December 2008 / January 2009 - Association of Dutch Businessmen

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Lifestyle Escape the city life for one big chill: BALI By Anouk Binkhuysen Life is not easy as an expat-wife; settle down, presenting myself on the local recruit market, preparing job interviews, writing dozens of mails and letters to potential employers and getting along with my new Chinese neighbours. So, after nearly five months of living in my clean and safe new hometown Singapore, it was time for a breakaway! And although Singapore is a great place to live with everything smoothly organized, all its perfect facilities and good weather, after a while I became hungry for some ‘real Asia’; bargaining for souvenirs, food stalls at every corner of the street, crowded chaotic places, peaceful white sandy beaches and lots of cold beers in laidback bamboo bars. So I headed for a week Bali, which also appears one of the most favourite getawaydestination according the majority of the ADBmembers. Here is my journey in a nutshell to a beautiful island with magnificent places and lovely people. And for those who are still planning to go, do not hesitate anymore. For those who plan to go back again; join the club! Day 1 and 2: SANUR We (my sister and I) had a late flight from Singapore, so we arrived after midnight in Denpasar. With no definite plan for the week, however we had booked our first night over the internet with some help from the latest Mr. LP (Lonely Planet). Although our internet reservation had never arrived at the Stana Puri Gopa Hotel, fortunately there was still one room left for two girls from Holland; the ‘Deluxe Suite’. The next morning we discovered that we had made a good choice; we woke up and found out that all the rooms are built in little traditional Balinese houses surrounded by a beautiful garden and a very nice pool. We decided to stay another day and we went straight for our first traditional Balinese massage on the beach! Day 3: Nusa LEMBONGAN Sanur is a nice place to hang-out for a couple of days but we came to Bali to see something of the island and its underwater world, so time to move on. It is very easy to visit Nusa Lembongan by speedboat from Sanur, so we booked a daytrip to Lembongan and decided to stay there overnight in one of the beach houses at ‘Dreambeach’. After 40 minutes, we embarked off Lembongan beach and for the first time since my arrival here in Asia, I felt like being on the other side of the world. Apart from some surf tourists and the 7000 locals that live from the production of seawead, the island is very quiet and pure. For me and my sister, reading books and some good afternoon naps would be our main time-spending here. Apart from the beaches and some good diving and snorkeling sites, the island is definitely worth a tour. We visited a mangrove and some traditional villages and driving around the island gives you a good impression how the locals live and work. After being semi-fried in the open pick-up truck during the morning, we could fortunately spend the afternoon in the water for some nice snorkeling near the island to spot thousands of tropical fish and colourful coral. Day 4 and 5: UBUD We departed early in the morning from our bounty island to go to our next destination; Ubud. I was recommended by lots of friends that had been to Bali before definitely to go here and to hang out at this place for a couple of days. Besides the beautiful paddy fields and countryside, Ubud is supposed to be Bali’s spiritual heart but also a great place to shop for silver and handicraft souvenirs. When we took the taxi from Sanur to Ubud, it surprised me how easy it is to drive from one place to another in Bali. The island is relatively small and after one-and-a-half hour we arrived in Ubud. The vibes in Ubud are definitely different compared to the beach places. However visited by many tourists, the atmosphere is laid back and with an utter choice of luxurious spa-hotels as well as low- and mid-priced guesthouses that offer cooking-classes and Balinese belly dance lessons, Ubud is a favourite destination for travellers with small and big budgets. The owner of our guesthouse immediately recommended us to go for an ‘Eco and Educational cycling tour’. As we were planning to visit some of rural Bali in Ubud and curious what to expect, we signed up for the tour. After a relaxed first day in Ubud, we were picked up the next morning at our hotel for the cycling tour. With a small group of 7 persons, we drove to Mount Batur (north of Bali) and cycled for approximately 40 kilometers back to Ubud through the countryside. The focus of this tour is to learn more of traditional Balinese (culinary) life and nature. Our local tour guide brought us to local villages, the paddy fields, a traditional Balinese 26 Vol.18 • No. 10 • December 2008 / January 2009
plantation and we ate a traditional Balinese feast for lunch. However I could not walk the stairs for a day because of the pain in my legs of cycling, it was definitely worth doing! Day 6 and 7: LOVINA From central Bali, we headed to the north of the island to Lovina, a recommended place to spot dolphins and to dive. Lovina appears to be very ‘Dutch’ according to the locals. A lot of Dutch tourists spend their holidays here, because it is not as crowded as places like Kuta or Seminyak. However it was hard to imagine what this place looks like in high season as Lovina is completely deserted in November, it looked more like a ghost-town now. Fortunately we had travelled to this place with a Swiss/ Austrian couple we had met on our cycling tour in Ubud, so we were at least four in town! Despite the dolphin watching that was not as spectacular as expected, we had a great time enjoying the beaches, drinking happy hour beers and have nice chats with the locals in Lovina. From Lovina, back to Denpasar by taxi to take a late flight back to Singapore on Sunday evening, I was slowly getting ready for the city life again... I have to admit that this week was a great experience to me and I was happy that Bali had brought me a little bit closer to my original Indonesian roots too. How I love Bali and the Indonesians and how I love to come back again! Good places to stay and travel tips: Place Address Comments Sanur Lembongan Ubud Stana Puri Gopa Hotel www.purigopabali.com Lembongan Reef Bungalow www.balilembonganscuba.com Bali Eco and educational cycling tour Nice spacious air-conditioned bungalow rooms in traditional Balinese style. Price for a double bedroom: USD 55 per night, including breakfast Huge bungalow rooms, nicely decorated with own private balcony with sea view. Air-conditioned. Price for a double bedroom: USD 40 per night, including breakfast Booking through your hotel or directly contact PT. Bali Budaya Tours, tel.: +81 337 420 420 Price per adult Rp. 360.000/ child Rp. 250.000 27 Vol.18 • No. 10 • December 2008 / January 2009
Page 1: December 2008 / January 2009 MITA 3
Page 4 and 5: A monthly publication of the Associ
Page 6: November Review Pareto is different
Page 9 and 10: December Review Madelon van Tol, Ma
Page 11 and 12: Business OCTOBER 2008: DutchCham Lu
Page 13 and 14: Singapore with a Dutch touch. Nowad
Page 15 and 16: Singapore Taken after the victory o
Page 17 and 18: Singapore Christmas and Christmas t
Page 19 and 20: Singapore 31 October Official Openi
Page 21 and 22: Business The workspace of… By Sha
Page 23 and 24: SPECIAL Magazine 2008 By Frank Kuij
Page 25 and 26: SPECIAL Pump Room, Brix, the Screen
Page 27: Lifestyle dried plums. And what was
Page 31 and 32: Lifestyle in SingaporeBy Dennis van
Page 33 and 34: Column By… Yet another weekend Ri
Page 35 and 36: Embassy Info Public holidays 2008/2
Page 37 and 38: Association Info Job Seekers / Inte
Page 39: Indian colonial antiques - Past Per

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