Bali, Indonesia (Feb 2018)
JJ in DPS 12th – 17th Feb 2018
Type: Camping in the hotel over CNY.
SQ946 departs Changi on time and arrives shortly into to DPS at 1946hrs.
Clearance was smooth and soon we were in the arrival terminal.
It was good to be back in Bali since Daddy and Mummy had been there previously and were hoping to bring the kids to the beach there one day. This was that ‘one’ day we had talked about previously. Couldn’t help however but notice the heat as we go out to the arrival area as we were greeted by our driver who would be bringing us to the hotel.
Traffic was not a concern at that hour and soon we were at the beautiful hotel grounds (couldn’t really take in the sights until the next day when we were finally able to explore the sprawling grounds!).
Photo credits Hilton Bali*
*Note this property was previously the Grand Nikko Bali till circa May2016 when it was acquired by and rebranded to the Hilton group.
Kids as usual lose no time in taking photos while Daddy J checks us in.
We get upgraded to a family room (with bunk beds and pool view).
I think we could have stayed in the room all day with the kids super excited about the double-decked bunks, climbing up and down, and (almost fighting) about who would get the top bunk. We finally agreed with alternating J1 and J2 every subsequent night 🙂
Got up to a nice breakfast the next morning post which we spent some time exploring the grounds. It was a huge hotel, with multiple pools (i think 4 spread across the site).
First stop of course was the Kids Club which we had read a lot about (2 levels – top floor with foosball, game consoles, board games, first floor with an outdoor and indoor area; the outdoor houses a wooden-decked playground, sandpit, rock-wall, trampoline and the indoor with a kids activity area*).
*The Kids Club runs multiple kids’ activities throughout the day – and even offers parents the opportunity to ‘drop’ your kids and optional kids’ lunch and dinner menus.
After couple of rounds on the foosball table, we decided to hit the beach!
Jon tries his hands (and legs) at rock-climbing the next day (part of the fixed-timing activities).
Kudos to the staff who were very helpful and supportive the whole time!
At the beach, we catch some hermit crabs… yummy (just kidding!). No crabs were hurt in the process!
We got a nice invite to attend the Manager’s Welcome Drinks Session the next day, which we happily accepted.
Had some nice canapés sipping Pina Colada and the Blue Fizzy drink by the pool after which we went for our own Chinese New Year Reunion dinner.
Part of the 5 most memorable experiences from the kids were ‘Drinking the Blue Drink by the Pool!*”
5 Best things about this trip (according to J Twins!) in cascading order.
5. Sipping Blue Fizz by the Pool!
4. Spending time with Daddy and Mummy!
3. Kids Club!
2. Beach!
1. Bunk beds!
Camel Feeding – also part of the Kids’ Club activities.
Overall, the 5 days here passed by swiftly! We had alternated between the following as part of our daily routine:
Breakfast – Kids’ Club – Beach/Pool – Nusa Dua Collection (10min shuttle bus ride away for lunch and shopping) – Beach/Pool… we also found some time towards the end for tennis with the kids!
Soon it was time to bid farewell to Bali.
Jo zooms off with the potter on the trolley back to the Lobby where Daddy J checks us out while we feed the kois in the pond around the lobby/foyer area.
Given our flight back home was early on Saturday morning (17th Feb), part of the plan was to relocate to Hilton Garden Inn (situated right next to the Denpasar airport!) which we transferred to after checkout on Friday. From here, it was a 5min Blue Bird taxi ride to Kuta Mall!