Bali for Kids

Uluwatu

It's holiday time at Bali.

We took a 5 days 4 nights trip to Bali. We will give you our suggested daily itineraries as well as our take on the individual attractions through our ' innocent' eyes.

This is a 2 parts post. Part 2 : Ubud, Tanah Lot, Kuta can be found here

Tip : Get a personal driver from the villa  / hotel . You need one to travel around Bali. Taxis are far and few in between and buses are almost invisible. As for the cost, it depends, our villa provides a minivan and a driver free for 12 hours a day. We just tip him and the end of the day.

Day trip : Turtle island (Tanjung Benoa) , Uluwatu temple, Seminyak (12 hours)

Turtle Island 

We start the day journey with a trip to Nusa Dua beach. From our villa in Changgu, it took about an hour to reach there ( in fact travel time from one place to another usually take about an hour or so) . We did not know what to expect as we did not research on this destination. It was based on the recommendation of our driver for this trip.

There were several water activities available at Nusa Dua ( we were at Tanjung Benoa beach) ranging from banana boat, jet ski, parasailing, snorkelling and trip to turtle island. As we are still too young to do most of the rides, we decided to take the ' glass ' bottom boat trip to turtle island. In case you get your expectation too high, the glass bottom was just a rectangular cut out in the middle of the boat. The waters were murky and you could not see much. In addition, there were no life jackets on board. Luckily it was only a short 10 minutes ride to the turtle.

Be warn, prepare to bargain for the fee. They charged us rup 200000 per pax ( sgd 27) when the actual listed price on the Internet is at 125000 rupiah. ( sgd 17) . In addition there is a charge of Us1 for entrance to Turtle island. Since we did not do our homework, we were royally ripped off for this trip.

Turtle island is a ' conservation' sanctuary for the endangered turtles in Bali. The guide had claimed that they rescued and breed turtles and half of it is return to the sea every year. In addition, the place housed several other species like bats, eagles and pythons. The excursion allows visitors to touch and feel the animals within the sanctuary. It is billed as a place to go for kids with young children.

The conditions were not as ideal for the animals in the sanctuary. Eagle were kept in small cages, pythons and turtles kept in concrete bunkers. Turtles were even pulled out and used as photography props ( yes we are guilty of that as well) It was only after the tour and doing research on it , that we realised the appalling conditions in this place. Given this scenario, we may have second thoughts on recommending the place to others. Nevertheless given that it is Bali, we have to acknowledge that facilities may not be on par with international standard .If what the guide say is true( about saving and releasing turtles to the sea), this place could be worth a second look only if conditions for the captive animals improve.

It should take about an hour and a half for the whole tour around Turtle Island.


Uluwatu temple
After Turtle Island, we had lunch at a nearby restaurant before proceeding to Uluwatu Temple.( Entrance 20000 rupiah)

We were in awe by the sight of a near 90 degree cliff. It was 'wow' at first sight.

Uluwatu temple is built in the 11th century by Javanese priest Empu Kuturan. The cliff is approximately 100m high and is considered one of the best place to view sunset. We did not get to see the sunset as we were there relatively early at 4pm and finished exploring by 5 pm. However if you are there later in the evening, there is a well known Kecak Dance ( entrance 70000 rupiah) there at about 6pm follow by glorious view of the Sunset.

Do be warn that there are armies of monkeys at Uluwatu. Some are even trained to take things ( like sunglasses)away from tourists. Do not feed the animals and keep loose belongings. Otherwise you may need to pay a fee to the locals to coax the monkeys to return your stuff.

Beautiful Uluwatu

Seminyak
We left early from Uluwatu to Seminyak. Be warned traffic can be quite bad in Bali especially during the evenings. Though it was a weekday, it took us more than 2 hours to reach Seminyak. By the time, it was a little late to shop around, so we decided to have dinner instead. We managed to catch a Balinese Dance performance at Seminyak Square while having our dinner. From the shops that we seen, this is the upmarket district in Bali, with merchandise of a better quality than the normal stalls found around Kuta.

We managed to squeeze in 3 destinations in a day of sightseeing and travelling for this day trip. Not too bad considering the location of the places we visited.

Seminyak

Day trip : Bali Safari and Marine park , Jimbaran Bay sunset seafood (10 hours)

Bali Safari and Marine park
Bali Safari and Marine park claims it is home to more than 100 animals representing 60 species. With exhibits featuring the likes of Sumatrapan elephants, Sumatran tiger, white tiger , Komodo dragon and camels. This seems to be a great destination for kids. Furthermore, we were enticed by the Waterpark and Funzone on the website and decided to advocate a day to explore the theme park of Bali.

The minimum entrance fee is at Usd 49 per pax. For an inclusive lunch, it cost upwards of US 69. We think you can get the minimum entrance fee as a decent lunch at Tsaavo lion restaurant is available for usd 10 plus.

It took us about an hour from Canggu to the park. We spend about 4 hours at the park. Check out our full review on the park at a later post!

Jimbaran Bay

Jimbaran Bay

We left the park at about 4 pm and headed towards Jimbaran Bay for Dinner.

Be warned this is a tourist trap. The restaurants provided set menu and it cost at least 700000 rupiah( sgd 94) for 2. We had the 900000 rupiah package(For 4-5 pax) along with some side dishes. All in all dinner for 6 adults and 3 kids cost about 1.35 million rupiah.(sgd 180)Our first million dollars meal!

We were told that if you order individually, it may be more expensive as they measured by weight

Our 900,000 rupiah package consist of the following

• BBQ lobster
• BBQ prawns (8 pieces)
• Calamari
• Rice
• Veggies
• 2 drinks

We were told this is quite standardised amongst the restaurants. There are numerous restaurants with similar looking interiors along the Jimbaran Bay.

Sunset at Jimbaran

Truth be told, it does not matter which restaurants or the restaurant interior. The beauty of dining at Jimbaran is the million dollar  sunset view. Even when we dine with thousands of strangers at the beach, the sunset somehow transport you magically and you would feel like the beach is all yours.

Enjoying the Jimbaran waves with Mummy

We loves the sound of the waves, the beautiful sunset and the casual settings.

With that blissful scene we set back to our villa and retire for the day.Maybe the magic of Jimbaran made all of us immerse in dreamland for the night. For it is the very night that our villa was broken into and our possessions taken when we were deep in sleep. Maybe the magic has protected us too as we were at least safe from this unfortunate incident.

Nevertheless we trooped on for the rest of our holidays. The thieves of the night may have stolen our valuables but they have not taken away our spirit of adventure.

Part 2 Exploring Ubud, Tanah Lot and Kuta.