Mak Bulu: The Bali trip

BALI part 1
I have just been scrutinising pictures of my Bali trip and picked up 3 important facts:
1. I looked BIG despite my not taking dinner and living on Nesvita for most of the day a few days prior to the trip (more for my conscience than anything else). During my first trip to Bali 4 years ago, I was already big and was hoping that I could create some good pictures this time round..not a chance! (i think i needed at least 6 months PURELY on Nesvita to look small)

2. There were A LOT of pictures of the hotels we stayed in and not much of true Bali scene. MG’s an architect, obviously many of the pictures were of bumbung rumah, fish pond, swimming pool and gates.

3. Pictures of Little D showed a very masam looking toddler unless when she’s in the pool, of course that was where she was every morning and afternoon! Pictures of me showed the face of a very tired and harassed looking mum.

What can I say? This 2nd trip has been better than the 1st one because this time round we were more adventurous. Although, travelling with a toddler wasn’t easy and mostly we had to keep to her schedule of makan, berak and tidur, nonetheless, I am already eyeing the ‘everyone can fly’ website dreaming of a 3rd one. Probably just with the girls because obviously one parent has to stay back to mind the kid or kids? (hmm..wishful thinking)

Our flight was on a Wed morning. We have been looking forward to this trip since Belladonna went on hers many months ago which induced me to go ahead and booked the flight and coerced MG to agree to it. Furthermore, I wanted to attend a conference there held at the same time also and I used that as an excuse. I was run off my feet a week before the trip trying to get all work settled (I failed), went for highlights (kaedahnya? Entah la! This is after I decided that rebonding may not be such a good idea after laki aku cakap I may end up looking like that particular host from Jalan2 Cari Makan – si tembam berambut lurus), got little D’s passport settled and lastly I wanted to have a facial, mani and pedicure before I left (tak sempat! Apa ke halnya kan??? Macam nak pi jumpa boipren).

So off we went to the LCCT at 730 for the flight at 1040. Then MG (yg bila I tanya apasal you ni bergaya sgt dgn fitted shirt and sunglass Oakley (yg didatangkan khas utk trip ni), tlg la dress decently cam laki kengkawan I yg lain –meaning collared tshirt ngan jeans je ke..ni takde le nampak lebih bergaya dari mem. Dgn bongkak je dia menjawab – I ni kan frequent flyer!) pun pi la ke counter utk check in. Suddenly I saw his face berubah….and he beckoned me to him. The lady officer explained that oleh kerana tinggal lagi 5 bulan je passport si polan ni nak mati….and you guys know la kan what to expect. At that time I rasa cam nak pelangkung je laki I tu or the least I wanted to say was ‘what??! You told me to run around buatkan passport anak and you yourself tak check your own passport??!! ‘ I asked him calmly, (tak sampai hati nak buat scene kat situ because I tengok muka MG pun cam nak nangis dah) did you overlook the date? No, I didn’t know tak boleh fly overseas kalu less than 6 mths. Hah! Frequent flyer konon!!

After some discussion with the officer, we decided I should go first because takkan nak bazirkan tiga2 tiket and afterall I was the one who had to attend the conference and was already paid for pun. And Little D and MG were to take the later flight for that day after MG has his passport sorted out. Nasib baikla sekarang ni boleh siap in 2 hours. I couldn’t manage anak I yg lasak tu sorang2 and kalu tiga2 on standby, the chances of getting on the flight is pretty slim. So I waved them goodbye and I went to checkin on my own…of course the suitcase I was carrying contained both mine and MG stuffs so it exceeded the 15kgs allowed and I kena bayar la kan??? (MG really owed me big time, I tell you!). Masa kat departure terminal (yg macam stesen Bas express je tu. Elo Tony, upgrade le sikit. Ni screen tv pun takde) I was really upset, mata merah mengenangkan anak I yg baru tiba airport 5 min pas tu kena naik taxi balik ke rumah…the I pandang kiri kanan and saw many mat2 and minah indon yg tengah tunggu flight diaorg jugak utk pulang ke pekalongan masing2…ish, nanti org ingat I was one of them and tengah bersedihan sebab kena deport balik. Ces!

(MG arrived at the immigration at 10am and I calculated by 1pm or latest 2pm he would have his passport ready. But noooo…they stopped work for lunch and it was only ready at 3pm. The AA officer specifically mentioned that him and little D had to be back at the airport by 3pm to secure their seat on standby. They didn’t get to the airport until 415, flight was supposed to be at 440pm therefore all check-in counters for Bali were already closed. I supposed people took pity on MG because he seemed like bapa tunggal, so everyone was ever ready to help him out. Thank god flight was delayed for nearly an hour, he managed to secure a seat and they reached Bali at about 9pm that night. Phew! Talk about all the drama!)

As of that trip, MG has lost his ‘position’ as being the dependable one. I must from then onwards double check all important documents when we go travelling. Plus the fact being a typical guy that he is, didn’t check his smses thus he missed mine telling him to ask the maid to prepare 2 bottles of milk for little D for the journey. Nasib baik anak aku tu hyperexcited being on a plane and didn’t ask for her milk. Just imagine, her last was at 3pm and I saw them at 10pm. Aiyo kadawale, kadawale!

BALI PART 2
The next day was the start of my conf. So I left them at 9am, MG took little D for her swim. I was only there until lunch time and I went back to the hotel. We were staying at Mer*cure Kuta and had lunch just at the Pizza Hut next door. In fact Hard Rock Hotel was next door too. Original plan was to stay there because MG said that his former boss had a hand in its design but while surfing the net, MG fell for Mer*cure’s Infinity Pool. That afternoon we went to Jalan Sulawesi in Denpasar which was 20 mins taxi ride away. Here they have two rows of shops yg beratus meter panjangnya selling kain batik, kebaya etc. Donno what’s wrong with me, it’s like I dah tak berapa minat with all the kain sulam2 or batik so I only ended up with one batik sarong. Agaknya pun because I was tired minding little D yg asyik nak berlari keluar kedai. Then we went back to the hotel to rest before going out for dinner. We jalan2 at Kuta high street only and masuk Kartika Discovery Plaza. When we were staying at Kartika Hotel (just next door) 4 years ago, the complex was not built yet. Masa tu was a few months after the Oct 2002 bombing so it was ‘sepi sekali’ as the cab drivers would say over and over again. We had dinner at MacD, then we went back to the hotel (kat sana sunset at 630pm macam Sabah ye bella?). Little D was ready for her bath tub session and then she went to bed. MG deserved some time on his own window shopping (believe me laki aku ni memang kaki!) so I said nemind you pegi la, I tunggu baby – yg ya nya I nak bolot tv sorang2.

The 2nd day pun sama jugak. I had to attend the conf but tengahari je I cabut. Had lunch in the hotel room je because senang little D nak bercomot2. Then we went out along Legian masuk kedai2 kecik tepi jalan. Of course little D had the most things bought for her. Oh yeah, I got myself a pair of Crocs wedges too on the first day. Slightly more expensive here but they had them in many more colours. Apparently kat Msia kena order. MG spent nearly an hour haggling for batik to hang on the wall and during that time little D dah tido, jaga, tido, jaga pun daddynya tak habis2 bershopping lagi. We went back to the hotel, threw little D into the pool, then her bath tub session, fed her some hot choc and bread (ingatkan nak lapik perut je) and she was so tired that she fell asleep halfway through tea. Then seperti isteri mithali I told MG to go have fun and just remember to come back with dinner for us at whatever time. Baik kan aku??

The next day we were to go to Ub*ud for two nights…aaa..this is a different story altogether…..nanti sambung lagi.

P/S I Cuma terkilan that I didn’t get to do any body worshipping in Kuta..i wanted to have my nails done and facials tapi tak sempat2. I felt guilty to request for ‘me’ time when MG dah kena jaga anak half the day.