So we decided we should go out somewhere. There’s a taxi service right there in Club Med before you go out of the security checkpoint, but that would’ve costed us some 5x price we could get elsewhere. So, my bro got his friend’s contact instead.

Day 4 – Bali Safari

Mom and I got up and walked to the beach to watch the sunrise at 5.45 am.

Mom asked, ‘Is that it? You bring me here to watch this?’ Unimpressed, she said, ‘I see this everyday.’ She was rather amused I would think of seeing the sunrise.

Later that night, she asked if we’re going to watch the sunrise again the next morning. ‘There’s nothing good about it,’ she said. Well, then we get to chat. From memory, we talked about:

• Familiarity breeding contempt, or complacency at least. Losing the wonder of something wonderful.
• The Melbourne weather. 40 deg one day, 20 deg the next day (or even within hours). That’s why we can appreciate good weather days in Melbourne.
• How easy it is to forget everyday blessings until we lose them.

Anyway, good to have the chat. But no, we didn’t see the sunrise the next day, she didn’t enjoy it. I didn’t mind sleeping in too. 😴 Haha.

So anyway, in the day we went to Bali Safari. It was good, the kids really had fun.

We got on a cart that brought you close to the animals. I actually enjoyed this one, better than the Singapore Night Safari. From what I remember, I didn’t have any good thing to say about the Night Safari in Singapore the last time we went. In Bali Safari:

• The cart is enclosed and air-conditioned! Suitable for the weather. The S’pore Night Safari was open, humid, and mosquitoes feast on you (well, they certainly feasted on me).
• We could see the animals very clearly. Meanwhile, we’re squinting at the Night Safari.

By the way, we spoke to the Reception that day and found out that regardless of their target customers, Aussies actually only made up 10% of Club Med Bali’s customers. Many more are from Singapore, the most is from China. How surprising. And us Indonesians? We’re one of the <1%!

Day 5 – Pork party

We went out to Hog Wild restaurant. Yay, fresh sugar cane and coconut! We had pork ribs, pork satay, it’s a yummy pork party.

It should be very common in Indo, but Club Med also didn’t serve fresh orange juice (they’re those you get from the supermarket). I was surprised, they didn’t have it in the main restaurant (buffet style), not at the bar, or pool, and not even in their gourmet restaurant (a la cart). When we were served the orange juice which was clearly not fresh (the menu said it is), I asked the waiter, ‘This isn’t fresh?’ My bro said, ‘By fresh, they meant it’s not rotten you see,’ the waiter laughed saying, yea, they don’t serve freshly pressed juice there.

Leave the juice, but I think at least they could get rid of the flies. My nephew was freaked out there were so many flies – not outdoor, this is their indoor gourmet restaurant. And the pepper and salt grinder weren’t working either.

This was my last day here (I left a day earlier than my family). One thing I remember was how annoyed I was at the greeters they placed on the stairs to the main restaurant. It’s less than 10 sec walk up the stairs and there were 2 greeters there who could be quite intrusive. And there’s another line of people up the stairs whose job was to escort you to your seats. It really made it less efficient and was completely unnecessary.

Believe it or not, that’s probably the most trying part of the holiday. One of those little things that add up to annoy you. It came to the point where I was sometimes thinking, oh dear, I have to walk past these 2 people again to the restaurant.

On the last day, after saying goodbye to my family who’re still eating, Mom walked down with me to see me off from the lobby. Seeing me carrying my backpack as we’re walking down the stairs, one of the greeters said in a dramatised way,

‘OH, are you leaving us already?’ with an accompanying face expression.

‘Yes, thanks, bye.’

He continued in the same dramatic voice as I continued walking down and away, ‘Are you going to FORGET US??’

As I walked out of his sight, I could still hear his voice from the back of the wall,

‘OHH, HAVE YOU ALREADY FORGOTTEN US??’

That’s just plain annoying, man. Seriously. I had sent Club Med feedback, their presence there was completely unnecessary, for the good of everyone give them some other roles to do.

Anyway, that’s just me and I’ve given reasons for it, but I’m sure you can find many good reviews from others. A friend asked if I would recommend Club Med as she plans to go to Bali for a family vacation. Well, if you ask me,

A family holiday? Sure.

Club Med? No way.

On a more positive note, I didn’t get to see this, but the next day when my family were leaving Bali too, there’s cousins hug between the kids.