after a dark period in my life in spring/summer 2015, something came up that cheered me up and made me look forward to it. you know how you get excited when there’s something good to look forward to? it gets you going no matter how tough your present day feels like.
this thing is a gift from my mum: a year-end trip to Bali, Indonesia.
before i start, i would just like to say that many people (Indonesian and others) take it for granted that they can be around their families throughout the year. many of the people i know who live outside of their own home countries can visit their home countries & families at least once a year, some even many times a year. those people are quite lucky, and i hope they know it.
the last time i went to Indonesia and met my family was 4,5 years ago. the last time i spent Christmas and new year’s eve with them was 10 years ago. i couldn’t even remember anymore what it feels like to celebrate both events in +30C degrees!
the last time i went to Bali was about 5,5 years ago, and all my life i had only always visited Bali for a maximum 7 day trip. this time, i was there for 2 weeks.
so what all did i do there in 2 weeks, you might wonder. which temples did i go to, did i surf, did i snorkel, did i dive… well, sorry to disappoint you, but both my husband & i had been there as tourists a few times that now we didn’t even do any tourist-y thing. the main point was to just spend as much time with my family as possible, doing everyday stuff that might be boring for some but very precious to me as i can never do it while i’m here and my family is half a world away.
in a true Indonesian style, to be honest we had some mishaps in our trip, one of them was my sister getting food poisoning right on Christmas day and ended up in the emergency room. other mishaps included unexpected traffic jams that lasted 2 hours (it was in front of the Monkey Forest in Ubud), the AC in our hotel room being broken (not funny when it was otherwise +35C degrees outside), and… actually, let’s just forget about the other mishaps. :p because the most important thing is, i was with my family! yay!
the highlight of this trip, and probably of my whole 2015, was the new year’s eve. my whole family & i went to stay at a villa in Umalas, and not only the place itself was gorgeous, but what we did was something i hadn’t done in a long time with my family: sitting down together watching TV, playing cards and dominoes, listening to my dad’s choices of music, having lots of laugh… and when midnight came, we watched the fireworks (& flying lanterns) from all around Bali and hugged each other at 12 o’ clock. 🙂 that was simply priceless.
now i am back here in cold Finland (it just turned -20C degrees right on the day we came back here. thanks a lot, mother nature!), and seeing these pics got me teary-eyed again. i don’t think parting with my family will ever get any easier, no matter how many times i have visited my home country and family over the course of my stay abroad.
but anyway, without further ado, here are some pics of my trip.
first, our hotel, which is more like a lodge than a hotel, since it only has 10 rooms. very peaceful & lovely.
greeted by this view on our hotel
the lounge of our hotel
our hotel’s shrine
our hotel’s swimming pool… which, in the end, i never got to use
our base camp for 2 weeks
such a spacious room!
next, the sights we saw and things we did when we visited Ubud. unfortunately it rained every day when we were there, and then there were the traffic jams. but like i said, at least we were all together during those days!
this paddy field is right next to our hotel’s complex. we pass this lovely view every time walk from the receptionist to our hotel room and vice versa.
the view from our room’s balcony. you can’t beat this!
❤
while stuck in a traffic jam, we passed this man saying his prayers in front of a shrine.
Laka Leke restaurant, famous for their crispy ducks. (it was very good!)
a center stage in the restaurant’s area for holding dance performances.
paddy field next to the restaurant.
alang-alang rooftop.
a tourist-y picture with your mum and your niece is sometimes a must.
some men making a painting together.
they will then wax the pattern one by one and colour them: that’s batik!
this restaurant also has their own plant farm.
our hotel’s swimming pool.
don’t believe what you see: i did NOT swim here, only dipped my legs.
my husband’s soup of the day, served in a traditional Indonesian “ayam jago” bowl (which reportedly originally came from China).
my super-creative niece had just created her own tv series (that was her plan, anyway). she drew this while we were eating dinner.
the finished version of my niece’s drawing, completed with the cats’ and dogs’ names! ❤
we stopped by our dear friend’s Sambal Shop. the sambal was superb!
we also went to a small textile gallery called “Threads of Life” & learned about the traditional way of creating, weaving & colouring threads in Indonesia. coolness!
after our stay in Ubud, these were all the other things we did, which was fun for us but maybe boring to you… 😀 some were taken in Sanur beach, some were in Batu Bolong beach, and most of them just around our hotel.
the view right from the lounge of our hotel.
when we stepped outside of our hotel, we were greeted by these lovely cows.
this picture is a lie: we actually only ate at a restaurant across this place. 😀
Deli Campur Asia: we ate here on our first day and on our last day of the trip. the Pho Ga was delicious!
Kafe Cinta: a nice place near our hotel, reachable by foot. and, you guessed it, it’s situated right next to a paddy field… again.
Balinese fisherman’s boats, parked at Sanur beach.
some men gathering the algae to be sold or saved for food.
a nice, quiet beach.
yes, i was really happy to see this kind of beach!
it was not Jimbaran, but it would do. 🙂
having the time of my life with my mum.
this was at a Japanese ramen restaurant called Aoba. my husband & i loved the ramen! and we could put on these kimonos & take pics with them for free!
in this restaurant called Indotopia, they cook Pho like a pro!
enjoying the sea breeze at Batu Bolong beach.
ahh… i wish i could still be there.
drinking young coconut water straight from the coconut shell is such a luxury!
sunset in Batu Bolong.
a nice free access area at Batu Bolong beach, next to Old Man’s.
bye bye, beach! see you next time!
a small temple near the beach.
and now for the fun: karaoke time with my sister! it was a 2-hour non-stop singing session!
an Indonesian-Italian restaurant with traditional wooden oven (can’t remember the name of the restaurant right now, sorry!)
the woods for the oven. the pizza was really, REALLY good.
kind of surreal to see Christmas decoration in a damp & tropical weather. 😀
stranded in this restaurant because of the hard rain.
and lastly, our new year celebration. 🙂
walking towards our rented villa.
knock knock… there’s our lovely villa!
this was the best picture to show the living room of our villa… please excuse my niece’s pose! 😀
the living room and the kitchen & dining area.
our room had en-suite bathroom, and it’s semi outdoor! cool, huh?
and a biiiig, big front yard.
a small gate that leads us to the swimming pool.
there’s the swimming pool!
and now, finally, i got to dive into the pool! it was nice & warm inside the water, because it was such a hot day!
we could see other villas from the pool, but our villa was luckily hidden from anyone else’s views, thanks to the bushes.
enjoying each other’s company.
first round of the night: dominoes!
happy new year! hope this year we will have more time to spend together!
a new trend in Bali: flying lanterns. good thing they didn’t fall on our alang-alang rooftop, other wise it would’ve burned down the whole house!
the next morning: another match at cards!
that’s it for now, and my, what a lengthy post this turned out to be! again, i wish you all a great 2016! may love and happiness always be with us! 🙂
PS. the pictures shown in this blog post were taken by 3 different cameras & people, but most of them were by my husband and my sister. thanks for letting me use them here!
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How wonderful! What a great reminder of the simple things we take for granted family, air conditioning! Gorgeous photos.
thank you so much for dropping by & for your kind words! 🙂
Huaaa. Jealous much! You didn’t miss Christmas. You had the true sense of Christmas, which is spending it with family.
you’re right! it just didn’t feel like Christmas at all, Bali gitu lohhh… :p it was weird that i didn’t eat any Finnish Christmas food (as i had for the past 9 years) nor did i get any Christmas present for anyone… we didn’t even put any Christmas decoration in our house! 😀 the whole Christmas concept just flew over our heads, LOL.
How I wish we could repeat all this again and again…….. Well, God willing, who knows what the future has in store for us? Maybe more frequent family gatherings somewhere, some time…. ❤ 😀 Love all the pics! And your way of telling about this super family holiday is really very nice!! To me it makes all the events come to life again! Thank you for this very nice post, I enjoyed it thoroughly!
glad you like the post! ❤
now let's try from both sides (or 3 sides… or 4?) to make it happen that we can meet more often. 🙂
What a fantastic two weeks with family ! Warming to remember now when it is so cold here. Wonderful, beautiful pictures. Thank you for sharing all this with your readers 🙂
it was, really fantastic. when i wake up here now for the past few days, it feels like a dream that we were there for a while… but seeing the pictures are proof enough that it actually happened. 😀
Indonesia looks like a beautiful place! I think some of the best vacations can be ones where the only purpose is to spend time with the ones we love. I am blessed to be close to our parents and one of my sisters (3 hours drive or less.). I don’t take it for granted because, like you, family is very meaningful to me. I can only imagine how sad you must feel sometimes, but I still have a lot of sympathy for you. Two whole weeks with your family must have felt amazing, but I bet it still went by too fast. Maybe they could come visit you too!?
thank you so much! yes, Indonesia is a beautiful place, though i’ve only seen a small fraction of it myself. 🙂 you should visit too one day!
i would love it if my family could come visit me, but the tickets and other expenses are unfortunately way too costly for all 4 of them. well, but one can dream!
WOW!! These photos look so amazing and I’m so glad you were able to be with your family ;)! That looks like such a beautiful place to visit- I would love to go someday!
thank you! i hope you will be able to go to Bali one day, i’m sure you will find lots of cool fashion stuffs there and go crazy with all the mix & matching! 🙂
wuahh puni mudik! seru banget, iya emang udah saatnya back to roots kalo udah suntuk gitu ya. so happy to read all the fun you had, i bet you now feel much happier! 🙂 gotta check those addresses it looks so nice, we are gonna fly back hopefully in september! x
iya, kelamaan ternyata ya 4,5 tahun ga mudik. 😀 hahaha… mmm, sekarang hepi plus sedih dikit karena masih kangen juga ternyata sama ortu & kakak gue + anaknya, tapi ya jauh lebih mendingan lah dibanding musim semi tahun lalu. 🙂
semoga kalian jadi ke Indonesia tahun ini, i’m sure it would be exciting (and tiring) to travel with your little one!