We almost didn’t make it! On Sunday, my sons and I got to the airport on time, checked in and were havingbreakfast at MacDonald’s when I realised that we had 30 minutes before the flight leaves!! The queues through immigration and the baggage screen were long and slow which didn’t help at all!

We ran all the way to the gate only to see no one there but for a solitary guy who said,”The gates have closed and the plane is about to take off! Your bags are being unloaded as we speak … you just have to buy tickets for another plane to Bali.”

We pleaded to him to do something and he just shook his head. Luckily another guy came up and said, “Well I could ask the captain if he’d let you on the plane.” and got on his walkie-talkie.

Some tense moments later he said, “You’re in luck! But you’ve got to run!” …. and run we did! … all the way to the plane!

We arrived in Bali to be picked up by a man holding a Hardrock Hotel Bali sign as we exited Ngurah Rai Airport. He was our ‘supir’ who was going to shuttle us around Bali for the next 4 days. Checking into the Hardrock Hotel was fun … it was like being a rock star … you don’t sign the check-in slip … you give them your autograph! 😉

We opted to do all the usual sight seeing on Day 1 as the next day the boys were going to have their first day at Surf School … yep, they were going to learn to surf the waves!

So off we went to see Vishnu’s huge, huge statue that once is ready … it’s being made in pieces like a huge jigsaw … will be the largest ever religious statue in the world!

We got to see a Barong Dance being filmed there … the fierce masks and colourful costumes, scared my son Shamir, who kept close to me as we walked past the dancers.

Next was to Uluwatu temple which was built in the 11th century and located above 100m high cliff face. It’s a temple filled with monkeys where we watched the Kecak and Fire Dance. It was fascinating as the dance is enacted by dancers in beautiful costumes and accompanied only by singing men who used their hands to create the scene and atmosphere … all this as the sun set over the cliff.

We went back to the Hardrock Hotel to rest and have dinner before we hit the shops at Kuta Square … my sons wanted new board shorts for their surfing lesson at Odessey Surfing School the next day.

We walked through Kuta Square … it’s my favourite shopping place. I had stayed near the Square twice before when I was on my diving trips, so it was easy to get whatever the boys wanted as I knew where the shops were.

The next day the boys went surfing whilst Gende took me shopping!