Travel for travelling - Bali - Gloria Jean's Coffee & Discovery Shopping Mall Kuta & Denpasar International Airport

Seminyak 25.03.2014

Starbucks in Kuta and Ubud, in Bali, Indonesia

I was impressed by the level of development in Seminyak. And I will miss the nice people and the natural beauty of Ubud. Bali is a good place to have holiday, because you can enjoy relaxing and a paradise to explore. This was the last day of the trip, and our plane took off at ten o'clock at night.

Gloria Jean's Coffee, near Kuta Square, in Kuta, Bali

About midday we checked-out of our hotel and caught a taxi to Kuta city. We just stopped at a cafe and had some rest. Gloria Jean's Coffee was located near the Kuta Square roundabout, and they had the the special Häagen-Dazs ice cream! We chose the salty caramel flavor, and I really liked the combined taste of sweet and salty. It was also very creamy. This cafe had very good WiFi, and the decoration of the second floor was great. They used warm colors and simple patterns, and it was pretty and cute in design! They also had very comfortable sofas, so we hung out there for the whole afternoon.

Inside second floor of Gloria Jean's coffee near Kuta Square, Bali

We ordered a pot of green tea, a chocolate muffin and a cup of mocha. D liked chocolate the muffin very much and even ordered another one later on! My mocha was full of cream, and I was very excited when I saw it! It tasted beautiful^^

Green Tea, Chocolate muffin and Mocha with cream, at Gloria Jeans Coffee near Kuta Square, Bali

After a little break, I walked to the Discovery Shopping Mall which was on Jl. Kartika Plaza. Discovery was the most fancy department store in Kuta, and you could see many boutiques here, but the price was not that special. Their decor was very new and had an orderly store design, and it was also very comfortable and cozy to stroll around!

Discovery Shopping Mall on Jl. Kartika Plaza, in Kuta, Bali, Indonesia

On the other side of the Discovery Shopping Mall was a beautiful beach. Walking around and seeing the special local architecture and observing the nice ocean view was such a wonderful thing to do here! It was really enjoyable to have meal in this romantic atmosphere and with the beautiful scenery here! Magnificent!

Kuta Beach, Bali, Indonesia

We bought a Big Mac meal set from McDonald's for dinner. The fast food restaurants here all provided free chili sauce, because it was one of the necessities to Indonesians, and I liked their chili sauce too. The chili sauce was not really hot, instead it was like sweet chili sauce, and it went with chips very well! The Big Mac burger tasted good and similar to Taiwan's, and the price for one set was about US$4.

About 6 o'clock we took a taxi to the airport. It was charged by mileage this time, and from Matahari Kuta Square to Denpasar airport was about US$4.20. There was little traffic on the way, but it became smoother once we got out of Kuta city.

Upon entering the airport we saw a very long queue, and we realized that people had to go through security checks before go into the airport. Mainly to check there were no weapons or dangerous objects (because the flight MH370 had just gone missing). When we were close to the security gate, after waiting for about 20 minutes, we noticed there was another checking gate on the right hand side which was not very far away, and less people were queuing there.  There was a foreign couple in front of us who were stopped because they were carrying two bottles of wine. They said only the wine bottle in a sealed bag can be brought into the airport.

Visitors must pay US$25 before entering into Bali, before the customs desk, and also had to pay departure tax in rupiah of 150,000 (US$15) per person when leaving. It was quite tricky and certainly an extra cost in the holiday! After that we went through the security scan again, and everything was going smoothly. This airport was not that huge, and maybe some parts were still under construction, because it didn't look quite complete. But the airport looked quite magnificent and beautiful from outside!

Our flight was at ten o'clock at night, and so we thought it wouldn't have too many passenger. But there were swarms of people there! The boarding place was also full of people, and there was one more security check before boarding! They required everyone to open luggage for inspection, but there were so many people that they ended up not doing it very well. I think they just paid lip service to their job after a while, because they didn't really check very carefully. So after 5 minutes on the shuttle bus we finally saw our aircraft !

The new Denpasar Airport in Bali, Indonesia (2014)

We were actually quite happy to come home by the end. Although Bali had an enjoyable atmosphere for a holiday and also the tasty exotic cuisine, eight days for the trip was enough! We were relaxed to return to the warmth of our sweet home! ^ ^