A Nice Start to Bali (Apart from the rash!)

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We decided to start our month in Bali by taking a trip down memory lane. We headed straight to Sanur, the beach town we'd got married in 12 years prior. Our plane landed at about 7pm and by the time we'd cleared immigration, it was way past the kids' bedtime. As the taxi from the airport negotiated the bustling streets in the dark, the kids were excited to see all of the cool statues and temples along the way. We'd forgotten just how frequently you came across them. At each one, Kyla claimed to have built it the night before while we were all sleeping!



We checked into our pre-booked hotel and headed out to look for food. Thank goodness the kids had napped on the flight or we'd just be going to bed on left-over airport snacks! Luckily we found an Italian restaurant directly across the street, making life easy. As we sat waiting for our food, the song "Marry You" by Bruno Mars came on. This seemed very fitting as a) we got married here, and b) it's been Jake's favorite song this trip and he's played it continuously on the iPad!



The next morning we decided to go and check out the Bali Hyatt, where we'd done the wedding ceremony. I'd been hoping to recreate some wedding pictures but with the kids in. Unfortunately, the rumors about being closed for renovations were true. It was completely surrounded by a high fence and had apparently been that way for two years. From peeking through, it seems like it's nowhere close to being ready to open. The beautiful grounds are all torn up and the place we got married was completely overgrown, weeds enveloping the archway I walked through with my dad on my wedding day. It was quite sad. We had to make do with taking a few photos by a palm tree on the beach we remembered.



We then continued along the beachfront walkway to Griya Santrian, the location of our reception. It hadn't changed a bit, which was nice. We had some fruit shakes, but then returned there that evening for dinner and cocktails.



The next day we hired a driver for the day and set off to do a mix of sightseeing and checking out schools, just in case we decide to move here in the distant future (doubtful, but fun to think about!) As I expected, both schools wouldn't take drop-ins so we had to give them a miss. It turned out that our first stop was a random playground we spotted. I think our guide found it quite amusing. Here we are in Bali, with lots of famous tourist sights to visit, and we spend 40 minutes at a playground that you could find anywhere in the world! Since Jake and Kyla's favorite thing to do is to play on playgrounds, we didn't mind a bit. We expected it to be the highlight of their day to be honest, but we then visited something that trumped it: a chocolate factory!



It was named Big Tree Chocolate Factory and was housed in the biggest commercial bamboo building in the world. The tour started off with a chocolate drink tasting and then the guide explained the chocolate-making process, giving us tasters of the chocolate beans at the different stages of production. It seemed like a lot of talking for a two- and four-year old, but Jake and Kyla were amazingly attentive! We then walked around the factory and one of Kyla's favorite parts was getting melted chocolate put on the back of her hand and then licking it off! Kyla mentioned several times that this was, "the best day ever!"



Our next stop was my favorite of the day, at a temple called Taman Ayun. We got very lucky as there was a big festival going on, which only happens twice a year. Thousands of Balinese people were walking to the inner part of the temple wearing beautiful outfits and carrying offerings for the gods on their head, some of them quite elaborate. Foreigners couldn't enter the inner temple but we were allowed to observe from a walkway going around. It was quite magical.



Our guide, Yoga, then took us to a restaurant overlooking a rice paddy for dinner. Kyla and Jake once again got lots of attention from the staff, who delighted them by picking out small orange fish from a water feature and letting them hold them for a few seconds before releasing them again. I made sure they washed their hands thoroughly before "eating" (they only ate about three grains of rice each!) ?



Our final stop was at a temple called Tanah Lot. It has a dramatic location on a rocky island that gets cut off at high tide and it's one of those places you constantly see in brochures and ads about Bali. Strangely, in our three times to Bali, we'd never made it there. To be honest, we wished we hadn't bothered. You get dropped off quite a way from the temple so that you are forced to walk the gamut of trinket stores. This took forever with Jake and Kyla so that we barely had any time once we got there. The sun was setting and we still had an hour and a half drive home. The kids just ended up eating crackers for dinner on the way home while watching Frozen on the TV interestingly built into the dashboard of the car. I'm pretty sure that's illegal at home!



That night, the chocolate factory trip that was such a big hit might have been our downfall. Jake woke up fussing at about 10pm and couldn't get back to sleep. I ended up in his bed, trying to get him to sleep beside me. It was then that I noticed he was constantly pummeling and fidgeting with his feet. We took him into the bathroom where we could put the light on to take a look. We were surprised to see a bright red bumpy rash all over the palms of his hands and the soles of his feet. Kyla had had something similar at the end of Thailand, but much less severe. We put the cream on that she'd used and gave him some paracetamol. It didn't seem to help as he continued to fidget and say his feet itched. By 1:30am, despite our best efforts to get him to sleep, he was still awake but exhausted and that's when the loud crying started. It continued for over an hour and a half until he finally fell asleep, but he then continued to wake briefly every 90 minutes. It was like having a newborn again!



The next day we decided we'd better take him to see a doctor. Luckily we discovered that there was one just a five minute walk from our hotel. There were four people in line in front of us so we were told to go back in an hour. We did, only to find the doctor had left for her two-hour lunch break a bit early! We were told to go back at 3pm, when she'd be back from lunch. We arrived at 3:01 and STILL no doctor! The reception called her and she finally showed up 20 minutes later. In total, we were kept waiting almost four hours, but we had to remind ourselves that it's often more like four weeks (or even four months!) to wait to see a doctor in America! She quickly diagnosed it as an allergic reaction and prescribed the same cream as Kyla had been using. We were not convinced. From doing research on the internet we'd come to the conclusion that it could be hand, foot, and mouth disease. Funnily enough, an Australian woman in the waiting room who lived here saw Jake and instantly said it could be hand, foot and mouth, with no prompting. Her two kids had had it and it apparently goes around the island quite a bit. A couple days on and it still looks bad but fortunately isn't keeping him (and us!) up at night due to itching anymore. Hopefully time will heal...



It's been a nice change to do some sightseeing instead of just playing at the beach. Jake and Kyla seem to be liking a change of pace too. Next we are off to Ubud, which is sightseeing central. Let's hope they can keep the enthusiasm up!





*** You know the drill, scroll right down for the rest of the photos ***

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Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Great blog title
A real eye catcher.... glad you got to back to such a great place. Looks like the kids enjoyed it.