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As part of my year end escapades, I recently went on a short trip to Bali. Even though it was the peak holiday season, I was surprised that tickets up on AirAsia were still very decently priced just a month prior to travel, and seats on the SQ return flight was still widely available. On the day of departure, we checked in at Terminal 4 using the Self-Check-in counters.






Passed immigration and security into the duty-free shops.




T4 FIDS. Mainly AirAsia departures.




View of T4 departure hall. It was not busy at all at this time of the evening.




Popped into the Blossom Lounge for some quick bites. It was my 3rd visit to this lounge this year, and hence just sharing some photos of this pretty decent lounge.








Food selection was limited but quality was above average.






Headed to the gate at G2, where boarding had commenced early as the aircraft had arrived ahead of schedule.






11 December 2019
Indonesia Air Asia
QZ 509
Singapore (SIN) - Denpasar Bali (DPS)
A320
PK-AXU 'Lombok Livery'
Economy Class
Flight Time: 2H14M


Boarding our Lombok-liveried A320.






Red headrest priority seats and Emex row seats.






Across from my normal seat.




Tight legroom as expected.




Inflight literature.




It was drizzling outside.




Completed was completed swiftly and crew doing pre-departure checks. Safety demo was performed manually.






It was only a short taxi to the runway.




Departure from Rwy02C.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VQjdcPXG0M


Service started shortly after departure, with the distribution of pre-ordered meals followed by BOB sales.




Meals and drinks sold. Service was generally casual and friendly.




I pre-ordered an Indonesian Nasi Padang, and max-ed my meal with a pasta salad and a chocolate muffin. The pasta salad and muffin were normal, while the Nasi Padang tasted authentic (served along with keropok) but rather spicy.












The other pre-ordered meal was the Korean Sweet and spicy chicken, which was pretty normal and a 'safe' choice.








Visit to the lav towards the end of the flight. It remained quite clean though as expected, stocked only with the necessary amenities.




View of the forward half of the cabin. Flight was not full, which was surprising for the holiday season.




We were soon descending into Bali, flying above northern Kuta.




Landing in Bali and taxied to the remote bay.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nn952lc0PTk








Look at my seat during disembarking.




Down to the tarmac to the bus for the short ride to the terminal and immigration. At DPS, it might actually be better to park at the remote bay as the normal gates can be a very long walk to immigration.








It was a pretty decent ride on AirAsia to Bali. Flight was ahead of schedule, meals were ok. Only grouse is the tight seat pitch, but this is common across almost all LCCs. However, if the price is right, I would still fly AirAsia.

Immigration and customs queues were not too bad at the time of arrival (I had much worse on my past trips) and we were out into our ride to the villa within 30min. Stayed at Sun Island Boutique Villa at Seminyak. It was conveniently situated along a main road, but villas are well-hidden behind quiet and peace.




Each villa had a private pool, and was also well-furnished.










View of the villa pool in the morning.




The rate includes daily breakfast, which is ala-carte and can be ordered into the villa. We had breakfasts daily in the villa. The breakfasts were pretty tasty and beautifully presented.




After some bumming at the villa pool, headed out for lunch at Warung Pak Malen, famous for its babi guling. For those with non-Asian taste buds, it wa pretty spicy.






Headed down to Kuta for some shopping, as well as a short stroll along the beach.




A ceremonial procession along the beach.




Bali bombing memorial.




Nice Balinese dinner at Warung Padmasari.




For dessert, Bali limited-edition Magnums!




An early start the next day with again in-villa breakfast.






For today, we had hired a private driver for a tour of Central Bali. First stop was Tegenungan Waterfall.




Sights at the waterfall.








Next stop at Elephant Cave.












Cleansing at Tirta Empul Holy Water Temple.






Lunch with a view.






Tegallalang Rice Terrace




Monkeying in the forest.














Ubud Market




Wonderful dinner at Kendi Kuning. Third time to this restaurant and the high standards remained.




Breakfast on the last day.




Late tasty lunch at Made's Warung. Last dose of Balinese food before departure.

Great report the name made ms laugh

Great trip report. I have to add Bali to th bucket list

Headed back to the airport, with no queues at the SQ counters. Check-in was quick and both boarding pass and lounge invite issued.






Security and immigration was fast, and we headed directly to the lounge. SQ uses the Premier Lounge at DPS, along with many other airlines. As the lounge is also accessible by various lounge pass members, it can get pretty crowded.








Food selection was not the best, but decent.








As I was still rather full from the late lunch, I only had some desserts and fruits.




View of the terminal from lounge.




Soon, the lounge became very crowded and stuffy, and so we lounge-hopped to the neighbouring T/G Lounge, courtesy of Priority Pass. However, it was not any better, being similarly packed and stuffy.




Checking out the food selection at the T/G Lounge, there was a live station.




Buffet selection was decent but nothing outstanding. Similar in quality to the neighbouring Premier Lounge. I had a carbonara from the live station. Priority Pass members are also given a coupon in exchange for up to 3 glasses of wines or beers, which I passed.












As it was getting stuffy in the T/G Lounge too, we decided to head to the gate early.




Our gate was at Gate 1A, which was changed from the original gate due to the aircraft's early arrival and another plane was still at the original allocated gate. A brand new Dreamliner would be operating this flight, and it was the exact aircraft I had flown just a month prior.




Rossiya Airlines B773ER at the gate beside. An airline which was rarely, if ever, seen in SIN.





14 December 2019
Singapore Airlines
SQ 947
Denpasar Bali (DPS) - Singapore (SIN)
B787-10
9V-SCN
Business Class
Flight Time: 2H10M


Boarding was called exactly 30min before STD.




Heading to the aircraft.




Boarding from Door 1 for Business Class passengers and welcomed by the crew.






Guess not much introduction is needed on the New Regional Business Class seats on the B787-10. A pillow and blanket was placed on each seat.






Seat controls and side compartment. Headsets and paper menu placed in the side compartment.








Christmas decorations in the cabin.




Inflight magazines.




Slightly more than 2hrs flight time tonight.




IFE selection




Hot towels delivered. Somehow I found that SQ has reduced the fragrance in its towels on recent flight.




Welcome drinks served. Opted for a champers. Think it was still a Charles (no drinks menu on this flight).






IFE selection for the flight. A recommended movie.




Pushed back and safety video played.






An introductory video of the New Regional Business Class seats was also played.




Lengthy taxi to the runway due to a long departure queue.






Started on my movie in the meantime.




Finally departed after more than 20min in the queue.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxa40Vw9vOs




Dinner service commenced shortly after takeoff. But first lets take a look at the menu for the flight.




Menu of the flight up on SQ946.




Meal service in progress. Service was of the normal SQ-standards, though nothing too outstanding from the usual high standards.






I chose the Indonesian selection of Indonesian braised beef in green chilli with coconut rice. All courses were serve on a tray as per short-haul flights.




Scallop appetiser and dessert cake.




Scallop with green mango salad was fresh and tangy.




Bread selection




The main course was very flavourful. Excellent choice!






A glass of Riesling to go with the meal.




However, the dessert was a disappointment. Firstly, I am not a fan of ginger. Second, the cake was very dry. And lastly, I am not sure where the vanilla sauce as stated in the menu had evaporated to. I could not finish it and I am a dessert person. Should have requested for the economy dessert.




My friend had pre-ordered the Indian vegetarian meal, and according to him, it was pretty tasty as well. At least the dessert, a coconut sago pudding, seemed better.




Cappuccino to end.




View of the cosy cabin after meal service. Cabin was about 75% full.




Lavatory visit.




Well stocked with amenities.






Requested for a bottle of water to hydrate.




Another view of the cosy cabin.




After finishing with the movie, we were already nearing Singapore.






Browsed snippets of performances at an awards ceremony.




Approach and landing into Rwy02C followed by a short taxi to the gate at Terminal 2.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIQn_Z0oHzY






Disembarking






A shot of the Dreamliner which flew me back.




Another pleasant experience on SQ short-haul. No surprises with the already expected good service, and comfortable new seats, makes SQ short-haul business class flights one of the best, if not the best, in the industry.