Save some rupiah for the departure

Remember to put aside 150,000 rupiah per person to be used when you leave Indonesia. This is the equivalent of the "Passenger Service Tax" of air travel but collected at the departure hall. I kept aside 75,000 rupiah thinking it was still the same the last time I came to Indonesia for a holiday (2000). Luckily, I still had some rupiah left!

Activities

There are many activities available in Bali but we decided for this trip, we were just going to chill out at the hotel, get some massages, eat great food and some shopping. However, if you planning for some water activities, I do suggest going to an offshore island called Lembongan. It's about 40mins away by boat on the eastern side of Bali & has great looking, clear waters. Rates start from US$50 onwards but do check out the many brochures available before making your decision. I saw this island while the plane was doing its approach to land.

Massage in Bali

There are many spas available in Bali to suit any budget. I know of one called Rose Garden spa. It's just 5 mins by car from our hotel and the spa even provides a pick-up and drop-off service. The spa offers various spa treatments & we chose a 2-hr, 'diamond sand' massage. There were 2 lady masseuse for each person & they are really good at what they do. It was like heaven for the whole 2 hours! The spa offers even 2/3 day 'package' offers where the discounts are quite attractive. For our massage, we paid about US$20 per person for the 2hr session. We gave some tips to the masseuse individually.

Hotel pool

The hotel pool is great for kids. There is a large adults pool, about 2m deep with an adjoining kids wading pool. There is even an island bar so you can sip your cold drink while sitting in the pool! There is also a giant slide about 2 storeys tall. Great for kids & adults too. There is constant supervision on the slides and the lifeguards are very friendly. The slide pool also has a tarpaulin-shaded area for those who doesn't like the bright sunshine. A lot of pool games & activities are planned every day for kids & adults as well. Eryn really enjoyed her time swimming or taking the slide.

To Bali without a stroller

We're going on a short holiday in Bali and it was only after checking-in that we realized that we didn't bring the stroller for our daughter. The flight was uneventful but the immigration queue was so long. As we were waiting in line, our daughter started to make a fuss and started crying. Lucky for us, a kind immigration officer motioned us over and proceeded to process our immigration formalities. We were done in 5 mins! Having a kid does have its privileges! Hahaha! We checked into our hotel, Bali Dynasty on Kuta beach. We chose this hotel because of its child-friendly policies and kids swimming pools. We booked a family room that had a King-sized bed and 2 other single beds. The family room allocated to us was on the ground floor, just near the swimming pool. At first, we were worried about the noise level but as it turned out, it wasn't that bad.

Bangkok

We find that Bangkok's public transport system isn't very stroller-friendly. We took the BTS trains a few times and the stations that we boarded & alighted didn't have any elevators or ramps for strollers. We had to carry it up/down the stairs. But they do have a special 'gate' for strollers at the entry/exit gates! Go figure. The streets of Bangkok are also crowded with people & peddlers selling all sorts of stuff on the sidewalks, so it can be a task to navigate your way through this traffic. Fortunately, the Thais are very considerate people who will give way to you when they see a stroller coming!

Seafood for dinner

We wanted to have a good seafood dinner so we asked Mr Udon where is the best place to find cheap & good seafood. He suggested a place called KoSaweng. It's a 40min drive from the hotel to the outskirts near the coast. After exiting the highway, we entered a dirt road for about 15mins before arriving at the restaurant. There are a few other restaurants along this road too. There were only 2-3 cars there and the restaurant was virtually deserted. I was told that during the weekends, the place is filled to the maximum. If the tables numbers are an indication of how many tables available, we sat at table #428! We ordered a steamed fish, vegetables, crabs, prawn & of course the Tom Yam Khung. The food arrived in 10mins and in healthy servings. Everything was so fresh & delicious. It was a great meal and the bill came to about US$45 for everything. If only my stomach had more room for more bbq-ed prawns!