Balinese massage

Who can resist an offer from a time sharing company of free accommodation to Bali?

The condition? Tim and I had to attend a 90 minutes talk on this scheme.

Not one to miss up such a deal we decided to include the children as well. Anantara Vacations gave us a 2-villa accommodation with private pool in Seminyak, Bali. The name of the villas was Kunti Villas.

It was beautiful. Paying a little less than RM700 for a 2 night stay in the villas (normally US1,200) was a real deal we figured.

The villas were stunning. Bedrooms were pure luxury with open air bathrooms, an upright bathtub and sky-view toilets. The villas opened up to the swimming pool that was simply clean and warm. The kitchen was open and well equipped with drinks and cooking facilities.

The garden was manicured and all kinds of insects could be found in their natural habitat. Once settled in the villas we decided that this 6-star lodging was well-worth every cent!

We booked a tour that included a Balinese massage and a sunset dinner at Jimbaran Beach. The Balinese massage was relaxing to say the least. All kinds of oils and fragrance were used to massage us. The masseuse were very experienced. We then had a scented bath with flowers strewn in the water in an adjoining bathroom.

After the massage we went to Jimbaran beach for the sunset dinner. The beach was clean but the dinner was so-so. It consists of watery soup with bits of vegetables and barbecue fish, prawn, mussels and cuttlefish. The only thing appetizing was the sambal which I finished off quickly and polished off the children's too!

Some things about Bali to note:

1. People here adopt the same names for the first child, second child, third child and so on and so forth. For e.g our taxi driver was no. 4 so his name was Katut. The next time you meet another person with the same name you know that he is child no. 4!

2. The uniformity of merchandise/food sold in one place. Jimbaran is the place for dinner yet at every restaurant in the place the meals are the same.... barbecue fish, prawns, mussels and cuttlefish! Maybe some variations can be found in the seafood sold but the style of cooking remained the same!

3. At Jimbaran beach, barbecue corn was sold on the beach. However if you were to wander off from your seats to enjoy the sea fronting the restaurants thinking that the corn stalls will be your marker, you will be very confused as many duplicate corn stalls were set up in a row on the same beach! Anyway the grilled corn was fantastic...better than the seafood dinner actually.

First night at Bali and we enjoyed a good night's sleep in the stunning villas!