I planned my Bali trip around two things – a tick on my checkbox, and one day of chill. After all that exercise in Australia, I deserve one full day of non-activity. No plane trip, no Klook activity, just me pigging out and in bed all day. And maybe one day for souvenirs. Not much, but at least I get to dip a toe in the place.
Day 9 – Bali
As I mentioned, one of the things I looked forward for this day was simply having a full day to myself to be lazy. Nothing to do, and that’s perfect. All I did everyday in Sydney and Melbourne were tourist activities. Go to places, walk lots, eat lots, from sunrise to sundown. I squeezed in just enough activities there that was at least physically doable for me, but not so much that I would be a dry windswept husk by the time I returned to my hotel.
Not in Bali – all I like to do (at least initially during planning) is just pig out and walk the beach. Pamper myself with rest. Essentially a beach stay-at-hotel vacation, as I said before. I deliberately booked nothing in terms of tourist activity, I prioritized rest. But even if I wanted to, the activities I saw were quite inconvenient, to say the least. If I wanted to do these stuff, I’d go back with at least 4 full days planned for Bali. I have two days for now. I split it – one day for lazy, one day for souvenirs and maybe see the beach.
So with that… first thing off the morning, I woke up early for a buffet breakfast. The buffet breakfast at Aloft Bali Kuta was served at an in-house restaurant at the 2nd floor, opened at 7.30am. I woke up at around 6.30am, so I spent an hour watching TV – I settled at an anime channel with Indonesian subtitles. Enough of the documentaries for now.
By 7.30am, I went down for the buffet breakfast. I donned my best weekend attire – long cargo shorts from Uniqlo, black hoodie t-shirt from Under Armour, and a cap to help forcibly mold my unkempt hair. As the hotel staff said, they were prepared for on-the-spot payments, so I paid IDR 188,000 for the buffet.
Place was nice, it looked trendy for a hotel buffet area. But well, Aloft Bali Kuta’s owned by Marriott, so as to be expected, it should be nice. I immediately pulled a plate and filled it up with random stuff I fancied, and started pigging out. While eating, I noted they had several stalls and sections with other food that tourists absolutely will like… for example, a dessert section both having Western fare like chocolate fountains, various breads and Euro cheeses, but also Indonesian native desserts. Another stall serves waffles on demand. One of the stalls is the noodle station serving Indonesian noodle flavors. Their warm food section was no slouch either – both Western foods and Indonesian dishes were present. Their drinks section had fruit juices in.
I had three full platefuls of food and five glassfuls of fruit juice before I tapped out for the morning – I’m sure I ate more than what I paid for. I went back to my hotel room full and satisfied, and napped through a food coma without any worries. This is the first of two days of just freestyling the day’s activities, and I wanted this day easy. After that wonderful nap, I undressed back to my sleep clothes, plopped back in bed, and spent hours playing through Trials of Mana (at that time, I was going to the Dark Castle), as I was resolved to at least finish the main story of the game before I left Bali. I left the TV on to anime just to break the silence.
While there, I popped open one of my coffee cans and went out of my room’s balcony to see what’s what outside. View wasn’t really particularly good but strangely it was a familiar sight. Lots of lower middle-class houses dotted the area, with some areas that were clearly old structures in some places. Some had backyards with chickens and dogs. Some people were in the backyards hanging their clothes as well. Not that I found it bad – it looked like any Metro Manila barangay to me. Familiar sight, and strangely comforting. I’m at least back in the Southeast Asia I am familiar with.
By lunchtime – around 12.30pm – I took a quick shower, dressed back in the same attire I donned in breakfast, and went to the adjacent shopping area – Beachwalk – for lunch. Place was downright… Ayala-like in terms of mall design. Logical layout is non-existent in favor of a more”chic” free-flow layout, so I treated the place like how I treat Glorietta – always an eye out for where the escalators were, and remembering which shops are near by so I could backtrack.
I climbed up to a top floor towards the place I researched should be there, and it was – “Pasa Rame Food Venures Yuk!”, which was good for me. Basically a food court. There are big sections to the sides for bigger food stalls, and a decent cart-esque food vendor section. Of course I just winged it. I went around to see what I could eat… because I still felt quite full after my humongous breakfast. I wasn’t sure that I wanted another food coma in the afternoon. I settled for a beef stew that looked more black than most stews, plus a cup of garlic rice, a whole salted egg (sliced in half) and a can of soymilk. Light fare… and in my opinion, soups and stews are great ways to feel full without being actually full. Thankfully, it was around 1.30pm so not too many people around. I easily found an empty table to eat at, and enjoy the ambience.
I went back to the hotel at 3pm, and continued lazing in my hotel room until 8pm. Light naps and continued grinding at Trials of Mana. I was focused on finishing the main story quick, so I alternated between grinding for level-ups and trying out the optimal strategy for my team. Well, it’s been my go-to for Square Enix RPGs – level up to a point where the final boss becomes more manageable. But I remember in FFXII, I grinded so hard and so much (remembered this was during Covid lockdowns) in the sidequests and side dungeons, by the time I got to Vayne, I whooped his ass much easier than when I went for Zodiark. I wasn’t looking to whoop ass here in Trials, just enough to make the final boss (I went for Riesz, Duran and Angela as my party) less frustrating to deal with in case I run out of free time in Bali.
By 8pm, I got hungry, so I ordered again using Grab. I went for “remuk sambal korek” with a few extra just to help with the minimum order pricing, plus drinks. Nice. By 9pm I felt sleep was coming, so I went for a warm shower and dressed in new sleepwear, and went to sleep by 11pm after clearing enough in Trials. Fun day, I daresay. Sometimes we do take these leisure days for granted. “I did nothing” was the main point. Rest, chill, eat delicious food, sleep. Some fortunate fleeting luxury that often gets overlooked by the busy world.
Briathrail // Albert 2MNG 
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