Bali 2015 (Part 1)

With each passing year, I do realise that my parents are getting older. There is this Accessorize poster (strange connection) that says something like “Remember that as you are growing up your parents are also growing old”, which kinda struck at my conscience. Since our last family holiday with my folks were some two years ago on a cruise, I figured it was time to bring them on another short holiday.  They help us with the kids in whatever way they can, on a daily basis, and we seldom do purely “fun” things together on weekends or otherwise.

Also, in February and March this year, news emerged about how Mr LKY seemed to be in his last days, so that was another reminder of how we should cherish those who are still with us, however tense our relationship may be at times. Add that to those advertisements about how what matters most to the elderly is their kids spending time with them, not giving them stuff, etc…… it all pointed to creating some special holiday memories for them with their grandkids, and we chose Bali since it was near and pretty affordable.

Perhaps it was a sign of the many beautiful sunsets to come, that we flew into the sunset on our way to Denpasar.  There is something mysterious and very beautiful about watching a sunset from a mile high in the sky.

I hadn’t planned much of an itinerary, since the main aim of the trip was to have leisurely family bonding with little stress.

Everyone loved the hotel (Holiday Inn Beach Resort at South Kuta), and we were quite prepared to spend our three full days there swimming, spending time with the children as they took part in Kids’ Club activities, having meals together, walking along the beach……

The grandparents were pleased with the spacious suite and especially the view of the sea and its rolling waves from the balcony.

It wasn’t a particularly new or large resort, but as they say, 麻雀虽小，五脏具全。It was a refreshing place to just spend time as a family in.

My parents would spend hours every afternoon just chilling on the balcony, either napping or enjoying the scenery. That’s what holidays are about, I suppose!

The hotel was really kid-friendly, having a special kids’ buffet area, even for breakfast.

I was quite disappointed that their huge high-ceiling Kids Club room was under renovation (since last year, and no telling when it might be completed, as the staff informed me), but the girls were just as happy with the smaller space that the Kids Club moved to.

Kids being kids, their highlight of the day, almost every day, was feeding the fish! Simple joys…

They discovered this interesting contraption called “Ezyroller” too (depicted in bottom right photo of collage above), which can move at very high speeds with just some minimal movement of the feet. It was the first time I had seen this, but I later found out from less frog-in-the-well friends that this has been around for decades…

The resort was well decorated and maintained, and we saw dragonflies and mayflies consorting with the water lilies.

The girls were happy swimming once or twice every day, and spending time at the beach too.

The hotel faces a quiet private beach, which was very nice. I noticed staff ‘combing’ the beach with a large flat ‘broom’ so that the sand was completely flat and neat… it struck me that it was such a privilege to be guests, and how fortunate we were to be born in Singapore…

It was days after I took this photo (below) that I realised that their clothes were somewhat colour coordinated! Serendipity. Everyone is squinting a bit because the sun was glaring hot and totally in their face.

That’s all for this edition of our holiday. More photos of the most gorgeous sunsets I’ve seen in years, the good meals we had, and our shopping loot, coming in Part 2 – akan datang!