Anna's Ventures: Bali, Day 6: Tigers, Elephants and Lady Boys

Today's exchange rate: IDR 10,710 per AUS $

Today's weather: Bit of sun, bit of clouds, a lot of humidity

As every other day, I was up early. I had an early FaceTime with Mum before going back to the room to pack; today we were leaving Ubud. The other girls soon got up and also finished their packing before I called reception to have someone get our luggage. They sure are quick at the Beji. Two minutes after calling, 4 boys were walking up the steps to get our bags. We followed them down to start our breakfast. We had organised another day with Yuda (or Yoda as we so fondly call him now) today. He was going to pick us up at 9:00 and take us to the Bali Safari and Marine park before taking us to Villa Coco in Legian. He had emailed me after our last day with him reminding us of a number of things; to be careful when it rains, drink lots of water and to have a big breakfast before our day today. At about 8:30, we were enjoying our breakfast when I noticed Yoda was already at the hotel putting our bags in his car. I went over to say hello and he tells me there is no rush, him and his son, Oka, (our driver today) would wait.

We finished off our brekky before handing in our keys and we were off. The sun was shining down today and we were all so excited. Yoda had already booked us in and had managed to get $5 off each of the $85 package. After a lovely drive talking to Yoda and Oka, we arrived at the park and were so happy to see no lines. Yoda lead us to the desk where we confirmed our booking and paid. There had obviously been some miscommunication as the girl serving us had no idea about the discount. Yoda reassured us that he would sort it out, so we just paid full price. As he promised, he did sort it out and when we had finished with the Safari Park he had the $5 each to give back to us.

Yoda joined us in the park for a while, leading us around and making suggestions about what we should do first to avoid any queues. Our first stop was to get a photo with one of the parks animals. We all decided we would love to get a photo with a tiger, so we made our way into the tiger enclosure where we admired the white Bengal tiger before the photos began. We were the first ones to go up. What an incredible feeling it was to be sitting with a baby tiger, patting it while it just chills out in front of you. Many people say the animals are drugged to keep them calm and I really hope they're not but it's hard to believe an animal would quite happily sit there for person after person for hours. Nevertheless we were all so happy. We each got a professional photo printed included in the photo and Yoda took photos on my camera too.

We had some time to kill before the educational animal show, so Yoda took us over to where they teach the Balinese dancing. None of us were too keen on this, but we did it anyway. I think we concluded that we were all a bit too uncoordinated for it.

The animal show would be starting soon so Yoda lead us to the best seats before reminding us of what to do next and leaving us for the day. The show was fantastic. It's amazing how well animals like rats and guinea pigs along with cats, birds, orangutans can be trained. It's hard to not have a smile on your face while watching the show. Straight after, we made our way to the Elephant show. Once again, it was great. The elephants are amazing to watch and what I liked about this show is that it's so much more than watching the animals do tricks. It's learning about the history of elephant-human relationships and such. Towards the end of the show, 3 volunteers are chosen from the crowd to receive a ring of flowers from one of the elephants. Would you believe it, I got picked. I was so excited. Myself and two others made our way onto the stage, lined up and each had our turn of receiving the flowers. I had a huge smile on my face the whole time.

From here, we went straight for our Safari ride. The park is so well set up for this. We loved driving through and seeing the animals. Yoda had suggested we sit at the back so we had a 180 degree view, and of course he was right! We once again left with big smiles on our faces and how could you not after just seeing so many amazing animals.

We were starting to get hungry by this time so made our way to Uma Restaurant for lunch. This restaurant is more like a food court with options ranging from pizza and pasta to kebabs and Asian food. Something for everyone. Mikhala, Courtney and I enjoyed pizzas while Sami had a burger. It was all about $10 each.

Yoda had booked us in for an elephant ride at 2:15 so we made our way off but with a bit of time to spare, we stopped at the Petting Zoo. Here they had a beautiful baby lion for photos, but we couldn't be bothered lioning (haha, get it?) up for it, but he was gorgeous!

Finally it was time for our elephant ride. Courtney and Sami got an elephant called Selfi which they loved and Mikhala and I had Lina. We had great guides. Ours was telling me that each elephant had one trainer and he had been with Lina for 6 years. He told me it wasn't about the money, it was about his elephant that he loved. We had a lot of fun with the elephants and shared many laughs.

After our rides, we were ready to head back to Yuda. He was happy to see us and even happier to hear we had such a great time. Back in the car we went to Villa Coco, via the new toll road. Yoda and I had previously discussed the rumours that the road is not so well built. This is believed because it was made so quickly. Only time will tell.

After getting through the terrible traffic on Sunset Road, we finally arrived at Villa Coco. We said our goodbyes to Yoda, who has been nothing short of amazing. When we checked in, we were told we wouldn't be able to get into our villa until after 6:00. Um, excuse me? Apparently someone else had late check out. We were lead to a garden bungalow to use until then, but Sami and I decided we were just not happy about it. We had paid for a full night of the villa which means access from check in time. It was about 4:45, well after the check in time so we were technically paying for someone else to use OUR villa. Not happy at all. Sami and I headed back to reception to talk to someone about it. We tried to communicate our frustrations with the reception and he was not what I'd call helpful. He got on the phone and from the office comes a lady who we once again explained our frustrations to. The best we got from her is "we need your understanding." Luckily, just at that moment the Australian manager walked into reception. I once again explained what the issue was and after a quick chat with the staff she confirmed we wouldn't get in until 6:30. She said talking about it wouldn't help, there wasn't anything that could be done. For some reason they were under the impression that we would be arriving later even though there was no communication on arrival time. She told us to go to the pool bar, get anything we wanted and she would make it up to us. There was no other option.

We spent some time by the communal pool enjoying our complimentary cocktails before we went back to our temporary room. The phone rang right then letting us know the villa was ready for us. Thank goodness for that. Staff came to move our bags and we finally got into our villa. It was worth the wait but we would have loved to have an extra couple of hours in there. Oh well. We got settled and went straight into our little pool. It's a great size for just the 4 of us. When we started to feel a bit cold, it was time to shower and get ready for dinner.

Tonight we were off to Waroeng Bonita. I had come to this restaurant last year and enjoyed the atmosphere,the food and the lady-boy show they have on a Friday night. Tonight I was extra excited though. Little did Mikhala know that I had organised a belated birthday surprise for her here. We got reception to call us a taxi and because of the traffic, we ended up arriving 20 minutes late, but no worries. We were shown our seats and ordered drinks and starters. I had ordered salt chilli calamari and Courtney and Mikhala sharespd some Lumpia. Both were quick to come out and were delicious.

The lady-boy show started soon after. The show was not as good as last year but still very entertaining. The lady-boys are very made up in over the top dresses, make up and wigs and lip synch to things like Lady Gaga. 3 songs are sung before a mini intermission. During the first intermission, our mains arrived. I ordered grilled snapper, Sami had tenderloin steak while Mikhala and Courtney had chicken quesadillas. I think we all really loved the food. I tried a bit of the other dishes as well as eating my own and they were all great and so full of flavour. We enjoyed every bite.

Salt chilly squid and Lumpia

Grilled snapper, chicken quesadilla and tenderloin steak

After the next intermission, the real show began. One of the lady boys came out with a dessert and singing happy birthday. Everyone, including Mikhala, was clapping and singing along. Mikhala hadn't noticed the dessert was for her until they actually set it down in front of her. Her reaction was priceless. Laughing, blushing, her face in her hands. It was perfect. She was so embarrassed but we couldn't stop laughing, especially because her dessert was somewhat of an obscene...thing. It was a willy!! A porcelain male private part stood tall proud in the middle of the plate with fruit crepes presented around it. I'm sure anyone would have been embarrassed.

Our bill came to just under $70. It was a great meal and entertaining night. I'd definitely recommend a visit, especially on a Friday night so you can enjoy the show too. Into a taxi we went back to the villa. I was concerned we were being taken for a ride but the driver reassured me he was taking us a shorter way to avoid the roadworks, and he was right. I was glad I spoke up though because we was taking us down dark and windy back roads. We arrived safely though and I think it was a quicker route.