A Baller Bali Resort

We were confident in the fact that we had culinarily dominated Hong Kong and now it was time to find new lands to conquer. To the airport!

I don't like to brag but I visited the birthplace of Wilbur Wright in Hagerstown, Indiana.

You may recall about a week ago, which at this point feels like about three months ago, we flew business class from DC to Hong Kong on Cathay Pacific. It was a real hoot. Well the flight I booked was actually from DC to Bali, as it was the longest flight I could find. The last week of bouncing around was nested inside this stopover. My understanding is that Cathay is one of the few airlines that allow this sort of next level maneuver on award tickets.

Anyway we were still riding bidness class and so could enjoy the bidness lounge.

This leg of our flight was a bit less luxurious than the leg from DC. It was still pretty fun though.

The flight was way shorter and it was lunch time so the food options were a bit less extravagant. On the plus side we weren't trapped on this plane for 24 hours so I'll take it. This was:

"Smoked salmon with Waldorf salad

Mixed salad with Kalamata olives and tomatoes with balsamic vinaigrette"

There was a different champagne to experience on this leg of our flight too!

"This is Taittinger's signature brand - an off dry Reserve Champagne that represents the finest quality the establishment has to offer. If you love your Champagne fresh with the taste of fruits such as apple, pear, and peach, then this is the one for you! The Brut Reserve is enjoyable at all times, thanks to its balance and depth. As the house's cellar master Loic Dupont says, "Taittinger's idea of pleasure is the natural way all the blends are put together." This blend consists of a majority of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir with a smaller proportion of Pinot Meunier. It is a Champagne we are proud to include in our Business Class wine selection."

I'd read about Hong Kong style milk tea and had been looking for it and asking about it all over Hong Kong. I even asked last night at the fancy pants T'ang Court because I figured they would have everything. Our server not only said no but kind of scoffed at the idea. Thankfully Cathy Pacific came through with the win. It sounds like the only difference is it's made with condensed milk rather than milk and sugar.

There were a few choices for lunch. I picked "Roasted lamb rack, spinach, mixed vegetables couscous and tomato sauce."

Camembert, steinerberger, and shropshire blue cheese made an appearance.

Our destination this time was Bali, one of the zillion islands that comprise Indonesia. Bali is the only Hindu-majority province in Indonesia.

The airport in Denpasar was pretty fun.

I got some peeing advice in the restroom.

The airport had really cool decorations. I was getting excited at this point. I feel like Bali really knows how tourism works.

The Grab app is like the local Uber. Our driver sent us detailed directions on where to meet him. He directed us all the way to a specific spot in the very cool parking garage, which was baller.

“It reminds me of one big garden store.” All along the road there were ornate plants and statues and fancy walls everywhere. It was like driving through a giant plant nursery showroom.

The InterContinental Bali Resort knows how to welcome a guest. They hit a gong when we got out of the taxi. I deserve more gongs in my life.

The hotel was like a temple. This coupled with the fact that there's not much to do in our part of Bali meant we often didn't really want to leave. That's sort of the double edged sword of really nice hotels: you almost feel guilty not being in it.

Welcome drinks son. And some leis. Haven't had a good lei since Hawaii.

Lydia got to pick a prize out of a box during the check-in process.

It was just a stupid coupon but I enjoyed the pageantry of its presentation.

These guys were not messing around with the flower arranging.

This place was ridiculously nice.

I wondered if this was a different flavor of the mythical Naga snake creatures that were infesting Angkor Wat.

We wanted to be real and not eat dinner at the hotel. Really the only other choice was one of the beachside seafood restaurants lined up in the sand. 

The restaurants all seemed pretty similar. I think we went with Menega Cafe because it had good reviews.

One thing that was a bit of a bummer if we ordered fish but it was really hard to see/remove the bones with such low lighting.

We ended up eating a whole basket of rice that night.