24 hours in Bali.

Last December Dolly and I headed to Bali for 5 days before going to France with the Rambling Expat. It was cheaper for Dolly and I to take an earlier flight and spend 5 days in a Bali then it was to get the same flight as my partner. So we went off on our adventure with a very small amount of baggage that we planned to give away as we went.

All of our baggage on arrival.

I didn't book a room before leaving Australia and many of my friends thought I was taking a stressful risk with a small child. But I know there is always some place, some where available at the right price.

Once outside Denpasar airport I looked around for a middle man, which didn't take long. He showed us some expensive fancy hotels in his book that I declined and explained exactly what I wanted and our budget. My criteria was simple, clean, quiet, child friendly, away from the rowdy Kuta nightlife and no more then $25AUS a night. He found us the perfect Bed and Breakfast at "Bunut Garden".

Clean Room.

Off the street with lots of lush green plants.

Our own bathroom.

Verandah with 3 shrines near our room.

The room was perfect. Within a few minutes Dolly was excited to see a cat on the verandah, I went to check on her and promptly told her it was a monkey, my poor Dolly shocked at my unexpected news.. ran inside and hid behind the bed.

Our 1st morning in Bali, I found a small local restaurant with friendly staff. Dolly order pineapple pancakes and I had a Balinese dish of chicken, vegetables and rice. We shared a freshly made fruit juice and enjoyed each others company. Our meal cost roughly $5AUS... I love food :-)

Delicious Breakfast

The rains then poured from the sky flooding the roads up to out knees. I chatted to a local asking what I could do with Dolly for 6 hours before our lift came to take us to the mountains. She directed me to a indoor playground. Dolly had a fantastic time playing with Balinese and tourist kids. 3 girls on the outside had been hanging around game machines watching rich kids play, looking for tokens and tickets for about 4 hours. I couldn't bear it anymore and invited them inside the playground. They were sooooo excited, they couldn't stop smiling and hugging Dolly. At $4AUS a kid for a full day of play including socks, this to me is a good investment. Kids laughing and enjoying themselves is a glimmer of hope for the future.

Fun and Laughter.

Once the day was coming to an end our Couchsurfing Host Pat Jero arrived with his family and we headed to his lovely home high up in the mountains. There we spent 2 nights of sharing with this generous family.

Our Couch Surfing Hosts.