June 21, 2013 – Surabaya back to Bali
We arrived in Ubud
around 2pm, which was when our friend Muriel’s wedding brunch was
starting. The hotel was really cute and
small and hard to find, but it was really pretty among the rice patties. Our room had a king bed with mosquito nets
and French doors leading right out to the rice.
It also had a small infinity pool overlooking the rice patties on the
other side of the building. Just
beautiful!
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| Pool |
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| View from our room |
We were
unable to secure a cab to the brunch location, so we decided to walk to the main road leading to the brunch and hire a couple of teenagers to drive us on their motorcycles the rest of the way. It was fun, but it was
pretty uncomfortable for me because I was wearing a dress and couldn’t ride
side-saddle. Should have thought of
that! However, the ride was beautiful, through lush green hills and rice
patties. After about 10 minutes, we
arrived at the villa where the brunch was taking place. We weren't sure what to expect, but it was
BEAUTIFUL!
Basically, it was one central
villa where the brunch was taking place which had an infinity pool and
beautiful views of (shocker) more rice patties! The rest of the property consisted of 4 other villas, each with two bedrooms. We assumed this was a rented space, but Muriel told us later that it was actually her Aunt’s vacation home! Basically, she and a few other families share access to the place kind of like a time share. Our friends Maren and Christine were also there and Maren told us that this is basically her dream, to have a vacation compound with all of her friends. I think it is now my dream too! Maybe not in Bali, but somewhere!
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| The villa's infinity pool |
They had tables set up and drinks available. Despite arriving at 3:15 for a brunch that started at 2pm, we were the first guests there. They had tables set up and drinks available.
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| View of the main villa |
The brunch was long and relaxing. Everyone arrived shortly after we did and we ate soon after that. After food, we just lounged around the pool, watched the sunset, and hung out until after dark.
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| Beautiful flowers |
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| Yummy food! |
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| Taylor and I in front of the Villa |
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| All the Ross people |
Then, we headed back to our hotel
to re-group before exploring Ubud. When we returned to our hotel, there was a GIANT gecko, probably a foot long on the wall. We tried to shush it out, but it just ran behind the wardrobe and wouldn't come out. Of course I was terrified that I would wake up with a gecko on my face, so I was hoping it would leave the room while we were gone. Well, we don’t know if it left, but we never saw it again and I was (eventually) able to sleep!
Our hotel taxi took us to central Ubud and dropped us out
and we went in search of some souvenirs and a place to grab a drink. We ended up buying some handmade Bali soaps
for our subletters and a small clutch for me to use for the
wedding. Then, we grabbed a drink (rose
wine for me and a beer for Taylor) and headed back toward our hotel for some sleep.
June 22, 2013 – Bali – our last day and Muriel’s Bali
Wedding Day
We woke up to the beautiful view over the rice patties and
ordered breakfast, which they deliver to your balcony.
It was beautiful and we ate peacefully before
hiring a car to take us to our final hotel of the trip in Nusa Dua, near
Muriel’s wedding venue. We arrived at the Laguna Resort and were blessedly able to
check in to our room immediately despite the fact that it was noon. Our room had a little balcony and a view of
the lagoon, the pool and a little slice of ocean. The hotel grounds were beautiful.
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| View from our room |
We immediately suited up (bathing suited,
that is) and headed out to enjoy the pool and beach. The beach had beautiful sand and the water
was very calm. We waded out a bit to
cool off and then laid on some beach chairs until we got too hot to stay in the
sun and retreated to some shady chairs by the pool. After some swimming, we laid down in the
shade and took a nap before heading up to our room to get ready for Muriel’s
wedding.
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| The beach |
The wedding took place at the Alila Villas Uluawtu. Uluwatu is the southwest corner of Bali and
is known for beautiful sunsets over high cliffs in addition to great waves for
surfing. The resort is absolutely beautiful.
Everything is super modern and sleek, it was just beautiful.
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| The main pool |
When we got there, probably half of the
guests were already there, but despite the fact that we were 10 minutes late,
the wedding was nowhere near starting.
Luckily, this provided a chance to take lots of photos and enjoy the
grenadine and sprite spritzers that they were providing.
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| The venue |
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| Taylor and I before the wedding |
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| Dave borrowing a sarong from one of the waiters |
At around 5pm, the wedding planners (there must have been 20
of them) announced that we were about to start and we all headed to the sunset
cabana, the biggest of all the cabanas and right on the cliffs overlooking the
water.
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| Waiting for the ceremony to start |
Muriel looked absolutely gorgeous. She had a birdcage veil (just like I did!) and a beautiful strapless ballgown by Reem Acra. Her hair and makeup were stunning.
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| The bride entering |
The ceremony was very short and sweet with
tender touches such as a reading by our friend Christine and the bride and
groom reading their own vows. They
exited the cabana by asking all the guests to line up on the aisle and giving
us flower petals to shower on the new couple.
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| The bride after the ceremony. Gorgeous! |
Immediately after the ceremony, we were served cocktails and
passed hors d’oeuvers while everyone took more photos. After about 45 minutes, we were asked to
finish our drinks and head to the villa for the reception.
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| With the bride and groom! |
The villa was a large, super-chic room with couches and koi ponds
surrounded by 4 bedrooms and a couple of bathrooms. The grand room lead out into a yard right on
the cliffs where they had two long tables set up, candles everywhere (including
floating in the pool!) and a criss-cross of hanging globe lights over it
all. Further beyond there was a (ridiculously
well-stocked, we later found out) bar and a dance floor.
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| The setup |
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| A quiet moment for the bride and groom |
When we finished dinner, we were told that the open bar,
dessert buffet and dance floor were open.
For dessert, there were delicious chocolate cake, apple crumble, crème
brulee and tiramisu. The bar was
extremely comprehensive, they were even able to make a mojito! They also were pouring shots constantly all
night (including shots of Gentleman Jack!).
The dancing was really great, owed to the fact that Nigerians and
Indonesians both know how to boogie quite well!
Taylor and I stayed until about 11:30 when we called a cab
because we wanted to make sure we got to bed so we could get up and enjoy the
last hours of our trip at our beautiful hotel!
June 23 2013 – Our last day…Bali to NYC
We wanted to get up for sunrise, but I was just too tired,
so we slept until 7:30am. We got up and
headed straight out for a walk on the beach
after which we commenced the same pattern as the previous day. Beach, sun, shade, pool, repeat.
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| Entrance to our resort |
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| The beach :) |
We also broke it up with some breakfast and a
brief walk around the resort where we saw a HUGE lizard. I first spotted it when it was swimming (yes,
swimming) through a lagoon. It looked
like a snake, but then it climbed out of the pool and I realized it was a
lizard. It was probably 3 feet long not
including it’s tail and looked like a komodo dragon (a monitor lizard). There were two people sunbathing on the
lagoon and when I got our my camera to try to take a photo, I felt compelled to
explain that I was not photographing them but the giant lizard swimming 5 feet
away. They did not find this as
comforting as I thought they would!
We headed back to our room begrudgingly at 12:30pm and got a
cab to the Denpasar airport in Bali at 1:30pm for our 4pm flight. Although we were sad to leave, we were really
looking forward to being home in our own bed after 11 different hotels and 28
nights!
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