Bali Love

 

A lovely long weekend away in Bali. Although super crazy and busy everywhere, we felt like we were able to get off the beaten track a little bit and see the “true” Bali before tourists. Our first real trip as a family of 4 without the help of grandparents, and we all survived reasonably well!

Honestly, we weren’t sure about even going to Bali. I know, I know, everyone in the US goes “oohhhhh, Bali!” when they hear about it, but why is that exactly? I’m not sure that anyone in the US knows details, just that it’s supposed to be super exotic. When we arrived in Singapore we heard mixed reports about Bali: some loved it, some weren’t huge fans. As we started to research it and look at actual photos of the beaches, we quickly realized the beach was NOT what we wanted to do on this trip. There are a handful of super nice beaches on the island, but most are overrun with trash and debris, and nothing compared to the water in Rawa. So, we decided to head to Ubud instead, about 1-1.5 hours north of the main beach area. We knew this was also going to be busy and somewhat touristy, but we felt we could see some of the natural beauty and culture of Bali. And that we did!

We arrived late a night and were immediately inundated with the crazy traffic and people everywhere. I'd read that it wasn't recommended to drive on your own, but I kind of thought that was an exaggeration like most things you read online. I'd say it was pretty accurate on this one. Think cars 4 across in 2 lanes on the road, scooters zipping in and out of these cars (there are a bazillion scooters on Bali), cars randomly stopped in the road, people swerving around them, and just all around craziness. Thankfully, we had a driver that got us to our villa safe and sound (all while the girls slept in back).

  

 

Ubud was equally crazy with traffic and scooters, and often times what should have been a 5-10 minute drive was a 20-30 minute drive just because there's so many people around. This meant Ubud was pretty crazy, and it was even hard to cross the street on foot sometimes! Thankfully, we found a villa just a little bit outside of the city on a rice paddy, which meant we got to enjoy lots of peace and quiet despite the craziness nearby. It also allowed us to see some of the more "traditional" Bali, as this was an active rice paddy, with people working in it every day. The village nearby was very agricultural. It was the perfect spot to enjoy breakfasts, evenings, and sunsets. Oh, and some pretty awesome swims in the infinity pool.

 

On our first day in Bali we decided we should walk through the rice paddies to Ubud and Monkey Forest. We hadn't yet been into Ubud yet, so we didn't realize how crazy or how far it would be (our villa host took us to the start of the rice paddy walk, but somehow we ended up making the walk much farther than just starting at the villa itself). It was hot, and given we were carrying both kids, we were pretty tired by the time we got to Ubud. It was fun to walk around, and a good first introduction to Ubud, though. Later in the trip we walked through a nearby rice paddy at sunset, much more enjoyable!

 

Monkey Forest is just what it sounds like, tons of monkeys in a forest. It's become super touristy, and some of the monkeys are pretty courageous, but it's a good way to see them up close and personal. They're fed by the staff, so most of the ones we saw were enjoying corn and sweet potatoes. One jumping on Nick and stole a wipe of the diaper bag (impressive as it was in a side pocket), and another jumped on Nick and Emmeline to check if Emmeline had anything under her hat. Emmeline wasn't a big of a fan of the monkeys as we thought she might be, even before the one jumped on her. It was more of a reserved, watch from a distance encounter for her.

 

 

Afterward, we wandered Ubud for a bit. There's always an interesting building, temple, statue, etc. at almost every turn in Ubud. Offerings are a huge deal everywhere on Bali, and you will see little offering packages on the ground, in little offering statues, or in temples. You'll often see people doing a ritual with incense and holy water with the offerings as well. I even saw a worker of a souvenir shop doing one outside the shop!

The next day we hired a driver for the whole day (which is super cheap) to take us to a few different sites. We started at Tegalalang Rice Terrace, which is the famous Instagram-worth rice terrace in Bali.  Since the girls woke up between 6 and 6:30 every day due to the early sunrise, we were able to get to the rice terrace before most of the other tourists (and the heat) set in. It really is a stunning area, and crossing over to the other side of the valley allowed us to see another valley of rice terraces. Such a beautiful area! Although carrying a baby and toddler around on the steps made for some exhausted parents--we couldn't quite convince Emmeline to do her own walking. Lots of whining involved in this outing!

 

 

 

We also stopped at Elephant Cave, which is a Hindu temple from way back in the day. We thought Emmeline might enjoy walking through the cave, but it turns out there was some huge religious festival going on and the cave part was closed off to the public. We did get to see lots of intricate food sculptures and tons and tons of people preparing food and offering items. It was pretty fascinating look into a different culture. There were also some goats, ducks, cows, etc. that we are pretty sure were going to be sacrificed later in the ceremony, but we didn't tell Emmeline that, ha!

 

  

 

 

After some rest back to the villa (and a little shopping and pedicure in town for Mom), we headed to Tegenungan Waterfall. Despite being pretty busy since it's so close to Ubud, it was beautiful and offered some great swimming for Emmeline and Nick. Corabelle and I watched, but Corabelle did dip her toes in for a little bit. A lovely way to spend the afternoon, even if it meant more carrying of kids up and down stairs for Mom and Dad. (noticing a theme here??)

 

The food in Ubud was so, so good. Since Ubud has become known as the "artsy, hippie" city, there are tons and tons of restaurants. We didn't actually eat an Indonesian food, as most of it is like Singaporean food, but we did eat some amazing meals. A delicious lunch at a local butcher, a Mexican meal (our first since moving to Asia), and a delicious local cafe up the road from our villa. All so delicious with high quality food, for $5-10 a piece. This is a lot to pay for a meal in Indonesia, but it was worth it for us (and seemed like a deal coming from Singapore!)

 

 

We spent our last half day and night in Jimbaran, which is only about 10-15 minutes south of the airport. We picked it to be close to the airport and eat a seafood dinner on the beach which we had read about. After enjoying a nice swim in the rooftop infinity pool, Emmeline and I took a short walk down the road to the beach. I had read that the beach wasn't the nicest, often with trash, but I was pleasantly surprised with how nice the beach was! No trash and super fine sand, perfect for sand castle building!

 

 

 


That night we walked down the one of the clusters of restaurants on the beach that serve fresh-caught seafood. We aren't sure it's truly freshly caught anymore, as it all feels a bit touristy, it was still an amazing setting and delicious food. It really was an experience to be sitting on the beach, watching the sun set, eating tiger prawns. Touristy or not, it was a fun experience, and we topped it off with corn on the cob from a local vendor grilling it right on hot coals in front of you. As Emmeline said, "This is the best corn on the cob I've ever had!" Not a bad way to end the trip in Bali.

 

So, would we come back to Bali? Yes! But, would we go to the "main" beach areas that we didn't go to this time and most people go to? No. Honestly, when we drove through those areas, they felt very built up and not a whole lot different than beach towns everywhere else, with Billabong and surf shops on every corner. Would we return to Ubud? We liked it, but no, probably not. It still retains a local feel even though it's very touristy. So, where would we go? The north, toward the mountains. There are some really beautiful parts of the island that are relatively undiscovered by tourists yet. And also, maybe nearby island Penida, which is also supposed to be beautiful.