We woke up to the realization that we’re going to be leaving this little slice of paradise.
Nothing like a good breakfast to make us feel good!

This morning, we ordered a couple of different things, like potato wedges with sour cream, scrambled eggs, sunny-side-up eggs with toast, iced frappuccino and latte.

Another nice touch at Alila – they would provide little stools, not for sitting on, but for placing our bags and little gadgets etc so they wouldn’t take up space on the table. Have I mentioned I love these little details?

A couple of shots of the tranquil area in front of the Cire restaurant. If you were to hang out at the sun-loungers here during the day, the folks from Alila would come along with a picnic basket filled with stuff like towels, sun-screen, sun-tanning oil and bottled water. Perfect service.

After a light breakfast, we headed to the spa again! This time, it was a little less extravagant – a complimentary 90 minutes treatment when we signed up for our 3-night stay.

Feet Wash. Balinese Massage. Warm Herbal Bath.

Lovely experience yet again. How I wish I could do this every single day!

More swimming. More sun-tanning.

Check-out timing was actually supposed to be 12pm. A day before, we had enquired at reception whether we are able to get a complimentary late check-out as our flight is at night. Unfortunately, a late-checkout at 6pm is going to cost us a bomb (they charge half the price of a night’s stay). Luckily, they sort of relented and let us check out at 2pm, which was better than nothing!

After checking out, we left our luggage at the reception area and headed for lunch at The Cire. Once again, they brought us their home-made bread which tasted great with passion fruit and olive oil dips.

King Prawn.
Braised, with Wasabi Vinaigrette.

Hamachi.
Roasted, with Lemon Emulsion.

Passion Fruit Souffle with White Chocolate Ice-cream.

We decided not to do anything in the afternoon, and spent our time idling at Alila until it was time to head for the airport.

Having settled the bill (which was entirely accurate, no mistakes, no phantom mini-bar items), the staff from Alila could have left us alone and not cared about us at all. It was nice when we were approached twice by them – once to offer us wet towels to freshen up, and another time to give us bottled water even though we could have gotten them ourselves from the library or the gym.

The return transfer to the airport went without a hitch – the car was already waiting for us when we headed to the lobby at 6-plus in the evening. Double checked our luggage, took one last look, said our goodbyes and hopped into our car.

Prior to setting foot on Bali, it was a nightmare trying to decide on which resort to stay in. Despite everything I have written and gushed about, Alila Villas Uluwatu is definitely not perfect.

For instance, the view at our pool villa can be better. The relatively new property did have a couple of broken tiles (five, in fact) at the bottom of our pool. Things are definitely pricey around here – a order of Fried Rice with Chicken costs SGD$17 before taxes, when the same thing costs around SGD$5 in Singapore.

Are these critical flaws? Absolutely not. The things that mattered most to me were of 5-stars standard. Alila Villas Uluwatu has definitely met our expectations, and I would be tempted to check out Alila Villas Soori if the opportunity comes along.

Till then, there are Aman Resorts that I’ve yet to try..

Alila Villas Uluwatu – Suprisingly Different

Rise and shine! A brand new day awaits us, and we’re particularly excited to check out Alila’s spa treatment today!

Before I go on with today’s activities, remember I mentioned about being able to indicate our preferences (music, pillows, level of attention by the butler, etc) prior to check in? To give you an idea, you can click on the Alila Villas Uluwatu – Personal Preference Menu link to take a look. Go ahead and input a fake name/email address – nothing is saved until the form is submitted. I love the fact that I could customize my stay before I even land on Bali.

Today’s breakfast menu (Saturday) is different from yesterday’s, and so we took the opportunity to try out different items!

OK, more sausages and bacon! I promise this is the last you’ll see of them.

Baked Omelette with Bacon, Leek, Onion and Cheese.

Grilled Sour Dough with Smoked Beef, Pickled Shallots and Mozzarella.

Waffle with Banana and Caramel.

Bubur Menguh.
Balinese rice porridge with vegetables.

Omelette with Chili and Cheese.

Smoothies!

Personally, I feel that the service (and the food of course) here at Alila is excellent. To be honest, there isn’t really much that I could fault. And yes, they remembered our preference to serve all our food together. After we’re done with breakfast, a lady (who seems to be the one in-charge) would drop by to make sure the food was okay, and whether we wanted to order any more food!

Every staff here at Alila greets us with a smile, and we’re not just referring to the ones who picked us up at the airport, at the spa, or the waiter or waitress at the restaurants. Down to the guys who deliver our room service and even the gardeners, it seemed like it is their mission to make us feel special.

Prior to making up our room, a call would be made to our villa to check with us what would be a suitable timing, so as not to disturb us. I appreciate the little things, such as bookmarks like the ones below that they would leave by our bedside after tidying up our rooms.

I’m not sure if you noticed – only at night would the tables be covered with table cloth. In the afternoon, we saw the restaurant staff patiently putting on all the table cloth. At first, we were perturbed as to why he was spraying water onto the table cloth, and giving it a gentle rub with his fingers. We realized that he was trying to wet, and then smooth the crease caused by folding! Such things probably wouldn’t matter to me at all (I mean, a crease is just a crease) but it just shows the level of details they pay attention to.

I could probably come up with more examples, but I shall leave it at that for now. We spent some more time roaming around the resort and took more photos. This is a view of the Cire and infinity pool from the Sunset cabana.

Better weather today, with none of the gray skies.

The rough waves below the Sunset Cabana as they crash onto the cliff side.

The Sunset Cabana being prepared for a wedding on one of the evenings. Lovely setting, isn’t it?

Gotta be careful when swimming at the pool as there are no lifeguards!

The “floating cabana” on higher ground that I mentioned previously.

The main lobby when guests could hang around, with more complimentary Alila products! Interestingly, there seem to be no need for any insect repellent during our stay.

So, what do we do when there is an abundance of Alila products in our villa? We bring them home!

Quite a number of guests were arriving on the weekends, perhaps to attend the wedding. We were told that there are people who would visit just to get their spa treatments done here. As advised by the staff at the spa, we have already booked our half-day treatment yesterday, just in case the slots were full.

Spent more time at the pool at our villa before we grabbed a quick lunch.

Nasi Goreng Ayam.
Fried rice with chicken.

Aglio Olio Spaghetti.

Complimentry crackers, dips and bottled water.

Made our way to the spa to start our Journey to You (Half Day – Afternoon) spa treatment. At the spa reception, one side of the wall is lined entirely with spa products.

A welcome drink was served to us as we confirmed the treatments that we are having today. The drink is an unique blend of lemongrass, lemon, ginger and honey which was pretty refreshing. The taste of ginger needs a little getting used to, though.

The treatments are done at the designated spa villas at Alila.

The treatments we chose are a little different from the ones on the menu though – you are free to customize your spa journey. I was getting some minor sun-burn, and was recommended not to do a Warm Stone Massage – I chose the Therapeutic Massage “using fluent strokes of different depths and intensity” instead.

A little area to hang our clothes, and keep our valuables.

The vanity area, stocked with plenty of products like cleanser and toner.

After changing, we got seated at the sofa. Before the massage, they always start with a relaxing feet wash, which was a lovely touch.

What goes into the feet wash? Flower petals, lime, lemongrass and sea salt.

Well, it isn’t called the Half-Day Journey for nothing. Not gonna go into details on how the massage is done, apart from saying that it was simply amazing.  Besides a Therapeutic Massage, I would also be getting a Head/Hair Stimulation Massage, followed by a Scrub/Wrap.

Absolute bliss.

The only other time it felt as good was when I was at Alila Cha-Am in 2009, but this is definitely better. After being bombarded by the variety of treatments, we got to take a shower ..

.. before heading into the Steam Room.

My wife and I couldn’t really stand the heat with the sun-burn going on, so we left the Steam Room early. The masseuse was surprised to see us when she brought in two glasses of electrolyte (i.e. isotonic) drinks, meant for hydrating us after the Steam Room treatment.

Briefly showered again before getting dressed and heading out. Prior to starting our massage, we were asked whether we wanted some fruits after our treatments, because it is going to take three hours or so. Little did we expect to see a huge platter of honeydew and watermelon waiting for us when we emerged from the changing area, complete with another glass of chilled lemongrass drink. Surely, this was overkill.

Oh yeah, more products on display in case we wanted to try/buy some.

After we freshened up, we left for dinner at The Warung, which was included in the programme. According to the spa menu, our dinner was supposed to be “romantic but healthy and delicious dinner”. Well, I could see what the “delicious” part was referring to, but “healthy”? *laughs*

As usual, the complimentary starters was given.

Lawar Ayam.
Green Bean Salad with Chicken.

Sate Ayam.
Chicken Breast Sate. (alternatively known as Satay in Singapore)

Babi Kecap.
Pork in Sweet Soy Sauce.

Bebek Goreng Bali.
Balinese Fried Duck. We love this! Absolutely delicious!

Yellow rice.
Tasted somewhat like Briyani Rice we get here in Singapore.

Another view of our sumptuous dinner!

Finished off with a single scoop of coconut ice-cream. A pretty smart way of serving ice-cream, with the little dish resting on a glass filled with ice to keep it from melting.

Interestingly, we never saw the sunset at Sunset Cabana. However, we did see an amazing moon-rise! The bright dot you see below is the moon, and not the sun. I left the camera shutter on for 15 seconds =)

Just when you thought our day was over, we returned to the spa villa for the last treatment – Reflexology Massage. Did another feet wash – wow, I’m getting used to this! The massage wasn’t just meant for the feet, but also covers the ankles and calves, which was fantastic yet again. After being pampered for half a day, we reluctantly returned to our villa for undoubtedly, a good night’s rest.

Alila Villas Uluwatu – Suprisingly Different

 

We decided to go for some local Balinese cuisine for our first Lunch at The Warung. Dropped by the restaurant pretty late (seemed like we’re always avoiding the peak dining hours), and there was no one else but us. Chose to sit outdoors, and it was not long before a staff came over with menus. Check out the menu here.

Personally, the top two reasons why I would give any resort a good review (and potentially a second visit) are the level of service, and the little details. I can come up with numerous examples, here’s one for Alila :

Bali, as a tropical destination, is obviously pretty hot and humid at all times of the year. What does this means? Hot and sticky = Eww. We’re pretty familiar with the weather, coming from sunny Singapore. Alila is very thoughtful in this aspect – providing all diners with cold towels and refreshing sprays before every meal. Kudos to them.

Ordered our food and the first item to come wasn’t something we had ordered. Alila took a refreshing spin on the idea of Congkak - a game of Malay origin. Check out the Wikipedia article if you’re interested. Using the Congkak board, they placed the complimentary starters in the individual slots. The waiter who brought it over gave us a little explanation as we listened and nodded.

At the two ends are two types of deep fried crackers, while the individual dips were in the middle – a total of twelve of them! Most of them were some variant of chili, which we love! The spiciest of them all is really good! There were also other stuff like pickled vegetables like cucumber and pineapple, onions and soy sauce.

Sambel Tapa
Tuna salad with young mangoes 

Pesan Wong
Grilled mushroom in banana leaf 

Bebek Bakar
Grilled duck with Balinese spice paste 

Balinese Red Rice
Whole grain rice? 

There are actually three types of rice to choose from – white, red, and yellow. The red rice actually tasted kind of like whole grain rice. The texture was a little bit raw and chewy.

Some drinks to quench our thirst :

Our verdict? Delicious! Special mention for the Balinese grilled duck which was very tender. We were pretty surprised to find duck on the menu here, as it isn’t that common in Singapore. We’re not big-eaters, and together with the complimentary starters, we were pretty stuffed by the end of lunch.

Our dinner at Cire for the day was actually a complimentary one, part of the package deal (air tickets, accommodation, etc) we purchased from our local agent. I have absolutely no idea why it is called “Dining by the Edge”. Cliff edge, perhaps? Sorry, the lighting at night was horrible. These pictures were the best that I managed to take =)

I’m not sure if it is Alila’s practice to serve complimentary items prior to dinner. We had the same experience when we stayed in Alila Cha-Am in 2009 and enjoyed many varieties of pastry! Tonight at Uluwatu, we were given some complimentary pastry with sour cream.

Ah. I had forgotten to take a photo of the menu. You’ll just have to take my description for it! The starter is some sort of Potato Cream, which had a foam-like texture.

No worries – the waitress offered to, and proceed to cut up the Roast Chicken into smaller pieces. It was plated together with mixed vegetables (peas, carrots, etc) and diced mushrooms.

Huge plate of Garden Salad for us.

The second main was some sort of smoked fish with mashed potato, and I can’t recall what exactly it is.

And to top it off, sweet sweet dessert.

Dinner was pretty alright, nothing surprising but definitely satisfying.
Check out the subsequent posts for more food @ Alila!

Alila Villas Uluwatu – Suprisingly Different

Before we take a look at our fabulous pool villa, let me explain the details on our key-chain.  The villa we’re staying in is 311 – I had requested for a higher level one before we arrived but this was the best they can do. On the key-chain, there is three coin-like circular disc, representing 3. The 11 engraved on the top disc is obviously our villa number – a nice and simple way to remind us of our room number!

The entrance to our villa is plain and simple, with a heavy wooden door.

Entering the villa, our super-comfortable bed is just a few steps away. Prior to our stay, we had filled up a web-form indicating the type of pillows that we’d like. That is why we have three additional pillows in front, including the boomerang-shaped one. There are glass/wooden panels behind the bed that we can shift and slide to block out the sun.

A simple work desk. Doubt any guest would actually want to WORK here at Alila.

The living area is actually pretty spacious. The round table is where we ate at last night after room service was delivered. The LCD TV is mounted, and can be turned towards the bed. Located behind the wooden console is the vanity area.

The day-bed area with plenty of sunlight. Again, entire glass/wooden panels can be slide out or kept depending on the time of the day. In the picture below, the wooden panels are kept, but the glass windows are still in place.

Another shot of the bath tub in daylight where the bubble bath was prepared last night.

If you look closely at the picture above, you’ll notice that there is a concave slot cut into the bathtub. Opening the leather-clad container, you’ll find more Alila products such as sun tanning oil, sunscreen, mask, etc. Don’t worry if you forget to bring your own sun-tanning products!

The vanity area is directly connected to the outdoor area, and this side gives access to the pool as well.

The first of two shower area – the indoor shower with massage jets. Located on both sides of the bathroom walls, these massage jets can be powered up for more intense sprays. Forgot to take a picture of the ceiling – a rain shower is installed.

The second shower is an outdoor one, with a hand-held shower head and rain-shower as well.

TOTO tornado flush technology – don’t ask me why I know it.

The glass windows being kept by sliding it to the sides. Now, you can leap into the pool right from the day bed!

Full view of our private pool and cabana! The pool is actually big enough to swim in! We loved the pool, which was kept clean throughout our entire stay at the villa.

Our two sun-loungers by the side of the pool.

Our private cabana. In the previous post, the view of the cabana from the other side is shown. All three sides of the cabana has blinds that can be drawn.

The view from our pool villa – not too fantastic. Further down are actually rows 1 and 2 of the pool villas. The pool area is sufficiently private and discreet to be able to do some skinny-dipping and topless sun-tanning if you’d like to. Just avoid walking too near to the cabana!

View of the pool villa from the cabana. Nice, eh?

The secret passage where the butler can access our villa. We had indicated that we wanted privacy during our stay (again, indicated in the web-form prior to our stay) so this wasn’t really used at all.

The vanity area has two sides, for “Him” and “Her”.

After our first night at the villa, we had placed our necessities (contact lens casing, spectacles, etc) by the side of the basin. Upon returning to our villa, we realized that their staff has placed a small white towel underneath our items on both sides of the basin to keep them dry – a very nice touch.

For sure, the design at Alila Villas Uluwatu is much more functional and practical than that of Alila Cha-Am (e.g. stylish but awfully shallow basin).

Each day, the toiletries in the respective holders are replenished as long as you’re taken any item out of it. The items provided are bath gel, shampoo, conditioner, body lotion, soap and lip balm. You have no idea how much of these Alila amenities we carted home in our luggage!

No more living out of our suitcase! A very spacious wardrobe area. Hats are provided to shield the Mister and Missus from the sun. On the bottom, you can see a hand-carry bag which is a souvenir from Alila – useful for carrying stuff around in the resort, after which we can bring home after checking out.

Illy coffee pod (we have the same coffee as home!) and TWG tea are routinely replenished. Tried out the coffee machine during our afternoon swimming session.

The minibar was fully stocked with non-alcoholic drinks. Request for alcohol if you so desire!

The safe is hidden in the drawer, near to the TV area.

We had indicated our music preference previously, and Alila has loaded the iPod Nano with a selection of jazz, hip-hop and chill-out music.

One last thing to point out regarding the subtle aspects – if you look at the picture below, the top portion is actually of the ventilated wooden vents where the speakers are hidden in. This way, music (or audio) can be heard throughout the villa, even when enjoying a relaxing bubble bath!

Alila Villas Uluwatu – Suprisingly Different

 

As always, we didn’t wake up early for breakfast. Not to worry, breakfast is served at Cire until 11am. There are two restaurants at Alilas Villas Uluwatu – Cire (pronounced as “Seer”) and The Warung.

• Cire serves “contemporary western cuisine prepared with regional produce”.
• The Warung serves “traditional and wholesome Indonesian & Balinese cuisine.”.

Took a little bit of time before the camera lens literally warmed up, which explains the foggy picture.

We got to Cire, and were promptly given a seat. There is a daily menu that changes from day to day, and it looks like something below :

Breakfast is served ala carte buffet style. Basically, you can choose from any number of items (food and drinks) from the menu, and the kitchen would prepare it for you.

Upon ordering our food, we were given a choice of having our food served item by item, or all at once – we decided on having them all at once.

It is interesting to note that on subsequent days, our food would always be served all at once without them having to ask us the same question again. Check out below for a selection of some of the food we ordered!

Scrambled eggs on toast with seared mushroom.

Grilled sour dough with ham and gratinated cheese sauce.

Chicken sausage and bacon.

Potato salad with crispy bacon.

We ordered cappuccino. Pick from a wide range of drinks such as smoothie, fresh fruit juice, coffee and tea. One tip – ask about what juice is available! Sometimes, certain fruit juice don’t appear on the menu.

Some other items like baked beans didn’t make it into my pictures, nothing too special about them. Asian food such as black rice porridge and sticky rice dumpling are also available. Only a day ago, we were still living the 9-to-6 working life. It was a huge contrast to what we’re doing now – having a big and hearty breakfast at 10am in the morning, enjoying the view and serenity of the place.

After a satisfying breakfast, it is time to explore the resort and take in the surroundings!

There are a couple of cabanas like the ones below, lining along the cliff edge and facing directly at the ocean.

The  Sunset Cabana extending over the edge, seemingly stretching into the horizon.

Another view of the postcard-perfect Sunset Cabana. On both Friday and Saturday, there was a wedding being held at the Sunset Cabana. We had a little chat with the staff, and were told that wedding ceremonies happen almost every other day at the Sunset Cabana.

The interior of the Sunset Cabana – an excellent place for chilling out at night.

Looking out from the Sunset Cabana, we could see where the ocean meets the cliff edge. The waves here are definitely not gentle at all!

Located at the southern coast of Bali, the Indian ocean lies ahead with absolutely nothing on the horizon except clouds. Seemed like bad weather ahead with some gray skies, even though there wasn’t a single drop of rain during our 4 days at Uluwatu.

Turning our attention to other areas of the resort, we located a cabana that is actually high up at the second level.

From the higher vantage point, we could see the roof-tops of the lobby are actually littered with volcanic stones. These are supposed to an eco-friendly way of keeping temperatures down in tropical Bali by absorbing the heat.

A view of the infinity pool from high up.

On the right is The Warung restaurant.

The small gym is relatively well-equipped – didn’t spot anyone using it at all during our stay.

Thoughtfully placed towels and bottles of water.

The gym’s restroom has an open concept which gives things a rather unique twist.

Throughout our stay in Alila, we noticed that there are various kinds of Alila products (shampoo, bath gels, body lotions etc) like these. Feel free to help yourselves to them as they’re complimentary!

Even the erm, toilet bowl .. has an open concept.

A dragonfly decided to drop by while I was there!

Pretty much of an overkill, but the library was huge and very well-stocked with the latest newspapers like International Herald Tribune and our very own, The Straits Times.

Two iMacs are free for use – we spotted some guests printing documents here.

Enormous reading table in the middle of the library, again with complimentary bottled water.

Some of the reading materials at the library.

The view from the lobby towards the ocean.
Tranquility.

More of these volcanic rocks along the sheltered passage ways.

There is dedicated, spacious yoga pavilion, where there are free classes every morning. We didn’t manage to wake up early enough to drop by to take a look.

The Alila landscaping is beautiful with a terrace-like design. Plenty of green stuff! Every morning, gardeners would toil under the sun to keep these in tip-top conditions – removing algae from ponds, picking up fallen leaves, etc.

The “club cars” that I mentioned earlier. The only time we took them was on the day we arrived at the resort. The walk to/from our villa wasn’t that bad actually, and we chose to walk when we had to.

The directions to the villas are on slabs of stones in the ponds. Each villa number has 3 digits. The first one indicates the row – 1 for the lowest level, and 4 the highest. The second and third digit is the villa number at the particular row.

The stairs we needed to climb to get to the villas on row 2, from row 1.

No details were spared – the gush of flowing waters all the way from the top.

More flora!

The view of the cabana belonging to a pool villa on a higher level.

More pictures to come in my follow-up post!
In Part 2 of Day #1, I’ll be covering our pool villa, our lunch and dinner!

Alila Villas Uluwatu – Suprisingly Different