The first hotel we stayed in, Puri Bunga Resort in Ubud, was charming in many more ways – complete with a kettle, green-minded water supplier in glass bottles, mosquito netting and to the delight of my children – a full size jacuzzi (the two noisy times they enjoyed this was definitely the highlight of the trip for them!)

But this hotel received another thumbs-up from my husband and I when we requested for a plug adapter. They did not have any at hand but promptly told us that they will send one over as soon as they bought it!

Which they did – in less than 20 mins. In this out of the way countryside hotel.

With this kind of service, I would not be surprised if they could even lend us surge protectors for laptops!

Definitely a place to consider for my next future trip over.

My parents were only mildly impressed with the rice fields of Bali since rice fields were normal scene in their childhood.

My husband did not care for them at all having spent not one minute of his childhood near any rice fields as there were no rice fields around where he grew up.

My children saw nothing in the rice field and asked only that I promised to instruct the driver to go back straight to the hotel after that last stop!

So it was only me who was tremendously looking forward to all the magnificent rice terraces of Bali – saying names like Jatiluwih and Tegallalang in my dreams long before we even arrived.

When we were there, one of the places we stopped by to view this part of Bali was through a dirt road and up a low hill called Bukit Jati from where one could see the surrounding villages and their rice terraces and a not-so-welcomed sight of a cell signal boosters tower right in the middle the not-so-magnificent rice terraces.

But I did see something intriguing – and common to these parts of Bali. Luxurious villas and compounds with swimming pools in the middle of those rice fields, which our driver told us mostly belong to Japanese.

As for those rice terraces, I was duly impressed and truly believe that Bali would still be a tourist hotspot just by those terraces alone.

*Picture : Rice Terraces At Tegallalang

One of the interesting eatery our Bali hired driver brought us for – or shall I say, got his commission out of – our lunch was this unique place called the Rapuan Cili in Ubud.

It’s a unique non-franchise-able and perfect only in Ubud in Bali interior because where else can you get a tourist class restaurant outside a ricefield that comes complete with a swimming pool – but no hotel.

Now, this is one thing I don’t quite like about Bali.

Having small kids with us limit the kind of places we can go for meals. Had our trip  consists only of adults, I would definitely try one of their local warungs – and risk the Bali belly. But with delicate stomachs and fussy tongues, we had no choice but to go to places meant only for tourists.

Of course the place was lovely and luckily the food was delicious – for us and the kids. But at 21% taxes and service charges, it better be.