On day three we finally made our way out to the beach. Our resort was on the water but it was enclosed for privacy and protection, so we had to go out the back entrance to get to the ocean. To be honest we were a little sad and disappointed in the beaches at Bali. The sand was beautiful as was the warm, aqua colored water, but there was trash literally everywhere!!! Later on we found out that the people in Bali, and Indonesia in general, do not treat their beaches well at all and they just throw trash in the ocean from boats and even just household trash. They don't respect and keep their waters clean and some people even practice some ritual where they throw their daily trash into the ocean for religious purposes?? I am not quite sure if that was correct since the person who told us that spoke little English and probably didn't understand our question to begin with, but basically the beaches are horrible and filthy. We tried to make the most of it though and I cleared off an area for us to play in the sand for an afternoon.
We got some sand toys at a local street vendor who we also found to do our laundry for us during our time there. It truly broke my heart to see how poor the majority of people that live in Bali are. Since Bali is basically surviving off of tourism all their resorts, hotels and tourist attractions are all very nice, but the Balinese people are in fact very, very poor and suffering to make a living. We had a soft spot in our heart for this one vendor lady and bought the sand toys from her, even though most of them were broken. We had a great time and the kids didn't seem to let the trash bother them at all, but what did bother Kyle and myself were the dozens of people coming up to us on the beach trying to sell us random things. Person after person, someone would come up to us asking if we wanted to buy hats, shells, towels, toys, jewelry, you name it! At fist we didn't mind and would just say no thanks and they would leave, but after the 8th, 9th, 10th time we were getting frustrated because they kept getting persistent and wouldn't leave! We just wanted to enjoy our time together as a family on the beach and be left alone from constant sellers. Let’s just say we left after about an hour and half and had no plans of returning to the beach again.
After our beach experience we realized why our resort had big walls separating the beaches from the resort. It was nice to be back within the safe walls of Bali Dynasty again, and to not be pestered every minute or so. We spent the rest of our time playing, swimming, and enjoying our time in the sun that day. Abby was getting braver and braver on the big water slide to the point where after a couple times going down with myself or Kyle she would go down by herself as long as we would catch her at the bottom. Seeing Abby get the courage to go by herself I think influenced Connor to give it a go. The best moment was when Connor, out of nowhere, said he wanted to go down the big slide, and he wanted to go with mommy. That's me, he wanted me to take him on his first time! I was more than happy to go with him. So we made our way up the long twisting steps to the top of the slide. I sat down at the top of the slide and put Connor on my lap. He was like a cat about to take a bath and got all stiff and started to have a panic attack at the top, clawing at everything trying to prevent himself from going down. I told him he was going to be ok, and before I let him chicken out and back out I pushed us both down the slide. He screamed, and screamed all the way down and got the loudest right before we hit the water in which I held him up so his head would stay out of the water. When I popped up out of the water at the end, still holding Connor up in the air, I noticed his screams turned into laughter. From that moment on we couldn't keep up with him cause he wanted to go down, and down, and down the slide, again, again, and again. Even the employee working the safety of the water slide got a kick out of watching Connor go from terrified to loving the slide. Kyle and I had accomplished our mission of helping Connor be brave enough for the big slide.
The following day we decided to check out the local town. We walked the streets, went to a mall, and even found an Italian restaurant where the owner was actually from Italy. Kyle and he talked and we made reservations to attend that night for our date since we had made babysitting arrangements through the resort. That night two hotel nannies arrived to our room to watch the kids who were all ready for bed. I was nervous at first to leave them with these ladies who I had never met before, but the resort had great babysitting reviews, Brayden was already asleep, and Abby and Connor were in bed just watching TV. What could possibly go wrong? Kyle and I went out and enjoyed a little night life of the Kuta area in Bali, and ate dinner at the little Italian restaurant. It was nice to get out without the kids, and when we returned they were all asleep and were complete angels for the two sitters. We asked if they were willing to watch the kids one more time (Christmas night which was our last night in Bali) and they agreed since they were Hindu and didn't celebrate Christmas. We told them that this year for Christmas it was a little untraditional for us and we had plans to celebrate the holiday upon our return trip home. So we made sure not to tell kids about it actually being Christmas during our trip cause we knew that would become an issue for Santa's presents which were still on their way to Misawa via Amazon shipping.
The next day was our second excursion. This time we planned a trip to the elephant safari park. Even though elephants are not originally from the island of Bali, some are from Indonesia so we figured this was as close and as good as we were going to get to having an elephant experience. Kyle and I were a little apprehensive about this tour due to our last one, but it turned out to be much more enjoyable and kid friendly. The drive was still really twisty and turny on these small windy roads, which left Connor and myself so car sick by the time we arrived, but it was well worth it. Immediately when we arrived we were amazed! There were elephants everywhere and all we wanted to do was get a closer look at them. We checked out the elephant museum they had there, and followed our guide to the area where we could feed them and ride them. I was beyond excited, Kyle was super excited, and the kids were hesitant. I think they were scared at first, but once we started feeding them they warmed up and really loved the elephants.
After feeding them for 20 minutes or so we went to a little showcase they did and had the elephants demonstrate some of the tricks they had learned. It truly is amazing how smart elephants are and how much they can be taught. Once the showcase was done we went over to ride the elephants. We were the last ones in our group to ride the elephants, but boy was it amazing. The boys were on one and the girls were on another elephant. Abby and I enjoyed our mile hike that our elephant took us on, all while seated in a seat that was strapped to her back. In front of us Kyle, Brayden, and Connor sat on their elephant and were having the time of their lives. Each elephant has a trainer who sits on their neck and guides them and helps to train them. During our elephant ride our trainer was telling us about what she does with her elephant each day and how well she knows her elephant now just having worked with her these past 3 months. In another life I too would be an elephant trainer, but for the time being we just enjoyed our once in a lifetime experience of an elephant ride.
When the ride came to an end we had somehow managed to time it so perfectly cause no one was left feeding the other elephants and the trainers said it was their feeding time. So we went over and fed them again and the trainers let us take some fun pictures with the elephants. They were putting flowers around us, giving us some hugs, and even putting their trunks on our heads. It was by far my favorite part of the day, just my little family and three elephants hanging out. When the rest of our group saw the special interaction we were having with the elephants, they all came charging over wanting to get in on the fun. By that point there were lots of people crowding the elephants. We were the only ones that got a one on one experience with the elephants. We finished the day with a buffet lunch overlooking the elephant plantation area, and loaded up for the crazy zig-zag drive back to the resort. The funny thing that happened to us on the drive home is we were in this 10 passenger van full of people and we made it up the hill half way when all of a sudden we stopped due to traffic and scooters weaving in and out of nowhere. The driver told us to hold on and he had to slowly go back down the hill backwards because the engine was not strong enough to stop and start again on a hill. I kind of had a panic attack as the driver weaved us down this hill all while driving backwards, praying we wouldn't hit any other cars. The good news is we made it down the hill safely and were able to get enough power to make it back up the hill again in one piece. Oh Bali and their crazy broken down cars!
Christmas Eve arrived and since we were not really celebrating the "Santa" part of Christmas in Bali (Thankfully our kids are too young to know Christmas is December 25th) we just treated it like any other day, except we did keep one Christmas Eve tradition alive...pizza night. Every Christmas Eve Kyle and I have started a tradition where we go out to eat for pizza with the kids for dinner. After a long day of swimming and playing out in the sun, we got dressed up and went out to eat at the same Italian restaurant we went to the other night, only this time for some pizza. On our way to the restaurant we stopped by the beach to see the sunset, and overwhelming feelings of gratitude came across me. Here I was in Bali, practically paradise, with my cute little family. I don't have to go without food or shelter and live a very comfortable life unlike the majority of the people that live in Bali. I am grateful I have the gospel in my life and know of my loving Savior who came into this world in a miraculous way, lived a miraculous life, and gave us the most miraculous gift of the atonement. We may not be celebrating the commercial Christmas this year, but we will always celebrate the true meaning of Christmas. I am grateful for my loving Savior and all He has and does do for me and my family.
Christmas day arrived and it was a bitter sweet day because as much as we loved playing at the pool and enjoying our time together, we knew in the back of our minds that it was our last day here in paradise and that we would have to go back to cold Japan soon. We made the most of our last day with swimming, going down the big water slide a million times, trying blue Pepsi for the first time (not a big fan FYI), and yes, we even went back to the beach again hoping that it would be better. The beach was still dirty, and we still got bombarded by a ton of people trying to sell us things, but it was still a fun time. We played in the sand and even snuck into another resort's beach area to enjoy cleaner beaches because they cleaned them up for their residents. While we were out there a group of men from India who were guest at the neighboring resort came up to us asking for pictures with us. They told us that they thought we looked like movie stars and wanted to take our pictures. I must admit it was quite the compliment, but it took everything inside me from laughing just thinking that they thought we looked like movie stars. Apparently they have not had much exposure to Americans prior to this.
On our way back we got caught in another tropical downpour and ran to our room to get somewhat dry. Right after we arrived to our room Kyle said he had to run a quick errand and would be right back. He returned 15 minutes later with a couple little trinket items. He had gone to the little vendors by the beach, next to the lady who we got the sand toys from and did our laundry for us, and he bought a little trinket from each of their shops and generously overpaid for each item. It was Christmas day and we were feeling very blessed for all that we had and we just wanted to give back. Even though the majority of people from Bali are Hindu and don't believe in Christ we still wanted to do an act of Chrsitlike service and help them out. "Because I have been given much I too must give" as the hymn teaches us.
To finish out our day Kyle and I both got messages done at the spa which felt amazing (Merry Christmas to us!) and then we went out to eat for our date night one last time while the kids stayed in the room and went to sleep under the babysitter's supervision. We tried a different place that had Mexican food, but it was not as good as the Italian place. We still enjoyed ourselves though and spent the night walking up and down the street trying to find a plate for our collection since we collect one from each country we visit. The following morning we would have to pack up and make our way to the airport to go back to our lives.
In the middle of the night I got hit by the worst stomach bug ever! I started throwing up and having the runs. I couldn't seem to leave the bathroom. I got the dreaded "Bali belly" that everyone warns about. I was so good too! I made sure we only drank bottled water, never used tap water, and washed our hands profusely during this entire trip, and yet I still got Bali belly on the last night. After a couple hours of laying on the bathroom floor I sent a separate message to Brady in hopes that he could direct me to some kind of medication I could try to use so I could at least fly back home without any issues. Besides peptol bismal and time for it to wear off there wasn't really anything that could be done. I just remember laying there on the bathroom praying that no one else would get it and that I cold make it home in one piece without having to vomit every 10 minutes.
The morning came and luckily no one else seemed to be sick. I was starting to feel better, but was now exhausted from being up all night with an upset stomach. It finally hit me when I couldn't figure out why I was the only one sick. When Kyle and I ate at the Mexican restaurant I had ordered the steak fajita salad not even thinking that they had probably rinsed the lettuce and veggies with tap water. Uhg, how could I have been so careless? The only thing that saved me and allowed me to make it home was the fact that I had some anti nausea medication I had left over from when I was pregnant that I just keep in my purse (mainly to use incase I get really car sick). After much prayer, and a blessing from Kyle, I was able to make it home that night on our flight and train ride with the family and not have anymore issues.
Goodbye Bali. We absolutely loved this trip, and would love to return some day to do some more exploring. Beautiful Bali should be a destination on everyone's bucket list. And now it's time to get back to reality and prepare for our upcoming PCS move.
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