Lunch with a Lonely Mountain view in Bali? - Wouldn't Mind at All

 

Looking at another holiday destination in Bali that is not a beach? Kintamani might be one option I would like to recommend. It is located at north-eastern of Bali and you will need a car to reach here.

 

Kintamany is a village around Mount Batur area, and has been since filled with many tourists to view Mount Batur region. The weather here could be quite cooling sometimes, hence you might need a light sweater to cover your body. It is best to go here during daylight, particularly on 10:00-15:00 as it will offer the best view of the place. So normally many tourists, including us will go here for short while to get a nice lunch, mainly because of the amazing unique view that it has to offer. We didn't really do some pre-research first for which kind of restaurant we want to have a lunch at, as I thought also it was not really necessary. We were just looking at which restaurants has the most visitors, and as far as the instinct goes, we chose that restaurant. Though right now I am quite forget what was the name of  the restaurant we were visited at that time, but no worries as there were a lot of restaurants along the road offering similar kind of view and dining concept like the one we were visited.

 

On the restaurant, don't forget to choose the balcony area for the best view, especially when the sky is so bright and less windy. The restaurant we went offers a lunch buffet with not cheap but reasonable price (around 10USD). And by the way, without reducing the excitement, I would say that the food taste here was just normal. I would not say it was not nice, but just fit to fill your hunger. Still because of the nice view we would not really mind on the food. 

 

So, here are some of the lunch views that we had on the restaurant balcony area.

 

Lunch View Facing the Lonely Mount Batur

The Table Set



Restaurant's Balcony Area

 

Mount Batur and Batur Lake View

Cheers!

Belgium Garden during Autumn 2015

Just sharing some photos of the garden in Belgium that I captured from my last trip during autumn 2015, near to the beginning of winter. Could not resist but to take pictures of it. By the way, the actual gardens are much more beautiful than the pictures. :) 

Enjoy!

 

Highlight of all the garden, located in front of Royal Palace of Brussels, taken during a fine afternoon

Garden located around Arcades du Cinquantenaire (Belgium's Arch de Triomphe) in Brussels 

Garden located behind my aunt's house in Kontich Village, Antwerp, taken during a foggy morning



Reaching the Peak of Bali - Pura Ulun Danu Bratan

Pura Ulun Danu Bratan - from the moment we are about to reach this very special place, I have already had a good feeling about this place. The word 'beautiful' might not be enough to describe this very one place. I like everything about this place, the old historical calligraphic, the architecture, the trees, the garden, and especially the lake. It was name with 'Danu Bratan' which means Bratan Lake, since this special 'Pura' is located at the Bratan lake, Bedugul, Bali. This is one of a very sacred place in Bali. They are often doing a very sacred ritual to praise the God at this place. That is why, for all tourists visiting this place is reminded to be respectful of the place and wear something more conservative.  A lot of them who are doing this sacred ritual will normally wear a special white traditional clothes of Bali, with additional colourful ribbon on the waist for the female.

 

 

 

The view was breath-taking, 'Pura' at the lake with the mountain on the background of the lake, I was getting a special feeling when I entered this place. I would not mind to revisit this place again sometime. And I hope you would be too!

 

Cheers!

 

High Tea Session at Arteastique Cafe - Cafe Hopping

This weekend, I am having a special high tea session with my ex-colleague. One of a pleasure of living in Singapore is having a huge selection of different cafes to hop to! So I think, why not looking to some unique cafe to have a high tea session.

After browsing through some list of cafes, I finally discover this unique gem at Orchard Road area, located at one of the shopping mall which I had never entered before. Funny tho', after so many times passing by the building, only this time eventually do I enter it. By the way, the shopping mall name is Mandarin Gallery. 

Judging from the cafe's website (http://www.arteastiq.com/) the place looks pretty great, so I decide to try this cafe for the meet up.

This cafe has quite a range selection of different tea. They also have some range of food menu, although not as much as their tea. If you notice the promotion board in front of the cafe, we are actually decided to try that menu, the 'Afternoon Treat Special'. It is meant for 2 people and includes a free selection of tea for each person, with price of 48 SGD instead of 52 SGD by normal price. 

The 'Afternoon Treat Special' consists of crispy wrap with meat (able to select the meat choice preference), smoked salmon, smoked turkey ham, crab meat salad served with volvant, spicy jumbo top shell with chilled mango salad, and cake (choice selection between apple cake or orange cake). For the tea selection, both of us decides to take lychee tea, both hot and cold. 

I especially like the crispy wrap (we choose to have the wrap with smoked chicken breast), the crab meat salad food, the spicy jumbo top shell, and the cake (apple cake selection). Smoke salmon taste pretty great too, though I am not a fan of raw salmon meat, I can still say this salmon taste quite good. As for the smoked turkey ham, I think it tastes pretty usual. 

Both of me and my friend really likes our lychee tea. I choose the hot tea and she chooses the cold tea. The sweetness and the aroma of the lychee blends a splendid taste for the tea. Highly recommended to try for those fruit tea lover out there! The tea comes with cookies for each. For my friend, she got lemon butter cookies, and I got lemon chocolate cookies. The cookies tasted great as well, excellent combination for the tea. Perfect indulgence for a happy afternoon!

P.S, Arteastique actually has a painting studio just beside its cafe, so for those of you who wants to unleash your hidden artist potential, could practice it here!!

Address: 

Arteastiq Boutique Tea House

Mandarin Gallery, #04-14/15

333A Orchard Road, Singapore 238867

Opens: 

11:00 am-10:00 pm Daily

Boutique Tea House reservation: 6235 8370

Art Jamming reservation and enquires: 6235 8705

Website: http://www.arteastiq.com/

Have a great day everyone!