Bali 13 nov to 22 Nov 2008

So we took 10 a.m flight from Jakarta to Denpasar. We are aware of the alert situation on the newspaper following the execution of the bomber from the bali terrorist attacked. But Thanks God Bali is calm and peaceful as usual.
Arrived in Denpasar at 2 local time ( one hour different from Jakarta time or same as M'sia time) We'd decided to stay in the same Villa like our bali 2007 vacation. Villa Puri Ayu in Sanur Area. Sanur is more quiet than Kuta but still not that far from Kuta. We choose to stay in 2 bedrooms apartment this time. We love to have kitchen when we travel with kids and the villa has the private garden and gazebo too. Some people like to stay in the hotel room with balcony. But with stroller and sandy slippers from the beach, seashells that they will collect, I would really prefer to keep the dirt out of the room.

The living room area. Too bad we didn't take photo of the garden and gazebo

The kitchen, nice to have when you travell with young kids. So we can prepare a simple meal.
The villa puri ayu pool.

Anyway the choice are endless in Bali. Depends on your budget and style. There is the highest end villas, 5 stars hotels or resorts, backpacker motels, and so on. The favorite area can be : Kuta , Sanur, Jimbaran, Seminyak, Legian beach, or the lush Nusa Dua area. But that is not it...there are north beach , Lovina, where you can go by the boat before dawn to watch wild dolphins on the sea welcoming the sunrise.

Since we 've been too most of the touristic spots last time ( this is our 3 rd time and Indy and Maya second trip to Bali) , so we want to keep it simple and easy for us. No touristic spot this time to visit. If you never been to Bali , there are a lot of things to do from art and dance perfomances,silver jewerlly shopping, furniture or wooden art shopping, of course clothing , there are many stores selling the most affordable clothing to the luxurious batik boutique ( try Seminyak area), the nicest and must see places are: of course the Tanah Lot,Ubud, Uluwatu, Danau Bedugul, Kintamani, also the capital of Bali, the city of Denpasar and there are many more other places in Bali such as Lovina, Nusa Penida , Nusa Lembongan ( by cruise) etc

Bali is such a great place for everyone. You can do bungee jumping, do many of watersports, take a cruise , go on submarine or go to WaterBom water park ( a big bummer for Indy as the Waterbom closed for renovation while we were there), you can go river rafting , go to Safari ,swim with dolphin like we did, and it is SOO MUCH FUN and WORTH IT!!! Talking about dolphins , these dolphins ( that we swim with ) also can do therapy for autistic children . In the Melka hotel they also have a mini zoo with other animals such as kangaroo, monkeys , deer, and you can also let the kid to do horseback riding, Indy is a horse lover and sure she wont miss every chance she got to ride a horse.

On the Dolphins note : Sure one of my favorite animals is dolphin , They are just amazing and so intelligent . I watch many times the dolphins shows since I was a kid, touched it too, but I must tell to be able to swim with it in the swimming pool is one of my dream came true. The dolphins are actually quacks like a duck hahaa and it was fun, Maya said to me , DUCK DUCK . I said no there is no duck and then she said FISH!!! BIG FISH when she saw the dolphin in the pool. I told her that is a dolphin. Do you want to swim with the dolphin? She didn't look quiet convince ahhaha.... it is big and weight almost 200 kg. There are certain rules that you must follow to swim with dolphins. And I can tell you , the eyes of the dolphin speaks a thousand words!! It has the most expressive eyes. And we all know why because it is mammals . And they are so communicative and playful too. The trainers told us that they can be stressed , nervous just like human. And when we were just arrive, I took Indy and Maya to approached the pool and guess what? The dolphin know that we were there and she ( the female one) start to swim fast around the pool and make a jump out of water to make a big spash, and then with her tail up she waves to us. And this is not during the show!!! And then she stared at Maya for a minutes and wow you can really see the eyes are just so friendly. And Maya stood still and keep looking at the dolphins. And then with Indy , The female dolphin did the same , but this time she even jump out the pool and stay there to look at Indy at a neared distance before she jumped back to the pool again , and keep starting at her , while Indy talked to the dolphin , like halo....hi dolphin! I will swim with you soon!!! I love you....

Can you see the eyes? it was amazing! Maya was so taken by it.

And Indy officialy announce she is in love with dolphins, and list down : Dolphin trainer as one of her dream job ( beside baker, or open a hotel for dogs ). I think it is good for her to see more proffesion that she can do when is grow up.
Gently touch Indy's legs

And clearly the dolphin loves Indy too. She keeps swimming toward Indy, play with her feets, go under her . Me and my dh were soo jealous as for us we must swim to the dolphin but the dolphin keep swimming to Indy !
See what I mean? The dolphin was like playing peak a boo with her! Even kissed her on her cheek!

Another place that is great to visit for kid is sure Waterbom bali. We went there last time and Indy loves it soo much but too bad it was closed for 2 weeks . So we went to Safari and Marine park and it was great. I am a fan of Taman Safari Indonesia in Cisarua Bogor. Indy always must go there when we went back to Jakarta. So this time , it is great to be able to see the animals again but in a different way. In TSI Cisarua we can go in the safari with our own car and feel the zebra, deer, camel from our own car. But in Bali we must go on in their bus. And there is the guide, and the journey last about 30 minutes and we can see the animals right outside our bus walking, running or sleeping ( no cages). And then you can take photos with tiger, orang utan, elephant, and so on. We did this in TSI Cisarua so we skip all that. When we visited The Safari and Marine Park, Maya was not feeling so well. Poor girl , she was having a fever. But still excited too see all the animals . Then Indy and My dh went to camel ride. They did not ride on the elephant this time as they did it last time. Indy practicaly wanted to ride on every animals she could. Camel, Elephant, and of course the pony.

Waiting for the bus to enter the safari adventure


The screaming Maya at the Safari and Marine Park, Gianyar. Bali

No no... it is not silver pomfret! It is the man eater PIRANHA !

There were big fish on the back but can't really see from this pic


Some of animals that you can spot from the journey :
RhinoVery beautiful but sleepy White Tiger

The hip-o
One of my favorite animal The Tiger. They are so magnificent from near.
My other favorite animal ? ORANG UTAN!!!!!


Koo Kooo
Remind me of my girls when they are sleeping :)

Camel Ride

Didn't take much photo with animals since we had photo with some of it last time.
She ride on the elephant back 2 years before

But she never feed a baby elephant that near before! This is her first time.

The good thing here, beside Safari , there are also the fun park with all the rides for kids and adults ! And there is also the Water Park with all the slides. Since we cant go to Waterbom so this will just heal the wound.... And Maya love the slides so much but too bad we much limit her time in the water as she was not well that day.

While we were in Bali, my sister was also there for bussines trip. So we managed to have dinner with her and her friends and the famous BEBEK BENGIL in Ubud area. And also we tried the Italian cafe in Seminyak area.

Maya feasting on her Kahlua cake. I think she was a bit drunk afterward! LOL

Us at Warung Italia, Seminyak

My childhood memory of Bali includes hair braids!!!! And of course for Indy too!

Do you like the result? She also had the pedicure here by the beach!
It was a treat for her as she was sick and not allowed to hit the pool or beach that day.

While cie cie was having her treat. I must entertainted Maya...

Overall that was it. Some other times we just take it easy and relaxing at the villa, swim 2x a day. Have a walk on the beach , Indy and my dh collect seashells so they got busy every afternoon try to add their collection.

Is it Lembu, Kerbau, Sapi? or Cow?

Along Sanur beach..

Early morning walk in Sanur
Body lulur in our room


Followed by flowers bath. She said she feels like a princess.

And of course that included daily fights



But at some other times they act quite nice to each other like during this trip with the glass bottom boat.

We flew back to Jakarta after 9 nights in Bali and my dh went back to KK to go back to work, While me and the girls will stay in Jakarta for another 11 days .
To be continue.....

Vacation Jakarta Bali 2008

So Finally I got the time to blog about our family vacation in Indonesia.
My intention is to share about vacation with kids. Share tips on Bali, some children friendly places, activities and so on.
Hopefully you will find something useful :)

We took Airasia this time, direct from Kota Kinabalu to Jakarta. The journey took about 3 hours . It is much easier that to take other airlines as it must stop in KL or Singapore or Brunei for transit . The downside of the AA flight to Jakarta is the late timing. It leaves at about 9 pm and reach Jakarta at midnight or 1 am Malaysia Time.

We stayed for 2 nights in Jakarta before we flew to Bali. Jakarta - Bali flight takes about 1 hours and 30 mins. We meet my family, had dinner together and visiting some relatives.

We also visited the lastest high end mall in Jakarta. Jakarta has many great malls and shopping centers. It is good but sometimes there are no other activities except malls and malls and malls and kids there are normal to be Children of the mall. One thing that I 'd like to share is a great place for children Kidzania . I will make one post on this later on. Indy had a blast there and sure if we go to Jakarta again , this is the place she wants to re visit.

Jakarta the CBD , taken from my sis's apartemen in Semanggi Area

One Pacific Place, the latest high end mall in Jakarta. Above the mall is the Ritz Carlton Hotel. And there is Kemcik supermarket that sell the best imported stuffs and meats in town. My dh wanted to cry when he saw the selection of premium meet and sausages and the cakes .

There are many big amusement center and it is hard for Indy to resist.

One of my favorite photo. My dh with my mom ! It is great to see my mom again after 2 years and she is excited to meet Indy and Maya.

One thing they can't miss. To take shower in my parent's house. They love it!
Yay I am in Jakarta now!

My lil brother and his pregnant wife , family friends

My old mand and dh

Just before we left for our holiday Maya was sick , she vomited and had diarrhea . And she was still on medication when we left. So during the traveling and while we are in Bali , she was still not yet 100 % Fully recover. Indy also catched a bad cough. During holiday and traveling I always pack some basic medications with me like Paracetamol, cough syrup, inhaler and ventolin for bad cough , cold syrup.

Other notes that parents that want to travel with young kid or toddler must note , don't expect too much from your kid. And don't be too worry if their eating pattern, sleeping pattern, appetite and behavior change during this time. Take it easy and relax. Me and my husband agree that children won't stop us from traveling , of course we will have different itinerary compare to those who travel without children. Don't even dream to have a quiet romantic dinner, or a relax sunbathing by the swimming pool or sea or reading your favorite books while you are having a full body massage or full day at the spa . Most of the time your itinerary would be: running after your kids to prevent them jumping into swimming pool or fish pond, eating your meals ( breakfast , lunch , dinner) in rush as you need to drag your screaming toddler from disturbing other or climb on table, chairs, or stairscase. You must have a super sharp eyes to spot a nice thing to buy as you only will have 5 second to decide what to buy, what color, what size, and haggling for price while your toddler /kid try to run away with some chocolate/sweet /ice cream from the next store. But that doesn't mean we will not enjoy it, we will be tired for sure but they children will learn a lot from the experience and with a bit of creativity we can still can have a massage ( we called the masseuse to our villa after the kids are a sleep )
And be a BAD MOM during the vacation can help you also. Me? I gave sweets and chocolate or chips when I need them to be quiet ( during queing for check in in the airport, waiting for imigration, or in the long driving journey) . Dont't even think ,that a steam carrot or green beans, or an apple will do the trick for my kids during this time. I promised to my self as soon as we go back home I will cut all those treats , mean while....I do what I had to do for my sanity sake....

to be continue

The best 20 mins in our life

See the pictures and you will know why







more pics coming soon and some are in my facebook