Babies' First Flight; 6D5N in Uluwatu, Bali

Just a short two hour flight, they'll sleep through it and when they wake up they will be fresh and ready for the day. If they can't sleep they'll just watch their Disney movies quietly. There will be no crying, no puking, no tantrums.

That, of course, didn't happen. 

Day 1

4 am, H-3, I did a final kit inspection, NS men style, ORD lo, where got time. Confident that anything missing we could just buy at a super mart in Bali. Wife rolls her eyes, calls me an idiot and does the actual inspection. I would just be the muscle man, hollering for the maid to carry down the luggage. 

No, I jest, I carried the luggage down and gathered the barang barang. Not so bad to the maid la.

4.30 am, we woke the kids, kicked in the door and grabbed them out of the cots, hoping they would be too dazed and confused to start crying. Initially planned to let them wear their plane attire to sleep, then reconsidered because of Liam's puke risk. There would be no breakfast till we were in the air, an empty stomach has nothing to regurgitate (not medical advice, not true).

5am, changed and ready, waited for the booked MPV to bring us to the airport

Met up with my parents at the airport. My cousin who was supposed to join us got Covid just the day before. Suspicious if you ask me. Faking Covid for a week free of the 3 toddlers, whose mind has that thought not crossed?

Alas, the show must go on.

Precious cargo

The calm 

The storm

We'd been hyping up the flight to the kids for a month. They knew they were getting on a plane, we'd prepared them for the possibility of ear pains and turbulence. 

7 am, confidence brimming, we marched the 3 kids on board. With balls of steel, I would handle two kids on my own, Nolan on my lap and Liam by my side. Clementine would be with my wife and mother-in-law.

Nolan was being a worm throughout the flight and as soon as the seatbelt sign turned off, I cried mercy and begged my wife to switch seats. Thankfully there was an empty seat next to me. 

The boys were restless on the plane. A toddler as a lap baby is no fun during meal service, especially if you need to handle another toddler who has not grasp the basic concept of stopping when you are full and your lap baby thinks he's an expert on feeding, screaming "SELF!" and refusing attempts to feed him. I'm not trying to rob you, I'm trying to help you! TLDR; Liam puked and Nolan spilled milk everywhere. 

Then the crying started. Tablets were out playing (legally) downloaded Disney movies, but Liam wanted the excavator song by Blippi on youtube, the concept of "no wifi" lost on him. God damn Blippi and his stupid ass songs.

Nolan was just squirming , trying to crawl around, kicking chairs, screaming for snacks, picking up snacks he dropped off the floor as we tried to swat them from his grubby little hands before he could put them in his mouth. Ashamed to say, we won some, lost some. 

He'll be fine. He's fine.

After what seemed like an 18 hour non stop flight to NYC, we arrived. We unbuckled the seat belt and stood up before the plane has come to a completely stop as Singaporeans must. Finally my head no longer hidden by the head rests, come see, it is I, the useless dad who let their kids scream, kick and cry for the better part of the flight. Think you can do better? Well, you bloody try it then. Lady in front of me starts posting on instagram stories, "Survived a 2 hour flight with screaming babies". Excuse me, 2 hours? I'll have you know, Miss Pants-on-fire, it was only an hour, an hour and a half tops.

This wasn't a St. Regis stay, there is no one at the skybridge, there is no short cut through immigration. With steely resolve, we dragged our kids across customs to the vehicles we'd reserved. We would make a short detour to a supermarket. We went to Pepito, which is upscale with prices to match. By upscale prices I mean comparable to Singapore's. Coke and Milo cans were like a dollar, which is exorbitant for the locale. Probably should have just gone to their Circle K or Mini Mart for drinks. 

Deciding we would satisfy our babi guling cravings, we plotted another stop at Pak Dobil. Remembering them asking me if I wanted it spicy many years ago, it must surely mean there is a non spicy version for the kids. They'll be fine.

They weren't fine. 

Non spicy is spicy, spicy is very spicy. These toddlers understandably used their hands to pick at the rice and meats. They took a bite or two before the full force of the spices hit. The started to tear and snot flowed like the river. They used their now chilli oil stained hands to rub at at their eyes and nose. A reinforcing cycle of effectively pepper spraying themselves. 

My bad, that was on me. Snack bars for lunch it is.

Also, I was disappointed to find I did not enjoy Pak Dobil as I did before. It tasted off. Maybe it was just the stress of eating with the kids. Probably.

Finally we reached our villa, Kekili Bingin, a relatively new 4 bed villa, purported to be, and I quote, "5 minutes walk from the world class surfing beaches of Impossibles and Bingin". But I'll get into that later.

Settled down into the villa, did some unpacking and quickly put the kids to bed. We'd arranged for 3 cots ahead of time, the villa manager had helped to liase with Balibubs for additional cots as they only had one travel cot available. 

The villa was beautiful and clean, though only two rooms had ensuite toilets and there were only two showers in the main house. There's an outdoor kitchen with condiments and cooking oil, as well as cooking utensils etc. Drinking water is provided, so we needn't have bought bottles of water. 

Just lovely

Inspecting his room

The villa manager introduced the area around the villa, how to walk to Impossibles and Bingin beach, and warned us not to leave food out in the open because of potential monkey raids. Monkey raids, right, got it.

3 overtired babies then took their afternoon naps with surprisingly little struggle. 

Post nap, we decided we would try some local BBQ seafood on the beach, we'd picked this villa for its location; a 5 min walk and some well constructed evenly spaced, wide stairs to the beach, surely we could manage that. 

Stairs I expected: 

Stairs we got:

Image from Google map, by Kate Whitear.
I sure as hell couldn't have taken photos carrying a toddler while navigating this, at night.

That shit went on for at least 7-8 storeys equivalent.

Some of my more smug readers will be thinking, no biggie, I could manage that. 

Of course you could, you healthy below 30 year old young adult unburdened by deadweights.

The readers that do have young children, heed my warning, avoid Uluwatu! The beaches are not short walks away!

After an arduous journey, second only to Samwise Gangee's journey to destroy the ring, who incidentally also had to carry a deadweight around, we made it to the beach. (This is by the way the second LOTR reference) We'd done research before hand (i.e. fired up google maps and starring any place that had a rating of more than 4) and got a beachside table for our party of 8 at Lucky Fish restaurant. By the time we made it all the way down, we’d missed the sunset.

Some waiting was required as the place was pretty packed. Entertained the kids with some rice cracker snacks and looking at the BBQ all around. 

A white woman at the next table offered us her half eaten fish as her party had ordered too much. 

Well, that's a first. Not an uneaten dish, not a dish you decided to split off to share. 

No, it was a half eaten fish that they had already dug into. Is that a thing? Do white people offer strangers half eaten food? Or do they only do that touring South East Asia as some form of misguided charity?

I politely declined.

Perhaps it was just me giving off poor person vibes, because every ICT, a unit mate asks me if I’m doing ok, only making a GP’s salary with 3 kids. He offers to pay for my meal at the canteen, my ego wants to say I make enough, but instead I say, “Thank you sir, may I have more?” Free food is free food; he’s a specialist, he makes enough.

Anyway the food finally comes, the prawns are delicious, fish is decent, portions are huge. Pretty cheap only about 50 sgd for 5 adults and 3 kids. Dinning experience was alright if you like sand on your toes while you eat. Don’t expect to smell the sea breeze though, the whole place was smoky with the carcinogenic aroma of barbecued seafood. Wouldn’t have it any other way. Halfway through dinner, the tide changed and those close to the water’s edge had to be evacuated.

After dinner we looked forward to our evening stroll to work off the dinner. The children strapped to their pack mules and Sherpas, the parents and grandparents begin the steep climb up to town. We wrestled the children into the shower and into pyjamas, and put them to sleep in their cot and thus the start of the adults’ holiday, albeit until they wake again the next morning. 

Walking in the dark

Day 2

Pre-breakfast milo for the early bird

For breakfast we went to Fren’cha Bakery in Bingin town. A nice clean cafe, pet and digital nomad friendly, and there were plenty of both. They served pastries, croissants, and crepes. Delicious and affordable, highly recommended if you are staying around the area. We would come back a few times to da bao back to villa. 

Decided we would spend the morning getting gorgeously tanned while the kids played on the sandy shores. Between Bingin and Impossibles beach, it seemed like a no brainer. Surely Impossibles beach wouldn’t have stairways like Bingin. Bingin beach must be an anomaly. 

The stairs were worse. I didn’t think it could get worse but it did. Halfway through we got trailed by monkeys which thankfully left us alone after a while. The steps were steep and slippery. One would love to fall to their knees and kiss the sand when they finally make it to the beach, but it was high tide and the waves came crashing all the way to the cliff wall. The past half an hour had been for nought, we turned back almost immediately. On our way back up, we met a family just beginning their journey to the beach. They were lucky the rest of my family was there to warn them a way. I might have passed them by without saying a word.

Macham Mines of Moria

Not worth the stairs

The morning was salvaged by the villa pool. We rinsed off the sand and sea water clinging to our feet then jumped into the cool water. The pool has a shallow section where both adults and children could site and splash about in, water only coming up to the kiddos’ shin. Mei mei being the most comfortable in the water, was the first to put on the body float and kick about the pool, doing little flips like a dolphin. The two boys, perhaps suffering from sensory overload, wouldn’t even entertain the though of putting on their floats, electing to sit by the edge of the pool and play with the floating toys.

For lunch, we simply ordered delivery from a nearby restaurant. Pasta from Casa. Most of the eateries are catered to a Western palate. You’ll find lots of poke bowls and açai bowls, and pasta etc, but no nasi campur babi guling around. But of course, you don’t hear my kids complaining, not after that debut encounter with the Indonesian delicacy.

That’s about it for day two, after their nap, we didn’t have energy to travel out so we just hung about in the villa, with the kids being given some screen time so their parents could also get some screen time. 

I don't have a favourite

Dinner was take out, we ordered our beloved pork star from Kuta

Day 3

My wife and I sneaked out in the dead of night to summit Mount Batur to watch the sunrise. The hardest part was waking up because we were going up by 4WD. An hour long drive from the villa to the assembly point and then a 30 min ride up to the top. Nice scenery but it was too cloudy to see much sun, or any sun for that matter. It was nice but meh. Maybe it’s because I didn’t work for it. I mean I worked my white collar job for it and turned my hard earned cash into this experience but it’s not quite the same as climbing the mountain. 

Enjoying the view?

After much photo and video taking, mostly initiated by the driver, we headed to our next stop which were the black pumice fields. By then we were quite eager to go home, tired and slightly guilty leaving the 3 kids back in the villa. 

Ordered some pasta for the kids for lunch again and we da bao-ed some babi guling on the way home. 

For the afternoon, while the kids napped, we got 2 in villa masseuse for the family. Was about 20/hr. I’m sure you can find cheaper in shops but I’m not sure where around the area I stayed these would be located. Also to avoid the hassle of travelling and doing a rotating shift to watch the kids, this was the best option. Due to space constraints the villa could only fit one massage bed, the other person had to get the massage on the couch.

In the evening we hired a chartered mini bus to bring us to a proper beach, Jimbaran beach. Finally, a good beach, no cliffs to climb down, no monkeys around, just a nice expansive beach, and it was sunset too. Finally on the 3rd day of a supposed beach holiday we managed to enjoy the seaside. We took all the beach photos we needed to let other people know we were in Bali, and Liam manifested his inner excavator. It was too close to dinner so we had to drag the kids to the restaurant after only an hour of beach time. 

Dinner was at one of the seafood restaurants lining the southern aspect of Jimbaran beach, the well reviewed (on Google Maps) Hatiku Jimbaran. Delicious food in a family friendly, clean restaurant. Price affordable, like Singapore tze char prices. Portions are big, don't order too much.

Uneventful rest of the night. Tucked in early, the day starts early tomorrow.

Day 4 

Today we are heading to the Bali Safari. I had my reservations, both doubts and tickets. Doubts because this safari is expensive, with tickets costing about 65 dollars, more than Singapore’s, I’m assuming, world class, award winning Mandai zoo. It started off badly when we arrived, we wanted to rent strollers, but all they had were three, and we rented them all. They all smelled terrible, and all looked really run down. But beggars can’t be choosers and we just had to go with it. At 65 dollars a pop, you bet we’re gonna stay the whole day. 

You start off with a ride from the ticketing area to the actual lobby of the zoo. At first you’ll be thinking this isn’t so great, a little run down, not much to look at, some crocodiles to the side and an aviary, you’ve seen it before. 

You’re wondering where all the animals are. The animal show starts shortly and it’s cute, a little more variety than the Singapore Zoo, a large proportion of it spent similarly on hornbills catching fruits midflight. Then you wonder to the tiger show and that’s something you’ve not seen before. The show was well paced and showcased the capabilities of the tigers. Unfortunately the kids were more interested in the snacks their grandparents keep handing them. 

Finally the pièce de résistance, the safari ride. One ride is included with every ticket. So that’s where the animals are. Like the Night Safari tram rides except there is a lot more variety and the animals are alot closer. The kids got a kick out of it seeing their lions and giraffes and bears. This kids were up on their seats being shuttled between the two sides of the ride to get the best views. 

By the time the ride was over it was time for lunch, which was mediocre at the safari’s canteen. There was a more upscale restaurant with lions but it was too expensive. After lunch we put the kids in the strollers and just pushed them around until they fells asleep one by one, then we returned to the canteen for some free afternoon snacks. 

Wife and I decided to walk around a bit and left the parents and kids behind. We stumbled onto the Bali Agung show. From the posters it looked cringey and I didn’t want to go but the wife insisted. It was amazing. From the Bali Safari website, it’s about the “legendary love story” of King Sri Jaya Pangus and Kang Ching Wie. I’m not sure why it’s a legendary love story because spoiler alert, the King definitely left the wife behind, sailed to a foreign land and cheated on her yet somehow their love story is revered or something. But that’s not the point. The production value was insane, there were so many animals up on stage, performers riding elephants, farm animals running around, there’s a fake river/ water feature with very real ducks, there were shadow puppets, aerial performances and just an army of dancers. Costumes were over the top and sets were huge. I was expecting pole dancers to turn up at some point. Thoroughly enjoyed it, 10/10, it’s probably the reason why the tickets costs so much. 

The kids woke up around the time the show ended. We visited the gift shop, the grandparents were very insistent on buying soft toys for the kids. For some reason the kids loved pretending to be rhinos that day so they all got a stuffed rhino. Nolan got an extra owl because he loves pointing to owls and go “awal, awal!” He makes such cute noises. He’s also still drooling, he might have a tongue tie.

Gor gor rhino

Mei mei rhino

For dinner we decided to travel to Seminyak, parents made a recommendation for Breeze, a hotel restaurant. The ambience was nice, but food was mediocre at best and the most expensive meal by far. 

Day 5

Just a relaxing day of nothing much.

Decided to head out to Jimbaran beach again so the kids can spend more time playing at the beach. I brought out the bodyboard I’d bought from Decathalon and excitedly blew it up. Only Clementine was game enough to try. 

The first attempt was pretty good, but short. I had let her try very close to the shoreline to build up confidence. I should have let her stay there for a bit. But seeing her crawl made me think she could run. So I dragged her out deeper and she got wiped out. She would not try again. Next time then.

Baby steps Jiayi! Baby steps

Loving routines, we ordered take away from Hatiku for lunch before heading back.

The afternoon was just spent lazing around the villa.

Dinner was once again Pork Star and Babi guling from Kuta.

Day 6

Time to go home, can’t take this much time with the kids anymore, we’ve got to send them back to child care.

The flight was scheduled at 2, to hopefully coincide with their nap time.

However this meant that the immigration process was during lunch. Long story short, more crying and dragging of 3 toddlers. I won't bore you with the details.

On the plane we rocked and patted the kids till they slept, which gave us about 30 mins of rest.

Fin

So that's the trip.

Highlight video here.

Nitty Gritty:

Accommodation

Kekili Bingin is a beautiful villa, though not the most convenient. If you are with young children and plan to go to the beach often, this is probably not it for you. It's also really not that near to food on foot.

Food

Half the meals we used Grab to deliver.

The places we actually visited as follows

Fren'cha Bakery Bingin

Lucky Fish

Hatiku Jimbaran

Casa

Baby stuff

We used Balibubs. I think reasonable rental prices, but if you need delivery to more remote areas, or basically out of Kuta and Seminyak then the delivery fees is about 30 SGD

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