Bali: Island of the Gods

Our most recent family travel adventure was to the spiritual haven and the place that should be on every family’s list – Bali
​by Natalie Glebova

IT has been one of our top travel destinations even as a couple BB (before baby) so we wanted to see what it would be like to go there as a trio. This was Maya’s 12th destination and second time to Indonesia – what a wanderlust baby she is!
    
Travelling there was easy, with directs flights from Bangkok to Denpasar. Pack all essential items in a separate diaper bag or carry-on, in case your luggage gets lost. We always have diapers, formula, bottles, and change of clothes, food, and toys in the carry-on luggage.
    
We stayed at Villa Bagherra – a private villa that is big enough for six people. It also has full-time staff working there, including 24/7 security guard, and two house-keepers. Ketut, one of the house-keepers, prepared our daily breakfast and was available to do laundry, ironing and even booking private massage sessions for us.
    
The tap water in Bali is not safe to drink so we used a steam steriliser to sanitise bottles and utensils for Maya. It is handy to have microwavable boxes when you travel. Any hotels will gladly pop that in the microwave for you. For formula and drinking water, we used boiled or bottled water instead.
    
For the fun activities, there are plenty of beach clubs in Bali. Most of them are family-friendly so we enjoyed our days hanging out by the pool.
    
For the cultural experience, there are an abundance of temples. We checked out Uluwatu temple overlooking the ocean. Maya was impressed by the chanting and the eye-catching costumes.

Another temple we visited was Tirta Empul in Ubud which is about an hour’s drive from Seminyak known as the Holy Springs Temple. People believed that submerging in the sacred pool will bring them blessings and good fortune. The water was quite cold so we didn’t take Maya to the pool. We stayed overnight in Ubud at a small charming hotel with the beautiful jungle infinity pool where Maya enjoyed a nice swim.    
    
It is also wise to pack enough toys and entertainment to distract the baby since traffic in Bali can be horrendous at times.