We finished our school year December 14 and had just four days to finalize packing for our trip, cleaning and organizing and packing away some items at our house, and shopping for last-minute items. It was a tumultuous four days and somehow, we managed to get almost everything done. I forgot to order contact lenses for the year, so, that’s going to be interesting. Other than that oversight (pun intended) we got ourselves to the airport and made our way to Bali, where our family would be waiting for us.
Bali is a popular tourist destination and is one of the thousands of islands that make up Indonesia. For us Perthians, it’s a short four hour flight and the reason so many of West Australians make Bali a prime holiday location. It’s cheap for us, it’s exotic, it’s off one island and to another. Bali has a lot to offer as does it’s island neighbour Lombok. For us this time, it was mostly about seeing family.
As Callum’s family all live in different parts of Australia, we decided to meet in Bali to have a family holiday and reconnect. It was so lovely to see my in-laws again, as well as brother and sister-in-law and of course, our niece. It was actually the first time we had all been together, all seven of us, since Alex and Chantal’s wedding in 2016 when of course it was only six of us.
We stayed in Seminyak, a less hectic part near the capital and rented a villa with four bedrooms, with an open-air style and a splashy pool suitable for our niece and also ourselves, Bali being very hot and humid.
We mostly just hung out and relaxed, though Callum and I did one day trip which was seamlessly organized by us via a Whatsapp conversation with Alex and Chantal’s driver. I basically gave him a few keywords and he put together a day-tour. We went to see the Taman Ayun Temple which was serene and peaceful, being early in the morning with few visitors while we were there. We walked the perimeter slowly and appreciatively. I couldn’t take many photos with my camera, as the humidity fogged up my lens! Most of my pictures in Bali are from my phone.
Next we went to see the Leke Leke Waterfall, which was a 15-20 minute walk down many steps and through the jungle before coming upon a soothingly cool spray of water. The walk back was very sweaty and we earned a juice and a break at the top.
From there we went to a ‘coffee plantation’ which was just a roadside attraction with a civet (a cat-badger like animal) on display named Rocky. The thing to do here is to try the Luwak coffee which is the coffee made from digested coffee beans and pooped out of this animal. It is considered a delicacy by some, a gimmick by others. We thought it tasted like normal espresso and that it was good! Thankfully our small cup only set us back about $6 AUD. We were also treated to several types of other coffees and teas and a little snack which was all free for us to try.
After this experience, we went to the Ulun Danu Temple which to us seemed like a Disneyland temple with rides, snacks, and lots of children running around. There were spots where you could rent a traditional Balinese costume as a family and pose for pictures at one of the several ‘photo-opportunities’ along the water. It seemed very kitschy to us. The parts that are on the water are the best looking. We spent a short amount of time here because it seemed too much like a tourist place rather than somewhere meaningful. I learned more about it just now, googling than I did when I was there. It’s apparently a tribute to the goddess Danu, Danu meaning “lake” in Balinese.
Next we went to the Jatiluwih Rice Terraces. This was a really nice place to have lunch and enjoy the view. We took our time with our food and then went down into the rice fields to take some pictures.
Our last stop of the day was the Tanah Lot Temple which is on a rock in the ocean. When the tide is high it is inaccessible. We enjoyed searching for the best view of it but did not enjoy constantly having to tell people that we didn’t want to buy whatever it was they were selling. That is the downside of visiting Bali, to be honest—constantly saying ‘no, thank you’ to every other person.
We had quite a full day that involved temples, nature, food and drink, and people watching, our favourite activity. The drive home was absolutely bonkers after all this sight-seeing. We were stuck in traffic for two hours when the drive back to our villa should have taken about 45 minutes.
Overall, I’m glad we took the day to do this, as some of our family was sick all day anyway, so it isn’t like we missed out on quality time with them. Unfortunately, the next day even more of us were sick for the whole day, which was raining. Bali in December is hit or miss, as it turns out. It is the high tourist season, but also the wet season.
On our last morning, we rallied to take some family snaps. It is important to record that we were all together.
Travel Bugs 