Padma Resort Bali at Legian, Stayed and Reviewed.

On our yearly visit to Bali, The Wife decided to stay at the Padma Resort Bali at Legian. Tripadvisor gave it 4.5 out of 5. The Wife choose it because it is family-friendly. The location is walking distance from the bustling and claustrophobic atmosphere of Kuta. Shops and restaurant are located just outside the hotel, which means we can go for local food and buy mineral water without a problem.

The hotel ground is quite expansive. There are 2 swimming pools. the one that we normally go to is the Lagoon pool as it has the Kiddy pool there. One event that we look forward to is the Koi fish feeding session. There are 2 sessions daily, 9am and 5pm. During our stay, we were the only family on the 5pm session. So the Concierge gave us the fish food and we fed it ourselves. The hotel is surrounded by small ornamental pools with lots of koi fishes. We fed them all.

The hotel map.

Hallway, upon entry. On the left is the wardrobe.

Opposite view. The hotel gave us an adjoining room.

The huge bed.

Add caption

My side of the bed. With power outlet.

The Wife's side. We moved the side chair to
the balcony to make space.

The bathroom has an opened entrance

The bathroom, with a standalone tub. The sink area is quite small.

Shower on the right and toilet on the left.

The hotel lobby with its opened space.

Another view. The roof is typical Bali. 

View of the main restaurant at night, the Donbiu.

One of the buffet we attended.

There was a cultural event that night at the main restaurant.

The gamelan players.

Another view.

After the event, we were allowed to take photos with the dancers.

The other view from the restaurant. Behind this is the other
swimming pool.

View of the Lagoon Pool, from the room balcony.

Another view.

The kiddies pool.

The other swimming pool.

Another view.

One of the Koi pond at the front entrance.

The path to the beach.

The beach, behind Padma. It is public beach.

The waves are quite strong this time of the year.

The public beach, the umbrellas and benches are rented.

The beach is very nice. Not too crowded. The sand is very fine.

It is quite a good hotel. Service is good and food is good too. The daughter loves the pool and the koi pond. I love the architecture of the buildings and how it retains the Bali style in it. I would definitely come again.

Otterbox Commuter for Samsung Galaxy S4

I bought the Otterbox Commuter for the Samsung S4, which I wrote in my previous post here. I am a great fan of the Otterbox products. It is a reliable product with an excellent customer service. If there is any fault on their products, they would provide a replacement item. I wrote about my experience dealing with them in several of my earlier postings.

I would prefer the Otterbox Defender as it provides the ultimate protection, against dust and water but the handphone becomes a bulky. It is quite unsightly with such a bulky phone sticking out of your front pants pocket. So I have decided to get the Commuter. There was a price reduction to SGD$39 from SGD$49 because no one is buying the S4 anymore due to S5 being out in the market.

Here are the unboxing photos:

Front box: Price reduction

For the Galaxy S4.

Back packaging. 2 layer protection with screen
protector provided.

Comparing against the Samsung S4.

Contents: The silicone, the plastic and the screen protector.

A great case indeed.

The Samsung S4 came with a plastic protector which I
have left on. So I will keep the Otterbox screen protector.

The silicone goes on the S4. A snug fit.

I was worried with the headphone cover as
it was flapping out. Could this be a
production mistake?

Similarly with the charging port cover. Nothing
is holding it down. 

Plastic outer layer is placed and the headphone
is locked down.

Similarly with the charging port. The cover is
tied down by the plastic layer.

Altogether now. Front.

The back.

Another view.

Nice colour combination.

Samsung Galaxy S4: Unboxing

I have moved to a new company. It provides systems and solutions for the fund management and wealth management space. I am comparing my new firm with my previous workplace and it is definitely better. There is more staff and more structured compared to the 7-man operation working off from a service office.

The new workplace provided a new phone for me. It is the Samsung Galaxy S4. It is a step back from the current S5 but it is a new Android experience for me. All these while, I have always been an iPhone person. I liked it and I thought it was the best phone I have ever used, until I used the S4. 

For my iPhone, I am on an old plan which provides 12GB of data. The telcos' are not providing these plan anymore. The maximum on a brand new plan is 4GB. So if I recontract my plan, it will revert back to 4GB. So i have swapped out the SIM cards between the S4 and my iPhone. My S4 now has 12Gb of data but the 4G network is with the iPhone, which is quite redundant.

Couple of things wow me over

- the large screen

- the removal battery. I am getting very bad battery life for my iPhone. Having a interchangeable battery  on the S4 helps.

- the upgrade of memory. I bought a 16GB SD card which was a mistake. I should have bought a 32GB SD card instead.  

Unfortunately, I am quite late on the Android bandwagon. As can be seen by these post. But I am quite sold on the S4. 

The unboxing photos. 

The Samsung Galaxy S4 front box.

Left view of the box.

The phone.

The peripherals.

Under the phone. A useful manual of transferring contacts from other phone
to the S4

Peripherals: UK plug adaptor, charging cable and handsfree.

With the manuals.

Another view of the UK plug adaptor.

The Samsung S4, activated.

I have to admit the screen resolution is so much better than the iPhone 4. Maybe the iPhone 4 is using old screen resolution but photos on the S4 is quite brilliant.

Next post: the Otterbox Commuter cover for the S4.