Tuban-Gateway to Bali

When your plane touches down in Bali, you are in Tuban. Ngurah Rai International Airport is located there, and so are a host of hotels, several eateries, and two major shopping centers: Kuta Centre and Kuta Square . And if you have kids, the island’s Waterbom is here too.

Quick Tips:

Tuban is underestimated. There are many excellent restaurants within the many five star hotels which inhabit its streets. Fukutaro Japanese Restaurant which is in the Kuta Paradiso Hotel is one of five on the island. Not only did we have an excellent and very authentic meal there, but we played 2 wicked games of table tennis, and visited their artificial sand poolside area, since the hotel is not directly on the beach. On a very warm night, we went walking around Tuban and cooled off with some Baskin & Robbins lattés and ice cream. We also entered one of several music stores, and purchased some CD’s after sampling many, which the store staff was happy to let us listen to. It does get horribly hot in Bali, even if the evening, so we returned to the hotel by a horse drawn carriage!

We needed a charger for our digital camera, and not a single shop in Kuta Square had any. As you walk around, store expect to be accosted by peddlers who will try to sell you fake watches, jewelry, carvings, etc..They have a habit of getting in your face, and you therefore, must be firm and say “no”

Best Way To Get Around:

Tuban is not very large, but can seem that way when it’s very hot, so walking is a very personal matter. Some days can be tackled on foot, but for short periods. Nights are slightly more bearable. You are going to crave air conditioning, so take a cab for short hops, or avail yourself of shuttle services to the Square. See continuing saga here:

Then There Was Bali

Ubud Unforgettable Haven

Ubud - An Unquenchable Thirst

Bali By Bus

The price you see above was part of an incredible package offer brought to us by Planet Holiday . As for the hotel, it is fit for royalty!! The Bali Hai is 5 minutes drive from Ngurah Rai Intn''l Airport in Tuban. We got an instant upgrade to a palatial suite # 3343 on the corner. It was quite distant from the lobby, but we welcomed the walk so we could admire the waterfalls, cascading flora from the tri-level atria, populated by koi fish, lotus plants, and assorted templelike figures. Competing with the flowers are some stunning examples of exotic fronds, bamboo, pothos and trees whose names I could not learn.

The veranda offered a view which words cannot justify, so I have included a picture of what greeted us every morning. You can make use of the armchairs and coffee table if you can bear the heat or if you get up before dawn as we did.

Inside, native prints adorn the wall above the huge sofa, which is flanked by 2 oversized rattan and bamboo armchairs and a huge, low table which miraculously held a lot of literature, computers, etc..To the left of the sitting area is the kitchen which is raised one step and has a bar, a refrigerator, plenty of drawers, basic glassware and utensils.

The bathroom is grey marble and the water pressure not so hot(pun sorry), but who cares? Wall to Wall mirror and an appreciated reminder not to drink the water sit above the sink.

Immediately outside the bedroom is a dressing room with a huge triple closet with shutter doors. A wall to wall mirror with a marble ledge which served as an all purpose boudoir, storage, jewelry chest, passport holder, etc..

The bed looks like an altar. It''''s huge and above it is an intricate woodworking that is reminiscent of temple portal; the carving is intricate, and the colors are predominantly green and red. The stillness of the air is deafening, but you don''t dare disturb it for fear that you might break the spell you had entered.

We had IDD telephone in the room, cable TV, individual room temperature controls, and the much needed hair dryer. Be careful when you make phone calls with your phone cards as the hotel charges are exhorbitant. I think our phone bill was almost as high as what we paid for the room.

Be especially careful if you are on line, as I was with my daughter Michele, for over an hour chatting away on AOL. Those rupiahs do add up.

The hotel provides free airport pick which is less than 10 minutes away, and free shuttles twice a day to the shopping center nearby. Mutiple restaurants on the premises, pools, and eating al fresco; breakfast was free and what incredible service! Dinner had a different theme everynight and I''ll do that under another entry. The Holiday Inn Bali Hai offers a sweeping view of the Indian Ocean.

Kartika Plaza is a ritzy address here; and the Paradiso Hotel earns a five star rating, so you can imagine how wonderful the restaurant is. We were on a walking tour that evening, slumming on the sidewalks of Tuban and got hungry, naturally. A neon lit sign outside the Paradiso Hotel caught my eye, and you can never, ever go wrong with Japanese food.

There is a magnificent waterfall at the reception area that greets you and the airiness of the place is ethereal. Vast expanses of pinkish marble line the floor of the entrance, and they had an art show on the mezzanine which they were sponsoring. We had to go downstairs to the pool level for the restaurant. Made our way via the circular stairway and as we entered Fukutaro , the lights were dim, and we were welcomed immediately and seated. The dining room is immense, with shiny, high backed ebony chairs and ethnic art on the walls. There is a tatami room is you wish to go native, but we were happy to sit next to the floor to ceiling window and realized that we were the only people having dinner here.

Fukutaro has restaurants in 3 other locations, and their prices are so reasonable, that your meal with green tea or red bean ice cream will total less than $25.00 for two. The service is superior and the wait staff is quite attentive, and that may have been emphasized because they only had us at that time. We had California rolls, gyozo, assorted tempura (this is pronounced tempra,-as there is no emphasis at all on the "u" in Japanese). Coke and Beer for liquids and green tea ice cream for dessert. After dinner, we spotted a ping pong table on the way to the pool area, and we worked off dinner with 2 out of 3 games (21 points).

We went outside and it was still quite warm, and the pool area has sand all around it with beach chairs; really great way to compensate for the lack of a beach front. They also had lit torches around the pool which were encased in long, tall stone structures, and the pictures will show you what they look like. It's altogether an extremely romantic atmosphere, and although I wouldn't have traded the Bali Hai for this hotel, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it.

When I say designers, I'm not referring to any of the names that we are accustomed to seeing world wide. The clothing at Studio Animale is the brainchild of Jacques Ruc, a French art patron. He was exceedingly inspired by Balinese imagery and abstract paintings, and wanted to make those images accessible to the international market; it was in the early 90's that Jacques pioneered a garment business that gave free rein to his enthusiasm and gusto using absctracted images of native flora and fauna

When I visited the store, I could not find a single design I didn't like or would not wear. Every garment had fluid lines and seem to be worn by the mannequins effortlessly. The dresses, pant sets are seasonless and this is what makes them even more attractive. Vibrant colors were added to an originally neutral palette of conservative earthy beiges, whites and blacks. You can mix and match the pieces, and form entire wardrobes with just a few selections. Animale stores can be found in other parts of Indonesia, Asia, Australia, Europe and America.

Electric!

O'Brien's is located on the ground level of the Holiday Inn Balihai where we stayed for most of our time in Bali. We were attracted by the loud music making the whole floor vibrate, plus it was a live group! We decided to go there after dinner to waste some calories and we did just that.

For those of you who want to take advantage of the dining facilities here, you can do so; they serve steaks and other international dishes. Naturally, I forget that people also drink at bars, so happy hour is from 6pm to 7pm and the place is open till 1 am. They also have board games to entertain you as well as a pool table.

The band is trained to sing English phonetically, and some of them are pretty good; others, like the sultry singer we usually get at dinner here is totally incomprehensible. And that's another story alltogether.

We danced for quite a while; they have a small dancing area in front of the elevated stage. I recall drinking water constantly. Every once in a while you'd hear boisterous laughter coming from a corner; it's apparently also a great place to pick up a date, as we saw a twosome grow into a foursome on the way out. If you're staying at the hotel, then by all means, trek on over here and enjoy!

If Mata Hari knew her name was assigned to a one stop huge supermarket, she would rise from her grave. I was intrigued by the name, and then, once inside, and about halfway through the huge building, I realized this was the local A & P.

There is a huge semi-circular canopy outside with the letters in red, and below it are a few steps to help you get to ground level. This is also where many travelers, including myself, almost get suckered into buying property that doesn't exist. So listen up!! As Chuck and I enter the hallway, he is distracted by something else, and a sweet young thing approaches me, gives me an envelope and a card that looks like a lotto game. Scratching off the right circle reveals that I've won 2 T-shirts, but you need to scratch yet another circle to win the free vacation. Wouldn't you have guessed that I'm a winner? Wow..a seven day free hotel stay at a seaside resort with no address, no telephone number, but who cares? the picture looks awesome. Right around now, Chuck is pulling me away, telling me the whole thing is a scam, but the genius here refuses to budge. The excitement of travel can turn any one of us into a blithering idiot! The girl is very sweet, but she now refuses to let me claim my free T-shirts; my suspicious antenna goes up for 1/2 second. She explains that I need to attend a 90 minute seminar on timeshares at which point I can claim T-shirts and free vacation. Neither one of us is going to do this now as we are scheduled for an afternoon tour. She volunteers to pick us up by taxi at the Bali Hai and bring us back to the "resort" sales desk. Ho-hum.

We are now making our way into the supermarket, fleeting past displays of lovely pieces of art and hand carved objects. The assault comes by way of saris, pottery, carvings, and oodles of silver & gold jewelry. Where do I find the mangoes here?

We're there now, and I can't control my laughter as I read the prices on cookies: Rs. 4500 for Biscuits Marie; if you don't let the zeros intimidate you, this comes out to less than one US$. When buying fruit, look very carefully to ensure that the skin is not broken. I felt victorious picking the avocados; fruit in Bali is an epicurian's dream. I became a slave to pineapple, a fruit I had shunned most of my life. Total grocery bill is Rs. 80,000. Another roar of laughter. And the free trip? In the interim, we read on the Bali bulletin boards about another couple's warning vis-a-vis the girls on the steps of Matahari. All the circles on the card are T-shirt winners, and all the circles on the next card are free weekly vacation winners.

For great photos of the supermarket, go to link

Walking is almost always the best way to immerse oneself in a culture when one is overseas. Luckily, both Chuck and I love to walk and it is hard for me sometimes to go past a shop or gallery on a newly found street. I usually want to stop everywhere!

We had just finished dinner at the Japanese restaurant, and started to walk back towards the hotel. We were still quite a bit away, and suddenly, what usually is an eyesore became a welcome sight: Dunkin’ Donuts. Unlike the chain back in the states, this one was in the center of the sidewalk, kiosk style. Much more practical, in my estimation. I got ice cream for Chuck and an iced latté for myself. This would keep things cool for a while. There were many people out walking, a mixture of tourists, natives and undoubtedly some expats. A lot of Australians now call Bali home.

After the ice cream and iced coffee, Chuck and I went into a CD store, and I’m sorry, I don’t recall the name. We wanted to get something native so that we could add it to our collection of world music back home. Since we were the only customers in the store, the two young people who staffed the shop were very accommodating by having us listen to many different sounds. I definitely wanted something that would capture that plaintive, evocative type sound that could be heard here and there. We narrowed it down to 2 cd’s after having spent a bit less than an hour there.

Soon after, we saw some very charming horse drawn carriages and almost immediately, Chuck read my mind: the last time we had been in one of these carriages was during a short trip to Montreal, and it had been exhilarating. So, we hailed him. Getting in was more of a challenge than we imagined and getting out was also difficult. It’s sort of a boxy thing which you need to climb into; but once you’re in, it’s fine.

On our way to the Bali Hai, we were spotted by some of our breakfast and tour companions who were also strolling on the streets. It was a fun way to end the evening.

One of the most enjoyable things we did was attend a couple of the theme dinners offered by the Holiday Inn Balihai, which they had often, served buffet style. They all happen at the Mawar Café , which is on the ground level and is huge with indoor and outdoor service for all meals. We had all of our breakfasts here as well which were part of our package and quite sumptuous.

I recall a pasta night, and an Australian barbecue night. There are at least 3 or 4 ten foot tables luring you with cold salads platters, cheeses and crudités, breads, dare I say desserts?? Also tropical fruits including the wonderful fried bananas which are so addictive. On one of those two evenings, I spotted my first mouse, and naturally, the animal simply had to take the route which crossed my chair. I let out a short and strident scream, at which point, the entire group of diners looked at me quite perplexed. An Englishwoman who sat next to us with her companion gave me a look that was part understanding, part dismissive : "but deaha, they ah soh verry verry smoll…"

Moving on to an even funnier episode and one which I have not been allowed to forget; with those delectable dinners came a live singer. They pick her to be slim, slender with a very sultry voice, and she had to sing in English. We had heard her sing a couple of times at cocktail hour in the open air lobby lounge and she really was pretty good. This time, she was on stage with her accompaniment, and wanted to liven up the audience. This is when the Australian barbecue acquired a bit more flavor; she was looking for someone who would sing with her, and Chuck had gone to the grilling area with his pickings to be cooked to his taste while I sat at the table finishing my salad. I suddenly decided I was going to sing and up I went to the stage and she gives me a microphone. Parenthetically, I do not sing, have never known how to hold a note, but do like the way I sound in the shower like every other human being. I wanted to surprise Chuck and decided to throw myself heart and soul into our favorite song, by the Righteous Brothers. I think he was afraid to turn around when he heard my voice although I was getting a lot of encouragement from a large table of Americans. Poor people!

. And would you have thought that I’d sit down after this? No siree…she picked some song by Celine Dion, I think it was the theme to Titanic. Then I discovered her secret: she wrote all the words phonetically and that was the reason I was given to humming at times, as I couldn’t understand the scribbles!

Theme nights are quite entertaining, with or without my singing, and if you do stay here, do ensure that you attend at least one.