How many times we heard Australian going to Bali from Australian friends.
Mum and I managed finally to make a trip there which was a reward for my hard work throughout year 11 and I got a good score for my first ever ATAR - Economics.
Ha, my first order for a drink at the sports bar at Canggu Holiday Resort
We took off on a very beautiful afternoon and had a good sky view of the Perth City.
Our first glimpse of Indonesia from the sky not sure where this place is, does anyone know what those enclosed beach areas are?
My first impressions of Bali was things are cheap and there are dogs everywhere, literally everywhere no kidding. They just wander into stores and sleep in the bars and they know to wander the streets without getting run over it is very cool. I told mum they manage to cross road better than I do.
We arrived at the resort close to 7.30 pm. The package provided transfer and it took an hour to drive past Kuta, Semiyak before Canggu. We used google map to find eating place immediately and thanks to google saying 5 mins walk turn out to be only 50 seconds walk from the resort. We had our first meal at Fishbone. Have a close look of the people dinning in at the background; most are Australian including the receptionist.
T
his night we simply strolled along the street and had a look around.
Mum started her breakfast on her own every morning why?
I was my holiday so I was allowed to sleep in until 9.15. I normally having my breakfast at around 9:45 and I indulged myself with all the goodies I liked.
Mum on the first morning also communicated with the two recommended drivers by the Jodie O'hea Orphanage ( see details later) before I came to the breakfast. We had the first day trip organised in no time. We got pick up at the resort before we even have a good look of the place. We also managed to exchange some Australian dollars into rupiah from the lobby of the resort and the rate is almost 5000 rupiahs more from what we got from the airport but 5000 rupiah means 50 Australian cents.
The driver Nyoman is extremely nice and his car is in good condition. He took us to a man made tropical plantation as our first stop. It was not on our list. We did not have any expectation and it always tuned out to be better than we thought. It was extremely good to see an actual coco tree and with coca and how they eventually blended into my favorite type of chocolate with sugar and butter.
Mum is happy to see how coffee is made from coffee beans especially those expensive coffee
Kopi Luwak, it is coffee made from beans that have been digested by a civet cat (i.e. "cat poop coffee").
We were given 8 types of teas and coffee each to try they are all nice with added sugar.
Of course we were obliged to purchase some and we bought some tea and coffee for ourselves and friends.
We also got to see different types of tropical herbs such as turmeric, ginger and a few tropical fruit such as Durian and star fruit.
Next stop was in our list which was called the Ubud Monkey Forest, there were over six hundreds of Balinese long tailed monkeys,
the sanctuary is their natural habitat.
We heard about the monkey business, grabbing everything from u but they no longer do that as we are not allowed to touch them and they seem to be tame like anything apart form one occasion we saw the worker using a slingshot to get a monkey away from a visitor.
Look at the little cuttie hanging on to his/her mummy.
After the visit, we were both tired and very hungry as both of the visiting place did not sell food or have any food vending machine. Mum had to ask Nyoman to drop her at a supermarket quickly to grab something to eat before our next stop. Fancy of what Mum got for our lunch - coke, corn chips and blueberry Oreo, too healthy and at a cost of $2.3 Australian dollars in total.
WE arrived at the rice paddy field and that was not the one we heard about as it was put together for tourists.
Do you like how I posed ?
They have got swings, bike on harness/track, everything was expensive, I went to a super swing and then mum and I went onto a dual bike.
We were exhausted. However we still needed dinner. I had craving for pizza so went to a place called Old Man. It was full of people and music is loud. Full of holiday vibe with plenty of australia around drinking, dancing and eating etc. Mum decided to have Indonesia nasi goreng , it was nice but a bit oily. I had a pizza which had the tinniest crust but the taste was very blend.
We were so tired by then, left after we ate. Music could still be heard from our resort when we went to sleep.
We both decided to have a more relaxing day next. Mum however went to the a morning outdoor yoga class starting at 6:30, nothing would get me up at that kind of time. She said by 7 am the sun was so intense. After breakfast by 11 ish we walked to a Spring spa place and have my hair braided. We then book for mum and myself to have our eye brow threaded . We stopped by a cafe bar called Rabbit Hole for a little bit lunch. Food was cheap but if we want to buy things we need to bargain, my first ever experience of a stall asking for 100,000 for a fridge magnet.
We walked to the nearby beach and found that it was not as nice as Aussie beach.beach. Visitors, Beach chairs and umbrella everywhere with surfers in the scene. We decided to go back to the resort and have a swim at the rooftop pool.
This followed with a massage which were complimentary with the package. I did not like it as the set up was a bit grotty and I could not breathe. It was Balinese massage so they did the front of my body too. That was the only night we managed to see a bit of the sunset.
After a relaxing day, we were back to road again, Nyomen came to pick us up at 12 and drove us to a wholesale place foe souvenirs and gifts. It was millions times cheaper than street ones. you.
As soon as we went into the shop, a lady with a basket followed us acting a human shopping trolley. As explained by mum, this is due to cheap labour so that provides employment. That is also very noticeable in restaurants, so many staff everywhere, so different from Perth.
One could possibly get to all range of local products produced by the use of rattan, wood, shell, metal and cloth. I was so glad to get some hand and foot strings for myself and friends.
Choosing what to get for my buddies !!
It was very hot in the shop and we almost finished all of the water we bought along.
After shopping, we were driven to Bali Equestrian Centre. My love of horses prompted me to do some homework and got mum to arrange a horse riding lesson for me before we set off. Bali Equestrian Centre must be popular as we replied to the emails and we kept missing the time and day we wanted to book. Finally we got one on day 4 (10th Jan) at 3:45. The venue is hugh and well set up. The instructor is professional, the horse Ferran behaved well and I managed to get my posture, rhythms right for the trotting, I was so so happy. They suggested me to go back for one more so I went the next day with using more money from mum. Thank you mum !
Mum did a time lapse movie for my trotting and that was fun to watch.
The second day, apart from trotting I was able to control the horse to go through some hurdles laid on the ground.
Mum always wanted to spend time to do charity and we organised a trip to an orphanage (Jodie O'Shea). It is an orphanage set up by the parents of one of the Bali bombing victim in 2005. We watch documentaries of orphanage but it is the presence to make the impact. The living condition is very crowded but good enough for the 84 kids.
This is their Library
We visited on a Saturday and plenty of other Australian making their visit too. A lot of visitors read play and do craft work with the kids. Behind us is their main soccer playing ground.
We arranged in advance to take a few kids out shopping for food so they had a shopping list already.
They are all very nice and they are very honest people. They keep an eye on the till and when the till went over the amount we originally agree, they started to wonder if they should stop whatever that were left on the trolley. Mum gave them the go ahead. Putu was in black, Senda was in red shirt and blue pants, the other lady is the cook and the one in blue is Reiki.
The trolley load of food was about $150 Australian dollars but it would only be enough for a couple of meals. All items are weighed with price tag before going to the check out.
We both could not understand how cars in Bali did not get dented, the roads are so narrow with scooters and motobikes driving on both sides of the car. Motorcyclists are completely not patient, they get onto the pedestrian way on the left or even goes across to the opposite land in order to move forward. We are damn lucky that we did not come across any gruesome traffic accident scene. There was no way that I could drive in this kind of situation.
Helmet is not compulsory, mum asked me to wear shoes even to ride a bike. Also put a kid in between two adults.
In general, the weather in Bali is hot and humid. Mum got sick on the last night, we had been very careful not to drink any water that is not from an sealed bottle and we avoided all salads and cut up fruits, and no ice at all. We ate almost the same type of food so it must be because her gastro system is more sensitive. She also reckons that she might have a bit of heat stroke with symptoms of headache, tummy ache and entirely washed out and simply did not want to do a thing for a few days after our return.
The trip answered our queries of why so many Australians especially from Perth chooses Bali as their holiday destination. Food and accommodation are cheap, so youngsters could afford an overseas holiday. Also, it is the closest overseas destination from Perth. However drinking is not our thing and Perth has plenty of beautiful beaches to swim so...
