Bali - II

Day 3 ~ Saturday 29th April We hired a car with a driver for the day. Our plan for the morning was to visit the Southern coast of Bali, however, we changed our mind after speaking to Sam, from Ellie's. Instead, we asked our driver Ketut (almost every body is named Ketut in Bali) to drive us up to Tirtagangga, East of Bali using the coastal road. We wanted to stop to look at how salt are produced traditionally in Bali on the East Coast, but the road leading to that stretch of the beach was closed for construction. After more than 3hrs drive, we reached Padang Bai, a port on East of Bali for ferries to Lombok. We had seafood lunch there, and then headed inland.

Padang Bai : a port mainly used for travelers to get to Lombok. Clear turquoise water, very popular for snorkeling and diving.

Another hour or so, we reached Tirtagangga, the best surviving Bali royal water palace.

Around the water palace, Zara was fascinated with all the sculptures, especially the ones in animal forms

What surrounds the water palace fascinates us most. The lush green hilly rice fields, with lots of walking paths, makes a very nice stop for Zara to stroll around.

Zara very happy to be 'free' and not confined in her carrier or the car

Rice fields at the foot of Gunung Agong, seen here with its peak shielded by the clouds

We made another short stop at Candi Dasa, a small coastal town for coffee.

I love these photos. Zara was very chatty and was talking to me, while Daddy took these shots

It was then another 3hrs drive back down to the South. We got off at Kuta and did some shopping and had our dinner there. DVDs were going for USD1, I bought 10 Barney DVDs for Zara, and 2 sets of clothing. I'd gone past the phase of buying attractive handicrafts which I'd no used for. If I don't see a use for it, I don't buy it, it helps with the pocket. In the night, Zara slept soundly, while Daddy and I watched Four Weddings and A Funeral on DVD. (Ellie's had an extensive selection of DVDs for loan, and each room is provided with a DVD player.) It was a very long day, to be confined in the car most of the time from 10am to 7pm to see scenaries like this, I thought it wasn't worthwhile. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ . ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Zara's moments in Bali We brought along Zara's comfort softie, Mr Blue to Bali, but unfortunately, it got lost in KLIA before we took off. Guess who became Zara's comfort object? Me! She's always saying : "Mita Boo, where you(where are you)?" followed by "Want suck suck Mummy's breast." (her exact words, no kidding! And her pronunciation for "Breast" is perfect!) "Want drink milk milk." And she continued to mumble, "Don't want Daddy's breast. Don't have milk." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ . ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ She didn't have any bowel movements the day we did the traveling, I was getting a bit worried. Then she surprised me while we were having tea at the cafe in Candi Dasa by holding my hand and telling me suddenly, "Mummy (in a sweet tone), poo poo oh-di (already). Change dar-per (diaper) pis (please). Smeh-wee(smelly)." in one breath. Since then, she's telling us to "Change dar-per" every time she does her poop. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ . ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I think I'd been telling her she can't do this and that too often. One day during the trip, while we were getting ready to go out, she was singing (tuneless but I know she's singing) her own invented song. She sang and swayed, "Ten-not (Cannot) Ten-not Do Do Do. Ten-not Ten-not Do Do Do." It was a jaw dropping moment for us, followed by lots of laughing.