Bali Bliss at the Ayana Resort

Today was absolutely unforgettable! Mr. Ben and I decided to rent a motorbike in Seminyak and drive down to Dreamland Beach and Jimbaran Bay. We got an early start and decided to try somewhere new for breakfast today… Café Zucchini. Their set breakfast was delicious! We started with coffees and a smoothie of our choice. Then we got a bowl of fresh tropical fruit dusted with coconut flakes. We were already stuffed when they brought out our egg selections of eggs Benedict with sun dried tomatoes, roasted potatoes, and sautéed mushrooms. A good breakfast really does make my day brighter!

Fill ‘er up!

After filling our bellies, we rented our motorbike and, as in most Southeast Asian countries, filled up the tank from a vodka bottle of fuel sold by a woman on the side of the road. No more time to waste we were off! I won’t lie, it took us longer than it should have to get to Dreamland, but considering we winged it without a proper map I’ll say we took the “scenic route” and getting lost can be fun with good company. When we got to the beach, we grabbed a couple of chairs on the sand and spent the next few hours enjoying the beach.

Dreamland Beach

Dreamland beach is known as one of Bali’s most beautiful beaches because of it’s white powdery sand and stunning blue water. Some people know Dreamland as “The New Kuta,” after the insanely overcrowded tourist beach near Seminyak, but hardly anyone was there! After exploring the tide pools and sharing a couple of ice cream bars, we set out on the journey to Jimbaran Bay.

The view from Rock Bar at the Ayana Resort

The entrance gate was the most grandiose of any resort I’ve ever seen! We drove for what felt like a mile of beautifully landscaped grounds until reaching the front of the resort. When we walked into the lobby we stood in front of a view that was incredible. You could see past a pond to an infinity pool and all the way to the coastline that was over a cliff-edge.

It was only about 4:30 so we made some dinner reservations at one of the many 5 star restaurants, and then decided to grab a drink before dinner and were led to the resort’s Rock Bar. The Rock Bar is probably the coolest bar I’ve been to. It sits on a cliff front with an infinity pool and has a beautiful view of the ocean. We each had a couple of drinks, and just as the sun began to set, we started our way over to Kisik for our dinner reservations.

Seafood lovers paradise

When we got to our table at Kisik they reserved us a table right on the cliffside overlooking a small pier. It was by far the most beautiful view at a restaurant I’ve ever been to. There was a little name card on our table that said “Mr. Ben” on it too. So romantic! Kisik is a fancy shmancy seafood grill so after being led to our table, we were guided to their fresh seafood displays where we could order our fresh seafood.

They had everything!

Lobsters, prawns, crabs, oysters, ahi tuna, red snapper… and more! They had the market price listed and they weighed our selections right in front of us. After placing our orders, we sat back at our table to watch the breathtaking sunset and listen to the musicians playing Balinese music on the nearby pier.

The beautiful view from our table at sunset

We ordered oysters on the half shell to start. I’m no stranger to delicious oysters but these were by far the best I’ve ever had. For the first course they brought us Gado Gado, a local Indonesian dish made of vegetables, peanut sauce and hardboiled egg, and then a bowl of seafood soup. For the main, we ordered prawns and seared ahi. Everything was absolutely delicious!

Thank you again, Mr. Ben, for such a perfect day.

Leave a comment

Comment