On our way

Almost two years ago, our friends the Lewis family left Pukerua Bay for Singapore. Before they left we’d dreamed about catching up somewhere exotic. Initial discussions centred around Nikoi Island in Singapore, but earlier this year we decided to meet in Indonesia over Christmas and New Year instead, and have spent much of this year planning our adventure. 

We Parkers all arrived at the end of the year tired and well-and-truly ready for a break. So, to our great excitement school finished, work finished and we were finally on our way the very next day. We’d had a lovely (and delicious!) early Christmas with my family a couple of weeks earlier and were completely spoiled. We’d delivered Thistle the dog, Hodgson the cat and Squeaks the mouse to their holiday destinations. Thistle and Squeaks are at their caring and comfortable home-away-from home in Plimmerton (Mum and Dad’s), while Hodgie is at the cattery around the corner in Pukerua Bay - he too is well cared for and he’s always extra-friendly for a week or two after we get home. 

Our first stop on the trip was an overnight stay in Sydney. We took the opportunity to have dinner with our London friends, the Kassis family. We met at antenatal classes 10 years ago and last saw them in late 2015. Eleanor and their eldest daughter, Nadine, are two days apart in age and have remained great friends since sharing a nanny in London, so it was incredibly special to see the girls together again after three years. It was also lovely to see Leo and their son Anton bond over Lego and to see their youngest daughter Lina so grown up - she was about 18 months last time we visited. And of course we loved catching up on news with Renee and Fadi. I love how years can pass without seeing good friends but somehow you pick up exactly where you left off!

The following morning it was straight to the airport for our flight. Stepping from the plane onto the ramp at Denpasar airport, we walked through a wall of heat before hitting the air conditioning. Who hoo! I always find passport control in a new country interesting, it’s your first introduction to how things work, but seems so different to real life once you leave the airport. Denpasar airport is pretty basic, passport control is a manual process and about three flights arrived within 30 minutes of each other so the queue was long and slow moving. 

Walking into the arrivals hall I was travel-weary, and excited for what we were about to experience. Denpasar arrivals didn’t disappoint in terms of the heat and general chaos. I was sweating within five minutes and there were so many drivers with signs meeting the flights, that we needed to hunt for ours. We were pleased to have booked a transfer as it allowed us to avoid the mad muddle of drivers. 

Topan, our driver, was there with a sign, big smile and an air conditioned car so it wasn’t long before we were on the road for our 1.5 hour drive to Ubud. Topan is a great driver, friendly, informative and safe. He navigated the motorbikes, cars, vans and dogs with patience and ease. Horns are every bit as useful as indicators here, and are possibly used more often. 

I’d imagined leaving Denpasar and driving through countryside but the route was built up the entire way. We drove past temples being prepared with dressed statues and decorated with penjor for the Galungan due to start on 26 December. Galungan is a 10-day long Hindu festival during which the gods come to earth and people celebrate with feasts and visiting their families. It ends with Kuningan, when they farewell the gods. 

There were all manner of shops - pets, furniture, food, stone art... Often the motorbikes are laden with people and/or tools/shopping. We even saw someone riding along carrying a ladder. Pretty impressive while weaving in and out of traffic! Helmet use seems to be good practice, most people wear them but sometimes drivers and often passengers, including children, don’t. 

Villa Toya was a wonderful surprise. The villa itself was bigger than we’d expected - lots of room for nine! - and the garden with pool, trampoline, swing, large chess set and joglo, an open outdoor shelter, had plenty to amuse us. 

Eka and Wayan greeted us with coconut water and showed us the ins and outs of the house, arrangements for breakfast (which they cooked for us each morning) and other useful things to know. It was great to learn that they recycle and to see our drinks come with reusable bamboo or metal straws! They also had big water containers so we were able to fill our drink bottles and avoid buying plastic ones. 

Eleanor and Leo were splashing about in the pool within minutes of arriving, while we sampled our first Bintangs on the loungers. We were thrilled to see the Lewis family - Fiona and Jeremy and their children Griffyn, Bethan (who are close to Eleanor and Leo in age) and Imogen who is five - when they drove up about an hour later. We all had a bit to catch up on but took it slowly that first evening with a good chat over a couple of Bintangs and take-aways in the joglo, followed by an early night.