Wow, we have been home for at least a month now, but I haven’t updated our blog with the final weeks in Bali. It might be at bit late for you, but I would like to have our blog complete :-)
Bali was in one word FANTASTIC!
We met wonderful friendly people, stayed at awsome places, saw beautfiful scenery and did amazing things.
We started our stay (after one night in Kuta) with a family home stay in Tabanan. Wayan and his lovely wife Nyoman welcomed us in their home and took good care of us. They showed us the Balinese family life, the rice fields surrounding their village, a local market (where we ate a kind of pancake covered in milk, chocolate, banana and peanut butter!), introduced us to Balinese offerings and dressed us up in traditional Balinese dresses!

We had a wonderful sightseeing day visiting various parts of Bali. The Jatiluwih rice fields, the botanical gardens and Pura Ulun Danu Bratan temple.
Of course the day ended with the sunset in Tanah Lot, but due to the weather it wasn’t as spectacular as we hoped.
After four wonderful days we had to say goodbye and we continued our trip to Ubud, the cultural capital of Bali.
Here we stayed at Villa Lumbung, just outside Ubud, where the host made us feel very welcome. We enjoyed the shopping at Ubud and went to experience Balinese dance and music at night. The girls loved it (and so did we)!
Bali Treetop Adventure took us high up the trees where we could wander around and zipline high above the ground.
Our next destination was Nusa Lembongan, a small island, about 45 minutes by fast boat away. Luckily the ride wasn’t too bumpy this time....
Because it would be my 40th birthday at the island we stayed at in a wonderful villa with a hanging chair, beautiful view over the ocean, massages and cocktails at night.
It felt like the life of a princess.....waking up with the sound of waves, a delicious breakfast, nothing better to do than read, lying on the comfy beds, having a massage, getting a pedicure or manicure, drinking fresh and cocktails.....
Cleo had a mineral water named after her!! :-)
Cleo had a mineral water named after her!! :-)
But we couldn’t leave Bali without a little bit of activity so we went on a snorkelling trip. Isen and Cleo went in the water for about 15 minutes and the rest of the trip they watched us snorkelling while sitting in the boat, but Lily, York and I splashed around for quite some time and marvelled at the underwater world.
After this day we had to leave Nusa Lembongan and head back to Bali and fly to Kuala Lumpur where we had one more day to do some serious shopping and some fish therapy!! Oww, that tickles!
With our two big backpacks, a Balinese bag full of souvenirs and clothing from KL we arrived safe and sound in the Netherlands on July 4th. Family and friends welcomed us at the airport and at home with a big banner!!
After 5 weeks we can truly say that we have ‘arrived’ back home. The girls spent two weeks at school before school holidays started again.....
I have started work as a locum again.
We love being back in the Netherlands and seeing friends and family agian.
But thinking about the past 18 months we feel very blessed to have been able to travel the world, meeting wonderful people, seeing beautiful places, working in a different environment, biking along Lake Taupo with its magnificient background of stunning mountains, maing new friends, seeing our girls learning a new language and settling in in a new school, class and kindy and do some more travelling.
We miss Taupo, New Zealand and the wonderful people we have met.
We haven’t decided yet where to settle in the long run, but we do know that wherever it will be we will have wonderful people beside us.