Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, Kintamani… Under heavy fog!

A better view of Kintamani – when the first big cloud of fog moves away and just before the next one moves in.

Quick stopover at Tegalalang on the way back to our villa. We left as it started drizzling. Was expecting a sea of part gold and part green – but the sun was hiding behind layers of clouds, so no luck.

As we finished early for the day, we decided to book ourselves in for a sunset dinner by the Seminyak beach. Breeze at The Samaya was highly regarded on TripAdvisor, and so we decided to give it a try. The Samaya is a short 10 minutes stroll from our villa.

The setting at Breeze was really amazing that I think no pictures would do it justice. You just have to be there to see and feel it. How often do you get to dine to the sound of crashing waves and the cool seaside breeze?

Breeze at the Samaya probably serves the freshest seafood platter in town.

Just as we thought nothing would top the seafood platter, dessert was served. The one on the right is your usual crème brûlée. The highlight is the one on the left – the special pandan brûlée! I’m not a big fan of crème brûlée but I was absolutely blown away by the chef’s creation of pandan brûlée and loved every bit of them both!

Two happy customers.

The garden pool at The Samaya.

We thoroughly enjoyed our dining experience at Breeze. Gave very positive feedback on the suggestion form, submitted a good review on TripAdvisor and even got a thank you email from the General Manager of The Samaya. I have never felt so appreciated as a customer by any restaurants (big or small) that I have visited in my life!

Overall it was a good trip and we have had plentiful of fond memories in Bali – except the very last day when both of us were hit hard by food poisoning. Nevertheless, thank you Bali for your hospitality, friendly people, and yummy food. We will certainly be back for another holiday!

Bali Day 2. We decided to go on a road trip (with the assistance of a driver and tour guide, of course) to Ubud and Kintamani.

Pak Dolir suggested we watch the Balinese barong dance as our first stop of the day. We arrived 15 minutes late at the venue because some girl scouts decided to march on the road, turning a two-lane road into a single lane carriage to be shared by 300 vehicles behind them. Well at least there’s a cause to traffic congestions here – unlike back home!

As Z puts it, this is the legendary band room.

After the dance and on the way to Kintamani, we stopped by babi guling Ibu Oka’s Ubud branch for an early lunch. To be frank, we didn’t find it to be remarkably tasty given all its hype and word-of-mouth publicity. The crispy skin was not as crispy as we expected it to be. In fact, I reckon it’s a tad too thick to be described as ‘crispy’. Regrettable, but at least we enjoyed the chilli condiment (the treasure in that little orange container).

As we drove further up to the Kintamani viweing area, we stopped by Alam Bali for some coffee tasting. From left to right: cocoa, ginseng coffee, ginger tea, lemon tea, and Balinese coffee. These are for free and ginseng coffee is our favourite. The cinnamon sticks are for stirring and aroma. We also paid 50,000 IDR for a cup of luwak coffee, which is too strong to our liking – but we still finished it anyway since it’s an expensive coffee.

We noticed these 2 bottles on every desk and so we asked Pak Dolir what they were. Turns out to be home brewed rice wine, 5% (left) and vodka, 40% (right). The rice wine is too sour, probably more suited for cooking. But the vodka – it’s good stuff.

Next: Kintamani and Tegalalang…