Posted by Hunters on 6/11/2005, 3:31 pm It doesn’t seem to matter if it is Christmas morning or a family’s first day in Bali. The kids seem to always get up before the father. I awoke to the sound of my daughter’s pleading voice, “Dad, dad, get up you’ve got to see this! The sun is rising and you can see the mountains, rice fields, and there’s an old woman who is yelling at the birds in the rice field. Believe me I just wanted to roll over and say, “That’s nice honey. Please tell the nice loud old lady that I’m sleeping and not to yell too loud” but I didn’t. Rats, I was just getting to know that bed and hated to part ways so soon. I met my wife and Naomi upstairs, on the balcony, for a stunning sunrise. The cool air and sheer beauty in front of my eyes quickly shocked my tired body back from the Twilight Zone. So this is Bali? I think we’re going to like this place. We kicked the boys out of bed and headed outside to see what our accommodations actually looked like in daylight hours and to get some free breakfast. Like so many places in Bali, the gardens, flowers, walkways, and buildings were done up really classy. Trust me, I’m not a morning person but I am practical. I can’t keep my reputation of being so tight with money that I squeak, by letting a free breakfast slip away. I tried the fried noodles with rice crackers and fresh watermelon juice and swore I’d become a morning person if I could eat like this every morning. Everyone else experimented with breakfast and loved it, accept for Wes our youngest. He is as plain as you get. Give him toast or a plain hotdog and he is a happy camper. While we were eating, our children discovered the hotel gift shop. “Sure kids, go check it out, but please don’t break anything.” The relaxing morning sounds of birds and rippling water fountains were soon to be interrupted by the sounds of, “Mom, Dad, come see this. Can I buy this?” Ok, we are on vacation so let’s just go with the flow. “Excuse me Miss. Can’t we just get a take out meal to the gift shop? My wife and I are exhausted from the many trips from this table to there.” Now every good father smells a scam when he sees one, right? Hotel gift shops are like restaurants in airports. I think they are all run by some mafia family in NY City or Greece. These gift shops have a way of tearing down the father figure and making him look like a big jerk. “Sorry honey but you can find those wooden cats at other places for much cheaper. Put it back. Yes son, that is a nice chess set but the price is too high for Bali.” I’m trying to save my kids from this mafia extortion but you’d have thought I ruined their whole vacation by the looks and sobs coming out of their long faces. “But dad, I’m afraid we won’t find another one of these cats anywhere else..sob,sob!” I ended up being crowned King of the jerks for the day but later in our trip those same long faced children would all realize how right dad was. That was a grand moment for me, let me tell you. On a later day I even made my daughter say it out loud, “My dad is so right and I am so wrong.” The big secret plan for our first day was a trip to the Taro Elephant Park run by Bali Adventure Tours. I pre-booked with them online and felt that I had gotten a better rate than any deals we later saw while on Bali. Most agents / drivers are offering deals to the other two Parks. Each to their own, but if I was going to shell out big bucks for elephant riding, it was going to be done at the park with the most positive recommendations. A big thank you to all of those who have posted JBR’s on the Bali Travel Forum and Bali For Families. Since the BAT transport wasn’t scheduled to pick us up until 11 AM, the kids had a few hours to swim before the first big secret was revealed to them. As excited as they were about the hotel swimming pool, I had to ask why I even bothered planning any other activities. I began to hear little voices speaking to me. From the left shoulder I heard, "For goodness sakes, they are happy with a pool. Think how much money you could save on this trip if you just let them swim until their skin wrinkles up like raisins. A good father would not disturb their happiness.” From the right ear I heard, “Hey Mate, your wife will kill you, Tight Wad!” Hey what’s up with a conscience that uses Australian lingo? Australian lingo or not, it was settled, we were still doing the elephant rides. “Alright kids, out of the pool, we have a surprise.” Better luck next time little guy on the left shoulder. The BAT Park sent a nice A/C van to pick us up. The driver, whose name has a 25% chance of being Wayan, announced the plans for the day, as soon as we were loaded up. Naomi blurts out, “Dad you said that we were not going to see the elephants when I asked you about the sign I saw.” I reminded her that I said we were not going to the elephant Park she had asked about.” “You’re really sneaky dad,” the kids all said. They had been surprised. The drive was a pleasant 40 minutes or so from the hotel. Since we were the only passengers, our driver would stop anytime we wanted a picture. It was like getting a free tour of the surrounding Ubud area. Paying for the entrance fee into the park is a story all by itself. I’m going to give all credit to this next embarrassing moment to those people on the forums that have talked about pick-pockets and wallet stealers. I wasn’t about to donate any money to a pick-pocket, so I was prepared. My wife had some cash stuffed in a certain support device, but where can a guy stuff money if not in his pants’ pockets? I got the brainy idea to wear a pair of swimming shorts under my regular shorts, because the swim shorts had little zipper and Velcro pockets on them. When it was my turn to pay, I realized I could use my credit card. Great, now I could add up some more air miles! Now getting that card out was not as easy as it had been to put it in. The folks behind had to be thinking I had a bad itch or something, as I had my hand and arm down the front of my shorts, digging around for something. After what seemed like an eternity of groping in my pants for the card, I gave up and started to unbuckle my belt, and unzip my outer shorts to get to the card. At last I was handing over my card with one hand and holding up my shorts with the other. As I buckled back up, wondering what the folks behind me were thinking, I swore I’d hunt down those forum people who had caused me to be paranoid over pickpockets. Knowing misery loves company; I handed my empty Coke bottle to the Japanese guy behind me and said, “They’ll give you a 50% discount if you play a game of spin the bottle with them before paying.” Alright, that last line was just imagination, but I swear the rest of the story was true. After paying, we were escorted to the restaurant for our buffet lunch that came with the package. On the way there, our driver came running with our digital camera we had left behind in the van. The honesty of the Park driver was much appreciated. The food was outstanding and the view was extremely nice. The tables are set up overlooking the elephants in a swimming area right next to the restaurant. Some great thinking went into the landscaping and set up of this park. After the meal we were free to mingle with the elephants and trainers. The kids got to pet, feed, and have a million pictures taken with the elephants. The actual ride on the elephants was to push the experience over the top. They used three elephants for our family. My wife got her own elephant (I think she must have slipped someone a $10,000 RP bill) while the rest of us doubled up. The ride lasted about 40 minutes. My youngest son Wes and I were riding on Boris. Wes thought the whole thing was a race. He was calling back at the others, “Our elephant is faster than yours…Losers!” Boy was he upset with me when I asked the other elephants to take the lead so I could video the rest of the family. At the end of the ride the trainer took us into a pool of water and allowed the elephants to spray water at each other. This activity was already over the top, but there was still more to come. After our ride we were treated to a special show where the elephants did a number of tricks. The kids loved the experience and were not in any hurry to leave. We stayed until the park closed and were met by the same driver who had waited the entire time in order to take us home. The drive back to the hotel was enjoyable, listening to the kids all talking about their favorite elephants and experiences. “Oh yeah, we would have won the race if dad did not stop us!” Our first special family activity was a grand slam! It was well worth the $180 and I’d highly recommend the Bali Adventure Tour Elephant Park to anyone. The rest of the evening was spent swimming, eating supper, talking about the elephants, and writing in journals. The gift shop blues had been long forgotten by the many other wonderful experiences of the day. PS Our kids summer project was to keep a journal about their trip to Bali, type it into the computer back home, and post their experiences on a forum for other kids to read. Good practice for writing and a good way to help them remember this trip. More to come… Stay tuned.
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May 11
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