Seminyak and The W Hotel, Bali Indonesia

Traditional rice worker in the field while we were driving from Ubud to Seminyak Bali.

We hired a van for 400,000 rupiah to drive us from the Element Ubud Bali Hotel to the W Hotel Seminyak which is 31 kms in distance.  The travelling time took 2 hours and 20 minutes to go 31 kms from hotel to hotel.  Yes, you are reading this correctly.  This will give you some perspective on how atrocious the traffic is in Bali.  It really is unbelievable until you experience it.  There are 3.9 million scooters in Bali and there are 4 million people who live here. There are so many cheap scooter rentals for tourists that many stupid tourists believe they can drive safely in Bali.  Tourists don't know how to drive scooters in this traffic insanity. Many of them die or are injured and many of them cause the accidents that take out the locals.   We even witnessed a tourist girl get into an accident.  

Traffic snarls are the norm in Bali now.

                      Hundreds of Incense Sticks for sale to be burned in homes or the Hindu temples in the homes.

Our driver proudly showed us his daily offerings to his Hindu Gods

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More daily offerings from this driver.

Cute little boy along the road that had been waving to us while we were in another traffic snarl.

Actual street cleaners and sweepers unlike what we have in Canada.  A machine cleans our streets.

Carrying a ladder on the scooter, we even saw two mattresses being balanced on a scooter with two people holding on to it.

Traffic was unreal.

We counted 12 heads total in this truck that we followed through the rice field area.  Many children were lieing down amongst the adults.

Besides the horrific air quality in Bali and the brutal traffic,  Bali is still wonderful.  It is not the Bali we experienced in 2011 on our World Tour.  The Bali we fell in love with is gone. Bali still has some very nice hotels though.

We have never stayed in a W brand Hotel before so I was quite excited.  I love staying at luxury hotels and we had two nights on points at the W Hotel in Seminyak. This hotel is next level. 

The beach and sunset in Seminyak

The beach has a lot of black sand in it.

Pools at the W

More seating.

The bathroom at Starfish Bloo Restaurant had stone seats and one huge communal sink below.

  I have never seen a design like this before, it was beatiful.

The stone communal sink.

A whole separator wall of glass art.

One of the bars

Tons of seating in the lobby area of the W

Gorgeous large doors.

4 foot flower arrangements everywhere which must have been a full time job for someone.

Art is very common in the design at W Hotels.

The wall of glass art.

More seating.

One of the bars at night.

Due to my Elite Marriott membership I was entitled to an upgrade and I did receive one. Originally we were booked in a garden room at the W but they upgraded us to a private pool Villa.  It was the nicest most equipped hotel suite that we've ever stayed in. We have stayed in JW Marriotts before but this W hotel is another level.  We have stayed in private pool Villas before but this was much nicer and posh.

Two signature cocktails with alcohol and ice and dehydrated oranges were waiting for us when we checked into our Villa.  This was a super nice touch after a horrific 31 km excruciatingly long drive in a cramped hot taxi cab.  I know that I sound first world and I am but this was a very welcome gesture.

 The inside area was approximately 1,000 sq ft which encompasses a living room, coffee/tea area, desk area, bedroom and gigantic bathroom all equipped with a Bose Acoustimas Speaker System.

We had two very large sets of sliding doors out to our pool deck area, one from the bedroom area and one from the bathroom area.  These sliding doors had Flying Pigs Decals on the glass doors as do many doors at the W.  I had to ask what the Flying Pigs were used so often?  Apparently at the W Hotel Brand their motto is they won't say no to any request unless there are pigs flying.

The bathroom looks out past the Cleopatra style tub which is cast in stone out to the outdoor fountain and day bed area.  There were two sinks in the bathroom with a separate shower and a separate toilet area which also included three separate closets for your clothes and belongings.  The large standing closet separated the bathroom from the bedroom. 

Closets were well stocked with flip flops, slippers, kimonos, laundry bags etc.

The king size bed had a half wall behind it which formed a hallway that made for some privacy for the very large desk area. 

The desk area had a gorgeous metal screen covering the window with an electronic sliding screen to block out the daylight. 

The living room area had a 10-ft long couch, TV, coffee tables and a bar area with a little pull out tea service area along with the Espresso machine, fridge and kettle. 

The living room.

Tea pull out.

The outdoor area had a large private swimming pool, two chase lounges a table and two chairs and the daybed area.  At night it lit up and was quite pretty with the Moroccan style lights. They had those at both ends of the pool.  Our outdoor area came with its own Frangipany Tree which was not in bloom but was propped up by bamboo sticks which is common here.  

The fountain provided a beautiful sound day and night.

In this picture you can see the haze in the air and this was early morning while I was drinking my espresso.

Frangipany Tree being propped up.

Large vase in its own pool at one end of the Villa.

We had a private entrance that led you into the garden area and that was automatically locked behind you as well the two sliding doors also locked. 

W Slippers also a nice touch.

Private entrance

The outdoor deck area was very large and one end of the pool had a huge vase for decoration.  The vegetation is all very well cared for and very pretty and it surrounds the walls of the Villa.  The fountain ran day and night and it was the prettiest sounding water fountain that I wish I could replicate the sound in my own back yard.  I will have to get Darren on that.

The staff here are all very friendly and accommodating. Check-in went very smoothly with a friendly little lady to help us out, we asked for ice and that came quite promptly.

I had a bath on the first night in our gorgeous tub and it filled up fairly quickly and I got in and I slid right down.  It is undoubtedly the longest tub I have ever been in, it would accommodate a 7-ft human.  Unfortunately it was not that comfortable, therefore not that relaxing.  I love to read in the tub but I was worried I would slide down and get my Kindle wet.  *Note to W Hotels, try out your tubs before you purchase 200 of them.  Tubs have to be comfortable, fill up quickly and look pretty.  Those are the 3 things that I like in a tub and I am a fussy tub person.

The lights in the Villa were difficult to figure out and we never did figure out what the Wet Switch was for. We had to ask a staff member how to turn on the Day Bed Moroccan Lights as well.

The next day we went for breakfast at the Starfish Bloo Restaurant and the buffet was excellent. We had a made to order omelette and the fruit was amazing with dragon fruit, mangosteen, and a yellow citrusy tasting melon, that I've never eaten before.  I was offered some Bubble Tea with Masala spice in it. That was good, I enjoyed that.

Masala Bubble Tea

My Americano coffee was the best I've ever had, Starbucks doesn't even compare.  What helped to make it really delicious was I asked for some cream because it was strong and they superheated the cream and provided the cutest little creamer and just the combination was so smooth and amazingly tasty.  The breakfast was made even nicer because it was open air and we had the waves to watch and the sound of the waves crashing.  This was a complimentary buffet breakfast for the two of us due to my Titanium Elite membership.  

The communal bathroom sink in one of the washrooms.

  The staff were highly trained and extremely welcoming.

Another beautiful bathroom at the W.

Restaurant where we ate our breakfast buffet.

Mangosteen Fruit which I quite liked.

Best Americano coffee ever!!

Dragon Fruit is the deep purple fruit and the yellow was the citrusy tasting melon fruit.

Watching the waves while eating breakfast.

We walked back to our Villa number 11 and did some work and then made our way down to the workout center which was quite well equipped and maintained. 

When we were done working out we met our friends that were staying at the neighborhood, Aloft hotel another Marriott brand hotel.  They were already making themselves comfortable with a drink at one of the bars on the W property. 

The four of us walked back to our pool Villa and spent the afternoon swimming lounging, talking and reading.  It was a nice relaxing afternoon. 

The very long driveway into the W Hotel.

The only thing that complicated it was smoke in the air.  There was a nearby fire maybe even on property that fouled our air so badly that I actually had to use my inhaler.  Maybe the rice fields were being burned again somewhere close by to our Villa. We don't know where the burning was coming from. It could have been somebody burning their plastic garbage next door to the property.  Regardless, it made everybody feel sick and it put a damper on the really nice day. 

We had one more evening here and we walked to the beach and tried to make our way to a restaurant called Luhron but it was a bit complicated and so we took a quick Taxi for about 60,000 rupiah or about $5 Canadian. 

We all enjoyed our Nazi Goring and Darren and I walked back to our Villa, which took 20 minutes and Garth and Sandra took a taxi back to their Aloft Hotel.

We had one more night in the very comfortable king size bed and had an early start to the day to catch our flight to Singapore with a stopover and then another flight onto Phuket, Thailand with Jetstar Airlines. 

On the way to the airport, I saw this pooch catching a ride on its owner's scooter.

Unfortunately there is really nothing memorable anymore about Seminyak Indonesia in Bali.  The place has become a conglomeration of Beach Clubs along the beach serving copious amounts of alcohol to foreigners and a grotesque party town.  The money is coming from an unscrupulous country  that is currently at war and they have invaded this place and literally sucked the soul out of it.  We won't return to Seminyak Bali unfortunately, there is nothing to see here anymore.

I would stay in a heartbeat at the W hotel brand again, I would even stay at this hotel again, other than the simple fact that the air pollution and the air quality is so incredibly poor here that it rivals that of India and the traffic is worse than India. We most likely will not be returning to Bali, which saddens me because I do long for the Bali of 2011 where we experienced some extremely fond memories of the beauty, tranquility, and the heart of Bali.

At the W where we had to catch our taxi back to the airport which cost 150,000 rupiah.

Waiting for our taxi back to the airport.

An Art Installation near the entrance to the Starfish Bloo Restaruant.  This is supposed to represent coral and it is all made with recovered plastic from the ocean.  In the far distance is the dull lifeless coral and closer to the descriptor is the colorful coral that has been saved.  Unfortunately I don't think Bali or the are can be saved.

Walking down to the Starfish Bloo Restaurant.

Down the walkway towards our Villa