In Bali, guides/drivers can also visit attractions without paying the entry charges. So, Mr. Newman accompanied us and was a big help in clicking family photos :) . He also helped purchase tickets for us while we did sight seeing.
Stay
Bali's 80% economy is tourism. Practically, the entire island is converted into homestays or resorts. There are thousands of options to choose from.
We stayed at an
Airbnb near Ubud during our first 3 nights. Ubud had many attractions nearby plus, it is more towards the centre of Bali. Both of our bookings were a 4 bedroom villa with a private pool and kitchen. Kitchen is a big requirement in family travel and we also used it extensively.
For our second stay, I wanted to stay at a beach-side property. We picked up
Desa Swan Villas - Desa Swan was undergoing a name change and hence trying to market themselves. Their offer had free 30 mins massage for everyone :)
Both properties were lovely and private pool was heavily used along with kitchen. The service/staff at both places was extremely helpful.
We also stayed away from the more touristy areas like Nusa Dua or Seminyak - partly attributed to geography, partly to cost as well.
Elements of good family travel
There are certain attributes that makes a trip great. You have to pay attention and ensure that they are taken care of. Good vehicle for transportation, of a size that everyone can be together is key. Ours was a Toyota HiAce a 11 seater vehicle with a XL sized trunk space. Light travel is oxymoron in a family travel. Hotel with kitchen is a must.
Outside of these, the idea is to make it inclusive and distribute the workload. One person doing everything becomes overwhelming. So, just like a project execution, you identify independent modules and make sure that there is an owner for everything. Applying good management principles in life makes life management easier :)
So, these are the independent modules - Visa process, Travel Insurance, Currency, Snacks/Nibbles during travel, Meal planning, First-Aid kit with medicines, travel itinerary - each one of them was done by a different person. It made my life much easier :)
Itinerary
Day one - Airport to Ubud
Ubud is about two hrs away from airport during peak traffic. We landed at noon and it took us 2 hrs to come out with visa etc. Our first stop was at a touristy lunch place -
Semar Kunig restaurant, touristy because they welcomed us with flower, holy water etc. Place is designed with places of photography, next to rice paddy fields, statues etc.
Bali has done an interesting thing to blend this rapid tourism with the rustic feel of a village. Most of the homestays, some restaurants too, have an acre or half-acre of rice paddy fields next to them. These rice paddy fields give the feel of living a pastural life, provides separation from other homestays and looks cool too. But, they are only there for namesake, these are not farmlands or meant to meet its own needs, it is for show only.
This was followed by visit to
Kemenuh Butterfly Park, near Ubud. I believe there are even bigger butterfly parks in Bali. We visited only this one, it is a small one but decent. Very clean, well maintained, not many tourists. Also, has a small zoo thing. Good stop to go to given that it is on the way. May not be worth to go out of the way.
Day one dinner was at Airbnb - homecooked Methi ke Parathe with Hadiram's readyToEat Dal Makhni.
Day 2 - Ubud Sightseeing
Day 2 started by visiting the
Saraswati temple, also known as the Ubud Water palace. Located next to Starbucks :) In Bali, one can not go inside temples, but one can see from outside and take lot of pictures.
Water Palace is small but beautiful, lot of lotuses. Plus, they ask you to wear a Sarong to follow the temple rules and customs
Our next stop was the famous
Sacred Monkey Forest. Beautiful serene forest with lots of monkeys and tourists. A must visit place, to see our ancestors. You should not look monkeys into the eyes. It is interesting how they have commercialised this experience, including a concept of a selfie with a monkey. Overall, a good walk to stretch the legs.
Next stop is the
Elephant cave - again a very small temple inside but the carvings on the cave are awesome. A place built for picture taking only. Ca be skipped if you are running short of time but otherwise a good visit place.
We stretched our Day 2 by adding the Una Ceking Rice terraces to the list as well. Bali season ends in October and we travelled during the shoulder season time. There was still some green left in rice terraces but not at its peak. It was still beautiful. They have commercialized rice terraces by placing swings and lot of spots to take pics. I ended up doing a walk on the rice plains.
Day 3 - Temple tours
The things to understand about Bali temples, Bali in general, is that it is an Instagram island. The place is beautiful to begin with and then they have artificially places artifacts at places so that folks go and click photos. Temples can only be visited from outside, so come in click photos. and share.
Our first stop was
Ulun Danu Beratan Temple. At a drive of 75 mins, it is a highly rated beautiful temple next to a lake.
On the way, we stopped at a Chocolate factory and bought local chocolates. Interestingly, Bali chocolates are vegan, milk based means coconut based milk. There is very less dairy production in Bali. It was very difficult to get curd on the island and I did not see any Paneer (cottage cheese either). Eggs and poultry is ok. Dominant in non-veg food, veg food is available but limited options. Most veg food is actually vegan.
You can do boat ride on the temple lake and it was good. It was warm weather but not too hot. Inside the temple premises, there are various places where you can click photos, you will see a same below. This is an Insta-gram temple. The garden though is well maintained and they also had many other touristy things like an artificial dummy volcano, owls on your arm for photo, pet a rabbit, feed fishes kind of thing. Much more targeted towards kids.
Our second temple was again the iconic Tanah Lot temple . We visited this place during evening and sat at a cozy spot to see sunset. Sunset was beautiful. Temple pillars are amazing and it is the quintessential Bali things to do.
Day 4 - Experiences
Day 4 was hotel change day. So, we packed our bags in the morning. Day 4 started by going to a Barong dance experience at Legong & Barong Dance Ubud Palace. Recommended by our driver, Barong dance is a local traditional dance on a story on Ramayana. The dance was okay-ish except that in between there was a highly vulgar but that put everyone off. Vulgarity in relgious context is a big NO and it was not humorous either. Bali folks are quite open about the fertility aspects - you will find Dildo keychains everywhere but in an experience was not only unexpected but done in a bad taste. I would not recommend it.
After the experience, we went back to our Airbnb to collect our luggage. Our first stop was at the Sukhawati art market . While it is Art Market by name, it is basically like the Palika Bazaar of Delhi - cheap clothes and lot of bargaining. But there are some shops in between which are unique, lot of wood-made stuff and something that I have not seen anywhere else. Also, after bargaining, it is extremely cheap. So, I would recommend this and would recommend that in case you are looking for gifts back home, this is a good place.
We also decided to check out the Kecak dance aka Ramleela at Uluwatu temple. It was recommended highly though it was quite a drive. But, it was worth it. The Kecak dance, in particular the 6 pm show happens in an open air amphitheatre next to the ocean where you can see a beautiful sunset along with a mesmerizing performance. This will remain the highlight of the trip. It is amazing that Bali has such high Ramayan influence and so many of its culture is based on Indian mythology - you will find large statues of Karna or Bhima or Arjun at intersections here.
Uluwatu is also notorious where monkeys come and steal your stuff, and then barter (or extort) goodies in their exchange. Kanishka had a monkey jump on her and took her glasses. So did it happen to Papa. Papa also fell after that on a stair. Both got it back but it was amazing to see this in action. It is definitely difficult to believe but it is true.
Kecak dance is based on Ravan abduting Sita, Hanuman visiting Sita in her captivity and finally Ram killing Ravana. It is Ram-leela done in 40 mins and done very well.
Our day ended by us going to the new stay - Desa Swan Villas
Day 5 - Chill and Special
By day 5, folks were getting tired. Kanishka's mom got cold, papa had nose-bleeds and pain in shoulders from his fall the previous day. Folks also wanted to just relax. Desa Swan villa was also a beanch-front property with a gorgeous pool. So, the plan was to just chill - go to beach and relax. Then dip in the pool and relax. Almost everyone came in the pool, either fully or getting their feet wet. All of us also took our complimentary 30 min massage at the place. Kanishka and I extended it to an hr too. Overall, a very relaxed morning.
We left the hotel at 3 pm to go to our fancy dinner special - Koral restaurant at Apurva Kempinski - one of the few dinner places which is inside an aquarium. It is also a 5-star place with a set menu - one of those master-chef kind of food - lot of courses but small and high in decor. Aquarium is what made it special. The Apurva Kempinski itself is a beautiful hotel.
Koral is an expensive place - but worth an experience. If you can afford it, I would recommend it very much. For us, it was a treat by Sandeep Jijai on Shraddha's job. Having not done anything in the morning made us enjoy this place even more. I think going to one such place in every trip is something that makes the trip more memorable. Something that we should add to our trips going forward.
Day 6 - Back to BLR
Our flights were booked via Singapore airlines and we had a 5 hrs stopover on the way back. This meant that we had good time to visit the Butterfly garden inside the airport. It is a decent space, good to visit for 15 mins. Some duty free shopping too!
Overall, a good trip, a good destination.
