Last Stuff About Bali

These are the last days and my thoughts on what I came away from my holiday having learnt. next entry will probably be me back to my ranting.

Day Five

Another morning spent swimming and lazing in at the resort. After another lunch of honey sandwiches for the girls and cold pizza for the adults we had a quiet time and went out to replenish supplies. We walked past the Circle K to have a look around sadly realising how much we hadn’t seen yet. However looking on it objectively I would say we wouldn’t have done a lot differently it would have been too much for the girls. We ditched the safari, zoo and water park ideas simply because we decided the girls would be interested for a bit and then get restless and it wouldn’t be worth it financially.

Then we went back to the hotel, changed back into our bathers and went to run the gauntlet that is the Bali beach. ‘You want chair,’ ‘you want braid,’ ‘manicure’.

We went close the water with our towel and got dirty. The sand on the beach at Kuta is quite dark, very different to the golden sand I’m used to in Australia. Both girls had a blast. It was Kiara’s first time and she was much more fearless than Michaela at that age. On day four we had walked along the beach and chased sand crabs, they did some more of that, they are quick little buggers and it’s fun to chase them.

Then back to resort, rinse off the sand, into the pool and hotel dinner again.

Oh and there was no music this morning but Kiara kept asking if she could see the more ‘bang, bang’.

Day Six

Today’s agenda was planned rather than decided on the fly. We wanted to go where we hadn’t yet and take pictures. The back alleys and main drags that we hadn’t been to previously.

We started strong, I’m surprised just how far I was able to walk carrying Kiara. The stall holders around this area weren’t as bad as where we went the first day, far more willing to accept no.

The most frustrating, anger inducing, annoying moment was when a guy shoved a fake gun in Michaela’s face – sideways not pointing it at her – and said ‘you buy, toy you buy’. I nearly went…well you know. What kind of moron does that?

We even ventured into a shop to look for something for a friend but they didn’t have it. The girls bought flower ornaments for their hair.

We just walked and walked until we weren’t sure we’d find the road that lead back to the resort. Steve knew the direction we needed to go but with the roads twisting and turning it can get a little confusing especially for the navigationally challenged like me. I wondered at one point if we’d have to retrace our steps but I continued to follow Steve because the guy has great navigation skills.

Two hours after we left we were back at the resort for a sit, a drink and a swim. Then a quiet lunch. Kiara was exhausted and wouldn’t settle until about ten minutes before we were due to head out again to take pics around the resort. So I did a bit of loud packing to wake her.

After the pics we went swimming again. They are both so good in the water. Michaela has come a fair way with her swimming and water confidence. Yesterday Steve taught her the basics of diving and she has worked hard at it and improved dramatically in just one day. Kiara is fearless, a bit too fearless, not content to stay in the shallows.

Tonight we headed out to a restaurant, the only proviso being that the girls could order pizza again. They won’t be getting any more for a while I can tell you that.

We ended up at a place called Chasers – great food, cheap drinks with actual alcohol in them, the girls loved it, mum and dad loved it.

7 am check out tomorrow so I settled the bill tonight. Homeward bound. Yay!

Lessons Learnt

I was speaking to a friend after we’d got back and she said she knew I wouldn’t like Bali because I don’t tolerate stupid people. I started to protest that I would never call a people group stupid but unfortunately the more I thought about it the more I realised she had a point. I don’t actually consider them stupid I simply don’t see how their way of doing things, (haggling and hassling) is efficient or effective, but it must work for them. It is what they know, and not what I know and I found them to be annoying and time wasting. So to my friend’s way of looking at it their way of doing things, according to my standards, is stupid.

How intolerant and arrogant do I sound? Not a pretty picture to paint about yourself is it? I always thought I was fairly tolerant but those that know me best would say there are things I don’t tolerate at all and what I perceive to be stupidity is one of those things. I really should have understood this better because the signs were all there: someone comes up to me at work and says ‘I want a book, I don’t know who wrote it or what it is about but it’s written by a girl’, and I think they are idiots and should stop wasting my time. I am intellectually arrogant and I have no real cause to be because there are plenty of people out there who know so much more than I do, are so much smarter.

So what did I learn? I hate haggling; shopping and I aren’t real friendly. That it doesn’t matter where you are there are always things to learn, experience and be thankful for. Anytime together with your family is time well spent.

And that is it for our first family holiday.