Sydney- Singapore - Bali

[robtemt]

Just boarded SQ232 after 3 hours in the SYD First Class Lounge.

Non-SQ related, the TRS line was out the door. I noticed almost every person either didn’t have their items with them, didn’t have the receipt, or wanted cash. How many signs do they have to post? Follow the process or get out.... if you know enough to download the app, complete the sections, you should know the rest of the procedure. For the time I reached the agent to the time he handed me my receipt, less than a minute. Others up there were on their phone, running around like headless chickens, or carrying on. If you can afford a LV bag, you should be able to follow a clearly published set of rules.

Service in the lounge, was a bit “meh”. Sat at our table for 15 minutes without anyone coming to take an order or top up champagne. The chicken satay was overly dry, the eggs Benedict was ok (yolk was hard though) and the duck pancakes had a really sweet sauce (tasted more like sweet chilli than hoisin). The pour my own jack and coke (Pepsi) was delicious though.

Boarding was a smothering of greetings and wonderful service. I asked for champagne, which they offered Dom. I asked for Krug, but they poured the NV not the 2004. First world problems I know.... but the 2004 is even in the onboard menu.... about to ask. . Ok, I asked, “oh, we have two types, this one and the 2004....” I’ll be having the ‘04 soon

Had a nice view of our people’s QF livery (photo attached).

I’ll post as we check in to our various accomodations (2x four seasons and 1x private residence), and the sightseeing we see.

Suites cabin is full (11 of 12 per expert flyer this morning).

Time to push. More later.

 

[Pushka]

And we are just back. Weather was brilliant. Hot and sunny.

 

[robtemt]

We arrived in SIN, our Blacklane driver met us just outside the nothing to declare exit. We got our local sim at the Travelex desk and walked out to our awaiting E class.

A warm welcome at the Four Seasons, where we were given a two tier upgrade, and the front desk staff told us about our entitlements, and even have some advice on where to eat when we arrive at the Jimbaran Bay Four Seasons, as the lovely girl at the desk just returned from a stay there. I love how personal and helpful FS staff are.

Our room is lovely, and we had a welcome plate of pineapple tarts, and two welcome notes, one from the GM saying he will send Singapore slings to the room since we missed out on drinks on our last visit (we mentioned to the front desk when we checked out during our last stay that we had gone to the hotel bar but even though we were the only guests there, 15 minutes passed and nobody took an order so we left. The other was a hand written welcome back note from the regional VP. Four Seasons knows how to win guests over and keep them coming back.

The flight was the usual exceptional service. Plenty of champagne, and delicious food. We ordered the lobster from the BTC menu, but it was over cooked and the asparagus was dead. The rest of the meal was delicious including the clear chicken soup, the caviar, the dessert (which we shared as they ran out), and the generous cheese plate (with 20 yo port).

Our cabin crew were the perfect example of SQ service, and we’ve noted all their names to write to SQ so they are recognised. One even wrote down her favourite hawker centre and dishes.

Off to enjoy the Singapore humidity. It’s a bit rainy tonight, but not stifling hot.

By the way, loving the ease of posting with the new AFF platform!

 

[robtemt]

Well kind of, photos were out of order and not all uploaded.

Here are the slings in the room and food shots from the flight.

 

[LadyC]

Enjoy your time in Bali and will be interested in your feedback on FS Jimbaran Bay. We are heading back there over New Years.

 

[robtemt]

So the four seasons Singapore continued to spoil us. Chocolates on both nightstands every day, the staff all know your nane, even ones we haven’t met, and staff came to find us just to chat about Jimbaran Bay and Bali (it seems most of them have taken recent trips there and fell in love with their own companies property).

We had a $100usd F&B credit from virtuoso, so we decided to have a delicious laksa at the hotel bar last night, after indulging in truffle parmesan fries! The bartender made some amazing coughtails too. after some delicious hawker food and a day of shopping, including a present to myself from Mont Blanc.











Daily chocolates.




Early wake up view


Room service at 0500. Included as part of virtuoso package.



Orchard Rd ready for Christmas




Early Christmas for me!



FS Laksa. So good!



Our Blacklane was really early, but we took our time getting downstairs. They sent us an S-class instead of an E, winning! The driver was less than amused by the amount of luggage we had though. Apparently doesn’t like black samsonite plastic on his Italian leather front seat.

Arrive at SIN T2, did some duty free booze shopping to take to Bali, got our vouchers to spend on the way back and headed to the SilverKris lounge. It’s ok. I think we’re spoiled from TPR and First lounges.

I’ll take some aircraft shots and included them with our first Bali post later today.

 

[robtemt]

Just boarded SQ942...... I’m going to leave this little photo right here...... and no, i am not affiliated with in any way with these things....

 

[Tazza_0712]

View attachment 110343 Just boarded SQ942...... I’m going to leave this little photo right here...... and no, i am not affiliated with in any way with these things....

Oh dear.

Well I mean, it is a flight to Bali.

I am following along closely, doing this trip in January (except J not R to Singapore) and then on to Bali after 3 nights at Marina Bay Sands.

Enjoying your ongoing TR. Happy travels!

 

[robtemt]

ok. I lied. I didn’t take many photos of the aircraft. I fell asleep shortly after brunch. I had the BTC Nasi Lemek, which was lovely.

Here are a couple of cabin shots of the A330 Regional J product. The rest get errors from the AFF mobile site.

 

[robtemt]

Arriving at the Four Seasons Jimbaran Bay. Our rate includes transfers. After driving through the gates, and a security seeep of the vehicle, we were greeted warmly by staff. We partook in a blessing with water blessed by the resort priest. The resort is amazing. Room photos to follow soon, these are just lobby shots.

 

[Daver6]

Would love to hear how this Four Season's compares to Sayan.

 

[robtemt]

Our take on the FS Jimbaran Bay? Uh-maze-ing!!!!! We had outings and dinners out planned, we didn’t set foot out of the resort once!!!

We booked the Jimbaran Bay Villa through a virtuoso agent, which included upgrade if avail, $75usd a night f&b credit, $100 spa credit, and breakfast. We were upgraded two tiers to a Premier Ocean Villa (larger room, larger pool, unobstructed view. The plunge pool is perfect, at 1.5m deep, and overlooks the ocean of course. There are two day beds under cover with a ceiling fan, and two loungers with an umbrella if needed. The rooms have massive soaking tubs, and indoor and outdoor showers. We also had a small lounge room area consisting of a sofa and 2 chairs.

The staff are wonderful, upholding the four seasons reputation without flaw.

We had a welcome gift from the front desk manager (a strawberry cake with “happy anniversary”), as well as a bucket of beer and trio of dips and local chips as a gift from the manager of the Four Seaons Sydney.

We spent 6 1/2 hours over three days in the Spa. We had body scrubs, massages, and mani/pedi’s.

In villa dining is limitless as far as what you can order. We spent yesterday in the villa most of the day, and ordered plenty for lunch.

A day at sundara poolside is a must. We spent a lot of time on one of their daybeds ordering drinks and enjoying the hourly amenities like little mint drinks and strawberry juice frozen pops.

Dinners at Sundara are nice, and e booked a couples table (sofa it’s table in front, looking out at the bay and watching flights take off and land across the bay).

Breakfast is a massive spread of western and Asian dishes, plus eggs, omelettes, waffles, etc made to order. I hate buffets, but loved breakfast here, second only to Four Seasons Maui.

As a expense gauge, all our meals (ex breakfast as it’s included), mini bar (cokes for our byo booze), room service, dinner, plenty of drinks, spa (13 hours of treatments), boutique/gifts, private yoga class, etc was $2400 (after our credits) over a 3 night stay (we booked a prepaid rate around $600 a night). Reasonable I think for Four Seasons and the convienenece factor...

Staff here know your name, staff you’ve never met. A waitress will casually walk by and say Good morning Mr X and Mr Y, even though she only brought you a juice the day before. You can take a buggy anywhere you want to get to on property (it’s a big place, and hilly), staff stop when driving by, to greet you, usually by name, not just zoom by and kind of smile. We finally decided that the way FS looks after you, is no different than how you would look after a guest st your home. You ask how things are, do they need anything, and leave little surprises in their room (at least that’s what we do). That’s why we are loyal the the chain , and have 5 bookings throughout the world in the next six months already made.

Checkout was almost sad. Even though we are moving on to a beautiful private villa for 5 nights. They provided us a luxury car for our transfer to Canguu. The rate included return transfers in an SUV to the airport (about 30 minutes), but they have no problem taking us the extra 40 minutes and upgraded the car too (we are sitting in big leather recliners in this black tinted window can.

I’m sure I’ve missed plenty. Feel free to ask any questions. Photos to follow on the next post. Apologies for typos or auto correct fails, I’m in the car.

 

[robtemt]

View from front door


Door to Villa:




Inside villa from sliding door


View from sun chairs

View from pool

 

[LadyC]

Thanks for the review - looking forward to my stay even more now

 

[robtemt]

We checked into a private villa in Changuu.

It is gorgeous place. 4 king bedrooms with ensuite, open outdoor living and kitchen, infinity pool, and a large staff (2 overnight security, full time chef, house manager/butler/concierge, housekeeper, and Gardner/pool man. There is a driver available for 30,000idr per 4 hours.

Photos to follow.

 

[robtemt]

Garden area


Lower level bedroom


Entry garden



Bedroom



Pool



Lounge area



Kitchen



First entry




Front door



View from river to villa

 

[robtemt]

Yesterday we flew on another of SQ’s A330-300’s from DPS to SIN. It was one with the reappolstered seats with the darker leather.

There were only 3 other pax besides us in J on flight 943.

There is no BTC out of DPS, but the meal from the menu was nice. The crew were of course lovely, with a nearly 1:1 pax to FA ratio.

 

[robtemt]

Going back in time, it’s easier to post about things we did while in Bali from in bed back at home with my trusty NBN.

To be honest, we didn’t do a lot... my goal was to relax. I’ve left one high stress job for a new one (with more responsibility but I can now take the train to work so no more 3-4.5 hours of driving per day!). So it was a recharge trip for me.

My other half and our godchildren’s mother went on an all day shopping trip in Seminyak. The dad and I stayed and swam and sunned and hung out with the kids. We then met up with them for dinner at At La Luciano (spelled right?). We saw a beautiful sunset and had a very nice meal. Sure, expensive by Bali standards, but for around $250aud we had 3 starters to share, 4 juices and/or mocktails, 4 coughtails, 4 mains, 4 desserts, and 2 kids meals and 2 scoops of gelato. All in all not too bad.

We did do a day trip to Ubud including the monkeys, elephant caves and temple, and Leuwak coffee plantation (yes, I thought the coffee was nice). We had lunch at a great cafe in Ubud called Cafe Clear (or Clear Cafe). Our Villa had a car and driver available for $300,000idr per 4 hour block, which was a 7 seater car/van.

The monkeys weren’t that aggressive. The only ones that approached us were when I sat down and coaxed little ones over. They were keen to play with my phone (or take it). We didn’t take any food in.

The temple was beautiful, we had a blessing from the local priest, and walked a lot of stairs (in 90% humidity).

The coffee plantation was a bit touristy. But as I said I didn’t mind the coffee. They made my cup in a slow drip glass contraption thingy (I’m sure that’s the technical term) in front of me. The sample board of coffees and teas were all made from a powder (all their other products are powdered/instant), which is a shame.

 

[robtemt]

Ever wonder what it’s like going to a doctor in a foreign country like Indonesia? I wasn’t necessarily busting to find out, but was given the opportunity. I woke up the morning after our Ubud trip covered in the hat looked like bites. They were all in groups of two so I thought spider? But there were 10 on my hand, 6 on the other, 2 on 3 different fingers, 12 near my elbow, 6 on my forearm, 4 on my foot, 8 on my chest, and some others here and there. Not bed bugs, we tore the room apart (well we made the staff do it) and not a single bite on my partner.

Now, I was the only ones who had monkeys climb on me. The theories were out of control as to what it was. Being in the medical field, I self treated the first day. Antihistamines in case it was a reaction to the laundry powder or something. Hydrocortisone cream. Nothing helped. I had no fever, they didn’t really itch, but we’re annoying and didn’t look pretty. I’ll put one photo up of them.

So the next day we had the driver take us to BaliMed in Canggu. I’ve done a lot of teaching in medical clinics around the world, and this wasn’t the worst. But not on the top 10 best by any means. They had a big tv in reception playing music videos from you tube. We discovered this was chromecast from the clinic computer, as everyone’s personal and medical details and bill was casted as well for all to see.

The doctor (a woman who appeared to be 30 years old, but thankfully had mediocre English skills) said it was a secondary infection (but nothing about what the hell the alleged primary infection was...). She told me she would prescribe an antibiotic (a Z-pack), which I already had in my medical kit that I travel to with), and she gave me an ointment that I’m convinced is just more hydrocortisone. She said come back in 3 days if not better (I didn’t mention I’d be home by then).

If you’re wondering how my Amex Platinun travel insurance worked, keep wondering. The bill, including Rx was $310,000IDR. I won’t be wasting my time filling out anything for $30. I assume there is a deductible anyway. I will say, that I tried to call for the pre-approval through Chubb as they state you need to do “if you are able to or as soon as you are able to”. We had a Singtel sim for data, and no money added for calls and couldn’t figure out how to reach an operator to make a reverse charge call, so we didn’t bother.

Yesterday we were back in Sydney so I went to my GP. He said it was a bacterial infection, that I probably got from swimming with an open laceration on my leg (different story). I’m on a new 7 day antibiotic as he said Zithromax wouldn’t work on this specific bacteria.







Like this, but worse in other areas. This is the all audiences approved version...



Clean, but “old” feeling clinic.