Day 265, Bali, Indonesia
It’s not the first time during this trip that we’ve altered our plans due to threats of terrorist activities. Australians account for 60% of Bali’s tourism. Others come from Europe and other parts of Asia. Halfway through our week in Bali, the Australian state department equivalent, put out a warning to any potential travelers to Bali stating there is a heightened security risk. There was a strong travel advisory that if you have plans to come here, to change them. Great Britain also issued an advisory to their people, to change travel plans and avoid Bali. Both homeland security equivalents have recent information on a possible attack here.
When we heard this news we were still had three full days left in Bali. Since in the past high tourist areas were targeted here, we decided best to stay away from crowded, popular tourist areas. So that meant no elephant sanctuary, zoo, high profile temple sites, or popular shopping areas. While this was a bit of a damper, we want to play it safe. We can make the best out of many less than ideal situations, but here, we really didn’t need to try.
If you ever have to be confined to four walls, Bali is a spectacular place to do a house arrest. We have our own pool, HBO in English, room service where we can eat in our own outdoor kitchen. There is little need to actually leave this villa, since it has a magic door. I know it looks deceptively average, but trust me, it has magical powers.
Here it is at night looking a bit more clever.
Here at the villa you just dial zero, ask for whatever it is you’d like, and they respond that a friend (not just someone) will be by shortly with that. With a phone call a friend appears through the magic door to make breakfast for us, whilst we are still in our pjs. Other friends come and pick up the dishes so the ants don’t carry them away. Friends come through the door to clean our pool, make our beds and clean our house, bring us lunch. In the afternoon freshly baked pancake and honey cupcakes and tea come through the door. Our dirty clothes leave through the magic door and come back clean and folded in a little package. We like our door, and all the friends who come through it. The magic door means no cooking, dishes, cleaning, laundry. The parents want a magic door at home.
So what does one do when villa-bound? Lots of online school work, reading, dipping in the pool, decorating the elephant statue, and learning to cut hair. Madi has been wanting a haircut for a long time, but hesitation due to language barriers have kept us from making it happen. She wanted to try a heavily layered look. I have no idea how to cut hair, but there are youtube videos for everything. There are so many DIY haircut sites, I could have done research for days. But we settled on one site that was particularly helpful, and we gave it a go. I guinea pigged the haircut first, then we did Madi’s hair and Cali liked it so much she got it done too. That took up almost an entire afternoon. I have no idea why I haven’t learned how to do this earlier. The amount of money I would have saved on girl’s haircuts would have funded another round the world trip. Madi wanted lots of long layers, and that’s exactly what she got. She said it’s the best haircut she’s ever had (whew). We all know how badly this could have ended. Here’s the end result.
There was also the diving for a million rupiah day, when Paul went swimming with the equivalent of $100, but a pile of bills in Bali currency. Cali dove to collect the rupiah all around the pool until she had all one million of them. She loved these little flowers found everywhere. She’d collect them and put them in the pool.
Here’s some of what we did during our villa days.
Noticed the pool has smooth round stones in the bottom.
Time to swim and look at flowers.
Take our time eating meals and enjoying the local fruit.
Madi got this dress.
You take many long outdoor showers.
Taking a swim in the shared pool, which was shaded by beautifully arching trees.
Night swimming.
Reading and coffee on the outdoor sofa.
A different magic door was the one to the spa area, and the statues flanking the entrance.
We didn’t stay in the villa entirely, just more selective about when we went out and to where. We went to a flea market that was virtually empty and bought sun dresses for everyone except Paul.
We decided to eat out at a Tokyo steakhouse that wasn’t on street level and not crowded with other tourists. Paul and I had gone there a few nights before and the New Zealand steak was like butter. He wanted Madi, who loves steak, to have some of the best steak he’s ever tasted. It poured on the way home, and we walked through the rivers on the streets. Madi was soaked so went in the pool when we got home.