Bali Day 3 - 28 Jan 2012

28 Jan 2012 (Sun):

Can't believed its the 3rd day & 2nd last day of our holiday here in Bali. Time flies when you're enjoying yourselves.

This morning, we head out to Mari Rive Safari Lodge @ Gianyar. http://www.marariversafarilodge.com/

Its a short half an hour - 45mins drive from Kuta. We booked a Twiga Suite Room & whatever is included in the booking were only applicable for 2 adults. So for dinner & breakfast the next day, we got to pay additional for the kids. Even for the safari package, we need to pay for the kids too.


We left our luggages with the recep & went over to the Safari Park but not before making a booking for the night safari which starts at 7pm. Costing 675,180IDR in total for 2 adts & 2 kids ~ SGD$93 or USD75. Its a ripped off & i'll tell you why later.

We proceeded to the safari park & bought admission for the 2 kids @ USD35 per kid which is the Jungle Hopper Package. With inclusions to Safari Admission, freshwater aquarium, animal educational show, elephant educational show, animal encounter, water park & fun zone big 5, it was another major ripped off.

The animal educational show - no tickets need to be shown. Just find urself a seat.

And the mention of the Fresh Water Aquarium, its just a few water tanks showcasing different fishes & variety. No one's ard to verify ur ticket at all.

We went to see elephants having a bath. I was properly given a bath too. Luckily, i was not taking any photos at that moment & had the camera behind my back. Naughty elephants!! Daddy had a big laugh, asking why i chose to stand near them.

This is the elephant educational show. Its abt hw the elephants used to roam around freely in their habitat when humans took over. At the end, it goes to show elephants are harmless & they can live & be harmonious. Again, no one was ard to collect any tickets. At this point, we wondered if what we had paid earlier was worthwhile????


The kids requested to feed the elephants. And we bought the bananas.





A video of the animal educational show & elephant feeding. Again, i combined the 2 separate video clip into 1.

White tigers. We were just in time for its feeding. There were 2 of them & they were a comical pair.

The keeper hung a raw piece of chicken on a pole & 1 tiger showed off it skills by climbing up the pole. However it got stuck halfway & accidentally dropped the chicken. The other one ran towards it in glee & was seen carrying the chicken further & settled down to have a wonderful meal. The one who was stuck up on the pole managed to free itself & came down. You should have seen its look. Kinda like saying: " All that hard work for nothing. " Haha.

Well, not to worry, he got another whole chicken as well to feast on.

Can you guess whose tail was Lionel pulling on? The Komodo Dragon of cos. (its fake lah)

Pictures with an orang utan. I was holding the ticket in my hand in case the photographer wanna see it but again, there wasnt a need to. $$$$ flew away in a hurry.

We had our lunch at Uma Restaurant, the only one around. With nothing much to choose from, we settled for Grilled Chicken x 2 & one order of their Ham & Cheese sandwich. Total bill including drinks came up to: 209,000IDR ~ SGD$30 or USD$23.

Camel riding.

We took the tram ride & saw more of the animals. The walking track ended & we have to go onboard the tram to see more.

After the end of the ride, we took the kids swimming & splashing in the water park & the so called fun zone. Its close to 530pm and they weer beginning to pack up. The ticket counter was closed & we do not even need to show our admission tickets. At this point, both daddy & i cannot help but lamented & grumbled. We should have only purchased the admission tickets.



We went back to our rooms for a shower & abit of relaxation. Our night safari journey does not start till 7pm. We took a walk around & found the pool.

Across the pool, you can see zebras & deers, turkeys & chickens. I supposed the red bungalows we saw were the Kifaru Family Suite rooms.

We fed carrots to the zebras & after a visit to the lion's den, that ended the night safari journey. You recall i said this night safari thingy was a ripped off. After paying so much, we saw only 2 different type of animals & the lions & lioness were not even active. And you know what, it was the same lion & lioness that we saw outside while we were having dinner at Tsavo Lion Restaurant. Fot those of u considering staying at this Mara River Safari Lodge, i wld suggest 1 night would be more than enough. There was basically nothing to do in the evening at all.

It started to rain heavily at around 9pm. We were lucky to have seen everything & were preparing for bed. In our cozy room ( the air con was defintely stronger here & so shiok), we watched tv & the kids learn their spelling & did their homework. All of us promptly fell asleep at 10pm plus.

The Tsavo Lion Restaurant where we had our dinner & breakfast the next morning. Meals were not included in our package except for breakfast the next morning. But even that, we got to pay additional for the kids too. We settled our bills upon check out the next morning.

Dinner: 616,oooIDR ~ SGD$85 or USD$68. Breakfast for the kids: 102,300IDR ~ SGD$14 or USD$11.

Made (our guide) would be picking us up at 9am tomorrow morning but we have no plans to go anywhere. Daddy wanted to do sea walking but you have to be minimum 7 years old for children. So Made suggested going to Turtle Island.

We would be leaving via Air Asia back to Singapore & our flight is leaving Bali at 5.40pm so which means, we need to check in at 3.40pm.