Off On Our Next Adventure

Our journey from Ipoh to KL went without a hitch and we got to the airport a full three hours before our flight, which was a blissful feeling for me, given Shaun’s tendancy to push flight check-ins to the last possible minute.

After going through immigration, we found a juice/salad bar, and all ordered raw salads, which we were craving after a few weeks of cooked street food. They were delicious, and totally worth the extortionate price!

Our Air Asia flight to Denpaser was on time and a short 3 hour journey. We were so glad that we’d taken the time to do e-VOAs because it made going through immigration a breeze once we arrived in Bali. We sorted an Indonesian data sim card at the airport (expensive but less hassle than having to do it the next day), found a driver, and spent our first night at Harris Residences in Kuta, a cheap 3 star hotel.

Friends at last!

The next morning, we made our way to the Hard Rock Hotel Bali, which we’d booked months ago when we found out our friends Charlie, Harry and Xanthe were going to be there for three nights at the start of June. It was so awesome seeing friends after three weeks of it just being the four of us. We were all very happy to see each other and had a brilliant time enjoying the pool, kids’ club activities, happy hour cocktails and decadent breakfasts, lunches, and dinners.

This five star accommodation was very different to our previous cheap Airbnbs. It was so nice to take a mental break from the high alert travel mentality of always having to know exactly where the kids are at all times…the resort provided an opportunity for us all to have a bit of space. We just had to pause our strict budgeting for a couple of days!

Shaun took charge of the kids so that Charlie and I could go and enjoy a couple of spa sessions, which was absolute bliss. Balinese massage is so good! We tried one at the Hard Rock Hotel Spa, which had come free with Charlie’s room package, and one at De Nyuh Spa in Kuta, which also involved a range of other treatments including a facial, body scrub and foot massage and lasted 3 hours, all for about NZ$50 per person!

The kids really enjoyed the fun poolside challenges, and Anna was stoked to win a silver medal for ‘walking on water’ and a gold medal in the ‘Roxstars Olympics’.

On our last night, we went out for dinner to Santorini, a Greek restaurant in Kuta. The food was fantastic and we enjoyed a few drinks. We had had some cocktails at the resort, however, I hadn’t had any wine since we left NZ, so when I saw red wine on the menu, I enthusiastically ordered some. After three weeks of no drinking, the wine went straight to my head, and it was a somewhat wobbly walk home for me!

Both Shaun and I have decided to go alcohol free when it’s just us and the kids on this trip and only drink socially when we meet up with friends. This is partly to help us stick to the budget, but also to provide us with a much needed health reset. We’re finding that more than a month into the trip, neither of us are really missing it, and we’re both enjoying high levels of clarity and hydration, the latter of which is quite important in this part of the world!

We were sad to say goodbye to our lovely friends after a few short days together, but since we were both heading north to the Ubud area, we made loose plans to reconnect for visiting the Monkey Forest later in the week.

A Week at Villa Stampa

After our 5 star long weekend, we used a Grab car to get to our Airbnb accommodation about 10km north of Ubud in the small village of Patak Kaja in the Gianyar Sub-District. Villa Stampa turned out to be an absolute gem of a place and a total bargain at just over NZ$100 per night. The plan for our 7 days here was to catch up on some home school, get the budget back on track with some cheap living and self-catering, do the research and planning needed for the next month of travel and of course explore the local area.

The villa had an amazing pool with two parts, a shallow pool that flowed into a big pool, all surrounded by a lush, tropical garden that was beautifully maintained. We all had our own large comfy beds, and, best of all, the kitchen had a water filter for hot and cold water, as well as a gas oven with four hobs! Most of our Asian Airbnbs so far have had one or two hotplates, so self-catering is limited to one or two pan meals. Having an oven meant we could enjoy roasted veges and toast (toasters have also been absent in Airbnbs so far) for a bit of variety. The house came with a scooter we could use, and we borrowed another one from our hosts, who own the motorcycle shop next door to the villa.

Our Local Shopping Trip

We had brought a few basic supplies with us, but since we weren’t going into Ubud for a few days, we needed to get some groceries to make our own meals. The following morning, we went out on the scooters to check out the local shops.

It was a lot of fun checking out the local warungs and having conversations using gestures, counting on our hands, and the assistance of shop owners’ children and grandchildren who spoke some English.

We stocked up on fresh produce for the week and were amazed at how different the prices were from New Zealand…we got everything on the table for NZ$12!

For the rest of the week, we enjoyed home cooked dinners with lots of veges to improve our vitamin intake. I loved having some time in the kitchen again as I find cooking really relaxing. It was also great to have control over our own diet for a bit, because when travelling, you have to have what’s available, and that’s not always the same as what you feel like eating.

An Unusual Housemate

On our second day in the villa, this little guy appeared in the kitchen. He goes between the villa and the neighbours’ place, which are joined by a corridor. He was so cute and a very curious little fellow who was interested in seeing what we were up to. He also loved sleeping right in the corner of the kitchen by the oven, and I had to be careful not to stand on him when cooking dinner! A couple of times, I forgot about him and nudged his shell with my foot…he poked his head out, looking very sleepy and slightly disgruntled, and then nodded off again. Leo and Anna loved having him around and nicknamed him Timmy the tortoise for the rest of the week.

Homeschool

We used some time at the villa to week on blog posts and do a bit of home school. We’re not pushing this too much, as we feel they’re learning more than enough from the whole travel experience, but we’re finding that the kids quite like having set tasks and challenges to complete. It provides a bit of structure and routine.

We’re also having lots of family games and movie nights, often huddled around Leo’s laptop because we can’t figure out how to work the TV!

The Monkey Forest

We arranged to meet up with Charlie, Xanthe, and Harry on Wednesday to visit the Monkey Forest just south of Ubud. It was lovely to see them all again and explore the pathways filled with monkeys, who are considered sacred and protected.

Saying that, these are very cheeky monkeys, who steal jewellery, such as earrings from people’s ears or rings from their fingers and open people’s bags to take food or any other item that may take their fancy. Harry, Xanthe, and Charlie told us that they had seen a video circulating the day before of a Japanese woman who was accosted by a monkey opening her bag, pulling out her passport and ripping it up! Needless to say, Shaun was feeling a little concerned about carrying the bags of popcorn he had in his backpack for kids’ snacks.

After our visit (fortunately with no unpleasant monkey encounters) there were big hugs all round as we said goodbye to Charlie, Harry and Xanthe and we went to the local supermarket to buy some staples for the week. Top of the list were cheese and butter as we have really missed dairy products since we’ve been away, because it’s not really part of the Malaysian or Indonesian diet. I’m sure that’s actually been really good for us, but when you’re used to eating something every day and no longer have it, you really start to crave it. The crackers with cheese and toast with butter we had the next day tasted amazing!

A Midnight Adventure

By Shaun

My beloved West Ham Utd were playing a European final in Prague during our stay north of Ubud. West Ham had not been in a European final in my lifetime and had not won a major trophy since I was age 4!…..so there was no way I could miss this game.

Through a “Hammers around the world” Facebook page I discovered a place in Kuta that was showing the game (kick off 3am local time.)

I paid a local driver to pick me up at 10pm and drive me for nearly 2 hours to the bar, where I took no time to make friends with strangers who were also fellow West Ham fans. I had somewhat of an internet date in place with one guy from the Facebook page, but eventually, there were about 25 other fans in the pub supporting with us.

We won! I obviously made the most of a rare night of drinking, and it all turned into a bit of a bender celebrating with all my new friends with lots of singing.

The only unsavory thing occurring was the continuous approaches of flirting hookers trying to get one of us to leave with them….but they were all actually quite attractive and had a good sense of humour so I wasn’t too upset. Lol

My driver picked me up again at 9am (9 hours after dropping me off) and I got home about 11am……for the next 2 days I had absolutely no voice!

It was a very memorable night. Amelia found my husky whisper voice annoying over the next 48 hours but was impressed with how well I backed up. The pride and excitement of the win easily over took any hangover.

Taman Sari Waterfall

Later in the week, we went exploring on the scooters to find Taman Sari Waterfall, which was about 8km from where we were staying. You’ll be pleased to learn that the addition of safety measures such as helmets has enabled me to increase my speed, much to Anna’s relief. Ever since Shaun said I was danger to others going so slowly, Anna has worried that I’m going to cause an almighty pile up on an empty country road. Her joyous “Woo-hoo!” when I accelerated over 20km p/hr made me feel somewhat concerned for what her teenage driving years may bring!

Navigating our way to the waterfall included taking a very narrow, windy path through the middle of some fields and rice paddies, which twisted and turned downhill steeply. When I reached this point, much to Shaun and Leo’s amusement, Anna and I decided to get off and walk the scooter down the hill, rather than chance falling off it. Towards the bottom, I lost my grip and it tipped over and scraped my leg, which didn’t help my case of this being the safer option. I grumpily told Shaun he could ride it back up for me!

The waterfall was beautiful, with thunderous cascades of water dropping into the still pool below. We all had a swim, and Shaun and Leo managed to almost get under the main waterfall for a refreshing shower.

There is a shrine beside the waterfall, and the local people look after this place, charging a small entrance fee. They were so lovely and had inner tubes for the children to use as well.

After our refreshing late afternoon swim, we made our way back up the steps to our scooters for the journey home. Shaun and Leo took off ahead of Anna and I, who needed to wait for traffic to pass, and as we rounded the first corner, I had the sinking feeling that Shaun had missed the turn off. Remember that windy, downhill path I mentioned earlier? Well, once I reached that point and there was no sign of Leo and Shaun, I knew that I had no choice but to accelerate up the steep hill on my own, with Anna cheering me on, and we made it! I felt pleased with myself for a second and then remembered that we’d lost the boys. We drove to the end of that path and waited, hoping they’d appear.

Eventually, after about 10 minutes of waiting, Shaun and Leo appeared in the distance. I was feeling quite anxious by then, as my phone is the only phone with a data card for Indonesia and Shaun operates on roaming with his NZ number only when necessary or uses wifi, so I had no way of contacting him or vice versa. When he pulled up, he said he did go the wrong way, but then turned around and came the correct way, however when he got to the hill and found that we weren’t there waiting, he went to go back and look for us! I suggested that in future, maybe we should just stick together from the beginning instead of one of us tearing out of the carpark and driving off into the distance!

Reunited, we made our way home at sunset…you can see from the photo of Anna above how beautiful and green this area is, surrounded by acres of rice terraces.

My Haircut by Leo

The place we were staying at had a beauty salon next door and I had to get a haircut. We forgot to do it for multiple days, but on our last day, I got a haircut. I asked for a 1 all over, but the hairdresser said it would not be handsome and did not want to do it. We basically just talked to her using Google Translate, and she shaved some of my hair, but then we had to convince her to shave the rest. The haircut took 1 hour because of the convincing, and her children were laughing. When I got home, Anna did not like it, but she liked the feeling of it when she ran her hand over it, so by the end of the day, she liked it.

Anna’s Bali Highlights

Our last couple of days in Petak Kaja were pretty restful, with a few local outings, finalising bookings for our island hopping, home cooking and some more homeschool. It was so nice to breathe out before heading to Lombok for our next adventure.