Room 108 Nusa Dua Hotel Bali Indonesia:
Sunny // No money // Bali Holiday // Sipping yellow lemonade (Lemonade, 2013)
Dear Diary,
I didn’t wake up in my bed, and I could feel a lot of sunshine when I tried to open my eyes first thing in the morning. My first instinct was Sunshine and a new bed to jump out of, but I stopped midway. The bed was softer than mine and bigger and better. It took me several seconds to realize that I was sharing a hotel bed with Jik and my cousin.
And that we are in Bali!
I have been to Bali a few times before and always find a reason, any reason, to come back. This time we are here for my cousin’s 30th birthday. We have been planning and looking forward to this moment for a while. At last, it’s here!
Yesterday, I managed to get out from a long workday, picked up cousin W and Jik, and then headed out to the airport to catch our plane. No time to sit in the waiting room. We were rushed to board.
We arrived in Bali after midnight, and the first thing we looked for was Nasi Pedas Ibu Andika. A famous local eatery that serves rice and dishes together with a deadly chilli sauce on the side. Spicy rice is the direct translation of the place name. Too bad it wasn’t available at midnight, so we stopped at a Mining restaurant instead called Rene Boss. The place, the food and the guy who was selling it all were not appetizing at all. We bought it anyway since it was 1 AM and we hadn’t had our dinner yet. Three takeaway boxes cost us IDR50k. Not bad.
We are staying at the Novotel Tanjong Benoa. It was picked by another group of friends who are coming today. The hotel is enormous, with no one else but us and Pak Ketut attending our check-in. Maybe because it was 2 in the morning?
He guided us to another part of the hotel, across the road, the cheaper wing. “Bagian rakyat”, Jik said, which meant ordinary people’s territory. Fine by me, as long as there is a hot shower, more than 5 TV channels, and a white bed sheet.
The room turned out to be friendly with its’ terrace. It was drizzling my favourite weather. We decided to eat our Padang bento on the patio. There was a piece of chicken, a fried mashed potato, rice, gravy in a small container, vegetables and sambal (chilli-based condiment) inside the bento. And ladies and gentlemen, Rene Boss didn’t disappoint. Indeed the fried chicken was a bit hard since it must have been cooked yesterday morning, but the sambal was over the top. We loved it. I wished I had an extra serving of rice because I could not stop eating the sambal. Thinking about it now makes my mouth water damn! And I only had it a few hours ago.
After supper and a long shower, I changed into PJs and climbed onto the hotel’s king-sized bed and dozed off, but not before disturbing my two best friends with nonsense anecdotes.
Our morning, this morning started with songs from Jik’s iPhone. She insisted on making Lemonade by Alexandra Stan as our Bali Holiday song. I obliged. We danced to it, ate Cheetos and got ready in turns.
When I was done, I managed to squeeze in this post for you. After this, we will pick up more friends from the airport and then have lunch at warung Bali, but first breakfast at Bali Bakery.
Chicken porridge and strawberry tart and lollipop marshmallow. I will see you both very soon.
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🌴━ KK
