Michelle and I recently went traveling in November for another weeklong visit to Asia where we went to Bali for a wedding then tacked on a trip to Singapore afterward. It was my first time in Bali and, while I feel like I didn’t truly experience all that Bali had to offer, I wanted to write a bit about it.
A switch to the Ritz
Part of this journey includes learning that there are no direct flights to Bali from the U.S… and so we went off on a 23 hour journey starting with a layover to Hong Kong.
Love that I could pay for the SFO-HKG-DPS flight with just 37.5K American Airlines points one-way for both Meesh and I!
Purely by coincidence, we saw FOUR of our friends in the HKG Chase Sapphire lounge!! This was where we learned that a few people we knew were staying at the Ritz Carlton, and one friend didn’t even have a room booked..We clearly did not coordinate very well as a group, hah. I’ve been wanting to spend more time with my friends when I can, so I decided to splurge and eat the cost of our existing reservation for a one-night stay in Uluwatu to switch to the Ritz. AMAZING choice. At first I was going to just eat the cost of the Uluwatu hotel, but realized I could give it to Sean, who didn’t have a place to stay that night anyway. Only later did we learn he didn’t stay overnight because the area was too loud… too bad for him, but we feel like we dodged a bullet! The Ritz was a real treat; the hospitality in Indonesia really felt taken up a notch. We indulged in the buffet at Bejana (their local foods buffet in-hotel) and the included breakfast buffet between workouts at the gym and soaks in the pool. I can highly recommend it!/
The first night of the wedding activities included a visit to Ulu Cliffhouse, an outdoor bar tucked away in Uluwatu with a beautiful cliffside view. There we got to see all the other guests along the beautiful backdrop of the Balinese coastline, take some pics, and watch as James and Carolyn rolled up to see all their close friends arriving in Bali to celebrate them! It was an awesome way to kick off the wedding weekend. More people than I thought ended up arriving the day of the welcome event, which I personally would find way too tiring. We had arrived the day beforehand and were already fighting jetlag and general fatigue; I can’t imagine hopping off a 24hr flight and then going straight to a wedding event!
My impression of places to stay are:
- Canggu: Digital nomad vibes, chill neighborhoods
- Uluwatu: Surfer vibes and a bit party central
- Ubud: Nature and hike lovers, monkey jungles, and wilderness
- Nusa Dua: Resorts central, very bougie in each resort. We spent most of our time here!
As the event in Uluwatu ended, we made our way back to Glamp Nusa which was our hotel / venue for all ~80 of us for the weekend. It was great to bask in the pool while we waited for the festivities to begin later in the evening. We watched the local team set up - and sometimes literally build - the awning and decorations we would see later. The ceremony was beautiful but HOT. I literally sweat through my dress shirt and had to run back to the room and put another one on. Luckily I had brought a spare.. but we drank and danced the night away. There were so many things of note that I might not have pictures of or its hard to convey… but live singing (from a The Voice Indonesia contestant!), an electric emcee who was practically a game show host, and surprise dance numbers from the wedding party, it was an epic time celebrating James and Carolyn. I remember feeling so lucky to have been part of the group that traveled around the world to see it happen!
Bring a spare dress shirt, or wear an undershirt!! Don’t be like me!!
After the wedding, we had a whole day to relax and recuperate. We spent it lounging by the pool, playing a bit of volleyball, and eating some bbq buffet. It was really nice that James and Carolyn so thoughtfully planned the recovery day since they knew it would be a wild party and that people would be tired. It was soo nice not to feel rushed to check out of the venue and go on to the next thing immediately. But eventually we did check out, and Meesh and I were on our way to Singapore!
We had Wednesday to Saturday booked for SG and I feel we took it nice and easy. We went to a few of the famous hawker stalls (Maxwell Center, Lau Pa Sat), got massages at Natureland, took a cruise down the quay, went to the botanical garden and the supertree grove, and even met up to celebrate Caleb’s birthday at the tallest rooftop bar in town. I’ll put our exact 3 day itinerary down if anyone’s curious, and since I tend to send these posts to folks years after the fact when I hear someone might be going someplace!
We stayed in Chinatown due to its proximity to the local MRT and central location. Highlights from our few days are below!
Arrival to Changi Airport (SIN) and went straight to Chinatown. We didn’t do much on the arrival day except go to Maxwell Center to try the famous Hainanese chicken rice, since this is supposedly the best place to go for it and the nearby Silk Tea Bar. Luckily it was also right nearby our hotel. In the evening, we went to Lau Pa Sat (our SG friend told us to go straight to stall #8 for the best skewers). We ended our night at Jigger and Pony, one of the ‘best bars in SG’.
Early the next morning to avoid the heat, we went to the botanical garden, the real one not the supertree grove, in the town’s northwest corner. It was a peaceful walk and it was nice to see all different kinds of orchids. After the garden we came back and rested before going to Natureland for a local couple’s massage. It was a great value and there’s a ton around the city so I’d recommend.
We stopped by the actual supertree grove and I had an insanely good SG McDonald’s buttermilk chicken burger. So good I got it twice over our trip. We tried to walk into the Marina Bay Sands casino but we couldn’t because we didn’t have our passports, so if you’re interested don’t forget yours! By Clarke Quay, we did a ~30 minute night time river float that brings you to the other side of the Marina Bay Sands for an on-the-water view. I thought it was really nice, plus there’s an english voiceover of the history of the quay. I’d recommend it.
We had a chance to grab lunch at Lagnaa in Little India before a stop through Haji Lane. I found a few shops nearby cool, like Snooze (mostly streetwear), and Vintagewknd comes often recommended as well (mostly women’s thrifting).
We capped off our trip with dinner at JUMBO Seafood for the famous SG chili crab (Caleb’s idea). We really liked the black pepper chili crab. Finally we got champagne at the top of the tallest rooftop bar at Nova which was definitely more club than cocktail bar, but at least we could cheers with Caleb for his birthday while he and Amy were in Singapore! We were lucky to catch them. We spent our last full day at Jewel Changi since it is such a huge mall and connected to the airport. It was awesome to just browse around (and visit the pokemon center store). We ended up booking a day-use room in YotelAir and napping until our boarding time. All in all, a great way to explore Singapore!
