A Visit To Elephant Safari Park

Yesterday I got invitation from Bali adventure Tour who managed the Elephant safari Park at Taro Village in Ubud to attend the launching of their new package of Safari Under The Star.

Since I never visited the Elephant Park before, I was so excited to finally see it with my own eyes the real park which I ussualy recommend to my guests to visit. All the information I have before are only from their brochure.

The journey took about one and half hours drive from Seminyak to Taro village. However the view along the way is stunning, The countryside in Ubud reflect the real Balinese life and it seems like untouchable by the busy and touristy life in Kuta and Seminyak. Who would wonder that there are somebody who build heaven for elephants in this beautiful forest.

When we get there, I just cant wait to see more of the park instead of just sitting and waiting for other party to come. So I asked the staff if I can take a short walk along in the park and get closer to the elephants. The friendly staff offered if I would consider ride the elephants to show me around the park. Well off course I said yes.

Off we went for an elephant ride which is quite scary at first because I thought I would fell off to the ground. The elephant, named Tagor are very calm and I happen to know that he was an artist too. I saw his paintings at the souvenir shop inside the park. I saw lots of elephant in the park, eating some grass. They looked happy and friendly. It seems like they are taken care so well here.

Late in the evening, Mr. & Mrs. Mason the founder of the park invited us to see the elephant show and try the Elephant safari under the star. There isn’t stars that night because its rainy. So we use a raincoat and an umbrella to see the jungle at night riding the elephants. This time I ride with Miki, another beautiful elephant who can’t stand to pick some leaves along the way to the jungle.

The experience with the elephants was fantastic and I enjoyed it so much. This time I got more information and experience it myself then with no doubt I can explain it better if my guests asks about Elephant Safari.

Later that night when I already in the comfort of my bed and it is still rain outside, I wondered about Tagor and Miki and the other elephants who plays in the water, aw… I already missed them..

This is our picture with Tagor.. He looked very happy...

The trip to Workplace

Since my house now is quite far from my workplace, I now can enjoy the journey that took about 20 minutes motorbike riding. I just noticed that there is a shortcut from my house to the road near the hotel I’ve worked. The shortcut is much more quiter than the main road where I ussually pass.

On the main road, I have to pass 5 traffic lights, now I can avoid all the traffic light by using the shortcut.

The other thing that is so special about this shortcut is I have to pass the small road in a village and there are a beautiful view of the ricefield along the way. I saw some beautiful villa build among the ricefield. I enjoy most of my trip to work especially when I have to work in the morning shift, I can see sunrise from the distance... Bali dogs I saw along the way looks happy and I’m sure they have a good life with their master.



Its now summer in Bali, almost all flower are ready to bloom. The bougenville are everywhere. Blooming so colorfull. I can smell the dew from the grass and from the ricefield. Eventhough It is hard for me to wake up early in the morning, thinking about the journey and beautiful things I can see on the way to work could lift up my spirit to wake up.. (Still I need an alarm..)


The only things I don’t enjoy is if I have to work afternoon shift and get back home at 11 pm. The road is dark and there is only minimum lights from houses along the way. Plus the Bali dogs that are nice in the morning loves to bark in the evening when they see someone passing. Therefore my only option is using the main road with all the traffic lights....

Finally, My Own Dream House.

I wrote in my blog before about the house of my dream which is inspired by my friend’s house near the lake as you can read here. I always wanted a small house in a quiet area not far from the town and have beautiful view of nature.

Well the house is not exactly as I wanted but closer. Me and my husband bought the house half finished and have to refurbish it on our own. It was a terrible days finishing the house. Stessfull because of the rise in price for the material. Finally it is finished and we can move to this house eventhough the garden and the garage is not finished yet..

These days, I am so busy decorating my small house and of course gardening. Now I love shopping for home appliances, decoration and plants for my garden. Yesterday I just finished planting the grass in my front yard..

In my block I only have 4 neighbours and full view to the ricefield. I hope this area will not growing fast as the other area did. People buy the land and build houses and there will be no more ricefield. I like the ricefield just in front of my house, the sound of the chirping birds in the morning and frogs singing at night, so calming..

White Water Rafting

Recently, I experienced several adventurous activities like Buggy Drive and Surfing Lesson . This week I got invitation for white water Rafting arranged by Sobek. Off course, eventhough I am not an adventure person, I took the invitation excitingly and start counting the day for this exciting adventure on the river.

Sobek is one of the famous company for rafting in Bali and was a pioneer of White Water Rafting in Bali. We recommend Sobek for our guest in the hotel if they would like to go for rafting and now they invited me to know better about their company and experience the thrill of white water rafting.



Well, I am quite nervous and scared of rafting as I thought it is quite dangerous. But Mr. Tiger (our Rafting guide), who was very funny and friendly told us that it is very safe if we are following the rules. I was with one chinese family, a father, a mother and a child approximately 11years old in the rubber boat. Unfortunately they can’t speak english so it is difficult to start a conversation with them. After Mr. Tiger explained about the safety then we hop on to the raft and already my adrenaline rushed for excitement.


I forgot to mentioned that I went for rafting at Ayung River in Ubud. The River is famous for its natural beauty. Many first class hotel are taking the advantage of the river’s view for their selling point. The river is actually flat for those who seek a thrilling rafting, but Sobek also offered rafting at Telaga Waja which is famous for its Class III + rapids.


Anyway after a few meters of paddling on the raft I saw the towering cliffs that was carved from the bottom. The carving tells a story from Ramayana Epic I guess. The relief was so beautiful makes me wonder who did all this carving and how many days it took to finished it? Mr. Tiger told me that it was carved by the local artists that lived around the river.


After several raft in the river banks, we saw another rubber boat that stuck between rocks in the river. We laugh at them and splash them with water by using our oars, they were definetely wet. After few metres we did not realize that they were free from the rock and tried to catch us for a revenge. A very fun water splash war happened then. We laugh so hard. I feel like a child again, playing with water and feel happy.

We stopped at the waterfalls for a few photo shot and a hard shower under the water falls. We also swam in the river. What a view with a fresh air. I feel like I don’t want to leave this river. We continued challenging the river and sometimes saw an interesting trees, or local people along the river. After 2 hours Rafting, I feel tired and thank God it’s finished in front of Sobek restaurant where delicious Indonesian food served near the river. We ate on the terrace river café with buffet lunch while our clothes are still wet. After meals we take a quick shower and change of clothes. Our driver were ready to take us back to Denpasar… Ooowww..I don’t want to leave yet.. It felt like a very short adventure.

Bali Quad and Buggy Drive

Another adventure invitation from Bali Quad for us. This will be an exciting new adventure for me. I am just so glad that Bali Quad invite us to experience Quad Bike and Buggy in Ubud. They pick us up in the morning to go to Ubud. The place is in Marga Tengah Village, near Kintamani which is abpproximately 1,5 hours drive from Seminyak..phheewww what a long journey to start.

The Buggy and Quad Bike are specially designed Off Road vehicles that cope with all kind of terrain. First they give us a clear instruction and practice both Quad and Buggy before I decided to go with Buggy. Quad bike seems too difficult to handle and I am a litle bit scared in riding quad bike during our practice. Buggy seems more safe and easier to handle. like driving an automatic car.

The tour start to explore the off road amongst rice fields and traditional village. I drive carefully because there are lots of mud and pool of water on the road that makes my clothes get dirty when I pass it over. It is quite exciting to get dirty with the mud. things that I did a lot when I was a child. The track become a litle tricky when there are terrain that we have to pass. I am quite nervous driving this Buggy in a difficult track. Once I even hit the Quad Bike in front of me, which is happen to be our guide.. We laugh a lot. Luckily my Buggy did not turn upside down when I hit the Quad.

The track is passed a very traditional villages, where we meet lots of children waving to us with their smile. One child even gave me flower that she picked from her garden. So sweet.. I feel like this is the real Balinese village with their traditional ways of living. We also passed the rice fields and rain forest and have a short coffe and tea in a traditional hut with a view to the mountain.

The Off Road adventure with Quad Bikes and Buggy started to split because some people drive fast and some people like me drive slowly especially in a chalenging track, but the guide never leave us alone. They also split and keep an eye to us and show us the way. After 2 hours of adventure we went back to the place where we start and delicious lunch is ready to be served..

Surfing Lesson at Surfer Girl Surf S’cool

I got an invitation for the soft opening of Surfer Girl Surf S’cool to learn to surf. I saw a lot of surfer everyday and arrange lots of surfing lessons for my guests but never think that I want to larn to surf. It look dangerous and look scary. All the negative feeling always come to my mind first. What if the waves are strong, what if I can’t handle the board, etc..etc..

The invitation looks fun, so I call them if learn to surf is dangerous and what will they teach me and how will I do that. They told me that it is safe, fun and there will be professional instructors teach me to stand on the board. So I ask my friend if she want to accompany me to learn to surf, but everybody refuse. Too many negative feeling as I have. When I desperately look for company, the assistant manager pass by and I ask her if she want to learn to surf? And she said she’d love to. Then the next morning off we go.

First they ask us to change with rash suit that already prepared with very girly color available. Off course this school are only for girl. They also ask us to put safety helmet and a high SPF sunblock for our face, arms and legs. The instructors are female too and they are so friendly and 2 male assistant for back up.


The instructor give us the theory to read the waves, paddle to the sea and ride on the waves. Well I cant wait to practice it. When it comes to practice, we practice first on the sand then to the water. Well it is not to difficult, paddle and ride the waves. We are not stand on board yet. Just paddle and ride the waves but I feel it is so much fun that I wont stop.


The second lesson is about how to stand on the board. This one is difficult. We practice it on the sand. And I can’t even stand fast. The sun is already too hot (it is only 10 am) and I feel exhausted because I got too excited on paddling on the waves. When we have to practice it on the water, Oh my god , it is so difficult. The waves keep me down whenever I tried to stand. I even hit my friend while trying to stand on my board. On one occasion I stand…. Oh yes.. I STAND… I can stand on the board while riding the waves.. Yahoo..! It is only like 1 or two second before I fell again because I can’t balance myself on board. But I feel so happy. I can be a surfer girl someday…. Hehehe..


The lesson finished at 11 am. It is already 2 hours we were on the water. All of us look happy and exhausted. All keep telling each other how it feels when they stand on the board.. My friend even ask me to do it again next time so that we can really really stand on board and ride the waves like a pro..


The Surfer Girl Surf S’cool gave each of us a certificate with our name on it mentioned that we have ride waves and stand on board. They even gave us a goody bags full of Surfer Girl Stuff, like Surfer Girl calendar, Surfer Girl Keychain, bags and lots more.

Holiday in Ubud

One day me and my husband decided to have a one day holiday to run away from our busy life to a quiet and peaceful place. The choice is Ubud. It is only 1 hour drive from Kuta and we thought we should entertain ourselves sometimes, stay in a hotel, eat in the restaurant and enjoy the hotel as a guest. Since we are hotelier we only enjoy our hotel as a staff.

We went to Ubud early in the morning as we have to do some inspection to some hotel near Ubud center to fit our budget before we decided to stay.
The first hotel we went to is Tegal Sari hotel. Their room are nice, large and have a beautiful view of the rice field. The standard bungalow priced Rp. 350.000 per night including breakfast and tax, but unfortunately the hotel is fully booked. L

The next one is Panorama hotel. Their room is nice too, Deluxe room is only US$ 35 and standard room US$ 30. the room have a ricefield view too. I kinda like this hotel but my husband don’t. He don’t like the way some staff look at us like we are coming from outer space. Yes, off course I understand. We are hotelier, we know what they think about us and my husband don’t like it.

So we move to the next hotel, Green field hotel. This is a nice small hotel too. They have a new villa build in the middle of rice field. We saw the villa which is very nice Balinese style villa. The price is US$ 85. In Kuta or Nusa Dua area a villa like this could cost you about US$ 200. So this is villa is cheap with a 5 star facilities inside the room. However it is still too expensive for our budget. The receptionist then offered a standard room on the second floor which is cheaper at only US$ 25. We saw the room which is ok for a standard room and we have the rice field view too from our balcony. The room has aircon, minibar, shower, telephone, tea and coffee maker and a queen size bed. So I think this room is fine. We decided not to waste the time to look for another hotel again so that we can walk around Ubud center or just relax at the pool.

We have lunch at Warung Enak, just next to the hotel. We sat on the second floor to enjoy the view. The service here is like 5 star. They gave us a cool towel upon arrival and complimentary crackers for starter. We ordered our meals and enjoy the crackers. My husband even ask for more because the cracker is good. Eating here is cheap. For two plus drink we spent only Rp. 66.000 (about 7 USD). We decided just to stay in the hotel to relax, my husband have a nap in the room while I went to the pool to enjoy my spa. There were nobody at the pool except the therapist who was waiting for me. The therapy massage I choose is just good (plus cheap, only USD 10), the massage bed is open air and have the view to rice filed which is soooo relaxing.

At night we went for dinner at Bebek Bengil, one of the famous restaurant in Ubud for Balinese food. The restaurant is just perfect, set in a secluded garden and rice field view, plus torch light along pathway, make it look romantic. We sat in a private table and ordered their signature dish, Bebek Bengil. It’s a crispy duck served with rice and vegetables. We eat until we feel so full. The duck is crispy and soft and delicious too.

We don’t eat any dessert because we want to try another restaurant. We have our dessert at Lotus Café at Ubud center. The restaurant is surrounded by Lotus pond, lots of Lotus. The ambience is very nice but I think the food and the service is just so so.. nothing so special.. My husband don’t like it, me too. We wish to have a drink at the bar, but most bar seems empty so we decided to go back to hotel.

The next morning, we have our breakfast served at their restaurant. With a full view to the ricefield that is so calming makes our breakfast special, because we usually eat breakfast in the rush at home with no view. After breakfast we take a walk to Ubud art market before checking out from the hotel. On the way home I thought, what a short vacation. I need to do this more often, beside I don’t have to go to far, we have all we need for holiday here in Bali.