Traveling with kids: Bali 2/5 : Ubud

Jet lag wise, traveling from Australia to Bali is fantastic.

Two hours difference between Bali and Brisbane, versus the eight hours difference we usually experience when going back to Europe, makes the first days there really enjoyable. Not mentioning how easier it is to go back to work.

We arrived quite late, our flight was delayed by storms in Australia and we arrived in Denpassar at 1AM instead of 11PM. Our chauffeur, one of the hotel staff, was waiting for us anyway. Welcoming us into Bali awesomeness, the land people who are all smiley even when sleepy. He took us to shelter, our hotel in Ubud, under pouring Monsoon-like rain that you only experience in tropical countries with a wet season, in a SUV with no passenger seatbelts, on roads that are not large enough to accomodate two cars at a time- or one car and a cow and a motorcycle, or one car and a motorcycle carrying the load of a truck,... Well you get the idea, roads are narrow by place.
And all the way, I felt safe, because it seems that each and every city driver got their license in Paris. They know what they're doing. Smooth driving, avoiding obstacles while gently honking at friends, pretty girls, motorcycles before passing them, trucks, and stray dogs wondering if they're going to cross this instant.

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A major difference between Balinese and Parisian drivers of course is that the former also must have attended a 101 express training in road civility because they seem to fit way less road-rage tantrums than Westerners. 

Anyway, waking up in Ubud is quite the starting point to happy vacations. Writing this, I'm already realizing that Ubud might required 2 blog entries.
We've stayed twice in Ubud, each time on a different side of the monkey forest. It was a very different experience. While one side is super touristy, with the shops, the market, restaurants, major temples and dance shows, and massage parlors, the other side is quieter but full of family friendly accommodations.
When on the non-tourist side, you can see herds of school-age kids practicing their barong dance moves and music. Quite impressive.

There are a lot of day trips to take from Ubud.
But the city itself is quite cute, the food is good, and the art quality is excellent.

It is obviously near impossible to avoid paying a visit to the monkey forest. Monkeys there are happy, lazy, fornicate a lot, and are mostly friendly although they will steal your drink, food, fan, or sunglasses if they're not secured in your bag.

 

 

 

Traveling with the kids 1/5

This Xmas break, we took as much time off as we possibly could.
After getting rid of all the day-off we're legally entitled to, we were able to book flights to Bali spanning 4 full weeks.
Let me rephrase that. After scouting the internet for the cheapest flights possible *keeping in mind that we wanted to fly with a relatively safe company*, we figured out that to fly low-cost without flying low-cost would require to stay clear from the blackout dates: Christmas and the first week of January.
Our first destinations of choice were Thailand and Borneo (Malaysia side) but the whether conditions, the price tag of jungle trips, and the determination of the in laws helped us decide to give up on potential Orang Outan encounters and elephant rides, and meet them in Bali instead. 

Image credit Mahi-Mahi Dewata

We got ridiculously cheap tickets for the entire family, then had to make in work with the days-off we had left. I did use 5 "personal days" that are supposed to be dedicated to move flat, try out the new nanny, pick up your in laws at the airport, or deal with similar personal events in your life that usually require 1/2 off. Since it's personal, don't ask me and keep walking why not use them all at once the way we like.

there is no ad on my blog, I just could not resist the romance being back

From the 19th of December to the 15th of January, we traveled to Bali mainland (Ubud-Sanur-Padangbay-Ahmed), and to Gili Trawangan, Lombock (just passing by), Nusa Lembongan. Spoiler alert: everything was awesome, with Sanur being our least favorite place to stay and the Islands being hands down the best ones.

Never underestimate the power of transport medication

 

 

 

We saw monkeys, buffalos, one snake, flying fishes, reef fishes, turtles, toads, birds, geckos, 12 temples, factories and handicrafts, balinese danses, night markets, took speed boats and slow ferries, bemo and cars, and each ate our weight worth of Nasi Goreng and nautamine tablets.

In summary: we took a break as long as if we were in between jobs, enjoyed it, and decided that Bali is one of the easiest and most enjoyable place you can go to with kids. Next post: what to do in Ubud!