Mama has writer’s block. Not sure what to say about the Island of the Gods, other than we want to go back. Relaxing, majestic, fun, beautiful all seem trite in the face of such a glorious island. Even the pictures don’t do it justice, but we will try anyway … grab a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, it’s going to be a long one!

We arrived in Bali on Sunday night – we spent most of Monday enjoying the pool and exploring the grounds.

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On Tuesday the children checked out the Kids’ Club while Mama and Daddy hit the spa – we enjoyed an Aquatonic Pool treatment and Balinese massage. So. Very. Amazing. After two hours in the pool, we felt totally relaxed and ready for more! Later that night we enjoyed Indonesian cuisine and took in some traditional music and dancing.

From the left: Kids’ Club (learning about making  Canang Sari, daily offerings in woven coconut leaves), shell and sand art, Jemima our newest pen-pal from Australia, Mama & Daddy at the spa, dinner at Padi, Jack and Maggie Lou joined the band – check out Jack in the “udeng,” the traditional Balinese headress.

On Wednesday we went into Ubud where we learned about the Batik process, went to a locally renowned wood carver’s compound, and saw some lovely rattan. We also visited a Luwak Coffee Farm. Luwak Coffee is unique to Indonesia.  The coffee beans have been selected by civets (a cat like mammal) ingested and defecated, yes, defecated. The beans are then collected, cleaned and bleached by the sun. The coffee was actually quite good.

Above: Dotting the cotton and silk blend with hot wax, tools including stamp and jantings.

Below: Luwak coffee, Maggie Lou and Daddy sampling coffee, cocoa and tea, “poop beans,” civet, Manis Artshop and Wood Carver’s Compound, oiling an elephant carving, Michael’s new souvenir and Mama’s new bowl.

  

  

   

 

Out the window driving through Ubud District we saw lots of rice, lots of kites and lots of beautiful woven offerings and decorations

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We stopped for lunch in the jungle, riverside.

    

On Wednesday Mama and Daddy checked out the infinity pool overlooking the Indian Ocean. Speechless . . .

       

The whole family enjoyed the river pool, higher up on the hill. More exploring . . .

                 

Later that night Mama and Daddy took advantage of the fine dining, famous Rock Bar and the serene setting. Check out the DJ’s perch on the cliff, spinning records in the jungle … crazy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

There were are a few monkeys around the resort …

On Friday we hit Kubu beach. The surf was too rough for swimming. We explored and played in the sand. Note the huge lava rocks and black sand.

    

Then, sadly, we left Bali.

Random pics from the week:

          

    

 

Funny Bali bloopers:

On the flight to Bali an airline attendant announced (in a mixed Dutch and French accent) that someone on board had “a severe allergy to peanuts.” She unfortunately left out the “t” – leaving everyone on board, including Maggie Lou and Jack, in complete stitches. The children now  repeat the phrase, in their best accent, cracking us up. Parenting fail, but laughter is good for the soul, right?

Travelling with a little “Messi” definitely creates community. People from all over the world  attempted to talk football with us … not knowing much about it, we would just smile and say GO ARGENTINA!

Maggie Lou learned about “putting things on the room” – after purchasing “free” (according to Maggie Lou) smoothies for she and a friend. Cute, but not cute. 140,000 rupis later, she now understands about what “free” means!

Jack decided to put on dance performance at the one of the restaurants, showing off his best hip hop moves. He should have put an “udeng” down to collect some rupi.

During lunch one day we saw a monkey eating the offering right off the statue. Good haul – mini bananas, hard boiled eggs, dried ramen noodles.

This week’s chains revealed:

Miss in NH: full kitchen, Munchkins at the drive through, Atlantic Ocean, Seacoast Science Center, The Works Health Club

Miss in Singapore: Buddha Statues, Peekaboo (indoor playspace), garbage chute, water slides, proximity to Bali.

***Three weeks left in the Lion City!***