Indonesia Itinerary - Cozy Crazy Kuta

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Preface And yup still on the mini-bus to Mt. Bromo. I think I’m getting a little car sick…

Sunrise Photoshoot at the Conrad Bali

2012-05-28 HongKong-019 — The perfect 10 second timer moment

We decided the night before that we’d do one sunrise at the resort and so we had to wake up pretty early to make it happen. We dragged ourselves out of bed and reserved a spot in one of the beach huts while I set up the tripod to try to hunt for some good composition spots. I eventually found a decent spot and just camped out there as the sun rose. Again the clouds foiled my plans because I caught a glimpse of the ball of light rising and then almost immediately disappear behind the clouds a little higher up in the horizon. Still I made the best of it. I’ll eventually update these posts with some of the real photos after I post process them.

2012-05-28 Bali-001 — Gotta love the beach huts

We totally fell back asleep in our beach hut until the point when we’d miss breakfast. This time we decided to try out the Club Lounge breakfast area which was much quieter and slightly different foods but I think we still preferred Suku after comparing both.

Cozy 2

After breakfast we grab a cab to Cozy 2 spa. This was another one of Sarah’s recommendations. We picked the “famous” package for 103, 000 IDR which includes a foot, arm/hand, head and shoulder massage for 1.5 hours. Funniest thing happened when we signed up for the massage. They asked for our names and Chantelle was up first. She spelled it out but as the lady was writing it down the letters were totally different from what Chantelle was dictating. Somehow it ended up being like S-G-N-U…and I think she gave up after. At this point I’m thinking…okay this must be some sort of Indonesian translation or something. She then gets to me and starts writing down W-I-L-L-I-A-M. Chantelle and I burst out laughing. The lady is so confused with Chantelle’s name she just says mine. After some manipulating they eventually transformed this to Ms. Sandu??? So they ask us for our choice of massage oils and type of music we want which I thought was kind of strange. Anyways we’re escorted by two of the male masseurs into this darkened room with individual gold fish tanks in front a line of 3 massage chairs separated by a curtain each. We first get a foot scrub to wash our feet which I am terribly squeamish of. We were then handed iPod Touches which made the music selection part make sense. I spend the next 10 minutes searching through the different play lists and seeing what apps are on the player. The rest of the massage was pretty good though I don’t have too many prior ones to compare to. Thumbs up!

Roaming Kuta

From Cozy we ended up in Kuta again to walk around and see the circus in action. Immediately you notice the difference. Backpackers and surfer dudes galore. There are tons of tourist shops and surfer brand stores like Billabong, Rip Curl, Hurley etc. We stopped by a McDonalds for a quick break and grabbed some fries and blueberry longan sundae (what a brilliant combo!). By sunset we were on Kuta beach and just set up our towels there to watch the sunset. I was amazed at the number of people there. It was SO crowded with tourists and locals alike. Hawkers were trying to sell anything from kites, massages, braiding and drinks. It was a nice relaxing way to wind down the afternoon.

After the beach we made our way around the windy streets to find Perama Tours to confirm our trip out to Mt. Bromo and Yogyakarta. Took awhile to find but eventually got there. Even picked up an Indonesia flag patch along the way!

Anantara Hotel

Dinner wise we picked out a place that was ranked high on TripAdvisor called SOS Rooftop Lounge & Bar. The cab had no idea where it was so he took us close. After asking directions, going one way and then asking again and backtracking the other way we eventually found it. Turns out it’s the rooftop bar of Anantara Hotel. Crappy thing was that the rooftop area was closed off and only available for hotel guests. With not too many options we just settled on the hotel restaurant which was decent. At this point I was also feeling pretty tired and the onset of a cold.

Sadly no partying this night though I was hoping we would get to. Kudeta and Potato Head were on my list of places to check out. Next time I guess!

And of course a day isn’t complete without a long ride back home to the Conrad!

Tips

Cozy 1 or 2 is definitely recommended. Chantelle says that their prices are actually cheaper than China so the prices were definitely good. Professional throughout and nice facilities.
Kuta looks like it’d be great for surfing as anyone wanting to go to Bali probably already knows. The surf isn’t too huge and is close to the beach. However it is very crowded and when we went during sunset filled with hawkers, tourists and local kids.
I mentioned before that Kuta would be a good base to visit the tourist sites but just know what you’re getting into. It’s a haven for backpackers and very much like what you’d find in Cancun. Don’t expect to find really fancy accommodations around there either. Sanur apparently is good.
Up to this point we have been doing hand laundry almost every day, which has been great. Why haven’t I been doing this for all my trips?? I pretty much have all my clothes at my disposal everyday and with the summer heat and sun it takes only half a day to a day to dry. Clog the sink with the built in stopper if it has one, fill it with warm water, take the soap bar and rub it against your soaked clothes and then start rubbing the fabric together and scrunching and filling back with water in a cycle 4-5 times. Wring the soapy water out and then do it one more time in clean water.