Eat, Pray and LOVE Bali

I read, no, I devoured Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat, Pray, Love many years ago.  I read the book pre children and romanticized the idea that this woman traveled around the world to find happiness and meaning. She saw the beauty of this great world and shared her experiences.  Everyone always talks about such things, but Elizabeth Gilbert actually did it. The movie came out soon after I read the book, however it was post children. I ate it up with the same enthusiasm. I specifically remember that I was able to stay awake through the whole film. That alone speaks volumes when you have a small baby.  Gilbert's book and movie did a phenomenal job of giving the reader/viewer the deepest desire to see the places she visited.  I do not know if I had ever heard of Bali before that book (I know, geography was never my strong suit), but ever since then it has been on my radar.
We arrived in Singapore on July 4 and I am fairly confident that our October Bali trip was booked by July 5. I could not get there fast enough.  Bali is a funny place though.  It is greatly romanticized mostly in part to Gilbert's book. However, when I began to tell people in this part of the world that Bali was close to the top of my bucket list, I was often met with a polite smile and, "It's OK," or "Do not expect too much."  The most concerning remark was, "Oh that is your first trip? Things will get better from there." Well as the great philosopher T. Swift says, "The haters gonna hate, hate, hate," because the Spencer family shook it off and LOVED Bali.  We really LOVED Bali.
I had a lot of feedback from different friends that driving in Bali was awful.  The roads are small and the traffic is horrendous.  Our children have a tendency to get car sick so I did not know how much we would be out and about.  With that fact in mind, we decided to stay in Nusa Dua.  If you want to stay on the beach in Bali, Nusa Dua is the place to be.  We selected the Ritz Carlton Bali based on the amenities and the kids' club. As evidenced in the photos, we made a great choice.  The service was top notch and the grounds were breathtaking.  The girls did not want to leave the Kids' Club which makes it a GREAT trip for all four of us.

Nick aka Phil Dunphy brought his drone.  He had a great time flying it and got some awesome shots.

Blue all around! Stunning!

We spent our first full day of vacation truly on vacation.  We spent time at the pool, we spent time on the beach and we relaxed.  We took the time to just take in the beauty that surrounded us.  One thing we kept bringing up to one another was how kind the people were in Bali. They smiled at us and really made us feel welcome.  The girls absolutely loved the sweet ladies in the Ritz Kids' Club. This was my first experience with a Kids' Club vacation and I will be doing it again.  

Nick and the girls in the infinity pool

Charlotte loving life

The girls loving their time at Ritz Kids!

Mom and Dad LOVING the girls time at Ritz Kids!

Our room really was spectacular with a plunge pool right outside our door.  Needless to say the Spencer girls took a lot of late night swims!

Who needs to go to sleep when you can swim?!

By a pure coincidence my dear friend, AES, and her family happened to be staying in Nusa Dua at the same time.  I have to tell you about AES.  I met her on my second week in Singapore.  We realized rather quickly that we both share a love for long distance running, wine and all things Bravo. Upon further discussion we found out that we are both KKG sisters. In our short time in Singapore we have had lots of laughs, lots of trips to Fake Costco, just as many trips to Pottery Jungle and maybe a glass of wine or two. That all makes up for a friendship match made in Heaven!  We decided that our families would meet for dinner at Nusa Dua Pizza.  A pizza place in Bali run by a Frenchman?  It sounds crazy, right? Well, we could not be more wrong.  It was fabulous.  The food and service were top notch.  There was only one problem. They did not have wine on their menu.  You have to remember that AES and I share a love for wine.  We especially love the price of wine NOT in Singapore.  The service was so great that one of the workers grabbed my husband and took him out to get a bottle (or two) of wine!  I am not going to lie, my heart skipped a beat when he zoomed off on that motorcycle, but he came back safe and victorious!  He was everyone's hero!

Is this really happening?

Off he goes into the Bali night!  He was our own super hero, "Wine Man!"

WINNING!

The next day we decided to venture off of the resort.  We hired a driver for the day to take us to Ubud.  Our plan was to shop on the way and in the Ubud market.  Ubud is the spot that Elizabeth Gilbert wrote about in Eat, Pray, Love.  It is the cultural center of  Bali.  We loaded up in our driver's car at 9:00 am at the hotel and did not return until almost 9:00 pm. It was a full, but very enjoyable day to say the least.  Our goal was to leave Bali with some of the incredible wood pieces that they do so well.  We found several treasures at Bali Gong.  Here are a few in our apartment:

The detail on the Thai Buddha is incredible.

These elephants were love at first sight!

A very famous place in Ubud is the Sacred Monkey Forest.  As an American, monkeys have always been this fun piece of novelty.  After living in Asia for a few months, you quickly find out that monkeys are not fun.  They are mean and rather scary. Signs are all over Asia telling you not to look a monkey in the eyes because they see it as a form of aggression and they might attack.  They are not so cute now, are they?   Bali monkey forest stories are all over the Singapore expat community.  Everyone seems to know someone who knows someone who had to get rabies treatment because he or she was bit in the Sacred Monkey Forest by some ghastly monkey.  I told Nick there was no way that I was going to hang out with those loathsome monkeys.  Well, he had other plans...

Menacing monkey on the prowl

Nick decided he wanted to go into the monkey forest.  I fully supported his decision and then suddenly our baby, Charlotte, wanted to go in as well.  I am not going to lie, I lost it a bit when they walked into that forest.  However, in true Nick fashion, everyone came out healthy and happy.  They had a great time with those monkeys and snapped some great pictures.  Nick tells me that he is making me go in next time...we'll see...

This guy was feeding a monkey...

The monkey wanted more...

We decided to spend the next day with an animal that is much more up my alley....elephants!  We went to the Elephant Safari Park  about 20 minutes outside of Ubud. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity.  We had the chance to touch, feed and ride the elephants.  It was everything and more than we expected it to be!

We still laugh that Charlotte was more than willing to go hangout with those heinous monkeys, but she would not even touch the gentle elephant!

She is tying to get away!

Loving on that gentle giant!

We had a blast with the awe-inspiring creatures and I am so thankful we had the opportunity to spend time with them.

Our time in Bali eventually came to an end.  It is one of the only vacations I have ever been on that I was not ready to get home.  I could have easily stayed a few more days in Bali.  I feel like we had the opportunity to do a lot, but we could have done so much more.  I am so happy to say that Bali lived up to my idea that was put in my head so many years ago. It was a perfect vacation for us.  We really did eat, pray and LOVE Bali!

Hotel:  Ritz Carlton Bali- Nusa Dua

Food:  Nusa Dua Pizza (Nusa Dua)

           Nuri's Nacho Mama (Ubud)

            LacaLaca (Seminyak)

           Nusa Dua Beach Grill (Nusa Dua)

Driver:  Gede Cenik  

Shopping:  Bali Gong

                   Ubud Market

Activities:  Elephant Safari Park

                   Sacred Monkey Forest

*I also highly recommend picking up the LUXE Bali Guide.