Grand Hyatt Nusa Dua, Bali

I was looking for that perfect get-away amidst this economic gloom and doom, as well as against the backdrop of the H1N1 Flu pandemic sweeping across Asia. 

 

So it came as little surprise that I ended up in a small island in the South of the South China Seas.  Actually, I’ve been told that Bali sits on a nexus between the South China Sea, Indian Ocean, Pacific Ocean and Bali Sea on the Straits of Lombok.  Well, whatever, right?

 

Luckily, this blog isn’t about geographical interests because I think I didn’t get top grades during Geography classes in school.

 

Taking the morning flight from Singapore to Denpasar (Bali), I arrived in Bali around noon.  One thing you have to know is that there are special immigration counters for tourist from ASEAN.  There I was standing in line for 15 mins till it was my turn when I was told to go to the other 4 counters in a corner of the arrival hall.  Not a pleasant start to the holidays.  Upon clearing immigration and getting my luggage, I had to queue in line for another 15 mins to get a taxi ticket, standing behind an Aussie surfer girl who seem like way past her ‘best before’ date and appears to have been surfing since Elvis was a teen.  What is it with these people and smoking?  Why bother to take up a sport if you’re going kill yourself (and others) with lung cancer?

 

By the time I got the cab to send me to my hotel, it was around 1.30pm.  Nusa Dua is situated some 10-20 mins away from the airport and Kuta.  It is a self-contained resort area that should be safe and secure.  With it’s artifically manicured lawns and wide roads and boulevards, it feels a nice but somewhat overly made-up.

 

Upon arrival, the porters eagerly took my luggage away and sounded the gong at the main entrance.  One first sight, you see a long walkway seperated at the end by the view of lotus ponds and the ocean.  Check in was pretty smooth but took about 10 mins.  Perhaps they could do the check-in next time in the air-conditioned comfort of my room?

 

After check-in, we were taken on a tour of the entire hotel grounds.  The Grand Hyatt at Nusa Dua is split into 4 main Villages.  I got the West Village, which was nearest to the tennis courts, Spa and main entrance but yonks away from the lobby and pool.  Again, for the weary toursit, perhaps the hotel could have offered us a ride on their buggy and conducted the tour as well, instead of walking.  I only pity those American tourists who have taken trans-Atlantic and flew across a few continents before being given the grand tour by legs.

 

For US$180+ a night, my room was the standard package, a king sized bed with a day bed for reading and lazing around, a en-suite toilet and walk-in wardrobe.  The toilet had seperately both a bath and a shower, and the wooden window panels opens up so that I could take a long bath while looking into the bedroom.  Unfortunately, the direction of the bath was away from the TV, so it kinda defeats its purpose, unless I lie in the other (wrong) direction in the bathtub. 

 

After settling down, it’s time to check out any action by the pool side.  This is, afterall, a resort vacation.  One thing I must commend the hotel for, the food in the Grand Hyatt is magnificent!  The wood burnt pizza I had by the pool (from Salsa Verde, the pool side Italian restaurant) is one of the better ones I had in a long time.

 

Some smoozing with the pool babes later, I took a walk by the hotel’s private beach.  The fine off-white sandy beach is the perfect place to spend a lazy afternoon reading a book under the many Balinese gazebos, or rolling around in with that special lady friend.  At around 5pm, the beach stretches for yonks as it was low tide.  But becareful!  I’ve spotted quite a few sea urchins and black, mean-looking sea-stars with it’s long spikes in wade pools.  It was then that I notice the white, modern structure on the head of the beach next to Grand Hyatt.  It was one of 2 heads, actually.  Dua means 2.  So I took a walk to the temple and up through the small pathway that led to a park in between the 2 heads.  Contrasted to the private beach, the beach between the heads is less manicured.  The sands coarse and darkish.  Many locals living near the area flock to this beach to pick clams and what nots.  This is an inkling of the real people who live in this beautiful isle.

 

Back to the hotel.  At night, near the lobby and Pasar (Market, as it is called in Indoensian lingo) Senggol, they emulate a night market scene with many of the hotel staff acting as vendors selling Balinese masks, wood carvings, frangipani hairclips and what nots.  Pasar Senggol also provide a good nightly show with the various Balinese dances.  And they have a rather good spread of the local dishes like satay, ice kachang, roast seafood and keuhs (cakes and bakes).

 

The next morning, I was greeted by a sumptious breakfast buffet.  Guests could have their breakfast either  at the Garden Cafe or at Salsa Verda by the beach!  The range of breakfast was very good and most won’t be disappointed, albeit the range is always the same everyday.  You have to try the local fruits available.  The local passionfruit differs from those found in Malaysia, is less acidic but just as juicy. 

 

Also, that night, I tried the Japanese restaurant.  Normally, Japanese food in hotels are sadly butchered but the Nampu (Southern Wind) restaurant did the food very well with it’s own flavour.  You have to try the Pandan (a longish leaf used for its sweet flavours) Iced Tea.

 

Another good thing about the Grand Hyatt Bali is that it is right next to the Bali Collection.  A mixed and matched hotpot of many small stores that could be comfortably located in Australia or any other major city.  In the heart of the Bali Collection is a Japanese departmental store Sogo.  Housing inside it, Starbucks melts into the facade.  Within the compound, there are stores like Just Jeans, Surfer Girl and Baskin Robbins mixed with many food restaurants serving anything from tapas to sushi to fish & chips to fusion cooking.  The single place I spent most time in was Coco Supermarket, buying local memotoes and drinking water.  It’s relatively cheap (compared to the hotel drug store) and within walking distance.  The handicraft shops also provided me a fond memory of shopping in Bali.  One thing to note, sometimes, the cashier does not return the exact change (seeing how small in value 50 rupiahs are) but gives you a candy or chocolate instead.

 

Having gone to Ubud and Kuta on a day trip, I must say that unless I want to see the real earthy Balinese, I am perfectly happy just chilling inside Nusa Dua with it’s manicured lawns and controlled environment. 

 

And as a special favour to my buddy, Mr Soma, you can call Bali Growing Tour for a most satisfying, flexible and customised tour of Bali.  Their numbers are (62) 081 8056 70015 [mobile] or (62) 361 772769 [office].

 

Inside the southern side of Nusa Dua, Grand Hyatt sits there as my resort of choice in Bali!

 

  

My ratings (10 being world class): 

 

Location: 8 (this is quite far removed from the town but it’s redeeming grace is that it is near Bali Collection)

 

Ambience: 9.9 (immaculately manicured gardens and lotus ponds with similarly perfect private beach with hot pool babes, what else could one ask for?)

 

Room: 8.5 (The room is nice but the bed was just a bit too hard and springy for me, I actually can feel the spring on 1 or 2 occasions in the night when I slept right in the middle of the bed, which was 2 super single joined to form a king sized bed)

 

Value for money: 9 (The Awaken package during June saw me forking out US$150+++, which came up to just a tad over US$180 per night)

 

Service: 9.9 (friendly service staff willing to oblige as the air con fuse went off once and the light bulb needed changing on another occasion)

 

Value added services/amenities: 2 swimming pools  (another 1 was in another more exclusive section and yet another inside the gym), spa, tennis courts, private beach, gym (but children below 14 years are not allowed inside – I wonder why), meeting rooms, business office, drug store, car parking, many restaurants and the even more numerous lotus ponds serve as a good place to meditate and do yoga.  But the management could look into an electric people mover (buggy) as the compound is simply too large to walk after a long swim or dance with the pool babes.

 

Return to stay: Definitely as long as prices are right.