diawal itu tidak menjelaskan mengenai adanya biaya admin tiap bulan yang dipotong dari uang premi yang kita bayarkan dan jumlahnya atau persentase biaya tersebut.. Akhirnya keputusan saat itu yang diambil adalah

TUTUP Unitlink ini. Tapi.... sebelumnya aku harus cari asuransi dulu yang bisa cover kesehatan untuk minimal mendapat "uang bantuan" kalau harus rawat inap.

Ternyata mungkin memang sudah diatur sama yang diatas kalau waktu belajarku dengan unitlink sudah selesai dan mulai pelajaran yang lain. Aku ditelephone asuransi yang bekerjasama dengan kartu kredit dengan mendapatkan jumlah "uang bantuan" yang sama Rp 250,000/malam dengan premi Rp 80,000/bulan tanpa ada biaya lain lagi dan sama seperti unitlink yang aku ikuti sebelumnya mereka menerima kalau menjadi asuransi tambahan tidak perlu claim dengan kwitansi asli melainkan copy tapi dicap untuk legalisir. aku berpikir, wahhh.... ini sangat murah dibandingkan pengeluaran yang aku keluarkan sebelumnya untuk unitlink.

Saat ini aku bergabung dengan asuransi ini, semoga tidak akan ada masalah kalau claim nanti (amit-amit ketok meja kayu 3 kali aku nggak pernah mau dirawat inap).

Sekitar tahun lalu mulai tertarik dengan produk asuransi jiwa murni dan mulai mencari-cari informasi mengenai hal ini di perusahaan asuransi unitlink yang sebelumnya aku ikuti. Ada pertanyaan nggak kapok atau apa nggak ada tawaran asuransi lain? Hmmm.... jawabanku : Waktu itu ada teman kantor yang ikut unitlink yang sama dengan aku (untuk suaminya) dan pada waktu claim tidak ada masalah, sangan mudah dan lancar. Ini plus point untuk aku, selain itu karena tempat untuk daftar dan claim asuransi ini sangat mudah karena kantornya ada yang dekat kantor dan dekat rumah jadi tidak perlu ke Sudirman (rata-rata kantor asuransi lain di Jakarta) untuk mengurus apa pun.

Pada bulan Mei 2012 aku minta dibuatkan proposal untuk premi yang dibayarkan dengan UP yang aku inginkan dengan jenis 10 tahunan, nilai premi cukup besar buat aku jadi pastinya sangat membutuhkan waktu untuk berpikir. Kebetulan bulan November ini aku harus ke kantor asuransi itu lagi aku pun meminta untuk dibuatkan proposal dengan UP yang aku inginkan dengan umurku saat ini. Ternyata jumlah premi yang dibayarkan lebih rendah daripada yang ditawarkan pada bulan Mei, pada waktu aku menanyakan sebabnya ternyata rate setiap periode tertentu memang berubah bisa naik bisa turun. Agen asuransi ini pun menawarkan tambahan asuransi kesehatan untuk melengkapi proposal premi asuransi jiwaku ini, yang ternyata sama manfaatnya dengan asuransi kesehatan unitlink-ku yang lama (tentunya tanpa embel-embel investasi) yaitu mendapatkan "uang bantuan" Rp 250,000,-/hari dengan premi tahunan Rp 252,000,- per tahun!!!

Bayangkan berarti selama beberapa waktu kemarin mengikuti unitlink itu aku sudah membayarkan terlalu besar berapa kali lipat untuk manfaat asuransi kesehatan mendapatkan "uang bantuan" Rp 250,000,-/hari, mungkin hampir 4 kali lipat dari harga yang seharusnya.

Sekedar informasi tambahan, pada waktu aku menanyakan asuransi jiwa PASTI agen asuransi berusaha untuk menawarkan asuransi unitlinknya dahulu atau produk asuransi yang sedang mereka promosikan saat itu meskipun hampir tidak ada hubungannya dengan AsJi, jadi aku harus menegaskan bahwa aku mau ASJI murni.
Kemudian kenapa tertarik jenis yang 10 tahunan dan bukan tahunan meskipun yang tahunan preminya lebih murah? Karena premi yang dibayarkan akan tetap sama selama 10 tahun dan 10 tahun mendatang baru akan disesuaikan dengan rate dan kondisi kita 10 tahun yang akan datang sedangkan yang tahunan, premi bisa berubah-ubah tiap tahun. Sebenarnya aku dengar ada yang 20 tahunan atau 15 tahunan, tapi kebetulan di perusahaan asuransi yang aku ambil ini  maximum 10 tahun. Meskipun jenisnya 10 tahunan bukan berarti bayaran preminya harus sekaligus 10 tahun ya... melainkan tetap kita bayarnya per tahun jadi nggak terlalu berat :) Sampai saat ini aku masih mencari produk AsJi murni yang lebih baik daripada yang sudah ditawarkan ke aku saat ini, semoga aku enggak salah memilih :)

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August ’09 Bali Honeymoon Trip – Hotels

As I have mentioned earlier, there are many new things I did for the first time and one of them is hotel hopping for our stay in Bali. First hotel we chose is Haris Resort at Kuta area, then Taman Sakti for Ubud and Novotel Nusa Dua for the last.

1. Harris Resort, Kuta

At the time we tried to look around for hotel in Kuta area with our budget. Searching for information in the internet for testimonial of hotels and checking the prices. At the time Harris Resort (NOT Harris Riverside Kuta or Harris Tuban) sounds like the most sensible decision since it's in front of Kuta beach, price is lower than the other hotels located in the area (almost half the price from Hard Rock) and claimed as a 4 star hotel.

By the time we arrived, we are relieved to find that the hotel is located in front of the Kuta beach at the main road but this is just the gate, the hotel itself is about 100 meters walk but it is still ok, it is still worth it for the price. When we checked in to our room it's OK as it is clean, good hot water and they provide hair dryer but to my humble opinion it's not a 4 star room. Oh and there's a crack on top of our headboard, I hope they have fixed it by now. At night we could hear night music from the surrounding club once we open the door quite clearly but thankfully once it is closed it's vague enough to bother. Their parking lot is only at the front of the hotel but we could always find a space whenever we needed to park.

wall crack

I think this hotel is made for company's meeting and sort but also quite ok for family as they also provide flying fox and other games as well for kids.

Oh... and it would be better to ask for a pool view room as I think it would have a better view than ours but I'm sure it would be much more noisy from the pool activities.

The last time (2012) we checked the price now has been doubled from the price we paid when we went there, so with the price not much different from the other surrounding hotels I guess we will have much more selection of hotels to choose at Kuta area.

2. Taman Sakti, Ubud

Our friend in Bali is the one who suggested this hotel for us. It certainly is not a big commercial hotel as Harris or Novotel, but more of a private villa, which made you experince living in rural Bali with a view of small ravine, it has a medium swimming pool and a little kiddy pool on the side. I think it only has around 6 rooms for this hotel, but I'm sure they have around 10 or more.

We were given the villa at the end of the hotel it's divided in 2 rooms, 1 for us and the other for our friend and his family. It was really private we could really enjoy talking at our terrace, they kept their garden very beautiful  it's something we could enjoy while watching the children having fun in the pool.

I guess they are trying to give a rustic feel to their room, but the downside is it's not very clean as my hubby found lots of spider webs below our bed and some termites inside the wardrobe, they provide kitchennet but I don't think we would use it and there was an extra bed nearby the kitchennet but with stained sheet. I hope they have fixed this by now. Bathroom is a bit different than the usual, the big bathtub is inside the bedroom area separated only by a fabric divider hot water is working well and only the toilet is in a closed room opposite to the bathtub. The staff was friendly and the breakfast is quite ok for the price. Parking lot is only at the front of the hotel, it's quite small but since we were the only guest who brought car there so it wasn't a problem for us at the time. 

3. Novotel, Nusa Dua

I'm not sure the type of room that was given to us at this hotel if I'm not mistaken it's 1 bedroom apartment but it's quite big, we have our own dining room with a complete kitchennet even a washing machine if I'm not mistaken and a little living room. I guess it's just like an apartment, what I liked about it is it's really clean. The view is the pool surrounding the cafe in the middle but ask for a higher level as possible for a better view.

We are happy with the bedroom, though there is no tv inside but the bed is great I have no complaint for it.

Also happy with the hot water which gave no problem, and a plus from me is providing hair dryer. Amenities is quite complete and clean towels. Stayed there for 3 nights, I only wonder why they didn't clean up our room until we checked out, was it because the type of our room is apartment? And since we went back to our room always late at night we didn't asked to the hotel. But if it's because of the type of our room I think they should have informed us at the time we checked in.

The parking lot is quite big they have the front and back parking lot, you could just choose. Since Novotel is not located nearby the beach, they have their own private beach around 1 km or more which they provide a car to go there. It's located next to St. Regis, we have to pass a track inside Nusa dua's golf course to reach it, and there was this ferocious dog following us and barking like crazy when we passed it. We have to make sure to have a car to get back to the hotel since it's quite far to go by foot and that dog for sure won't leave us alone if we went by foot. At the time the beach is open at 9 am and closed at 6 pm. Too bad our camera's battery was dead by the time we arrived at the beach so we can't take any pics there.

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