Dear Family,
I am writing this at the request of the kind few who shared that they missed my travel blogs. Typically, to let everyone know that all is well, I post a photo per day on Facebook and refrain from booking flights on Malaysian Air.
The rationale of this trip was to get some Diane/Kyle time. Many of you remember the care-free (and sadly money-free) days of yore before we were blessed with Mr. K and Mr. I. While we love being parents, we don't always get the full enjoyment out of going through our 2nd sophomore year in high school nor being told what to do by a 3 year old. In between laughter and smiles, Diane and I find ourselves trading calendars and running to different events with our boys. In late 2014, I had a fear that in 16 years as we wished Ikaika the best as he went off the college, my love and I would have to reintroduce ourselves to each other. My Christmas gift to the dismay of Keoni was a trip for two to Tahiti after his basketball season ended. The only thing that could void the gift to my bride was her attempting to choose a different travel mate as the hotel was in my name...
As a longtime member of Starwood (St. Regis, Westin, W, Sheraton, ALoft), I carefully accrue points whenever I can so that rooms are paid in notional money. We enjoyed 5 glorious nights at the St. Regis in Bora Bora after sadly leaving our crepe chef Claude behind at the Hilton in Moorea (3 nights). We slept in, hung out and while we missed our little guys, it was fun to be the two of us again.
After the amazing time in Tahiti, Christmas shopping 2015 would be easy. I went to my Starwood app and looked for beach destination resorts in new places on the planet for us. St. Regis Bali blew me away although I must confess that while I knew it was an island of Indonesia, I didn't realize it was basically Hawaii for Australians (just northEAST of Koalaville). So how did this escape me when I was booking the flights??? That's right, inattention and a good deal!
I asked my travel agent Lauren to research the cheapest full flat sleeping seats in business class flights (remember my hotel is free) over the lake to Asia. Busy day at the office with 10 different tasks going at once and her e-mail comes through with a great price on flights to Taipei and then to Bali. Did I mention that when you book 4 nights at a Starwood hotel, the 5th is free? 5 nights in Bali and 2 in Taipei to break the return up plus we have never been to Taiwan. So to only miss 1 week of work, we would leave on Saturday at 1 a.m. and return the following Sunday in the afternoon; brilliant!!!
How long is the flight tonight Diane asked as we sat in the lounge inside the Tom Bradley International Terminal? "Not too long," I said confidently only to realize that I had no clue. When I was a history major at USC, I was often asked what era I was studying/specializing in. I can't recall what answers I came up with at the time but the real answer was stuffing a full time load into Monday - Thursday so that I had a 3 day weekend (note that 3 day weekends for national holidays always fall on Mondays so I would enjoy several 4 day weekends thanks to not picking Tuesday - Friday). This is why my college education was so wide ranging including gerontology, cinematography, business entrepreneurship, international relations of Latin America, histories of China, American West, Industrial Revolution, Holocaust, etc...
So creative calendar scheduling worked then and it would now... Diane said, "you don't have any clue do you?" I wouldn't describe my lack of details as clueless because admitting so would only make for yet another situation to be brought up when this happens again (and let's just accept that it will)...
13 hours later, we were sitting in a lounge in Taipei International Airport for a 3 hour layover before the 5 hour flight to Bali. Basically 24 hours of traveling if counted door to door. I didn't see that coming. As the flight taxied to the gate, our flight attendant said in broken English that bringing drugs into Indonesia was a capital offense which is one step worse than being "locked up abroad." We were a long way from California both in distance and culture...
Being a Platinum Starwood member entitles us to a free room upgrade, free wifi, free breakfast and being greeted as we walk off of the jetway by the only two people in the area. We aren't used to seeing smiling people deep in the airport with a sign with Kazan written on it. I waived to them and they took our carry-on luggage and walked us to the diplomatic line at customs. Whisked through the airport to collect our luggage and then to the Mercedes waiting outside for us. It was surreal to be driven through the chaos of the motor scooters which seemingly encircle all cars driving down the tight and busy thoroughfares of this 3rd world area. All the while we wiped our faces with the chilled towels and sipped bottled water both of which were presented to us by our driver as relaxing music droned out the commotion outside.
After entering the Nusa Dua area of the island, we drove to the St. Regis and upon arriving at the gates to the resort, we were greeted by security. The officer opened the car door to inspect the interior and then use mirrors and other technology to check the underside of our car presumably for explosives. Diane looked at me while we were cleared free of bombs like she needed reassurance. I gave her my confident nod which strangely elicited an eye roll...
We were greeted by the usual coterie of bellhops and other staff which makes entering the St. Regis a total pleasure. The metal detector between the chauffeured car and the wide open airy tropical feel of the lobby brought an eye wink to my partner in travel as she emptied her pockets into the tray. After only 1 full day of travel, a threat of the death penalty for marijuana and now making sure we weren't ISIS operatives, I was growing a bit concerned that my date of 30 years was losing faith...
Now confirmed to be unarmed, we were handed wonderfully refreshing fruit drinks as they checked us in. The view out to the water over lush tropical grounds while a couple of musicians played the (not sure of the instrument but I called it "the wind chimes")_____ _____ and the breeze of fresh balmy air instantly relaxed both of us. A gentleman appeared and introduced himself as our butler (did I mention indefensible?) and escorted us to a cart. He then drove us to our house.
There was an outer door which had 4 fountains on either side of the pathway leading to our front door. He opened it and walked us into our dining and living room. To the right was a half bathroom, a kitchen and a nanny's quarters with its own entrance. To the left was our bedroom, huge bathroom and closet. He then walked us outside to our small compound which included it's own pool along with multiple places to lounge before leading out to the beach and our private lounge chairs with umbrella.
The "my husband has no clue" look had been replaced with "are we on Entourage?" Even though it was far nicer than I'd remembered from my internet search many months ago, I kept my confident Mr. Miage demeanor as it was all coming together.
Over the course of the next 6 days / 5 nights, we left the hotel just twice. Jamie and Laura suggested that we visit a tropical forestry area called Ubud. Anyone who has travelled with me and enjoyed my making travel arrangements knows that I like to do as many things in a day as possible so on our venture to Ubud (1.5 hours by car each way), we hired a car/driver and tour guide to take us to visit a famous local artist (recommended by Jamie who bought a piece of his art many years earlier) named I Made Budi, visit a Hindu temple (80% of the island is Hindu), visit Monkey Forest, lunch at Amandara, go white water rafting and finish with dinner in an elephant park.
Quick thoughts: I Made Budi is now 84 and retired from painting. We particularly liked one of his paintings (he only has a few left and they are poorly stored in a small room with bird poop on the ground) which reminded us of Picasso's "Guernica" only this battle was for independence from the Dutch in the 1940's. The appropriate price after seeing other pieces at different art studios would have been about US$10,000. He told us that he didn't want to sell but he would for US$295,000. Safe to say, we didn't make an offer and our tour guide told us that his two sons (about my age) urged him to sell but he wasn't interested.
The temple was lovely, lunch was great and Monkey Forest was cool. Interesting factoid: Diane is afraid of monkeys climbing on her. She refused to let them jump on her for the reward of handing them a small banana. It should be noted that these monkeys are not caged/fenced in anyway and choose to be here presumably because the eating is good. After cajoling her to come stand next to me for a photo, one of my new pals jumped from my head on to Diane. Her freezing up while screeching kept the visit amazingly short...
The whitewater rafting was at most a level 2 so it was a nice boat ride with our guide and a young Chinese couple. The view of the forest from the river was truly breathtaking and this helped since our new boat mates may have been the worst paddlers ever. If the female half had actually put her oar in the water, she would have clapped her husband's thrashing paddle.
It is difficult to visit an elephant park after having been on safari in Africa. These beautiful animals should be roaming free even though I know this helps protect the species given the rampant poaching worldwide. Yes, we cheered as one of the pachyderms scored a basket and kicked in a goal. Without Kobe playing anymore, this would have to do... Amazing and sad at the same time.
After the 8 a.m. - 10:30 p.m. outing on Tuesday, we hung out at the resort, working out, walking the beach, stand-up paddle-boarding, swimming in the sea, getting massages and chilling in the backyard of our villa. Dinner 3 of the 5 nights was room service after massages. The rejuvenation happened.
Thanks to the wonders of technology, we could FaceTime with Keoni and Ikaika on a daily basis. Sadly, Diane's Dad Ben is not doing well and has been fighting an infection along with atrocious bedside manner at Kaiser. We were able to FaceTime with him almost daily and Diane's sister Kathy has been his biggest champion, sleeping in his room many nights. While we enjoyed almost all of the time in Bali, there were tears for Ben but hope that he will rebound and gain some strength for quality years of life ahead given his indomitable will.
It is Friday our time and we said goodbye to the butlers (a small team took care of us bringing my blends to me in the morning, goodies out to our pool, dinner at night along with bedtime tea and cookies), the morning buffet crew and the concierges. In all of my travels, I have never seen a more friendly staff as literally everyone smiled and said hello as we wandered the grounds. Sad to leave but excited to start our journey home.
Another interesting fact about Indonesia, the food is spicy. Even when they say it isn't, my heat avoiding love can sense when food is cooked within a mile of a chili pepper. Reminding me of Thai food, it was an absolute delight as I gobbled away while Diane hunted each first bite like I usually do for cheese.
I am writing this on the 5 hour flight to Taiwan where we will spend 2 nights before making the long flight (in time but short due to excitement) home.
If you made it this far, I am amazed and thankful that someone did ;-)
Love,
Kyle
Dick
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