I've mentioned that Australians travel to Bali frequently. We got a lot of great advice from friends in Sydney. We chose our hotel, babysitter and several of our activities based on the recommendation of a mum from Tess's class. When we told people our plans for July holidays another friend piped up that she'd be there as well. We figured out we'd be in towns about 40 minutes apart. We swapped numbers and email addresses and decided to meet up on one of our two overlapping days.
We spent the morning at our hotel with the kids playing by the pool at the kids club and Brian and I getting massages. Then we drove over to Seminyak. I'm thrilled that we did this! Allison and Jonathan are wonderful hosts. They invited us to the spectacular villa they rented and suggested we drop the girls for lunch and a few hours of swimming. We all met up again in the afternoon in time to enjoy a sunset dinner on the beach. A lot of families rent villas in Bali. It was wild to get a look around and imagine a whole other way to enjoy the island.
Seeing friends also gave us a chance to view another part of the island. Much of the development on Bali centers on the southwest coast. Kuta is the busiest spot - think spring break in Cancun. Development has extended northward from there over the years. Seminyak felt much swankier than Sanur. High end shops line the streets and the area abounds with great restaurants. I'm told you can even get a good cup of coffee there. I'm happy with our choice of locations as it proved a central spot for our outings but I can definitely see the appeal of Seminyak.
Thanks to our friends Brian and I got to enjoy a delicious lunch at the famed La Lucciola. It proved another great recommendation from an Indonesian colleague of Brian's.
With a few hours to ourselves we could have stayed and cruised the shops but we decided instead to drive up the coast to see the beautiful seaside temple of Tanah Lot. I credit Brian with this find. He spotted it on the map and thought it would make a good stop and save the girls from more time in the car.
After admiring the spot from afar we waded through the surf to enter the cave underneath, dip our hands in the spring and receive a quick blessing. I really felt the power of the spot although I'm glad we didn't glimpse any of the harmless (but still poisonous) snakes that inhabit the area.
I'm sure this view is spectacular at sunset but we needed to be back in Seminyak by then.
Driving up to Tanah Lot also gave us a chance to see a more rural side of the island. Tourism has surpassed agriculture as the biggest driver of the Balinese economy but much of the land is still covered in small scale rice farms. It's fascinating to see them in action.
We also logged more time on the congested Balinese roads. This is the view of workers coming home at the end of the day. The traffic weaves all over the roads with little regard for lanes, signals and sides but somehow it works.
Once back in Seminyak we headed to Gado Gado beach to find our girls at La Planche. They were deeply involved in building a sand castle and barely looked up when we arrived. I'm glad they could get some quiet outdoor play while we did some site seeing. We loved having grown ups to talk to over drinks at sunset. It made for a wonderful end to another gorgeous day.
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