Bali Part 2: Bohemian Bali

PartyofSix: After leaving the Beach Bali portion of our August 2019 trip to Bali, we used Bali Honest Driver to get around for the rest of our trip. (You can also find them on Facebook.) Our driver picked us up from Besakih and we traveled to Ubud, stopping along the way to visit the Batuan temple, Tegenungan waterfall, and the famous Monkey Forest.

The temple was a fairly new experience for our kids – the adults (both male and female) are required to wear a sarong and my husband made the kids wear pants, as per the recommendations he read on the internet. I don’t think they would have turned the kids away for shorts – but adults should consider the propriety of their outfits ahead of time. We also worried they might accidently step on a canang sari (a small offering such as flower petals herbs, money, or snacks left in palm leaves woven into a small box). All in all, the temple turned out to be rather kid-friendly, although I would recommend keeping an eye on those who might be tempted to climb things that should not be climbed. The sun can be rather warm and there is little to no shade in the temple.

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Our second stop, the Tegenungan waterfall, has a nice overlook area with shops and cafes as well as a “picture” platform. If you want a closer look at the falls, you will have to walk down (and then back up) many stairs on a slick path. Since our daughter was 15 mos old and valued her walking independence, my husband stayed with her at the overlook area while the boys, the driver, and I went down to the falls. It was handy to have an extra adult to help the boys navigate, because the steps are rather difficult to manage in places. There are some paved paths once you get further down. There is an adorable little sign store by the edge of the waterfall’s pool. The boys would have loved to get in but we didn’t exactly have our swimming gear on, so I made them stick to some light wading. Once we got to the top again, we all needed some ice cream to offset the climb – so we got some from one of the shops.

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Our final stop before the hotel was the Monkey Forest. It was as delightful, but do heed all the warnings and leave your backpack in the car. The monkeys know how to open your backpack, I promise. If you have earrings or other jewelry that comes off fairly easy and you plan to let the monkeys anywhere near you, take it off. That’s much easier than trying to tempt one of the monkeys to give it back. While we were there, we saw monkey steal a granola bar, an earring, and manage to get a backpack halfway unzipped before the gentleman with the bag realized what was going on. Only our youngest boy sat to let the monkey get on him and I didn’t manage to get a picture, but I got one just after. I’m sure the monkey recognized a kindred spirit.

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Rahayu Suites was very near the Monkey Forest, so luckily it was short drive because we were all tired, having missed our normal afternoon rest period. The grounds were quite lovely although the pool was way too cold to swim in. (The boys still made a brave attempt the next day, but never got past their calves.) We had two rooms even though we all fit comfortably in the one with a second bed in the loft area. The boys slept together up there and our daughter slept between us.

The next day was a walking day: after a very nice breakfast at the hotel, we wandered through the marketplace for quite some time, saw the palace, and then had a lovely lunch next to hotel with a koi pond that fascinated the baby. After a restful nap (generally a very important part of our planning), we wandered the streets of Ubud – mostly shopping as we had “deprived” the boys of souvenirs in Sanur – and enjoyed dinner at a restaurant overlooking a rice paddy. Our darling girl was having none of it, so Bob and I ended up taking turns walking up and down the street outside with her, eating separately. It wasn’t so bad, though, since she attracted smiles and attention everywhere we went. It has been our experience that, in many places, traveling with a baby will enhance a lot of your experiences. Bali ended up being very similar to Greece, Spain, Italy, Chile, Morocco, and Turkey in this way – people wanted to touch, hold, and hug our kids everywhere we went.

Our last day in Bali (I’m just going to be honest here) – a lot went wrong. I’m gonna pause to point out right now that it was still a fantastic day and the fact that it was a travel day actually worked out in our favor. But I digress…. A new Bali Honest driver picked us and our suitcases up from Rahayu. We began the day at Tegallalang Rice Terrace. The terrace is incredibly scenic; there is an onsite restaurant, ziplines, and a swing that swings terrifyingly far out over the hillside. We didn’t take advantage of any of those things – shortly after this picture:

our youngest son stepped off the ledge in an attempt to get around the people in front of him and went waist deep into a rice paddy. Our driver fished him out, set him back on the ledge, and said to him: “Boy, why did you do that?” After a few tears, we figured out that he thought the paddy was solid ground because of the moss growing on top of the water. It was one of those moments where you just have to laugh and thank the good Lord that it was a travel day and the suitcases were in the car, because he smelled awful. We finished our tour and then executed a quick wardrobe change in the parking lot. Luckily I always carry a couple plastic bags in case of wet clothes – so we bagged up his clothes and shoes, stuck new clothes and his flip-flops on him, and went on about our day.

Our next stop was the Kemenuh Butterfly House. It was so cool that I made an entire photo book dedicated to it. It was beautiful and one of our kids’ favorite activities of the trip. Do not miss the giant moth exhibit near the back! Even the baby girl approved because she could toddle to her heart’s content…

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Our last stop before being dropped at the airport was the Bali Zoo. This was also the scene of our biggest scare of this trip. The zoo was very nice and well laid out. Within a few feet on the entrance, there are some free range deer and you can buy food for them. The kids were pretty enamored about this, because it’s usually the kind of thing we would skip. We saw some animals and Bob made the baby cry at an alligator statue. It was lunchtime, so we went into the food service area. A zoo worker had a neat lizard out, so we stopped to let the kids get a closer look. I was holding the baby’s hand and as we turned to go, she fell. She started screaming immediately and wouldn’t move her arm. Even though it didn’t seem broken or out of place, we started to worry she would need medical care. I carried her in our

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The driver dropped us at the curb of the extremely easy to navigate airport. During our check-in, we asked if there was a medical professional who could check her out before got on our flight. Once we got checked in, an airline representative escorted us through security to the clinic, stayed with us while she got checked out, and even ran to the onsite pharmacy to get her some medicine before finally escorting us to our gate. It turned out her arm was fine, just sore, and a little bit of ibuprofen helped immensely. We ended up with a somewhat cute memento: a certificate of health from Bali. In our rush to get back through security, we left ALL our electronics at security – something we have never, ever done before. Luckily, one of the boys asked for their tablet at the gate, so we realized what had happened in time for Bob to rush back and retrieve them before we boarded. On the flight back, the baby started running a low-grade temperature and wanted to be held by me exclusively, so we were all very tired by the time we got back. (No worries, after sleeping for nearly a whole day, the baby bounced back good as new.)

If you made it this far, I’m sure you’re saying: Gee Rachel, that sounds like a lot of stress – are you sure this trip was worth it? It so was! This was by far our kids’ favorite trip… and these kids have been to Santa’s Village in Rovaniemi, Finland (also a favorite, but didn’t quite measure up to Bali). I proceeded to recommend Bali loudly and often to everyone I knew. And now, my friends, I am recommending it heartily to you! All in all, everything about being in Bali was easy and relaxing. Nearly everyone spoke some level of English and people were oh. so. friendly. It may be far away, but you can’t beat it for beach and culture together in one location! Want to see more pictures? Find us on Facebook: FourSix WorldTrips.