Its almost the end of 2018 and happy time for the kids because its a school holiday! This is the time where we all can let loose and reward ourselves for a holiday after sheer dedication towards work that we’d put on throughout the year. Whether you are planning your trip to a colder country or sightseeing in foreign country, I always find that I could never get bored by spending time at the beach. Initially we didn’t plan for any holiday during the school holiday because our trips are most of the time ad hoc basis. Since we have a short off window for about three (3) days we decided to go to Bali.
I had my first trip to Bali way back in 2016 for our honeymoon. I just fell in LOVE with the place. From my previous experience I’m glad we did not bring the kids at that time. Why? Well;
- Firstly hey its our honeymoon so no kids allowed! Hahaha. OK on a serious note
- Bali offers tons & tons of activities and sightseeing that is not so child friendly. So if you are planning to bring kids, your activities will be limited. Moreover i doubt the kids will enjoy it.
- The climate is hot and this would be uncomfortable for the kids especially if you have toddlers/infant. Its not convenient to get around during the day.
- The roads in Bali are small and the most convenient way to get around is by motorbike or scooter if you want to reach your destination fast. Commuting by car is more comfortable but you need to be patient to get to your destination due to the traffic.
- If you are there on short stay and have many places you want to cover this could be a little overwhelming for the kids however it depends on your trip objective.
However despite all of these perceptions there are actually a lot of activities you can do here with kids. It all depends on your trip objective. Some of the recommended activities are biking through the paddy fields, ride ATV across the river stream, visit the waterfall, sunset horse-riding, visit the safari, visit the zoo, beach activities, water parks or go SURFING! We tried out surfing. I’d written my surfing experience with the kids on another entry. Do check out “Surfing in Bali with Kids“. Moreover there is a lot of restaurants catered for family with kids which is aweeesooooommmeee!
Ok back to our Bali trip. All aboard!! It took about 3 hours to reach Bali from Kuala Lumpur. The flight was quite full and we were seated separately. Only me and Arissa were seated together while poor #saripdol seated all by himself. #ciksalmah was way at the back with bapak. Luckily he wasn’t too far from me, just one row behind.
Alhamdullillah the flight was quite smooth and going pass immigration was an ease as well. They have dedicated lane for family with kids and elder so the process was quite smooth and quick. We have pre-arrange our pick up from the airport to our accommodation. During our arrival we were picked up by our driver. The driver was recommended by the host however if you want a cheaper option you can try getting your ride through Grab or GoJek. GoJek is a local app which serve the same purpose as Grab however GoJek offer additional services. I’ve screenshot the services between Grab & GoJek for comparison. The main four (4) services in Grab is they offer transportation services which is equivalent to Go-Car & Go-bluebird in GoJek. If you see in here, GoJek has additional services which is GoRide. It doesn’t show here in Grab but Grab also do provide motorbike taxi but it is depending on your location. In this case currently I’m in Malaysia and there is no Grab ride services provided in Malaysia but I’ve tried Grab ride in Bangkok before and the experience was exhilarating!!! Plus its way more cheaper and faster if you are travelling on your own.
What I find AMAZING about GoJek is the additional services they offered! If you see below services, they pretty much cover a lot of things! You don’t even need to go out. If you’re hungry, hey just order. If you’re too lazy to do groceries, just do your shopping with your fingertips and for all you know it has been delivered in front of your doorstep. What attracts to me the most is the Go-Massage! Haha. Who doesn’t like to be pampered. I think its essential that they have this app because when I arrived in Bali that is the first thing I’m looking forward to. Its like a must thing when you’re on holiday. Time to relax and unwind. Loosen up those tight muscle and recharge. Some relaxation beside the pool. But I didn’t get to try out the apps anyway. Why? Will tell you more further in this entry.
Since this is a short trip for us, we plan to just chill and relax. Luckily Bali offers a wide variation of private villa with pool that is either own by resort or local. Whats intriguing is it doesn’t cost a lot! We manage to book a villa in Canggu area (North Kuta) for RM170/day or USD 41/day from Airbnb. The Villa is name Villa Comet. The villa theme is base on meteor or shooting stars or galaxy and whatever you want to call it. Its has a private pool, 2 bedrooms, kitchen, lounge area, car park and small garden. The villa was simply perfect for us!
Although the villa is not as big as the one we stayed before but it has all the amenities. For the price we paid we were utterly satisfied! We choose to stay near Seminyak & Kuta area because of its convenience. Plus in our agenda we plan to go surfing and pick up is provided in this area. The villa is situated at a small quiet road. The neighbors are quite close to each other though however they still manage to make the villa private. The host respond was really prompt and helpful. To my surprise, for most of my booking with airbnb, I’m required to clean up and take care of the place like my own home e.g. take out trash, wash the dishes, make up your own bed etc etc. However for this place, the cleaner will come in everyday to make your bed, fill up you water dispenser and clean up the place. Its like you’re staying at a hotel! Again, for the price we paid, with our own space, 2 bedrooms and private pool…I can’t stress how much I am satisfied! Below are pictures of the villa. Enjoy!
pool area
We didn’t go out on the first day. Just chill and relaxing. Most of the time swimming. Halal food was easy to find and just 2 mins walk from our villa. So we just tapau and eat at the villa. However if you are staying at some rural area or quieter place like Ubud or Uluwatu, this is where GoJek comes into play. Before reaching our villa I already had my “Spa antenna” working, eyeing on for any nearby spa available. Hohoho! Yeah yeahhhhh what you wish is what you get! Such luck there is one small shop offering massages at the main road. So after things are settle down at the villa I walk over to the spa to inquire for some massage services but too bad they only provide massage services for male?. He suggested me to go behind his shop to find this one lady and I was quite confuse with his direction, then it strike like forces of nature! her husband suddenly walked into the shop! What luck and he brought me over to his place to meet his wife – the masseuse. So after setting the time etc its time for massageeee!!!
The best feeling ever!! How nice is it to be pampered like this? Massage by the pool with great ambiance, cool breeze, open space and comfort at your own home. This is my nice masseuse. Her name is Rossa. She live at the same road as the Villa so its pretty easy for her to come to your place For the first day I asked for an hour balinese massage and massage totok muka (face massage). This is the best part. Guess how much I paid for the massages? RM20/hour for body massage and RM8/half an hour for face massage. Total RM28! Owwhh heavens..and after that I call her for massage everyday. hahaha. Not only that she also make savoury treats and cakes. So on our last day we ordered some risoles and emper from her for breakfast. It is an Indonesian food so this is our first time trying.
Risoles
One risoles and emper cost about RM0.80/each. Risoles is actually fried bread with potato, carrot, and chicken filling. Hows the taste? Marvelous! especially if you eat it with the chilli. Emper is glutinous rice with chicken filling. Similar to our pulut panggang. Yummy too! So if you happened to stay at this villa you can contact rosa at her IG. Just click on rosa.
So on our activities as i mentioned above, we tried out surfing so you can read more about it on this entry – Surfing in Bali with Kids.Since we mostly spent time at the villa and eat at the villa, on the second day we plan to dine out outside.. Bali offers a lot of beautiful kids friendly restaurant where they have open space, playgrounds, kids club etc. One restaurant that was recommended on the internet happens to be very near to our place. Just 7 mins walk to Berawa’s Kitchen.From the picture the concept look really nice and they have open mic busking session on the day we were to go. So with high expectation we went there. When we arrived the place was really quiet. We were quite disappointed because there is no busking performance and the food wasn’t that great. However the plus point is that they have the playground. So I wouldn’t recommend it.
Therefore I would say that I was really happy with the trip. We had so much fun and we learn a lot of new things. So if you are still wondering where to go for your next trip, why not try out Bali. I’m sure you’ll enjoy it. Thus I’ll end this entry with a quote.
“Holiday with young kids isn’t about the holiday (let’s face it it’s beyond exhausting), it’s about making memories”
