If you live in America and you love crab and seafood, I’m sure you already know about Joe’s Crab Shack. To all of you who do not live in the US or have not heard of Joe’s Crab Shack, they’re located all over the US and are pretty well known to the common fish-eater. This was the second time I’d been there. The first time was in Vancouver WA, while this time was in New Jersey. If you’re taking a trip to the US and are in the mood for seafood, I would definitely recommend looking to see if there is a Joe’s Crab Shack in your location. Or, if you live in the US and haven’t tried it yet, you definitely should!
Joe’s Crab Shack has a nice beachy feel to it’s vibes. I mean, it should, right? It’s sea food. But they decorate the place so nice and the bucket they give you for your shells just kinda make it more fun! They also have a bar you can hangout at and try some of their fancy ocean-styled cocktails. Like most seafood restaurants, you can also order land meats like chicken, steak, burgers, etc. The price isn’t too bad for seafood. If you’re planning on getting a bunch of crab, it’s a bit expensive but they have some really good deals for certain items. My favorite type of seafood is fried oysters. I know, I know, I’m weird, right? It’s okay, you can make fun of me.
Outside of Joe’s Crab ShackThe InsideBeachy VibesBarMerchandise for saleEat Me!Cluster of Blue CrabFried Oysters… 😍
Now, I know I speak highly of this place but if you want my opinion on the best seafood restaurant I’ve ever been to, try Hook and Reel in Greenville North Carolina. I plan on making a new post about this place soon so stay tuned! 😁
Seniman Coffee is the hangout place that you have to visit when you go to Ubud. It’s not only because it’s located in the central Ubud and is easy to access, it’s also because it’s coffee and chocolate are definitely worth a try. People like me who don’t like sweets, will love it too. I don’t particularly like chocolate drinks in general, I am more of a coffee person but in Seniman Coffee their chocolate isn’t too sweet for me. My friend ordered it so I tried it and I fell in love at the first sip. They served coffee and chocolate from all over Indonesia. If you are a vegetarian/vegan, they have choices of cashew and soy milk. Pretty interesting, right? 😊
Seniman Coffee Studio started in 2010 by Rodney Glick and David Sullivan. In Bahasa Indonesia, seniman means “artist”. It’s located in the centre of Ubud Jl. Sriwedari, about a 10 minute walk from the Ubud Art Market. If you love their coffee and wanna bring it home, they have a shop across the street where you can buy their product and bring them home. The additional service that they give is valet parking, if you can’t find the parking area, they would love to help you with free valet service.
There are some food and beverages that you can order such as Soto Ayam, Gado-gado, Nasi Bakar, Porridge, Burger, Quesadilla and of course the yummy pastry with range price from 40k – 80k, My friend and I spent about IDR 200,000 for 1 chocolate drink, 1 cappucino and 1 nasi bakar.
If you wanna visit, Seniman Coffee is open everyday from 7.30 am to 10.00 pm so you can come here for breakfast, lunch or even dinner.
Outdoor areaIndoor areaYummy breadGreat chocolate and coffeeMe 😁Our food & beverages orderSeniman Coffee shopLane beside the cafe
In my previous post I shared about my staycation in Ubud, Bali. My friend and I wanted to have a calm vibe for the weekend and Ubud was the perfect choice. It’s not so far from where we live and is easy to explore by motorbike. If you are wondering where to stay in Ubud and if you have a tight budget but still want to have the perfect place to stay for your vacation, I have one recommendation for you.
Keraman Suites Ubud. It is located 10 minutes away from the centre of Ubud and 5 minutes away from the Tegalalang rice terrace. I found this place from airbnb. It has a really great value for money and you will have the whole suite all for yourself. The facilities inside are the TV with international channel, AC, a nice bathtub with hot & cold water, also includes the basic bath amenities like shampoo, conditioner, shower gel, sea salt and hair dryer. The best part of this place is, it’s surrounded by the rice field and every morning you will wake up with a breathtaking view that you will never forget.
Comfortable gazeboInstagrammable spotIn front of the suiteView from the roomFresh welcome drinkBedroom areaFlower decoration on the bedBathroom
When you check in, Mr. Putu, the staff from Keraman Suites, will escort you to your suite, then bring the welcome drinks for you. The welcome drinks are a traditional drink that similar with Jamu. It was an extract of cem-cem leaves mixed with lemon. The taste is soft, not too bitter and a bit sour and salty. The room isn’t huge, but has enough space for you to put your stuff and luggage. The flower decoration on the bed and the welcome letter made us feel special. You need to know that this place has no phone in the room, so you need to remember to ask for the staff’s phone number to be easier to get contact with the staff member if you need help. In the morning you’ll have 3 options of breakfast that you can order once a day. These options are Indonesian breakfast, American breakfast and Continental breakfast. For the Indonesian breakfast, like what we had, you will get fried rice, the choice of fresh juice or fruit platter and the choice of coffee or tea.
For the availability and the price, you may need to check the listing of Keraman Suites in airbnb. It was $40 USD in total when I stayed there. I have a discount voucher for first time users if you click on the link here: discount voucher, so don’t miss it! 😊
People love to celebrate Valentine’s day with their loved ones. Whether it being with their partner, lover, family or best friend. I really wanted to have a romantic candle light dinner like a normal couple would, but due to Jake and I not being a normal one, we couldn’t do that. Separated by continent is real challenging, but we know we can do it! Soon enough, we will write a post about our next vacation. That’s another story but right now I’m going to share about my staycation with my best friend in Ubud, Bali. The original plan was totally different. I had a plan for solo travelling to Singapore for 4 days but since the Corona virus has spread there, it was cancelled. I wish for the ones who have the disease to recover soon and the death cases to be minimized.
First thing’s first, when we had just arrived in Ubud, we had lunch in Seniman Coffee Studio. People usually just call it Seniman Coffee. Seniman means artist in Indonesia. I always wanted to visit this Coffee place since everyone was giving me recommendations. Yes, literally everyone! And after I tried it, I never regretted my decision to come here. Their coffee is great! I have gastric acid, so I need to be really careful on what I eat and drink, but the coffee from Seniman Coffee Studio wasn’t causing any reactions on my belly. They not only serve coffee, but also serve varieties of chocolate and tea from all around Indonesia. Don’t forget, if you are in the mood for a snack or proper food for your hungry belly, the Indonesian foods and the bread from their bakery are worth a try. It is located in central Ubud, only 500 meters from Ubud Palace. Adding this place into your Ubud itinerary is not at all a bad idea.
Seniman COffee Studio Sign
Front Area of Seniman Coffee
Our choices of Food & Beverages
Right after our bellies were full, we went straight to Saraswati Temple. This temple is one of the most famous landmarks in Ubud. You can easily find the images of the place by the lotus pond and it’s water garden on the internet. This temple is dedicated for Saraswati Goddess, the Hindu deity of learning, literature and art. The temple itself, built in 1951, was initiated by the Prince of Ubud Cokorda Gede Agung Sukawati and designed by I Nyoman Lempad, the famous Balinese sculptor. Tourists are prohibited from entering the temple because it is only open for visitors who wish to pray. Most tourists are visiting Saraswati temple just to take photos. It is great for your instagram content because the background of the Balinese temple architecture with the lotus flower arrangements is very beautiful (although, it was not that great when I went there because the lotus flowers were not blooming at that time). Also, the combination of the temple gate and lotus pond architecture will make your pictures oh-so perfect. Oh, and don’t forget, you can see the Kecak Dance Performance at Saraswati Ubud Temple scheduled on Tuesday and Thursday, which starts at 19:30.
Saraswati Temple
Saraswati Temple area
In the late afternoon, we checked into The Keraman Suites Ubud. I found this place from airbnb and everything about it was great! It was only $34/night in US dollars, so, not so expensive. The location is not too far from the Tegalalang rice terrace. Only 5 minutes away and around 10 minutes to the centre of Ubud by motorbike. You will get a super cozy wooden suite with a nice bathtub as a plus. Outside of your suite, you will see such an amazing view with a small gazebo for spending your day next to the swimming pool. From speaking to Pak Putu, a staff member, I learned that the Keraman Suites had just opened up a month ago.
Entrance to the suite
Bedroom
Swimming Pool
Vacation isn’t complete without having a nice dinner with a nice view. (let’s call it an early dinner though, since we went there at 5 pm.) We were afraid of getting back to the place we were staying at too late because Ubud can be sooo dark at night. There is a cafe called Green Kubu that is only 5 minutes away from Keraman Suites and is famous for locals. It is common to see teenagers from all around Bali to be hanging out there. Price wasn’t expensive at all, only around IDR 100,000 for 2 pax. You can choose to sit on the bean bag chair, under the alang-alang roof or choose the seat surrounded by the vines. The food is fine and has a cheap price. There are many places with nice views there to take pictures for your instagram.
In the next morning we had our breakfast at 8.30 am, which was nice. It wasn’t too fancy but was yummy. There were only 3 breakfast options to choose from, the American breakfast, Indonesian breakfast and Continental Breakfast. We were in the mood for some fried rice so we chose the Indonesian breakfast. You can also choose between tea and coffee and also choose between juice and a fruit platter.
The last place we visited before we went back to Denpasar was The Cat Cafe Ubud which is located in Pengosekan. Don’t worry, it’s easy to find the location because you will see the big cat sign from faraway. They have about 15 cats that you can interact with and they are veeery cute and funny. They might look lazy but once you’re holding a cat snack, they will wake up and you will instantly be surrounded by them 😂. You only need to pay IDR 55,000 for 1 drink, which includes 1 cat snack. There are also some snacks for us humans as well 😂 but that is additional cost. This place is heaven on earth I must say 😍.
I visited this restaurant a while ago when my colleague asked to hangout near our office. It’s very easy for us to come after office hours. My office, located not far from the beach, is still in Sanur so we have many options to choose to hangout at. Our choice was Kayumanis Seaside Restaurant, located in Jl. Pantai Shindu. It’s only a 5 minute walk north of the parking area of Shindu Beach, so if you drive a car you don’t need to be worried about having to park too far away. If you walk north along the sidewalk of Shindu, there are a few other options of restaurants that you could try as well.
Kayumanis Seaside Restaurant is an open air bistro with a very stylish and modern design. It is open from breakfast time (6am) to dinner time. Kayumanis is separated into two sections, outdoor and indoor. I prefer the outdoor area due to it being in front of the beach with the sea breeze, which makes you sleepy. That’s typical for the Sanur area, authentic and calm.
The specialities are Indonesian mixed with Asian cuisine. From the menu you will see that they want to introduce their guise, the diversity of Indonesian food. You will also see some options of seafood if you want to match what you eat with the Sanur vibes, that famous fishing village :). You are vegan? no worries, they also have vegan options available. Kid friendly? Of course, you will see some choices of dishes for kids but don’t expect there to be a playground area. (I hope playing in the sands on the beach with your kiddos is enough). I love their excellent service. The fact that they are always willing to help and their taste of food is amazing, even though, to be honest, price wise it’s a bit more pricey compared to other restaurants in Sanur. The cost for 2 people will be around IDR 350,000. No worries, it’s worth the money and time. As a local, I may prefer the typical bistro food like steaks or burgers but for a foreigner, usually they love the Indonesian choices like beef rendang or Nasi campur bali. Let’s see which one you prefer. If I’m not mistaken, they also have afternoon tea from 2pm to 4pm (I didn’t get a chance to try it yet) and if you’re in the mood to unwind and have a me-time, I suggest trying the tapas and cocktail from 5pm to 7pm.
It might be a good idea to try it by yourself on a weekend. You will get the chance to see the performance on a Friday night.
Green tea is one of my favourite drinks and I love to try any forms of it. As an ice cream, cake, cookies, beverages, etc. When I found this place I was quite happy because I am able to choose from a large variety of green tea in one place, no need to go to multiple places to try green tea latte, green tea ice cream, green tea cake. You also have the option to choose the level of the matcha, with level 1 being the softest and level 7 being the strongest one. 😊
If one day you have a chance to visit the capital city of the Bali Province, Denpasar, I would like to suggest that you visit Cafe LateO. This small and cozy cafe is located in Jl. Gunung Semeru No. 3. Right after the Denpasar Cineplex turn left onto a smaller road and after about 200 meters you will find it on the left side of the road. It’s better to ride a motorbike if you want to visit it because it’s not really easy to find a spot to park with a car.
You might be familiar with some of their beverages and will usually be available in other places. But other beverages are also worth a try, such as Matcha Float, Irish Matcha, Rose e Matcha and many more. They are surprisingly good! ☺️ And make my heart and belly happy too! Oh, they also have Hojicha, it’s not really common anywhere outside of Japan. Unlike the normal green tea, Hojicha’s colour is more brown and not green. The cause of it being brown is from the roasting process and the arome is more soft compared to the normal green tea. Unfortunately when I visit Cafe LateO, Hojicha is not ever in stock. 😪 Subjectively, I don’t particularly like the beverages that combine jam like Very Berry Latte or Very Berry Matcha, which is too sweet for me. I’m just not a fan of any drink combined with jam in general.
Wanna try their foods? You sure could! They even have a chili snack. Chili? Yes, real chili. Not a small chili pepper but a bigger one. The big red chili. I’m not sure if it’s only chili or if they’re filled with meat inside. But I’m sorry I do not dare to try it 😂. Other selections on the menu are quite normal in fact. Spaghetti that has variations of spicy levels, crispy calamary, bolognaise toast, chicken cordon blue and some variants of pizza.
Price wise, you only need to pay around IDR 100,000 for 2. Not so expensive right? That’s why this place is quite popular for teenagers and college students. It’s a bit overwhelming on the weekend because of the youngsters so I suggest you avoid those days if you want a more peaceful matcha time. 😆
Happy matcha day
Xoxo
EntranceSnacks and MatchaMatcha FloatVery Berry MatchaThai Milk Tea
Ayu and I met online, as we had said in our earlier post, All About Us. I wanted to meet Ayu in person so I bought a ticket to Bali, Indonesia. Overall, the trip was amazing! So many beautiful beaches, cute little shops on the side of the streets and many, many other places to visit.
So let me share about what I’ve done in Bali. Not much because my girl needed to work during the weekdays 😪. But, well, I’m going to talk about the trip with her to Ubud and GWK. The first place we visited together was the Rice Farms in Ubud. It was a fairly hot day, although I’m used to the humidity since I currently live in North Carolina in the US. Walking through the farms felt relaxing. The calming green rice plants everywhere you looked had such a peaceful atmosphere. There was also a swing that you could go on with additional cost and some instagrammable photo spots for free. We stopped for lunch at a place called Tebasari. It was the first time I got to try some of the Indonesian spicy food, and it was deliiiciiioous!
Tegalalang Rice FieldOne hot day in the Rice FieldTebasari Foods and The GirlTebasari Restaurant
Before I went to Bali, my brother told me I “have” to go to the Monkey Forest, so we went. It was actually a lot of fun watching the monkeys! The way they wrestled with each other, climbing all over and eating their little bananas. Inside the forest there were sacred temples that were usually open for the public during big ceremonies, but not everyday so correct me if I’m wrong. They had many statues of distorted creatures surrounding them.
Ah, after we left the Monkey Forest, we went to a restaurant called Bebek Bengil, for an early dinner. Bebek Bengil means Dirty Duck in English. Although the duck wasn’t dirty, it sure was delicious! (And spicy too!)
Bukit Sari TempleBebek Bengil Restaurant
The last place that we visited was a place called Garuda Wisnu Kencana. This place, located in Jimbaran, is on the southern side of Bali and is just 30 minutes away from Ngurah Rai Airport. The Garuda Wisnu Kencana statue is about 400 feet tall, which is almost 100 feet taller than the Statue of Liberty. We arrived in the late afternoon around 4pm when the last show of the Kecak dance was about to start. We only took a few pictures in front of the statue because we were in a rush to get to the Lotus Pond Area to see the Kecak Dance show. The show was pretty fun because it was not only a normal Kecak Dance where all you see are guys singing “cak cak cak” with a girl dancing in the middle and ending with a fire dance. Instead, we were able to see the dance about the Garuda Mythology aswell.
Statue of Garuda
Kecak Play
If you are in search of a tropical island for vacation I would recommend going to Bali. Just be prepared to eat reeeeeaaaal spicy food and rice almost every meal!
If you are currently in Sanur area and wondering where you can eat fancy food without make your wallet empty, (unless it’s already empty 😂), I have one recommendation for you. When I was at work on a hot sunny day, I decided to go to Jake’s favourite place for lunch. We found this place accidentally because our usual place to eat for lunch was closed.
Sala Bistro located in Jl. Danau Tamblingan, right in front of Werdhapura Hotel Sanur, if you are coming from McDonalds Sanur, keep going south until you see the sign on the right side of the road. A combination of greenery from hanging plants and wooden canopy will also catch your eyes.
Sala Bistro signage from the pedestrianOutdoor area
Can’t take too much heat in Bali and need air condition for the win? It has an indoor area aswell. Once you enter the indoor area, you will find some spots to sit with a minimalist design and the touch of tropical vibe from the wooden and rattan. It’s my personal opinion, it’s a quite cozy place to hangout.
Indoor areaEntranceIndoor area with minimalist design
When I visited 2 months ago, there wasn’t a variant menu to choose from, but nowadays they have enough choices for breakfast until your dinner time. But please take a note, some options are only available during a certain time. I tried to get chicken popcorn for lunch but it was only available for dinner time unfortunately. But other than that, the combination of choice is okay. If you are in the mood for Italian food, you could choose pizza or spaghetti. In the mood of some buns? they also have burger that’s worth a try. Or just want to have Nasi Goreng? they have it too! Their coffees are from Seniman Coffee in Ubud. They’re famous with their variety of coffee and the good smell of their coffee. Don’t ask me about the taste ‘coz it’s really nice! (I will make a review of Seniman Coffee Ubud soon 😊). How much does it cost? For 2 pax normally you need to pay around IDR 150,000 ++ (exclude 15% tax and service). So, why not give it a shot!
The minority that you need to know here is that they don’t have space to park. Especially if you are a car user, you need to find an empty space somewhere else on the side of the road (it’s rare to find a spot though so you’ll need to walk a ways). Just like any other places in Sanur area, it’s a bit hard to find a park, except if you ride a motorbike you can easily park in the front of the cafe.
So, try it and let me know your opinion 😊
xoxo
The dishes that we orderedMe! 🙂Coconut water in the hot sunny day 😀Another dishes that we ordered
Everyone knows about Hawaii. Islands with breathtaking mountain views, tasty pineapples, and, of course, the beaches. I never thought that I would get the chance to visit one of Hawaii’s islands. Last August (2019) I was blessed with the opportunity to visit the island of O’ahu in Hawaii for work. I was there for two weeks. Although most of the time I was busy working, I was still able to get some of the Hawaiian experience.
My work schedule took place from 8pm to 4am everyday so after work I would go back to my hotel in Waikiki to change clothes and then head down to the beach for the sunrise. The sun was rising from the other side of the island, so I was never actually able to see the sunrise. After chilling on the beach watching the waves and swimming for a bit, I would stop at a local restaurant called Duke’s. They had an all-you-can-eat breakfast every morning. It wasn’t cheap but it was definitely worth it.
Waikiki BeachEastern dock view of Waikiki beachWestern dock view of Waikiki beachDuke’s Waikiki Restaurant
My buddy from work and I went on a hike on the Diamond Head Crater Hike. The hike was fairly easy. Had some steep climbs but most of it was just pretty sightseeing. We went in the morning because we wanted to get to the top of the mountain before sunrise to see the view but we couldn’t quite get there in time. The view was still gorgeous nevertheless!
View from the Diamond Head CraterView of Honolulu from the Diamond Head Crater
If I could have the chance to go to O’ahu again I would like to visit the mountains, see a luau, try more cultural foods and definitely bring more friends and family. If you plan on visiting O’ahu Hawaii, I would definitely suggest staying in a hotel in Waikiki, although I hear the northern side of the island is much prettier.
Hotel top in WaikikiPalm trees under a double rainbow 😭🤘
If you would ask what our favorite part of Bali is, we would say the first would be Ubud because of the real Balinese vibes. The second is Nusa Lembongan because it is small with beautiful views. The third is Canggu because of it’s young vibes with many good places to enjoy the foods and sunset.
Let’s leave Ubud for the moment, we wanna share about Nusa Lembongan. It is located in the southeast of the Bali island, you can access it by speed boat only, about 30 minutes away. The cost? Depends on which speed boat you use. We use the mid class which is not too expensive but with the “okay” kind of feel to the speed boat. Not special, I must say, but for IDR 200,000/person round trip for Indonesian ID and IDR 350,000/person round trip for foreigners that is fine. Check and make your reservation from Glory Fastboat if you wanna try.
There are not many choices for high end hotel in Lembongan, although if you don’t have a high budget (like us 😂) there are many good bungalows and hotels that you could choose starting from IDR 300,000 – IDR 2,000,000. It varies depending on the season too. We chose a hotel not too far from the beach called Bukit Taman Cottage. We got it for IDR 675,000/night. The staff and owner were awesome! If we could suggest something to you, please choose the hotel around the northwest coast and not a hotel that has more than 10 minutes of walking to the beach. Why? Because almost all of the beach clubs and tourist attractions are located along the northwest coast and it’s not easy to access them if you can’t ride a motorbike. The best option that you have for transportation is by motor bike, which costs around IDR 75,000/day. You can get the rental once you are arrived in Nusa Lembongan, (and seriously, there is always someone offering you to rent their motorbike when you’ve just arrived). If you travel with family or kids, you can call a taxi. It is not a usual taxi in the city, No. It is a small pick up truck that has seats and a roof on it. Almost every famous restaurants and beach clubs have their own taxi pick up service that you can call, just ask your reception and they will help, sometimes it’s free and if you want to get a taxi to the place that has no free pick up, the cost for 1 taxi is IDR 100,000 one way. The last option is golf buggy and is more expensive than the other two. The cost for 4 seaters is IDR 1,000,000 for a day, although it’s different for every rental agent. Please take a note, the road is daaark at night, not much light except from the people’s houses so just be careful if you ride a motorbike or drive a buggy.
Bukit Taman Cottage
View from our cottage
Where should you go once you are in Nusa Lembongan? There are plenty of places that you could visit. For us, 3 days are enough to explore. The first day you could enjoy the beach club and sunset. The second day you can go for snorkeling, mangrove tour and then go to yellow bridge and see some pretty beaches. The third day just spend the rest of the time to explore the part of the island that you didn’t see and go photo hunting.
We were there for 2 days and 1 night only and due to that time, the weather was too hot. Gosh, can’t believe that was 33° C. It was so humid. Ayu was dying on that day. We mostly spent our time in beach clubs and swimming. But since Ayu went there before without Jacob, we are posting some pictures of her when she was in Mangrove Tour. I promise we will go snorkeling the next time we go there again. We went to 3 places to hangout. The Deck is a cafe near the harbour (only 7 minutes of walking to get there) and basically, you can see the beautiful view of the strait from there. There is the Sandy Beach Club that you can visit too, we were there from 4pm to 8pm (hahaha 😂don’t judge us, we just wanted to chill out and enjoy the sunset). The last one is Ohana’s, also one of the beach clubs there but our favorite is still Sandy Bay if you want to talk about vibes but if it’s food we’re talking about, we would choose The Deck.
So, have you decided to go there with your friends, family or loved one? We would like to hear your experience there!
xoxo
Devil’s Tears in Nusa LembonganOhana’s Beach ClubJake the CorncobUsThe Deck Cafe in Nusa LembonganThe Deck Cafe in Nusa LembonganView from The DeckFoodies in The DeckMangrove Forest in Nusa LembonganMangrove Forest in Nusa LembonganDream Beach in Nusa LembonganGluten Free Burger & ummm.. don’t remember that beverages name 🙃Chicken Popcorn & CalamariSunset time in Sandy Bay Lembongan
Wander and Explore 