Last weekend we had Anders (Iris’ brother), Aina and Tonje over for a 3-day visit. They came from Perth, which makes it possible to come for only 3 days, its about 4 hours flight. Now they are hopefully back safely in Norway.
The weekend was great, although the weather did not spoil us that much, like the last couple of weeks. But still we had enough sun and almost no rain and of course we had fun just hanging out together! Especially for Iris it was really nice to see Anders again, not seeing him since the wedding. Really cool coincidence that he could visit us here on Bali through Aina and Tonjes stay in Perth.
Friday and Sunday we spent time seeing the area, walking and sunbathing at the beach, talking and catching up.
Saturday we had booked a car, driver and guide to take a Bali tour from morning till evening. Sounds really expensive, but here on Bali you can get a driver/guide for only Rp 4000.000. We were lucky to find this guide, which took a driver with him so he had all the time to explain the Balinese culture. We were picked up at home 8.30 and first went off to see a Balinese dance/theatre show, it was a story about a fight and the balance between good and bad, told with Barong and Keris dance. It was beautiful but difficult to follow the story. The Keris dance was very very impressive, this is a trance like dance with men using a keris (kind of sword) to stab into their chest and stomach, screaming and stabbing. But no wounds and no blood.
We continued to see a temple we didn’t see yet, Pura Batuan, it was beautiful as all the Balinese temples are. Most interesting was that our guide was explaining and telling a lot about things inside the temple. Mostly we don’t have guides when we enter temples and most important, our guide Nyoman Gede is really dedicated and professional and has much knowledge.
We went through Ubud to the stunning rice fields in the village Tegallalang. Just when you think there are no more new rice fields that can blow you away, we arrive at one that again is too beautiful to capture on photo. All of us were just taking in the view and trying to avoid all the vendors selling everything for "1 dollar".
We left further north and up to Danau (lake) Batur at the volcano Gunung Batur. We look forward to hiking the volcano one day. But for now we were satisfied with having lunch at the lake and seeing the hot springs. We were a bit disappointed about the hot springs; it is just luxury swimming pools with hot water, Rino said. We maybe had expected more like a wild hot spring like pictures from Island. We enjoyed lunch with fresh caught fish and kept dry because swimming would cost us Rp 80.000, which we find a bit too expensive.
On the way home we visited a Balinese family compound and had a look around with a friendly local girl.
After this is was already evening and we were ready for dinner and our beds.
We had a great weekend! Sunday night we already waved them goodbye.
Until next time :-)
Showing posts with label Family visit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Family visit. Show all posts
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Family visits
Since December 11th we live back in our house in Seminyak and that was also the arrival date of Els, Loek, Marion and Jort (Rino’s family). It has been a busy month, because one week later Julia, Sofie and Roger (Iris family) arrived. It were interesting and active weeks for all of us.
The first week only Rino’s family was there. Rino arranged an airport pick-up from his hotel and they were still quite fit after a 28-hour trip. Once they saw our house we went to the beach and had an early diner. At 20:00 it was quiet in the house and everybody slept already. The next day we spend the whole day on the beach and Rino tried to teach Marion and Jort some surfing. Two scooters arrived, one for each couple. It was nice for us to show were we have lived in the past 3 months. Unfortunately the next day all of them got the ‘Bali belly’, except Els was still feeling quite fine. During the next 4 weeks there was a lot of Bali belly’s going around the group.
In the next days Rino had to work like normally and Iris also went to Ubud for a few days. Els and Loek joined one day to Ubud. Els found out that she didn’t like to sit on the back of a scooter for one hour in this kind of traffic, while Loek actually loved to drive the scooter, he liked to drive every day. Marion and Jort travelled around the east coast of Bali for almost a week.
The Ubud Trip
One week later on the other part of the family arrived. Unfortunately Iris got sick on this day and was not able to join in picking up her own family. The Norwegians were a bit tougher with the whole jet lack, they stayed up until late and didn’t seem to have any problems with the time difference. Els, Loek, Sofie, Roger, Julia and Iris had an overnight stay in Ubud in the beginning of the week. We did some sightseeing in the Ubud area and Iris combined it with going to the foundation and of course showing Sjaki-Tari-Us to the family.
Rino sadly had to work and Marion and Jort were still on their trip across the island. Here a slideshow with the highlights of the Ubud trip:
For Christmas at the Gili’s see our next blog post.
Banyan Tree Bike Tours
Marion, Jort, Els and Loek stayed for a few days longer on the Gili’s and between Christmas and New Years Eve Rino had to work, as usual. Iris and Julia went on an arranged bicycle tour in central Bali, picked up in the morning and brought back in the afternoon. It was a spectacular beautiful trip with lots of breath-taking sights and good guides telling a lot about culture. In the underneath slideshow the bike tour is shown and explained and here is Iris’ review on TripAdvisor.
New Years Eve
For New Years Eve we made a reservation by our number 1 favourite warung “Warung Sobot”. We had planned to walk on the beach after dinner and arrive at the ‘place to be’ around midnight. Unfortunately it was raining and therefore we decided to take a taxi to the beach. After some hassle we arrived 2 minutes before midnight on the beach and enjoyed the great view with lots of spectacular fireworks from the expensive hotels in the area :-).
We really would like to pledge to all governments and local governments back home to don’t let private people shoot fireworks and instead invest some money in real and nice fireworks for everybody to enjoy!
Loek didn’t feel so great and had his first New Years Eve without alcohol since…… ever. Together with Els and Julia he left at around 1am. So the young generation stayed and got a bit drunk at a beach bar with some dancing and some deep and intense family conversations ;-)
Departure
The first of January was the day of departure for Julia, Sofie and Roger, Iris brought them to the airport. We were supposed to go on a trip with Els and Loek and a private driver, but Iris got her strange extreme stomach infection for the 2nd time. Els and Loek decided to go first to the national park of Bali on the west side of the island, Marion and Jort and joined them. In the afternoon they all came back and now Els was feeling sick. Rino had to work the rest of the week and Iris also promised to go to Sjaki for two days. Luckily Els got better and the two of them still went for a trip for two days to east Bali.
So overall we had a good time with our families. With so many people together there will always be some irritations and unfortunately we also infected each other and several people got ill, but all in all we had great time together!
We are truly happy to have the house for ourselves now and finally really make the house our own. It will take a while before the next visits come so we can explore the islands further on our own again. Underneath a slideshow with the highlights from the past weeks.
The first week only Rino’s family was there. Rino arranged an airport pick-up from his hotel and they were still quite fit after a 28-hour trip. Once they saw our house we went to the beach and had an early diner. At 20:00 it was quiet in the house and everybody slept already. The next day we spend the whole day on the beach and Rino tried to teach Marion and Jort some surfing. Two scooters arrived, one for each couple. It was nice for us to show were we have lived in the past 3 months. Unfortunately the next day all of them got the ‘Bali belly’, except Els was still feeling quite fine. During the next 4 weeks there was a lot of Bali belly’s going around the group.
In the next days Rino had to work like normally and Iris also went to Ubud for a few days. Els and Loek joined one day to Ubud. Els found out that she didn’t like to sit on the back of a scooter for one hour in this kind of traffic, while Loek actually loved to drive the scooter, he liked to drive every day. Marion and Jort travelled around the east coast of Bali for almost a week.
The Ubud Trip
One week later on the other part of the family arrived. Unfortunately Iris got sick on this day and was not able to join in picking up her own family. The Norwegians were a bit tougher with the whole jet lack, they stayed up until late and didn’t seem to have any problems with the time difference. Els, Loek, Sofie, Roger, Julia and Iris had an overnight stay in Ubud in the beginning of the week. We did some sightseeing in the Ubud area and Iris combined it with going to the foundation and of course showing Sjaki-Tari-Us to the family.
Rino sadly had to work and Marion and Jort were still on their trip across the island. Here a slideshow with the highlights of the Ubud trip:
For Christmas at the Gili’s see our next blog post.
Banyan Tree Bike Tours
Marion, Jort, Els and Loek stayed for a few days longer on the Gili’s and between Christmas and New Years Eve Rino had to work, as usual. Iris and Julia went on an arranged bicycle tour in central Bali, picked up in the morning and brought back in the afternoon. It was a spectacular beautiful trip with lots of breath-taking sights and good guides telling a lot about culture. In the underneath slideshow the bike tour is shown and explained and here is Iris’ review on TripAdvisor.
New Years Eve
For New Years Eve we made a reservation by our number 1 favourite warung “Warung Sobot”. We had planned to walk on the beach after dinner and arrive at the ‘place to be’ around midnight. Unfortunately it was raining and therefore we decided to take a taxi to the beach. After some hassle we arrived 2 minutes before midnight on the beach and enjoyed the great view with lots of spectacular fireworks from the expensive hotels in the area :-).
We really would like to pledge to all governments and local governments back home to don’t let private people shoot fireworks and instead invest some money in real and nice fireworks for everybody to enjoy!
Loek didn’t feel so great and had his first New Years Eve without alcohol since…… ever. Together with Els and Julia he left at around 1am. So the young generation stayed and got a bit drunk at a beach bar with some dancing and some deep and intense family conversations ;-)
Departure
The first of January was the day of departure for Julia, Sofie and Roger, Iris brought them to the airport. We were supposed to go on a trip with Els and Loek and a private driver, but Iris got her strange extreme stomach infection for the 2nd time. Els and Loek decided to go first to the national park of Bali on the west side of the island, Marion and Jort and joined them. In the afternoon they all came back and now Els was feeling sick. Rino had to work the rest of the week and Iris also promised to go to Sjaki for two days. Luckily Els got better and the two of them still went for a trip for two days to east Bali.
So overall we had a good time with our families. With so many people together there will always be some irritations and unfortunately we also infected each other and several people got ill, but all in all we had great time together!
We are truly happy to have the house for ourselves now and finally really make the house our own. It will take a while before the next visits come so we can explore the islands further on our own again. Underneath a slideshow with the highlights from the past weeks.
Christmas @ the Gili's
For the Christmas weekend we had arranged a trip to the Gili islands. The Gili islands are Lombok's most popular tourist destination. They are three small islands in front of Lomboks west coast and we had booked a hotel on Gili Trawangan, the biggest of the three. The Gili’s are called paradise and it truly was! The pictures underneath also show the paradise, but to explain in words: white sand beaches, turquoise waters, corals ride on the beach, beachside cafes and restaurants, relaxing atmosphere and best of all NO motorized traffic. Especially that last item was very relaxing, now we only had to watch out for horse carts :-)
To come to the Gili’s there are a number of fast boats and slower boats going from Bali. We booked the fastboat Gili Cat, which left from PadangBai. The journey in the boat took 2 hours and was a bit more rough than we thought, which not everybody liked that much, but we survived. In Bali the weather wasn’t good for the past few days, but the Gili’s have 300 sunny days a year so the beach was waiting for us when we arrived. Rino had booked the hotel Big Bubble Dive and Bungalows (see here his review on TripAdvisor). After checking in and lunch we rushed ourselves to enjoy the beach. Marion by coincidence met an old friend from Drenthe, so the world keeps on being small (especially because she saw the same friend one and half week later in Ubud again). Most of our time on the Gili’s we spend on or at the beach, relaxing, snorkeling, reading, playing games, swimming and just having the perfect vacation. We had read that people often stay longer than planned on the Gili, Marion and Jort originally thought they would explore Lombok, soon they decided to stay longer on the Gili’s and Loek and Els quickly followed their idea. The second day we all made a walk around the island, which took only 2 hours. We would also love to come back to the Gili’s one time!
Christmas eve
Of course Christmas on the Gili islands felt totally different than normally in Norway or the Netherlands, but we had planned a small Christmas Eve with a few presents. For Iris it’s just an impossible idea not have some kind of Christmas Eve celebration. Els even had arranged a small and very fake Christmas tree and we all sat together in front of one of the hotel rooms and shared our presents (see the pics in the slideshow). For dinner we made a reservation by one of the beachside restaurants, but unfortunately not everything went so smoothly at this restaurant compared to the one we eaten the day before (see Rino’s reviews on TripAdvisor).
Glass bottom boat
On first Christmas day we had booked a glass bottom boat, which is a boat with a few glass windows so you can watch the underwater life from the boat. Unfortunately Roger was sick and not able to join the trip. The boat brought us to several beautiful snorkeling spots around the 3 islands, we had a lunch on Gili Air and a walk on Gili Meno the smallest of the 3. It was a very successful day and we all enjoyed it very much. The underwater life showed us turtles, beautiful young and old corals and lots of tropical fish. We were not in the possession of a underwater camera, so unfortunately we can not show you the underwater life yet, but we have bought a underwater casing for our camera now, so next time we will show the beautiful underwater life of Bali and Lombok :-)
Except one incident in a popular reggae bar about the worst Mojito in the world (see link with Rino’s review about the Gili islands on TripAdvisor), everything was absolutely fantastic on the Gili! :-)
Review Scallywags Organic Seafood Bar & Grill the restaurant we eaten the first day
To come to the Gili’s there are a number of fast boats and slower boats going from Bali. We booked the fastboat Gili Cat, which left from PadangBai. The journey in the boat took 2 hours and was a bit more rough than we thought, which not everybody liked that much, but we survived. In Bali the weather wasn’t good for the past few days, but the Gili’s have 300 sunny days a year so the beach was waiting for us when we arrived. Rino had booked the hotel Big Bubble Dive and Bungalows (see here his review on TripAdvisor). After checking in and lunch we rushed ourselves to enjoy the beach. Marion by coincidence met an old friend from Drenthe, so the world keeps on being small (especially because she saw the same friend one and half week later in Ubud again). Most of our time on the Gili’s we spend on or at the beach, relaxing, snorkeling, reading, playing games, swimming and just having the perfect vacation. We had read that people often stay longer than planned on the Gili, Marion and Jort originally thought they would explore Lombok, soon they decided to stay longer on the Gili’s and Loek and Els quickly followed their idea. The second day we all made a walk around the island, which took only 2 hours. We would also love to come back to the Gili’s one time!
Christmas eve
Of course Christmas on the Gili islands felt totally different than normally in Norway or the Netherlands, but we had planned a small Christmas Eve with a few presents. For Iris it’s just an impossible idea not have some kind of Christmas Eve celebration. Els even had arranged a small and very fake Christmas tree and we all sat together in front of one of the hotel rooms and shared our presents (see the pics in the slideshow). For dinner we made a reservation by one of the beachside restaurants, but unfortunately not everything went so smoothly at this restaurant compared to the one we eaten the day before (see Rino’s reviews on TripAdvisor).
Glass bottom boat
On first Christmas day we had booked a glass bottom boat, which is a boat with a few glass windows so you can watch the underwater life from the boat. Unfortunately Roger was sick and not able to join the trip. The boat brought us to several beautiful snorkeling spots around the 3 islands, we had a lunch on Gili Air and a walk on Gili Meno the smallest of the 3. It was a very successful day and we all enjoyed it very much. The underwater life showed us turtles, beautiful young and old corals and lots of tropical fish. We were not in the possession of a underwater camera, so unfortunately we can not show you the underwater life yet, but we have bought a underwater casing for our camera now, so next time we will show the beautiful underwater life of Bali and Lombok :-)
Except one incident in a popular reggae bar about the worst Mojito in the world (see link with Rino’s review about the Gili islands on TripAdvisor), everything was absolutely fantastic on the Gili! :-)
Review Scallywags Organic Seafood Bar & Grill the restaurant we eaten the first day
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