Hi here is part 2 of my JBR its quite long.
When our balinese son Arya was over here staying with us in March, we sent money home with him so as his father could buy a pig and we would have a big spit roast (babi guling) party to meet the whole family at their village.
So on Thursday 28th June around 30 of us travelled from our villas in Tuban to Lovina. On the way we stopped along the road at some fresh vegetable markets to buy all the veges for the ladies at the village to prepare the nasi goreng etc etc. Couldnt believe the beautiful fresh veges we got, there were about 4 bags full and cost around 30,000. We also bought warm corn on the cob for the monkeys.
After leaving the markets we started to climb through the mountains. As they are quite high the weather suddenly changed from sunny to drizzle to quite wet. We stopped half way up to feed the monkeys on the side of the road. At first there didnt seem to be any but Arya & Yodi had promised that they will come. Well I think as soon as we got out of the cars they must have smelt the corn as around 50 or more come from nowhere. The kids and us adults loved this and they must be used to tourists as they were quite friendly, we all enjoyed this a lot more than going to the local monkey forests at Ubud or near Tanah Lot.
We were soon back in the cars and the next stop was Gitgit Waterfall. Really pleased we made the effort and went there as it really was beautiful to see. We had a couple of the local kids as our tour guides, who must have really cleaned up as we all gave them some money and then took them to the shops for drinks and ice creams. If you are ever up that way do call in and see it, its worth it, even the small leaches (which were on some of our legs)made us laugh and they came off easily.
Our next stop was the Melka Hotel. I have ready so many reports about this hotel on the forum and I know there are a lot of you who do not agree with what they do so I decided to check it out for myself (our friends where happy to stay there aswell). Therefore the next stage of this report is solely based on the Melka Hotel.
We arrived at the Melka around lunch time. We had booked our rooms over the internet - I had booked the Presidential suite aswell as another 2 rooms. They had my booking for the Pres suite but not the other 2 rooms I had requested, so after some confusion everything was sorted and we all got our rooms. At first look the Pres suite was totally awesome, absolutely beautiful, very big with huge verandahs (we could have easily had all Arya's family from the village & had the party on the verandah). The bathroom was huge with a bath big enough to swim in (really dont know how you would fill it though, it would take all day and all the hot water hehe) but next to the loo was a cage with a huge iguana in it (I did feel sorry for this lizard as it was obviously too big for the cage and I only hoped that they take it out everyday for a walk or something!!!).
After everyone was settled in their rooms we all realized that there were no towels in any of the bathrooms (our bathroom in the pres suite had towels however they were smelly and obviously used by the previous guests - they forgot to clean the bathroom!). So we all go to reception and ask for towels, the reply was - "sorry but it rain and the towels are wet so we cant get dry". Well after much arguing this didnt go down well so we all decided to go and drink bintang and eat nasi goreng and settle down a bit hehe. Later a couple of us went back to reception and again asked for towels, well they found some brand new ones in a store room but still there was not enough for everyone so the others just had to use sheets to dry themselves - by the way our bathroom never did get cleaned!!
Later on we all went to check on the animals out in the zoo & pat the dolphins. Well what can I say - the animals were definately treated a lot better than the guests. Yes I agree that some of the cages were not large enough (and the brown bear is still there) but they were extremely clean and the food they were being given looked great. All the kids in our group were constantly with the animals and watching what they were being fed etc. The staff were forever cleaning and showing genuine interest in the care of these animals. I know its sad for them to be in captivity, but honest I could not fault the care they were receiving - at least that made us all feel better.
The Dolphins
Dont want to stir a hornets next here but please hear me out as this is only my version of the dolphins.
There are 4 dolphins in the pools at the Melka. Two of the dolphins are in the back pool and these dolphins perform all the tricks etc. You are able to swim with them however we found that they dont really interact with people very well. These 2 dolphins I did feel for as one in particular didnt go near the kids and to me just looked sad (best way I can describe it), however they did receive the best of care and were fed twice daily.
The front pool was where you could swim with the other 2 male dolphins. It cost US$25 and we were happy to pay the money as this goes towards food for all the animals. Well what can I say, this was just amazing. It was a little scary at first but we soon overcome our fears and had a totally awesome experience. I had read on the forum that these dolphins can be a little "horny"heheh well that is the understatement of the year - they were totally excited and the way those'"things"hit you it like getting a dead leg hahah. This was a little sad as its obvious that they are both frustrated and need a female dolphin heheh. But they were still very playful and friendly with us all.
Now the total amazing part is something that will stay with us all forever, I just wish you all could have been there to witness it. Im sure that you have all heard that swimming with dolphins is fantastic therapy for people with disabilities etc. Our godson is 14 years old and has down syndrome. Of course he just loved the dolphins and believe me when I say that they adored him too. He would sit on the step of the pool and the dolphins would come up to him and rest thier heads on his lap, letting him pat and cuddle them, we were all truly amazed as they wouldnt do this to any others. The staff asked if they could take him for a swim just by himself with the dolphins, of course we said yes. This was really amazing, they both swam around him and putting thier heads up to his and were extremely gentle, honest it bought tears to our eyes. These 2 dolphins definately know they had a "special"little person in the pool with them.
We spent most of that morning with the dolphins which was great as we were able to ask lots of questions. The pools that the dolphins are in have underground pumps which pumps water in from the ocean. I was wondering why they were walking around the pool all day with scoops and getting stuff out - it was seaweed. Also the amount of fresh fish the dolphins were fed was a pleasing sight.
One of the dolphins we swam with had no teeth, naturally this concerned us all. We enquired about this and were told that this dolphin in particular was a "rescued dolphin"from Java, the government had agreed for the dolphin to come to the Melka as it was in a chemical treated pool in Java - hence all the teeth missing. Apparently it was in poor condition when it arrived but now looks to be thriving.
Overall would I stay at the Melka again - yes most definately, now that we have stayed I will be keen to stay again next year if only to check all the animals and dolphins. It was funny one morning, we woke early and hubby said to me - will you tell the kids to keep it down, he was refering to the dolphins (which were out the front of our pres suite), they were having a ball, making that beautiful sound they do and splashing.......yep Im going back there.
Hope I havent bored you all too much Part 3 will be on our party in the village and other stuff.
Cheers
Trace