Hi all again. One of the coolest additions to Bali's tourist industry, must be the Bali Safari Park! Okay, its no Australia Zoo, but it is well run, clean, and the animal experiences make it unforgetable!
Our driver Budi picked us up around 9:30am to go on a full days outing. We decided to go do some other things first, before going to the safari park, since we didn't have any kids with us, and wasn't interested in playing in the water park part of the park. I would recommended only going early if you have kids that want to swim. We saw everything, and was only there for about 4 hours. Allow longer if you want to watch all the shows. The elephant show was not on the times we were there, and the bird & dog show didn't really interest us.
First stop was a wood carvers studio to show Cham some of the beautiful work that the clever Balinese are capable of. Cham got herself a lovely modern peice, ( I didn't indulge this time, as I was all 'wooded out' from previous trips) and did me proud with her skills at bartering. Then we stopped at a silversmiths. Cham bought herself a lovely dragonfly pendant for about 450'000rp. Then we headed to one of the best shopping locations, the Ubud markets.
This place hasn't really changed at all in the four years since I had been there. The only disapointment for me, was the fact I couldn't get upstairs to look at all the treasures that were waiting to be found. We got some really great bargains there. By the way, if you are a bit of a germ-a-fobe, make sure you will not need to g to the loo when you are at the markets! Cham got her first taste of an old style squat toilet! According to her, it was smelly, dirty, and wet, and she had to pay to use it! Arrr, the memories of my first squat....
Okay, the Safari Park. The bus ride is quite fun, and you can get off and on as much as you like. The thing I enjoyed the most, was playing with 'Effie' the 12mth olf Orang Utan baby! She was so gentle, and so cute! She loved my hands, and my glittery manicure. She played 'Patter Cake' with me, it was so funny! Boarding the bus again, we ventured into the jungle part of the park, and saw lions, tigers and bears, Oh My! The kids on the bus were treated to a male tiger going for it with a lady friend, right where the bus just happened to linger for a while. Too funny was the Muslim family infront of us, who were trying to shield thier childrens eyes from the scene, all six of them!
We had our photo taken with the most adorable 8 week old tiger cub, which cost us 70'000rp, well worth it. Nicely presented in a folder. She was great, so soft, and just like a domestic cat, but with much bigger teeth! Cham got up close and personal with a 8mth old lion. Which later in the day, tried to take a nip out of one of her handlers! She was only playing though.
We had lunch very late in the resturant near the lions. So cool to sit there with the lions! Try the Caesar Salad with prawns! Yummy!
The drive back was interesting. The traffic was very congested, as most people were heading back to thier villages because of Independance Day. Coming through Tuban, a very silly scooter rider, tried to squeeze through on the inside between a concrete pillar, and Budi's Kjang. Mistake! His bike got clipped, but he managed to stay on the bike, and never missed a beat! No one was hurt, but Budi's side steps on his 4 x 4 had a little dent in it!
Later that night, we treated ourselves to a Reflexology massage at Ambiante Spa, accross the road from The Kuta Paradiso. OMG! This is amazing! 90 mins of heaven. They are a little more expensive than some, I think it cost us about 190'000rp, but it was well worth it. It gave us such a buzz, we ran around like Energiser Bunnies, and hit the surf shops hard! Our kids did really well that night. We visited Roxy, Billabong, Rip Curl, and my personal favourite, Element! I got two new season hoodies for the price on one back home! Fun staff too!