Bali. My new love.

Oh dear Bali. Where do I begin. I am in love with you. Like seriously in love with you. Despite ALL of us being sick (temps as high as 103.5 deg F) (and once again on vacation) I still love you. I want to see you again and again and again… With my family of course.

The first leg of the trip was in Ubud. I wanted to be surrounded by the forest so we stayed at Komaneka at Bisma which is owned by locals. And it literally is surrounded by a tropical forest. There is a short jogging trail around the hotel and I counted 5 waterfalls on my walk. All the rooms face the forest and the rice field and all you hear is the sound of crickets and frogs. I mean it is absolute paradise and tranquility. Each morning they delivered breakfast to the room and set it up on the balcony. With being in Bali, next to the forest, we didn’t get bit once by a mosquito. Not sure how they accomplished that, but I’ll take it!

We toured Ubud, but not as much as I would have liked due to illnesses. I found Ariawan on Trip Advisor (ubuddriver.com) and he was absolutely amazing. He is a believer of – you are born in Bali, you die in Bali. He has so much passion and knowledge about the Balinese culture.  He is seriously like the Balikipedia.  In 3 days, I pretty much learned how the Balinese people live their lives, the introduction of Hinduism to Ubud, tourism, the caste system, food, his bed and breakfast his brother’s run and so much more.

During our email conversations, he told me he doesn’t trek with people in the Campuhan ridge walk or the rice fields since he has to pick you up on the other side of the trek, but since it was just me and C (X was sick), he trekked with us… in flip flops nonetheless! He even got his brother to pick us up on the other side and his brother drove us back to Ari’s car. Now THAT is Indonesian hospitality from the heart at its finest. Ari made our stay in Ubud very enjoyable. Recommended great places to eat and helped pick out tourist attractions. He even came with us to the monkey forest and made sure our boys didn’t get bit by a monkey since our youngest is a little too hands on. We also went to a local wood carver and purchased a barong mask and a dragon. Then had lunch at this cute local place in the middle of the rice fields.  My only wish is if we could have spent more time in Ubud and if we were all healthy.  But given our circumstances, Ari made our trip in Ubud very memorable.

Next stop was Jimbaran. Just as an FYI, the first half of the vacation was solely for me. Second half was for the boys so we stayed at the Intercontinental hotel. It was a plush resort that had several pools and located on the beach. They even have a kids camp and free gelato if you are part of the ambassador program (which we are).

At this point, all four of us are sick. Thank you tylenol. We even ran out of children’s tylenol because the fever just kept on lingering around for X.

We got to the hotel around 4 pm. Checkin was at 3. We had to wait 30 minutes before our room was ready. Once we got to the room the kids were irritable. They were sick. Running 101-103 deg F fevers. I quickly put them in the shower to cool them down so I unpacked everything. One hour after being in the room we noticed it was hot. The vents weren’t even blowing cold air and L was sweating. Called the manager and he informed us the chiller had problems. Our options were to see if the room cooled down or change rooms to two connecting rooms with minimal views. We had a nice suite with a loft and overlooking the pools and the beach. But we picked AC and had to move rooms. By this time it’s 830 PM. Time to pack AGAIN just to move rooms. First time I have ever had to switch rooms at a hotel. But the AC was working and I had a happy husband so life was good again. Until the next day.  The sounds of drills were mixed in with the birds chirping since they were working on the bathroom next door.  Then I had to put an end to it.

First day in Jimbaran was spent at the beach. I relaxed while the boys played in the sand and water. Then X was so tired he took a nap on the beach with a nice cool breeze in the air. And then I go down fast.  Fever, aches, chills, nausea and congestion. We are ALL sick. Bummer. Next day was spent sleeping and watching lots of tv – trying to get everyone healthy on my birthday!! But we managed to have dinner on the beach for my birthday dinner. The boys finally broke their fever on Saturday so we were able to swim all day with some help of Tylenol for me.

I had plans people!! I had so many things saved on Trip Advisor!!  Going to Uluwatu temple, watching a fire show, seafood market, Ayana rock bar for my birthday dinner, Tanah lot temple and various restaurants. We did nada in Jimbaran.  Well, such is life. Again.  At least we were able to enjoy the grounds for 2 (out of 4) days.

But I have told my husband that we will be back.  Ubud (only) has stolen my heart.  I love the peacefulness, the culture and the views.  Oh yeah, and the furniture.  Even thought about shipping furniture back to the US before we leave Asia.  So let me know if you want any furniture from Bali.  The wood is fantastic.

*** THE ABOVE BLOG WAS WRITTEN IN BALI ***

Now it’s Sunday and our flight is at noon.  Guess what, I got hit with TD (you can google that yourself) in the morning.  I have ONLY eaten at the hotel.  Awesome – a whole day of traveling is upon me.  After two doctor visits, rehydration salts, probiotics, antibiotics and lots of rest, I’m finally better.  Only took 6 days.  Sigh.

Remembering how everyone was sick and me getting TD, I’m questioning if I can even do another trip to Bali.  Hell, I’m scared to get on another plane because that usually equates to us getting sick.

This is our second trip in Asia and our second time getting sick.

At least in Thailand, it was over and done with in 2 days.  Being sick in Bali was just way too long in my opinion.

So basically, I’m over being sick on vacations.

Should we…

Still go on vacations?

Quarantine the kids for several days before we go on vacation?

Just suck it up?

Or is it because we were traveling during cold and flu season?

Your guess is just as good as mine.

I’ll tell you what.  It’s not stopping L because he just sent me a link to Vietnam…