Traveling has always been my passion since childhood, every school holiday I would be very excited about going somewhere “far from home” and see the world beyond my hometown. It doesn’t have to be an expensive trip to other country or even continent, but it has to include a beach on the trip as I love beach environment more than mountain. When I was growing up as a child my parents would took me and my sister to Sol Elite Marbella at Anyer, 3 hours trip from Jakarta, the capital city of Indonesia. The place was built beautifully and it is heaven on earth for a child like me and my sister, we would swim on the pool and sea, running with shovel to catch small crabs and put it into mineral water bottle, or just a walk on the shore. While watching for me playing around, my parents would be massaged by the local and work on their tanning.

Then time flies, we grow up together and university are taking much of our time (Me and my sister are in medical school) and it has been more than 3 years since I went to a beach. We would plan for the beach trip for next semester’s holiday and got it cancelled because we also took a tour to other many countries), and now I am in probably in the last holiday I had in my entire life because I will soon be a resident in the hospital and I was told there is no holiday there, so we decide to hit the beach again and do it BIG.

We are staying in Mulia Hotel and Resort Bali for three days, it was a one hour taxi ride from the airport. When I got into the lobby, the ambience was very peaceful due to the higher ground the lobby located in. The staffs were very nice and helpful, and sometimes I felt uncomfortable because they were too nice to us.

This is the view of the resort lobby where you can check in and drop you luggage (they will bring it into your room and put it in the dedicated room), it is a two level building and the lower level consist many restaurant with delicious meal to choose from (all you can eat, Japanese, Chinese, Bakery, etc.).

Soon as I arrived and check in, I have to wait for 15.00 pm to be able to get into my room, but the waiting time is very productive indeed. You could redeem your voucher for welcome drink (I got a Kiwi mocktail), then tour around the resort freely, sightseeing, or simply sit and listen to the music they played in the building (they played my favorite singer, Andrea Bocceli singing Besame mucho). The architecture, furniture, and everything was in order perfectly.

This is the zoomed in view from the lobby, they have too many pool to count for me, I think it was nine or sixteen, I’m not sure.

These are photos I took while waiting for the room, this place is truly a photographer paradise. The resort is 16 Hm2 if I’m not mistaken and this place is huge!

The next photo was taken from the “Cascade” lounge, where in the next day I sit with my mom and sister for 5 hours, just watching the wave brushing the beach and listen to music (I listened to the 90 minutes Andrea Bocceli concert “Vivere). The lounge has 4 set of sofas facing the whole resort.

This is the environment of the resort at night. So after checking in to our room, which is luxurious and huge, we took a walk around the beach and pools.

Go to Part 2 for the next day!