Post Bali

After a week holiday in Bali, I had so much to catch up work wise and blog reading wise. Will need some time to clear some of these back logs. Although I have lots more to share, I'll have to do this only when I find time.

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If you asked Zara how Bali was, she would say, "Drink" (she can't understand we went to Bali, to her Bali is the drink Barley).
If you asked her what she did in her holiday, she can't remember the scenery or the car rides, but she recalled her encounter with the animals. This is how she remembers :
"Pat pat snake" (she patted a snake in Lake Bratan, braver than Daddy, who ran away and hid behind me when the snake handler took out the big snake)
"Hmmm... Pat pat ruh-coon (Raccoon)" (also in Lake Bratan)
"Hmmm... Pat pat big deer" (she likes to punctuation her sentences with Hmmm nowadays. The deer was a wood carving found in Bebek Bengkil restaurant)
"Hmmm.. Touch lion" (one of the stone carving she saw)
"Hmmm.. Touch cow" (another stone carving)

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My take on traveling to Bali:
~ Bali is a nice place to go to. If you are afraid of bombing, avoid the busy or the concentrated area, like Kuta.
~ I think it's ok to go with kids above 1yr old, but not below. Since drinking water is 100% mineral water, and it's not advisable to give any mineral water to kids below 1yr in fear that their kidney may not be able to handle the high mineral content.
~ Kids who can already take rice would have no problem eating in Bali, however, you need to inform the restaurant what you order is for kids so no spices or chili will be added. For younger kids, you may want to bring baby cereal along.
~ I sterilised Zara's bottle using only boiled mineral water, not even tap, just to be safe.
~ Every restaurant serves fruit juices, the water used to mix with the juice is also mineral water, I gave Zara lots of fruit juices, since she's not taking much vege and fruits while we were there.
~ Bali's main tourist attractions is not very stroller friendly (lots of steps, narrow path), using a sling or carrier will be better. Popular shopping street is better for stroller, but still very bumpy (uneven road surface and walking path).
~ Renting a car with a driver for the whole day cost (~10hrs) about 450,000Rupiah 350,000Rupiah (US50-US40) with petrol and parking fee all included. It's more worth it to rent a car, than to take a cab, especially if you are going to a few places. On our first day of travelling in cabs, it cost us 300,000Rupiah in total (Ellie's->Sukawati->Denpasar->Nusa Dua->Ellie's).

We survived Bali, so I guess now I can probably plan for another trip to Thailand. :-)