Although this tourist island got something of a bad rap after the bombings of 2002, it sounds to me like a dreamy place to visit. It’s a small island so you can cover the whole thing easily, but there is varied topography to make it interesting. There’s lots of culture to see from temples to traditional dancing and shadow puppetry. The food is good and tropical fruit is plentiful. Best of all, the Balinese are famous for loving children.

What would we do in Bali?

• Stay in Ubud, a town which, according to Gilbert “is like a small Pacific version of Santa Fe, only with monkeys walking around and Balinese families in traditional dress all over the place.” Among the attractions here is an art center that offers Balinese dance and music lessons for children.

• See the sacred Monkey Forest where apparently you can get up close and personal with monkey friends.

• Visit the royal temple Pura Taman Ayun, which is reputed to be one of the most beautiful temples on the island and is surrounded by a heavenly garden.

• Take some walks through rice paddies, which apparently have well-marked paths, to say nothing of many ducks.

• Make our way up to northern Bali where we could see volcanoes, including one that is now full of water. Here we could also hike through a national park that is home to wild boar and barking deer.

• And let’s not forget the ocean where we would snorkel and swim with the dolphins. I can see our family days at the beach right now: Little Chick will undoubtedly be buried up to his neck in sand and Tommy will be jockeying to learn how to surf.

The source of much of my information on this topic ) is Travel for Kids and also Meg over at Backpack to Buggy, who recently did a side-by-side comparison showing that a trip to Bali might actually be less expensive (and certainly a better value) than a trip to Hawaii.

Anyone out there been to Bali (or elsewhere in Indonesia)? Let me know if my itinerary is missing anything.

I can feel the sand between my toes….

Update: Read another fun Monday dreaming post at WanderMom – she’s thinking about Melbourne, Australia.