This was to be our main summer holiday - we've got 8 long weeks of it and a whole continent to explore - and after hours of research and bookings, we arranged 3 nights at a small hotel near(ish) to Ubud in the hills followed a week in a private, staffed villa near the sea.
The hotel, which was recommended by friends, was surrounded by palm trees and padi fields, with fabulous views and was stunning in all respects, with the exception of the food. Breakfast was OK, but after that it went dramatically downhill. The hotel was in a quiet village in the "real" Bali so unfortunately, we were captive as there were no other food options.
They provided a twice daily shuttle bus to Ubud which we took each day to go sightseeing, have lunch and shop and the late afternoons were spent back at the pool. In the evening, we used the spa concluded that masseuse there must be the lady with the strongest fingers in the whole of Bali. Ouch. But she was good!
On the final day we did find another restaurant locally where we had a lovely dinner and at a fraction of the price– if only we have known earlier.
Ketut, the driver from our villa, collected us from the hotel and proudly announced that he spoke "a little English". A little turned out to be correct. As we drove off, David couldn't strap Hannah in as the seat belt was broken.
"Ask him for a screw driver so I can free it up" said David.
I felt this request was a little optimistic and this view was quickly confirmed when the reply came "We go to Denpassar then to Canggu" - our route.
After some attempts at explanations and sign language that would have won no points in a game of charades, he pulled over and tied a sort of granny knot in the belt, saying “no problem”, but then did continue to drive to the villa at a snail’s pace.
The villa was vast and our Master bedroom and en-suite alone could easily have swallowed our entire apartment in Singapore. Both Adam and Hannah each had their own en-suite king size doubles and complained that they got lost in the beds as they were too big.
Ketut was our driver for the rest of the week and his bold claim to speak a little English (which we estimated at perhaps a couple of hundred words or so) soon turned into an apology for not being a good guide. The language barrier resulted in us taking 3 hours to get to an Elephant Park. He insisted it was at the Marine Park and we must have been only minutes from the Marine Park entrance before the penny finally dropped and we then took a sharp left turn to cover the same distance again but in an entirely different direction.
It was the Elephant Park that provided David's new claim to fame and name dropping opportunity. We took elephant rides into the jungle while the mahouts (elephant handlers) chatted as much as their English allowed, pointing out plants and giant spiders etc. It transpired that the elephant that David and Hannah rode (called Arume) was the very same elephant that David Beckham, Victoria and Brooklyn rode on their visit to Bali. Now how many people can claim to have ridden the same elephant as the Beckhams? (And how many elephants can claim to have had 2 Davids on their backs?)
Remarkably, after our epic journey to the elephant park, it then took only 1½ hours to get back.
During our time at the villa it was Adam's birthday - he is now 9.
He chose our day out which comprised a traditional Balinese dancing show, followed by visits to see silversmiths, woodcarvers and weavers in action. Then off to a volcano for lunch. The old caldera was enormous and a road runs round some of it. We had lunch in a restaurant perched on the edge with fantastic views (another buffet, so Adam was able to eat until he was suitably stuffed). Inside the enormous crater was a lake and a smaller cone of a volcano that last erupted 14 years ago and much of the hillside is still black from the lava. On our return, we visited a coffee and spice plantation and another temple, then back for a birthday dinner.
The staff bought a lovely cake and even got him a card.
We saw quite a bit of Bali, including various temples and stunning, coal black beaches and also succeeded in filling an extra suitcase with shopping. On this last point, our driver proved very helpful indeed, teaching us the Indonesian for “I have no money” (an unlikely state of affairs to the local’s ears) and "I'm not going to buy", the latter proving very useful when badgered by the numerous hawkers as it actually worked!
Bali was beautiful, but - er, well, a bit chilly. We didn't take enough (for enough, read “any”) warm clothes, because we thought it would be hot, like Singapore. It is not far away, after all and is only a little south of the equator, but it was probably in the low 20s. For us, now fairly acclimatised to 30 plus, we found it too cool to eat outside most evenings. But, for a week, we didn't cook or wash-up and that was a treat.
Now we're back in Singapore, some of the relaxation benefits having been lost due to our midnight flight being delayed to 2am so that we finally got to bed at 5am. But we're back to the heat and I've finally caught up with 10 days worth of laundry (does it ever stop?).
We're now half way through our 8 weeks school holiday and next week , the are children doing a tennis coaching course, so we'll see what adventures that brings.
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