Bali, Indonesia--Day 1

The same day as we visited the panda's at the zoo, we also boarded a flight to Bali, Indonesia.  This is a great time to visit.  Fall and winter are more expensive (plane tickets), and our spring break (the reason for the trip) fell a couple weeks before their peak spring season (more expensive hotel rooms).  It is an almost two-and-one-half-hour trip.  It sits south and east of us, so we crossed the equator.

I don't think anyone arrives in Bali and rents a car.  Instead, you hire a driver/guide.  Our first hotel provided one for pick-up (this is very common).  The problem was finding ours.  How I wish a photograph could do it justice.  There were more than 100 drivers waiting:

Even though we landed at night, here is what our place looked like.  I took these pictures on various other days.  We reserved a villa for three nights up in Ubud.  Ubud is a city in the center of Bali.  The beach is not nearby, but the hills and rice paddies are exquisite.  Here's the street we were on:

 The sign for the group of villas we were st

Our entrance for the "driveway" down to the group of villas:

 We'd weave our way through some of the main buildings, pass this structure on the left:

 Then, follow this path to the left of this villa:

 Walk past this villa and down the stairs:

 To arrive at ours:

We had the bottom floor.  The last doorway we passed was on the side of the villa, before the stairs down:

The kids enjoyed listening to the frogs croak late at night and then try to search in the right direction of the lily pads for them:

The rooms inside were simple, but very nice.  We enjoyed this old door between the main room and the master bedroom:

The kids enjoyed taking turns sleeping in this beautiful, intricate, unique bed:

 They are always happy to be in a pool, but they were super excited about this one:

They were a bit perplexed about our bathroom.  This is the side of our villa.  That wall at the base with the bush behind it has the bathroom on the other side:

 It was a wonderful experience...all outdoors, shower, toilet and all:

We enjoyed pancakes, omelets, and fresh fruits for breakfast every morning in one of the main buildings:

 We all enjoyed the wonderful Bali foliage and scenery:

Cost in US Dollars for all six of us, for three nights plus taxes was under 600.