We were originally going to travel to Tibet and Chengdu for Qing Ming holiday. We even bought plane tickets, booked the hotels and the tour guides! But we ended up cancelling our trip because we realized we didn’t want to put our kids in such a high elevation (approximate 12-15,000 feet) for more than a week.
So after looking at all the Asian destinations, we both agreed on Bali. Again. First time was such a blur to L so we figured we’d give it another go. Despite the previous trip.
We booked the same hotel and the same tour guide, Ari. I only wanted to stay in Ubud. Jimbaran was not our cup of tea. We really liked Ubud because of the tranquility of the place. People are so respectful and calm. Completely opposite of our current living arrangement.
Knowing our last situation we just wanted to take it easy. I sent Ari a list of things I wanted to do and he pretty much planned our days.
Rewind to 3 days before our trip. X gets sick – fever and congestion. We are seriously making him eat so much vitamin C. Then he tells us his ear hurts which he never does!! I was able to get him an appointment at the only office open during the Chinese holiday. Xintiandi which is about 25 min away without any traffic. Turns out he had a double ear infection!! Doc tells us no swimming for 1 week. Ummm. We are going to Bali and staying in a villa for a week. So, can we use ear plugs? Doc – no. I wouldn’t advise that. Hmmmm. This was the Sunday before we fly out on Tuesday early morning. Sunday afternoon C has a horrible cough, says his throat hurts and I’m congested. Really congested. Made another appointment for me and C just to check us out the next day. Monday, the day before our trip, the doc says for C to take some medicine and she says I have allergies. I left with so much allergy medicine.
We were nervous about the plane ride since X had a double ear infection but he was a-okay. The only person who had problems was me! My ears were killing me with the air pressure while X slept peacefully upon the descent! I’d rather it be me than them.
We were met with a huge smile from Ari at the airport. He even showed up in a new Toyota which was a very pleasant surprise. Since we got in late we just purchased the essentials before going to the hotel – water and a SIM card. We were greeted with nice cold tea and cold wash cloths at Komaneka Bisma. On the last trip I vividly remember X saying his belly hurt then he threw up in a decorative case at the entrance of the hotel. Oh my the memories came flooding back!! Hope they didn’t remember that. We were brought to our villa in a golf cart since they knew we were all tired. And let me tell you of our shock when we walked in the villa. I didn’t want to leave! I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves…
After having a very nice breakfast on our patio we decided to do things close by. Ari wasn’t available today so his brother Wayan showed us around. We did some things L and X didn’t do the last trip. We were able to see Ari’s family compound which is in Ubud. We got to meet his wife, his mom, his nephew and daughter too. We got to see how the typical Balinese people lived and Wayan even told us the importance of some of the places on their compound. Then we walked from their compound to the Campuhan ridge so we can walk DOWNhill instead of UPhill. We strolled through more of the places that weren’t too tourtisty and even stumbled upon Ari’s dad and uncle who were just chillaxing on the side of the road. Then we stumbled upon his cousin who was also a local painter. He invited us to his compound for us to take a look at his artwork. And we bought a huge painting he said he painted. Whether it was his artwork or someone else’s artwork is seriously an unknown. Only he knows! Anyway, we finally started the trail and X complained his feet hurt so Wayan graciously gave him a ride to the END of the trail. He was way too nice because I would have made him walk for sure. Well at least 50% of it! So thanks Wayan! After the walk we had suckling pig for lunch (an Ubud specialty). The restaurant had birds that loved to be pet and hand fed corn. Then we ventured over to the monkey forest because we had such a great time last trip. And for some reason we couldn’t replicate it. C got peed on by a monkey and was EXTREMELY calm about the whole thing and 2 monkeys fought on top of L. So after these 2 incidents we were ready to leave. Goodbye monkey forest! We were all ready for a dip in the pool after a long hot day.
Next day was touring Bendugal. First stop was a quick picturesque view of a lovely rice field that wasn’t surrounded by tourists! Next stop was Bali Treetops. At first we weren’t going to do it since X didn’t meet the height limit, but decided to go ahead and let me and C try it. And boy did we have fun! The air was good and the weather was perfect. We felt like monkeys. Haha. There are different levels on degrees of difficulty. Also on height. C was only able to do the yellow and green course. Yellow was only for kids so they could get a feel for everything. The height of it was close to the ground so if you needed to help or if anything happened where they fell, they really wouldn’t break any bones. Well that’s what I’m telling myself. So once he did the yellow course, C and I did the green course together. Yeah. This wasn’t as low to the ground as the yellow course. At first C did the obstacles then I would follow. But had to switch once we did the zip lines since I helped him harness himself. Just in case. There was once obstacle that I really thought he was going to need help but he ended up finishing that obstacle with some shouting support from us. I wish I could have done more courses, but L and X looked really restless waiting for me to finish the orange course. So I took one for the team and quit early. Ha. I’ll have to come back to finish the red and black courses! Afterwards we went to this awesome restaurant where we sat in a little hut near the water. They gave us food to feed the fish. The place even had a cute little playground for the kids too where they practiced playing the tingklik. I think that was their favorite instrument here especially when the guys at Komaneka let them play it! Food was very tasty too. The final stop for the day was at the Taman Ayun Temple.
After a really long day and a long drive the other day, we stayed very close to Ubud. Saw a performance about good vs evil. Kids were glued to the whole thing. I didn’t expect there to be comedy in it as well which made the whole thing enjoyable. Afterwards we saw how batik was made as well as how silver jewelry was made. We were going to see how stone was carved, but kids got antsy so we went to get some delicious lunch. This place, Bebek Teba Sari Restro, was known for their ribs so the boys got that and I stuck to my favorite dish here – duck. Funny enough, I hated duck in the US. But in Asia it’s a totally different ballgame. The way they cook it is amazing. We were going to see the chocolate factory but it was closed for several days due to special guests. Guess it wasn’t us. I wanted to shop and the boys wanted to swim. So I was dropped off at the Ubud market and the boys went swimming. Score for both teams!
Today we were supposed to go see the waterfall and the butterfly garden. We opted not to go to the butterfly garden because we spent the WHOLE morning at the Tegenungan waterfall. We brought the bathing suits for the kids and they couldn’t get enough. They collected sticks, threw rocks (yes, yes, we let them), played in the little amount of sand that they had and really enjoyed themselves. After watching them play for easily an hour, this day was won over by the kids. We took in the scenery and people watched. Lots of honeymooners and backpackers! I think we only saw 4 kids in the 1+hours we were there. Had a great lunch again afterwards.
Last day of our holiday was Sunday. We were all so tired (except for the kids) so we decided to go to the coffee plantation first. We walked through the front where they had a lot of different plants and Ari told us what each and every type was. Strolled by a couple sleeping civet cats too and they had a display of what the beans looks like on the poop and what the beans look like after cleaning. And we were about to drink it. We got a sampler tray of the different coffees and teas they offer at the plantation. But you had to pay for the luwak coffee. 50,000 IDR which was a little less than 4 USD. Coffee was served black with a lot of grinds on the bottom. As a coffee drinker, I personally don’t like grinds in my coffee. First sip was a bit bitter. Second sip I could taste the roast. The rest was just trying to get caffeine in my system. I can say I’ve tried luwak coffee – been there done that. I prefer my American coffee. It’s what you’re used to. But what stole our taste buds was the mangosteen tea! I never had a full glass because X kept drinking them all. So here we are buying boxes of this stuff. Then we went to Titra Empul Temple that was very sacred to the locals. It’s a temple that has spring water. According to Hinduism, water is essential for purifying your body. Especially water straight from the earth. Going on a Sunday was also a sacred day. People drove from very far away to cleans themselves and they waited so patiently when they had to wait for their turn at the water spout! Coming from China it’s seriously sink or swim mentality. Coming to this temple was so gratifying to see – so many people but no pushing, it was quiet and you felt a sense of calmness. I was floored. The kids fed the huge koi fish before we left the temple. All the calmness that I felt quickly evaporated as we left the temple. There were stalls upon stalls of vendors that weren’t shy. At. All. After going through the maze of overzealous vendors we left to have lunch with a view of the volcano. The view was excellent before the clouds hid the volcano, but I wouldn’t write home about the food. It was like going to a bad Chinese buffet. In the US. I just wish I took a picture of the volcano before the clouds rolled in!! Last stop was going to see tegalalang rice field but little guy fell asleep so we saw it from the car. L really wanted some Bali music but we were all so tired from our day but Ari insisted we stop to get L some music. So he parked at the store while we stayed in the car and he got him some CDs. Thanks so much Ari! Listening to them as I type to get me back in the Bali mood. We finished off the night with a dip in the pool and room service. I didn’t want to sleep so I could keep enjoying the vacation.
And off we were. Back to the airport. This vacation was phenomenal after the last 2 Asian vacations. Gives us hope for the future!!! Ari you were awesome once again. Thanks for opening up your home to us. We hope to see you all again soon!
