We’d saved exploring Ubud itself until our final day as it could be done on foot from our villa. We started with the monkey forest, a sanctuary called Mandala Wisata that’s home to 100’s of Balinese macaques. We discovered that they are excessively welcoming (quite scary!) when they think you might have food - one gave Imogen a real fright when it went for a little tile she was holding. It reminded us of a similar experience we’d had in Georgetown on our last trip!
The forest is dark and cool and felt a bit Indiana Jones-ish, especially with three temples and a stream in the middle. We also saw a monkey steal the bottle of hand sanitiser dangling from a tourist’s bag, which it proceeded to open and sample. Remarkably, it went back for seconds!
From there we wandered slowly up one of Ubud’s main shopping streets popping into shops and enjoying the scene. We really enjoyed the vibrancy, great food and good shopping mixed in with more tourist-tatty options. We arrived at Ubud palace hot and bothered (Eleanor particularly struggles with the heat) so Fiona, Jeremy, the kids and I set off for the villa while Adrian explored a bit more.
By the time we got back we were sweaty, exhausted and ready for a cold drink. Stepping through the villa’s gate was blissful - the garden was shady and the pool inviting. We all changed and jumped in. Just what we needed!
The following morning we left for Kuta, in Denpasar, about 45 minutes away. Kuta apparently has an amazing beach and thriving nightlife, but we didn’t experience either - the only reason for our visit was Waterbom.
After dropping our bags at the Alron Hotel (our recommendation: give it a miss) we grabbed lunch and went straight to the water park for the afternoon. It is self proclaimed as the third largest waterpark in the world. Wow!
We all had an absolute ball. Adrian, Jeremy, Griffyn, Bethan and Leo went on every slide they could (the three kids weren’t heavy enough for the Climax, sucks to be them) from the slides in the kiddy pool to the ones where the floor drops away and down you plunge (not a chance of getting me on that one!!!). Fiona, Ginny, Eleanor and I had a more sedate afternoon trying out a couple of the bigger slides but spending most of our time in the kiddy pool and lazy river. We left when it closed at 6pm happy, exhilarated, exhausted and hungry.
Back at the Alron, the Lewis’s conjoined rooms turned out to be at opposite ends of the corridor and our family room had two beds - a king and a single - the expectation being that three would sleep in the king. Adrian kindly gave me the single so I had a reasonable sleep but he was less lucky sleeping next to Leo, our starfish. Despite our less-than-positive review, the Alron served its purpose - somewhere to leave our bags and a bed (well, a third of a bed) for the night.
The next morning was a big travel day: five legs and four modes of transport from Kuta to Gili Air. We drove to Ngurah Rai airport, flew to Lombok, drove to the ferry beach near Bangsal (we jumped on board from the sand), took a fast boat to Gili Air then walked to our accommodation. It was a long journey but we wanted to maximise our time on Gili Air so had decided to do it all in one go.
Ginny was sick the night before and Leo had a funny tummy so arriving at our villa without significant incident a great relief. Ginny was sick on the flight and Leo in the car after the windy roads on Lombok, but we managed to keep it all fairly contained. Thank goodness for aeroplane sick bags! Top tip: grab lots of them, you’ll want them at some point.
The drive along Lombok’s Coast was winding and a little sad. There were eerily empty resorts and roadside stalls that looked as though they should have been busy, and concrete pads surrounded with piles of rubble. We weren’t certain that the recent earthquake was the cause of all of the ruin and disrepair, but suspected it was in most cases. We’ll see more when we head back that way after Gili Air.
Arriving at the pier on Gili Air is one of those cool-in-retrospect moments. We were frazzled and very ready to put down our bags in our home for the next few days, so the 10-minute walk to the villa was functional rather than a pleasant wander. The island has mostly sand roads. There are no cars so transport is by foot, horse and cart, bike or the odd motorbike. Our bags traveled by horse and cart while we walked along behind - there were a few tummies that didn’t need any more jiggling!
Villa De’Coco is the accommodation we’d been looking forward to since April. Fiona has a picture of it as her screen saver at work and I’d often day dreamed about it. Finally we were in the photo!!!
The villa is stunning - light, bright, beautifully furnished and very comfortable. It is about 100 metres off the coast road, so very near the beach and restaurants. Lombok is predominantly Muslim so there was no sign of Galangun decorations that had been so prevalent in Bali, and we were able to hear the call to prayer from the mosque behind us.
Dinner was the first of our many meals on the sand. That night Eleanor, Griffyn and Adrian were also unwell. We had no idea of the cause - the water park, something they’d all eaten or possibly the water in the ice - but it was pretty unpleasant. With Bali Belly (gastroenteritis by another name) all you can really do is wait it out. Ideally close to a loo!
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