This is the last installment of the trip. Continue from here.

♥Dec 1♥
Breakfast at Cicada Luxury Townhouse has to be ordered the day before, and it was brought to our room at our specified time.

It was complimentary for 2, but the quantity was enough for all of us. Girls each have a croissant (which had been removed from the basket in pic below), and some of my pancakes.

We decided to go on a tour to see : salt production, rice terrace, volcano. We booked a car (450,000 Rupiahs for 10hrs) and started our journey at 9:30am.

Driver brought us to a beach near Gianyar where salt used to be produced.

The salt traders however were gone. It was too much hard work and too little profit, so the salt producers all turned to a more profitable trade – pebble trading (they picked the pebbles from the beach, sort them according to size and sell them). We were dissapointed.

It was then a long ride up to Kintamani, to view the volcanos. Seen here is Mount Batur, and Lake Batur

Then another long drive to view the rice terrace at Tegalalang.

Tegalalang is also famous for wood handicrafts, and we saw a lot of young men carving wood blocks into beautiful art pieces.

After this, we went to Bebek Bengil, Ubud for lunch (which we found quality has lowered) and also to did some shopping. I managed to get some really nice jewelry pieces, but after walking for about ~2hrs under the hot sun, I started to feel a migraine coming.

Our driver said he asked around and found there’s a confirmed salt producer at Kusamba beach, so he drove us there. When we arrived at Kusamba, my head was already pounding, so I just stayed under the shed while Daddy looked around. He told me this was how salt was produced.

Sea water is mixed with sand and put into this container to get filtered.

Then the filtered sea water is collected (it actually goes through a few more round of filtering before being collected).

All these done in a small shed.

The filtered sea water is then left to dry under the sun, and salt will be produced.

Zara had a good time playing at the beach in Kusamba too.

By the time we got to the van, my migraine was getting worse. Instead of heading for dinner, we headed back to the villa. On our way back, I actually had to stop 3, 4 times to vomit. That night, the girls and Daddy had room service while I slept to get through the migraine.

♥Dec 2♥
I felt much better in the morning after a good sleep. The girls just wanted to swim, so they spent sometime at our own plunge pool as well as the main pool.

We took it easy for the rest of the day, just went shopping around Seminyak, had lunch at a nice restaurant, Warong Made.

I went for another massage when the girls were napping, and on my way, saw lots of people carrying offerings to the Petitenget Temple, so I told Daddy we should go and check out what’s happening.

It seemed, there was a 3 days celebration/prayers of some sort at the Petitenget Temple (which is located near the Petitenget Beach). We went over to the beach in the evening, and saw many people praying, giving offerings etc.





Of course when there are people, there is food. The stalls just sprouted around the beach (which were not there 2 days ago when we went to the beach).

After praying at the beach, everybody started heading towards the temple. Zaria was complaining she was feeling cold (a fever was brewing), so I brought the girls back to the villa while Daddy entered the temple to see more.

We had dinner at Bebek Bali that night, a place which offered all types of duck dishes.

Zaria wanted a photo of herself at the entrance of the restaurant (she was already running a fever).

When we got back, I realised Zaria was a bit feverish, her temparature was 38.4C and I gave her some fever medicine and got her to sleep early. When I went to bed at 12am and checked her again, her fever has shot up to 39C! Throughout the night, I had to sponge her, and her fever was hovering around 39.4~39.7 and she was muttering things nonsensical, making me extremely worried. I tried to stay guarded the whole night to sponge and check on her and drifted in and out of sleep (while Daddy snored away, typical).

♥Dec 3♥
Early in the morning, Zaria’s fever was still high. We informed the reception and asked if we could have a doctor sent to check on her. They instead offer to send us to a nearby doctor. I went with Zaria to Bali Clinic in Cicada’s van. The doctor checked and found Zaria had very bad throat infection, gave her suppository, some antibiotic, flu medicine and cough mixture and charged me USD90! A price I paid to get peace of mind.

When we got back to Cicada, I took a nap to recharge. We then started packing and prepared to check out. We were so delighted when the staff informed us we could have our villa till 5pm when our airport transport arrived, since Zaria was recovering from a very bad fever. How sweet of them! We didn’t even ask for it and was given just like that.

Daddy stayed at the villa with the girls while I went out to do some last minute shopping. I didn’t manage to get much as the street in Seminyak had a power cut and there was no aircon in any of the shops, and it was a super hot day. I bought lunch back, we just lazed around the room, and at 5pm went to the airport for our 7pm flight. Zaria’s fever by this time has subsided. Phew.

Continue from here.

♥Nov 29♥
After breakfast, we just lazed about. Then we had another obligation to fulfil, i.e. to bring the sponsor my dad out for a massage (“Come to Bali no massage? How can?”).

Only my SIL, my dad and I went. The massage centre provided free transport, and we all chose hot stone massage. Sharing the same room with my SIL, we were hoping for a relaxing massage, but the 2 masseurs were chatting throughout the 2hrs. The massage wasn’t that good too, felt just like someone rubbing oil on you. Grrr.

Daddy stayed at the villa and spent time taking photos accompanied the girls when they swam.

When we got back from our massage, lunch was ready (prepared by the villa).
Yums!

After that it was rest and relax and then at 4:30pm, our booked vans arrived to bring us to Jimbaran to watch the sunset.

The girls have no appreciation of the view, but they were happy to get to play with sand.

The place was crowded with tourists as well as locals.

Sam has very kindly relieved me off my porter duty.

When the sun was about to set at the horizon, we started seeing some tourists doing weird poses for their cameras, i.e. one put her hand out in such a way that it looked like she was carrying the sun; a few couples were kissing so the sun was just above their joined head; etc etc.

Here is my version. Daddy didn’t position the camera properly, so no ‘stylo-mylo’ shot.

After that, it was time for dinner. There were so many restaurants at the beach that competition was steep. My brother and sister went hunting for a restaurant which offered the best discount and they found one which was willing to give 30% off.

While waiting for the food to be served, Zara taught her cousins how to do the kung-fu panda dance she learnt for her concert.

And Daddy of course, went to do more photo shooting.

After dinner, one van drove some of the people home, while another brought a few of us to Kuta to buy DVDs. Imagine, 10,000Rupiah (USD1) for 1 DVD, and when you buy 10, it’s free 4. Buy 20, free 10, etc etc. My brother, my nephew and I bought almost 60 over pieces of DVDs and paid 30,000Rupiahs! What a loot.

♥Nov 30♥
It was time to pack up and leave after breakfast. My extended family checked out of Villa Longhouse, and went shopping in 2 vans then later catch a flight back home; while our family of four took another van to get to our new villa in Seminyak.

I’d spent a lot of time on researching for a place to stay (no Kuta, Ubud, Nusa Dua because we’d been there, no big hotels) and finally agreed on Cicada Luxury Townhouse, it is located near Petitenget beach at the fringe of Seminyak, the best part is payment is via paypal! So my blogging actually paid for our stay!

And it looks exactly like what is shown on the website. We get a plunge pool big enough (but rather deep) for the kids to splash about.

The spacious living room with a kitchenette gave us lots of space.

The bedroom with an outdoor rainshower and tub, and Zara claimed the extra bed for her was very cozy.

We didn’t do much except walk around to look for restaurant for lunch, checked out the beach in the evening and then later, went to a highly rated (at tripadviser) local restaurant Warong Sobat, near the villa, for dinner.
All this food with drinks and beer and starter for less than RM40.

Canada is one of the countries I would like to visit one day, so I was just checking out what are the room rates in Toronto hotels. It is actually not too bad, because a country like Bali is charging the same amount for rooms the same standard.
I should really plan to go there one day, but what I dread most is the long haul flight there, especially if I want to go with the children.

Do you think it’s better to go on those weight lost programs; join an expensive gym; sign up for yoga class (oh, please don’t try the one I’m going to, 3 out of 7 weeks class has been cancelled) or just get a Kettlebell and discipline yourself to work out frequently at home?
I need to work out, I try to do yoga on my own (when class is cancelled), but I sometimes get too lazy. Maybe if I invest in a Kettlebell I’ll be more motivated (since I’d paid for it, might as well use it)?

See this girl.. so angelic looking right?

When she’s angry, she is fierce. Girls were playing together, and Zara took away a pebble from Zaria. Without warning, Zaria took off one side of the click clock shoes she was wearing, and tossed it at Zara in a fit of rage. It hit Zara on the forehead, and created a big bump on her head, not to mention a bruise.

See the bruise? That’s 3 days later.

Zaria got lots of lecturing from both Daddy and I, and also spanking from me. And now, her beautiful click clock shoes will be locked up. No more wearing click clock shoes for her.

This wasn’t the first click clock shoes incident. A couple of months ago, she was wearing them in the bed room, and something triggered (which I can’t recall what it was now), and made her really angry. She tossed one side of the shoes at our wardrobe, no damage to the cupboard doors, but see the chip on her shoe?

Do you think it’s her age? Or more her character? I just hope she’ll be able to manage her anger better when she gets older.

I’d been reading a lot of Ou Yan Ying’s book recently, and one thing that he thinks people should do frequently is colon cleansing. I’d been looking on the web for information as well as reading colon cleanse reviews, it seems it is beneficial to health.
Now I need to find out where in KL can you do this, and hear from anybody out there who had tried out the centers in KL.

This has been a trip planned long time ago, my dad sponsoring a 4 days 3 nights trip to Bali (flight + accomodation) for my extended family (all 15 of us), and our family of 4 extending another 3 nights.

♥Nov 27th♥

We took an early AirAsia Flight and arrived at Bali in the afternoon. The villa has sent 2 cars over to pick us up.

Cold towel and fresh juice awaited us at the villa.

Our 6-room villa, The Longhouse, is located at the hills at Jimbaran (which meant we get magnificent view of Jimbaran Bay and Tanjung Benoa). It is 4 stories high, comes with a lift and 6 beautifully furnished rooms; it has a small pool, a plunge pool (in one of the rooms), a jacuzzi, a gym, a big dining room, a huge TV room, a massage room, and many day beds scattered around the villa. 3 dedicated staff, a chef, and a manager were at our service.

Everywhere is beautifully decorated.

Everybody was busy checking out all the floors, the rooms and the facilities upon arrival. The ooohs and the aaahs were coming from every one.

We took a room with a big comfy day bed (which became Daddy’s bed), and what I like most about the room is the big granite bathtub which the girls loved.

Girls immediately changed to their swimming costumes and hit the pool, while we adults attacked the lunch prepared by the villa.

We had a relaxing day, just lazing around at the villa, swimming, lunching and dining at the villa, chatting, etc.

♥Nov 28th♥
After a long and lazy breakfast, we went on an obligated sightseeing trip to keep the sponsor my dad happy (“No sightseeing in Bali? How can?”). Since nobody wanted to be on the road whole day, and my dad had to attend mass at 5:30pm, we chose to visit Uluwatu nearby.

Monkeys were every where, we wonder if they were trained to grab people’s things. One grabbed my SIL’s glasses when she walked passed, and only when an old man (probably its handler?) gave it corn, then peanuts, then only the monkey tossed the glasses to the ground. Our driver told us to give a couple of thousand rupiahs (few ringgit) to the man as a token sum.

Look at the monkey comfortably seated with my SIL’s glasses.

Another monkey grabbed Sam’s, my niece’s, small monkey dangling from her Kipling bag, chewed the head off, ate the stuffing, then tossed it away.

All these monkey business and being baked under the sun (36degrees daily in Bali) to get these views.

As we didn’t bring a stroller along (Bali’s roads are not meant for strollers), and Zaria didn’t want to walk much (the heat maybe?), plus she complained everytime when Daddy carried her, his sweat stung her skin, I ended up being her personal porter.

Shopping, sightseeing, walking to look for restaurants, I had to piggy back the little princess.

After Uluwatu, we went to Kuta area to shop (and tried to stay in airconditioned places), then sent my Dad and brother to church. After their evening mass, we had dinner around Kuta area, and then headed back to the Villa all sticky with sweat.

upgraded mysite.. want to know if it’ll work

Added (9/12) – my itchy fingers clicked on WordPress upgrade, and ended up with an upgraded wordpress, but all my entries with Chinese words got messed up. The Chinese characters now are all in garbage, so are those comments left in Chinese. Sigh.

The price you pay for having ithcy fingers. 🙁

We just came back from Bali (will post later) 2 days back, and girls were rather happy to be home after being away from home for 7 days.

Zaria fell ill in Bali, and everytime when it’s medication time, she will be running away from us and hiding with her mouth covered, and coming out with all kinds of excuses.

“I don’t want to eat medicine. It’s so bitter.”

“You give me too much medicine, now I got stomach ache.”

We walked a lot in Bali in the hot weather to see sights and shop. This afternoon, when we wanted to go out and buy lunch, we walked passed my car and out to the gate. Zaria immediately pointed to my car, “We must take the car.”
I immediately told Daddy in Chinese that she’s ‘scared’ of walking after Bali, so Daddy teased her, “We’re walking out to buy lunch.”
Zaria immediately whined, “No, we must take the car. I’m too tired to walk.”

While looking at the photos from Bali with my nieces and all (since we went together), I asked Zaria, “Do you miss playing with your cousins?”
Zaria’s reply, “No. I don’t miss them. They are always disturbing me, they are all so irritating.”
o.O”