Safari Park

Today is safari trip. Not much my cuppa tea. But we had enough water activity and we are absolutely avoiding pura visits, the kids loathe them.

Bali Safari and Marine Park. 

We saw a bit more than in Korea and Singapore safaris. Particularly the elephants. You can do elephant rides,(we didn't do), at additional fee.. exhorbitant.. but the biggest turn off is the smell ..my god..does it smell..the elephant lair stinks to high heaven...pening kepala...lari masuk kedai souvenier!

But strangely at this show, there's no smell. Maybe due to the water around the stage.

Water Rafting

I am excited for today. We're going for some physical challenge activity. Water rafting in Bali. I hope it isn't too tough. I hope it's wild at the same time. Enough to pump adrenalin and to remember it as one of the best experience we've had together.

The place is Ayong Jeram, about 2 hours drive from where we stay.

At the starting point, we are handed over to our carer/raft captain.
He suit us up with life jackets, helmet and hand us each a paddle.

And off we go. Behind the station, is the path down the jungle towards the river, passing by paddy field. About 15 min walk downhill although it feels like hours. Mom-in-law stayed behind with the chauffeur and our bags.

The excitement grows when we're nearing and hear the sound of the river. Some tourists are already down there roaring.

We got a dainty little raft. Doesn't look sturdy, does it?

Daughter and I kind of a bit scared at this point but we tough it out. Excitement exceeds fear at any rate. We are ready to rumble.

Belum lagi apa-apa ni. Belum start. Tapi macam 'kemenangan' sudah konon..

paling manang !

Into the boat..paddle forward.. and stop..

..paddle again...and.........................

wooossssshhhhhhhh !!!!! woohooo!!!!

About 2 hours of this (total 14km). 

Halfway we meet a waterfall.

Inilah part paling best. Mandi air terjun.

When it isn't rocky and the water calm, we jump out the boat for a swim or pull over at the bank for photos.

The water is cold.

We have to climb back up the hill at the finishing point. After shower and change, there's free lunch buffet at the sawah bendang restaurant hut.

Awesome. Definitely exceeding expectation. 

Ini penanda aras kami yang terbaik setakat percutian ni. Betulkah penggunaan ayat tu? :D

La Dolce Villa

The sun shines bright today, thank God.

We checked out from our hotel in Kuta and moved to Seminyak, just to experience a different area. Here , we checked in to a beautiful villa. All the villas are beautiful here. Ala tropical heaven romantic-honeymoon-set palace.

La Dolce Villa. 

It’s a bit secluded, away from the noisy street shops and hawkers. Situated within a cluster of villas at Gang Baik-Baik area.

We were greeted by the villa manager, a French lady, Ms Sandrine. She speak a little Bahasa Indonesia having lived in Bali for 3 years. She handed us the keys, a local cellphone , assigned us some helpers and that was it. She said she wont bother us at all until we leave unless we contact her.

We contacted once to complain the non-functioning aircon in the boys room and the microwave oven that trip the power when switched on. She sent men to fix it the same day. Other than that, we were plain sailing. 

We love that the villa has WiFi. The living room has DVD and CD player. The kitchen is well equipped and well stocked. Gallons of purified drinking water provided. Bath towels aplenty. Also top marks for quality mosquito nets and efficient room design. We didn’t get mosquitos.  Last time when we stayed at another villa, the mosquitos were such nuisance. Though we reported to the management and they 'treat' the area, the mosquitos still there and if I'd dare say it actually got worst. In the end we had to buy aerosol and used it vigorously every night. 

After dropping our luggage and briefly admiring the rooms, we went out to stock up some more groceries. Sandrine only provided western diet, we need to buy rice and onions. (I'm happy I didn't forget to bring along perencah and some canned food).

Our guide tried to squeeze in some sightseeing (to make a full day ride) before returning us back to the villa. The kids however having seen the pool, were restless and itchy to skip the tour and back to the house. (lepas ni pi mana..lepas ni pi mana..balik?). We got as far as Nusa Dua (a private beach) and Padang-Padang (another beach where Julia Robert filmed Eat,Pray,Love) before relenting and told the guide Tak apalah pak..kami mau balik saja..

Back in the house, kids + pool = craziness. Not coming out of the water until past 8pm.

And then, home cooked meal for supper. Love.

Waterbom is da bomb

The kids came back from the water park very happy and excited. The park was so much fun. The dad maybe less so since he accidentally got his iphone in the water and spent hours drying it with hairdryer with little success. Oh dear.

Bali Again

Air Asia opened its KK-Bali starting July and hubs thought it perfect for a group family holiday. He got us on November trip after the school hols and asked me to campaign for the others to join. What he and I overlooked was, there were still major exams to be sat by our nieces (his included), until end of November. Bummer. No one could join us.

I was then a bit sceptical about how the children were going to like the trip. The last trip in April, (sans kids), we enjoyed the beach, the busy street , the heavenly massage experience, some scenery out of town and the villa where we stayed.  I doubt the kids enjoy the same thing, save maybe the villa. So here’s what we planned- repeat the villa and  mix in some fun day outings specifically for the kids. We were strongly recommended by the guide to try Waterbom, a water park at Kuta. Nobody been there and not enjoy it even if they’re not into water. He also recommended safari park, dolphins watching, turtle island, snorkelling, water walking, water rafting, ..among others. We were staying 7 nights so we chose 2 more activites beside Waterbom and settled for water rafting and safari park. 

The first day we arrived it drizzled. Same as back home, year end is the wet season, musim tengkujuh.The kids spent the day at Waterbom with their dad, while I took mom-in-law to the mall to escape the rain. She got some shopping done at Batik Keris. I showed her the beach behind Discovery Mall when the rain stopped. I always love the boardwalk. There are sceneries and surroundings that never quite captured into still photos with the same effect.

It rained again some after we got back to the hotel and steadily grew heavier through the night. Oh-oh. Is this going to be a ruined holiday?.

The Sun Island Hotel at Kuta.

The guide

We got 3 guides. One from KK, travelling with us , and another 2 in Korea.

The Korean guides. His name is Kim Jong Sin, alias Sam. He is a proud Korean. Very keen about promoting Korean history and singing praise of all its achievements. Top in technology, great in sports, made the final in World Cup, etc. He takes pride in his name too, Kim, which is the most prominent surname in Korea. Their premier is named Kim. He's a diligent guide and knows a great deal. Sometimes, kami nda minat dengar cerita dia yang very detail, tapi kami nda sampai hati. Jadi kami buat-buat kusyuk. Dalam bas, dia suka buat joke. Nda berapa funny. Tapi kami ketawa  ia-ia.

On the final day he saw us to the airport, up to the boarding gate, ensuring we were all safe leaving the country. (ok, he possibly couldn't wait to get rid of us). We were moved. He was a caring man.

He was aided by a young man. A fine looking university student doing part time with the tourism. His name, I can't recall his real name, but he is called Rain, for the resemblance with the actor, Rain. Does he ?

Apa lagi nieces kami, minta puji ni kalau ada si Rain, control.

He did the running around, counting heads in the bus, searching the late ones, helped the restaurant to serve us, buying entrance tickets, etc. He is a hardworker. They have excellent work ethics here.
Kesimpulannya - Top marks for guides.

Ok, guess that's all about our trip. Have a nice week.

K Food

Still on Korea. The food.

For breakfast, except the first day when we got udon mee, most days we got American breakfast at the hotel. We stayed at four different hotels.

First encounter with udon mee.

 Second day at Daemyung Resort Hotel.

 Third day at Windsor Hotel. Here you put away your own dirty dishes. There are 3 bins provided, one for fork&spoon, one for plastic cups and another for leftover food.

 Fourth day at Secret Hotel. Can you see the container infront of me? My sister's kuih makmur, all the way from KK. She brought makmur and tat nenas, apart from sambal udang.

Fifth day at Twobin Hotel. We stayed 2 nights here. Last hotel before leaving Korea.

Lunch and dinner, pretty much the same - seafood steamboat. Day after day.

 First day lunch at Naminara wharf. We were a bit excited to be sitting on the floor. The fish didn't look appetising but you'd be surprised, it was quite tasty. It's like oven-baked to perfection and no fishy smell. The small bowl of rice was actually a lot and we found out that the rice here is very filling, glutinousy like. No steamboat yet this time, we got vegetable soup instead.

They saved the steamboat for dinner.

First day dinner, a huge steamboat of seafood. The crab weren't that fresh. Tasted like it had been frozen for years.

 Our second day lunch. See the siut decorating the walls. This restaurant is totally seafood. Today's menu is pollack soup and grilled sardine fish. Pollack is a popular fish here. Always made into soup. But the soup contained very little fish meat , instead a lot of tauhu added. Ceh..complain..

Exterior of the restaurant. The hanged potraits are owners of the restaurant. The young man is the current owner, I'm guessing this is a family business.

Second day dinner at Sky Bar restaurant. Yeah, steamboat again. Today, there's a strange side dish. Among usual kimchi and blanched sprout, a spoonfull of potato salad. Motif, kombinasi?

Third day, we had lunch at the theme park. Fastfood. But for dinner, we went to a secret passageway.

 Behind this building, Korea Freedom Federation, there's an underground restaurant. Upstairs, there's shops selling souveneirs. Strange location.

 We brought our canned food every meal times now. Sambal ikan bilis, kari ayam, etc. to compensate the repeat menu.

 Fourth day lunch. I'm so ready for a different food. I'm getting sick of K-soup.

 So for dinner, the guide got us bibimbap. A claypot of rice mixed with vege on a hotplate. This is nice. A bit like fried rice. The unavoidable soup was served along too. My nieces can survive here in Korea. They could still enjoy the soup.

 Fifth day lunch, we're having buffet spread. Yeay!
The shabu-shabu (buffet) are just like elsewhere. There's rice, fried noodles, salad, sushi, cakes, icecream , coffee, juice, fruits. The little local cakes were yummy.

 Steamboat still there. We have become expert at heating our canned food at the stove without spilling.

 This was our last dinner, the fifth day. A muslim pakistani restaurant, Evergreen.
Quite a posh restaurant. We had ordered additonal meat dish, chicken masala and mutton curry. Nice.

Last lunch on the 6th day before heading to airport. Same old - steamboat and kimchi.
I couldn't stomach it anymore. I survived on biscuits and chips the whole day.