Summer Indo Trip: Bali part 1

You might think I've given up on this series. I haven't. So... just to show my determination to finish the series, here's another (a bit late) excerpt from our last holidays.

So, as you all know from our itinerary post, we went to Bali during the summer trip. In all truthfulness, Bali was only on our 'tentative' list, but after some persuading, we did go anyway, even if just for a short while (through 1 weekend).
As to why.... well.... let's just say a certain Tante 'demanded' that we visit her. Haha.... Well... it was fun, no doubt.

The Tante in question

It kind of help that Kecil's other Tante was also in Bali then, spending the rest of her holiday before heading back home to the land way across the ocean (or halfway across the world, rather!). Needless to say, both Tantes were very happy with the extra bonding time with Kecil.
Seriously, this Mama thinks Kecil has this two Tantes of hers wrapped around her little finger, in a good way, of course, just leaving Mama with the 'bad guy' role at times.

Anyway, given the short time we had in Bali, we did not do that much 'touristy stuff', but Mama did put her feet down so we got to visit the.... market. Ahem.

Let me explain my insistence. Bali is definitely full of beautiful things. Furniture, pieces of art...those are wonderful stuff, I'm sure, just not very convenient to carry, don't you think? This Mama was just looking for small stuff, still essentially Bali, but not so difficult to carry (nor too heavy on the pocket, either). As for whether or not we got what Mama wanted.... well... have you seen my garden of a daughter lately?

So yeah. We got them. It doesn't get more 'Bali' that those flowers.

Straight from the market, we went of to check out Tante Tara's hotel, which, by all account, supposed to resemble the site of the Lost King of the Monkeys, or something. Well... actually, following the trend of most resorts around Ubud, it was very lush. Like... VERY lush. Maybe a wee... bit too lush that it was kind of spooky.

Do you see the amount of moss on the rocks and statues? Yeah... very lush, indeed. And they even have monkey statues in the middle of an opening (which, Mama has to add, Kecil avoided at all cost!):

In order to go to Tante Tara's room, we had to go through a sort of a tunnel:

We almost couldn't go in because Kecil almost refused to go. But we managed. A good thing too, because the room was beautiful, complete with a 'living room' on a balcony:

Here was, of course, where we took that door picture of Kecil found in the top picture. Then of course Tante would like to be in the picture too.

This might sound cliche, but this Mama totally loves those double doors ubiquitous in Bali. They are usually beautifully carved wood, some coloured, some just varnished to show off the gorgeous wood grain. Too bad you need to design the doorway properly to accommodate such door, aka you can't just fit them into any door way without reducing their beauty.

Anyway.... in order to go back to the hotel lobby, we had to go back to that dark tunnel:

After which we all blinked to adjust back to the bright sun outside.

Mama personally thinks that the resort was quite nice, but she wouldn't want to check in after sun down either. I can so see how the environment can feel spooky in the dark.

Next stop, lunch at Tante's work place, yet another resort. Yeah.... our whole holiday seemed to be one hotel visit after another.  But it was really fun, and look at who greeted us at the resort:

Somebody really looked happy to see us

It was Tante, her colleague and Sandy, the resort dog.

The resort dog? Yes. a resort dog, a dog whose job is to be petted, just by behaving nicely and looking cute. I think she has the perfect job. Haha....

Now this is getting a bit long, so perhaps we'll continue in another post. Cheers!