Bali, Bali, Bali, Bali!

We were all disappointed that we weren't going to be able to spend Fall Break hanging out at the beach in San Diego this year.  We were forced to tough it out for a couple days in Bali.

Bali is one of the 17,508 islands that make up the country of Indonesia.  The flight from Jakarta is about an hour and a half long and a round trip ticket is about $50 (Why are we not in Bali every weekend?).

We arrived late Thursday night and after a little Chinese food, we checked into the Pan Pacific Nirwana  (the next time you are in Bali, you HAVE to stay here!!!).  We were welcomed with a delicious island drink and flowers for our hair.  We were given a little tour of the resort and taken to our room.  Everything was beautiful!  One thing we have learned is that the hotels in Asia are different then the states.  It is nearly impossible to find a room with two queen sized beds.  Rooms either have one queen or two twins.  We thought we struck gold with the "Family Room" at the Pan Pacific.  The website showed a king bed and bunk beds!  Had we read the room description properly (or maybe brushed up on our metric conversions), we would have realized that the bunk beds were the size of toddler beds.  Emilie spent the first night sleeping diagonally, with her legs hanging off the side of the bed.  The next two nights, she slept with us!  From now on, we will be looking into suites or adjoining rooms.

Friday morning we ate breakfast while enjoying the beautiful view of Tanah Lot Temple. Then we hit the pool!  The hotel had four pools, two slides, and a water basketball court! We spent the entire day by the pool playing, swimming, eating, drinking, sliding, and even sleeping!

 

 Friday evening, we took the guided walk down to Tanah Lot Temple for the breathtaking views and the sunset.  The Temple is set out on the water and cannot be accessed during high tide. Visitors are only permitted inside when they are set to be blessed.  The surrounding area was extremely busy but oh so beautiful.  We enjoyed the short walk from our resort and thru the tide pools.  This is another must see during your next Bali sunset!

 

 After the sunset, we headed back to the hotel for a traditional Balinese buffet and dance.  The buffet was SUPERB!  We had all kinds of great food and got to try a few things we have never tried before.  Emilie ate roast pig carved right off the spit.  We also tried some wonderful coconut desserts that were to die for!  During dessert, the dancers came out.  They were beautiful and we were mesmerized by the amazing hand gestures and facial expressions.  
 

After dinner we had a family portrait taken!

Saturday morning took us on an adventure to the Elephant Safari Park.  Emilie has been talking about riding an elephant ever since we first muttered the word Bali.  She couldn't wait to get to the Elephant Safari Park.  Unfortunately, she had to wait a couple of hours as our driver for the weekend got lost a few times and we ended up taking the "scenic" route through the streets of Bali.  Lucky for us, the scenery was stunning.  We saw acres and acres of rice paddies with women working in the fields wearing the traditional rice hats.  We also saw women walking through the streets carrying huge bundles on their heads.  They were carrying everything from laundry baskets to pieces of lumber and balancing it all perfectly on their heads.

FINALLY, we made it to the Elephant Safari park and it was well worth the crazy drive!  While we ate a delicious lunch, we watched a mama and baby elephant taking a bath in the lake.  We went on a ride on the back of elephants.  Dustin and I rode a female elephant named Tia.  The best part was when Tia decided to splash Chris and Emilie as they were riding on their elephant!  After the ride, we got to feed our elephants to thank them for the ride.  Tia even put a wreath of flowers around Emilie's neck!  Next we watched a little elephant show and walked around the park to take a peek at a few more baby elephants.  

 

After the fun at the Elephant Safari Park, it was back to the hotel for some more swimming and another gorgeous sunset!

We finished the trip with a delicious meal over looking the ocean.  Then it was time to prepare for our early morning flight back to Jakarta.  We had an amazing time in Bali and will happily meet you there anytime you are in the area!