Sunday, February 09, 2003
Where were we? Thursday.
I got out of bed, opened the sliding door and jumped straight into the pool. BLISS. Everyone else was still asleep, but soon KC and Sofian woke up, then the girls. They're always the last to wake up. Goodness.
Anyway, after a breakfast of toast and tuna, KC and me decided to go to the Asmara Spa at Mayang Sari. Its run by the same company that run the Aspara at Amara back in Singapore. Same Singapore prices, a 1 hour massage cost the usual $60-70ish and a body scrub about $50. Both of us chose the Relaxing Massage using Freshmint. We had about an hour to spare before the massage and it was drizzling so we went to the lobby area to relax at the sofas. A bus pulled over soon after and off came another batch of new tourists. Among them I spotted another Calif gym regular, he was with another guy. Is the place becoming the new gay hideaway or something? There was some commotion going on in a corner, a group of angmohs were gathered, the men in suits and the ladies in white dresses. A few hotel staff were dressed in traditional Malay suits and holding rebanas. I was sitting there still wondering what's going on when out of the blue, right on the beach, an elephant appeared, walking merrily (in fact I thought I saw it smiling all the way). It made a turn into the lobby, kneeled down and allowed its rider, a guy dressed in a white suit, to step down. Accompanied by 4 men wearing tribal clothes and chanting some war cries, the guy walked towards the gathering. A lady joined him and then another guy welcomed them, faced the couple and started to say something while looking at a book. It was a wedding!!! And how grand and lovely it was! Imagine that, complete with elephant and tribal warriors and set in a seaside resort. And I forgot to bring my camera to capture it. Wonderful.
The massage was pretty ok, the masseuse was a bit on the big side, but I wasnt expecting a waifish Indonesian girl to treat me anyway, and big firm hands are a big plus for massages. The spa setting was nice, a lot more authentic than the concrete walls and closed-concept environment of the spas in Singapore. The attached outdoor bath is nicely hidden by trees and wood stilts and the natural sound of leaves blowing outside is a lot more therapeutic than recorded sound coming from CDs. We walked back to the unit after that and the girls and Sofian were busy cooking curry chicken for dinner. It was already about 2pm, and since KC has not been to Pasar Oleh-Oleh, the guys decided to go there while the water girls again chose to stay and make maximum use of the private pool.
While waiting for the internal shuttle bus at Nirwana, Sofian bumped into an ex-colleague, a 'work crush of 2001'. He chatted away with her for about 20 mins, and when he joined us back he said "Would you mind if my friend and her friends join us for dinner tonight?" Go ahead, there's plenty of food and it would be nice to have more people in the unit anyway. It was a quick trip to Pasar Oleh-Oleh, we reached there at 345pm, ate our lunch (fish porridge, ayam bakar and fries), KC bought some DVDs, I bought bread, and we took the 430pm bus back to the villa.
At night just before dinner was served and right after American Idol started on TV, Sofian's friends came over. The curry chicken turned out to be edible, no taste but hey, it was their first try at it. Also on the table were sardines, more canned satay chicken, omelette and sausages. Me, Wan Theng and Su Yi had our dinner in front of the TV while watching Idol (Julia got in!) while KC, Sofian and his 3 lovely lady friends had theirs at the dinner table. They were really really impressed with our villa, theirs were just a typical hotel room at Nirwana. We fired the fireworks out by the pool after that, the Saturn missiles were really cool, all 25 shot up one by one, illuminating the dark sky and making a lot of noise. But the 3 rockets were a bit of a disappointment, they did not emit any lights and did not shoot up at all, only made a really LOUD piercing noise for about 15 seconds before exploding into one big BOOM! I bet you, even the security guards at the post down the hill must have heard the loud bangs. :)
After Sofian's friends left, we cosied ourselves around the TV, brought out the snacks and watched Final Destination 2. This movie critic says, catch it at the cinemas. Even better than the first one. Sofian then wanted to watch another scary movie and he insisted we all watch The Exorcist. He even switched off all the lights and tried to get us in the mood. But you know the movie, its real scary and all, but it was made in 1973 and the first hour is reallly draggy and slow. The girls and KC made fun of it, they were teasing it throughout and made Sofian looked stupid. KC kept fast forwarding it, egged on by the girls to just "get it over and done with". They did not give Sofian any face at all. I pitied him, he just kept quiet sitting on the sofa. I knew how disappointed he must have felt. When the show ended the girls immediately put on the 'Catch me if you can' VCD and Sofian went into the kitchen and made himself 2.5 packs of instant noodle. That must have been therapy for him.
When the clock went past midnight, we took out the cake from the fridge and celebrated Su Yi's birthday. She turned 25 and looked real glad we took the effort to surprise her. The girls continued to watch the VCD and I hit the pillows soon after. Friday was non-eventful, woke up and went for my last dip in the pool, the sun decided to come out and shine after 4 days of mostly dark skies. We packed and cleaned up the unit and checked out at exactly 12 noon. Had lunch at Nirwana's poolside cafe then took the 230pm ferry back to Singapore.
All in all, I rate the trip 7.5, the villa was cool and the companions are great, but still I think I would have much more fun if the usual gang is around. I shouldnt complain, I am back and relaxed and would go there again if I am balloted. Its 3am and I really need to sleep. Will upload the pics and write about Saturday tomorrow.
I got out of bed, opened the sliding door and jumped straight into the pool. BLISS. Everyone else was still asleep, but soon KC and Sofian woke up, then the girls. They're always the last to wake up. Goodness.
Anyway, after a breakfast of toast and tuna, KC and me decided to go to the Asmara Spa at Mayang Sari. Its run by the same company that run the Aspara at Amara back in Singapore. Same Singapore prices, a 1 hour massage cost the usual $60-70ish and a body scrub about $50. Both of us chose the Relaxing Massage using Freshmint. We had about an hour to spare before the massage and it was drizzling so we went to the lobby area to relax at the sofas. A bus pulled over soon after and off came another batch of new tourists. Among them I spotted another Calif gym regular, he was with another guy. Is the place becoming the new gay hideaway or something? There was some commotion going on in a corner, a group of angmohs were gathered, the men in suits and the ladies in white dresses. A few hotel staff were dressed in traditional Malay suits and holding rebanas. I was sitting there still wondering what's going on when out of the blue, right on the beach, an elephant appeared, walking merrily (in fact I thought I saw it smiling all the way). It made a turn into the lobby, kneeled down and allowed its rider, a guy dressed in a white suit, to step down. Accompanied by 4 men wearing tribal clothes and chanting some war cries, the guy walked towards the gathering. A lady joined him and then another guy welcomed them, faced the couple and started to say something while looking at a book. It was a wedding!!! And how grand and lovely it was! Imagine that, complete with elephant and tribal warriors and set in a seaside resort. And I forgot to bring my camera to capture it. Wonderful.
The massage was pretty ok, the masseuse was a bit on the big side, but I wasnt expecting a waifish Indonesian girl to treat me anyway, and big firm hands are a big plus for massages. The spa setting was nice, a lot more authentic than the concrete walls and closed-concept environment of the spas in Singapore. The attached outdoor bath is nicely hidden by trees and wood stilts and the natural sound of leaves blowing outside is a lot more therapeutic than recorded sound coming from CDs. We walked back to the unit after that and the girls and Sofian were busy cooking curry chicken for dinner. It was already about 2pm, and since KC has not been to Pasar Oleh-Oleh, the guys decided to go there while the water girls again chose to stay and make maximum use of the private pool.
While waiting for the internal shuttle bus at Nirwana, Sofian bumped into an ex-colleague, a 'work crush of 2001'. He chatted away with her for about 20 mins, and when he joined us back he said "Would you mind if my friend and her friends join us for dinner tonight?" Go ahead, there's plenty of food and it would be nice to have more people in the unit anyway. It was a quick trip to Pasar Oleh-Oleh, we reached there at 345pm, ate our lunch (fish porridge, ayam bakar and fries), KC bought some DVDs, I bought bread, and we took the 430pm bus back to the villa.
At night just before dinner was served and right after American Idol started on TV, Sofian's friends came over. The curry chicken turned out to be edible, no taste but hey, it was their first try at it. Also on the table were sardines, more canned satay chicken, omelette and sausages. Me, Wan Theng and Su Yi had our dinner in front of the TV while watching Idol (Julia got in!) while KC, Sofian and his 3 lovely lady friends had theirs at the dinner table. They were really really impressed with our villa, theirs were just a typical hotel room at Nirwana. We fired the fireworks out by the pool after that, the Saturn missiles were really cool, all 25 shot up one by one, illuminating the dark sky and making a lot of noise. But the 3 rockets were a bit of a disappointment, they did not emit any lights and did not shoot up at all, only made a really LOUD piercing noise for about 15 seconds before exploding into one big BOOM! I bet you, even the security guards at the post down the hill must have heard the loud bangs. :)
After Sofian's friends left, we cosied ourselves around the TV, brought out the snacks and watched Final Destination 2. This movie critic says, catch it at the cinemas. Even better than the first one. Sofian then wanted to watch another scary movie and he insisted we all watch The Exorcist. He even switched off all the lights and tried to get us in the mood. But you know the movie, its real scary and all, but it was made in 1973 and the first hour is reallly draggy and slow. The girls and KC made fun of it, they were teasing it throughout and made Sofian looked stupid. KC kept fast forwarding it, egged on by the girls to just "get it over and done with". They did not give Sofian any face at all. I pitied him, he just kept quiet sitting on the sofa. I knew how disappointed he must have felt. When the show ended the girls immediately put on the 'Catch me if you can' VCD and Sofian went into the kitchen and made himself 2.5 packs of instant noodle. That must have been therapy for him.
When the clock went past midnight, we took out the cake from the fridge and celebrated Su Yi's birthday. She turned 25 and looked real glad we took the effort to surprise her. The girls continued to watch the VCD and I hit the pillows soon after. Friday was non-eventful, woke up and went for my last dip in the pool, the sun decided to come out and shine after 4 days of mostly dark skies. We packed and cleaned up the unit and checked out at exactly 12 noon. Had lunch at Nirwana's poolside cafe then took the 230pm ferry back to Singapore.
All in all, I rate the trip 7.5, the villa was cool and the companions are great, but still I think I would have much more fun if the usual gang is around. I shouldnt complain, I am back and relaxed and would go there again if I am balloted. Its 3am and I really need to sleep. Will upload the pics and write about Saturday tomorrow.
