Mother's Day and Art Garden 2013

I can't believe we are so close to the family's return to the U.S. This is technically our last weekend in Singapore because although we don't fly home for almost 3 weeks, the next two weekends will be mostly spent in Taiwan. This is it!

I'm going through the cameras over this next week and bringing you the last of the blogs for this year of the Bach Family Adventure. I'm guessing the Taiwan trip will be blogged from the U.S. so these are likely the last posts until we are home. Al Ball, we hope to visit those cool domes at Gardens by the Bay tomorrow so I'll post some of those pictures if we make it. We got monsooned out when we made the attempt last night.

Today's post will cover Mother's Day and a return to the Children's Museum, all new for 2013.

It is our usual Mother's Day to tradition to head to the Arboretum in Boston for a picnic among the lilacs. Because that would have been a much longer trip this year, we headed to Singapore's Botanic Gardens instead. Just before sunset on a brutally hot day, we headed to the Gardens prepared for a picnic without lilacs but instead with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra.

Ted packed up some lovely bread, an assortment of cheeses and salami, quail's eggs (yes, you read that right), and some chilled white wine.
It was a perfect evening. Really.

We have never taken this entrance before, but wow was it pretty!

There was already a big crowd awaiting the performance but we found a great spot to spread out our picnic blanket and settle in. The kids explored on their own and found some balloons.

The family next to us brought those balloon-bubble things and shared them with us. We shared our food.

The orchestra was performing on this lovely stage beyond the lily-pad covered pond.

It grew dark very quickly. And all the moms were given flowers.

Great night.

A week later we headed to Singapore Art Museum children's museum exhibit. Maybe you remember that we went to this last summer? The Art Garden is an annual event. Last year, we loved it so we knew we wouldn't want to miss it this time around either. The Art Garden is a whole building full of awesome art for kids and most of it has an interactive component. This might be the best museum for children I have ever visited. It's incredible and fun.

OK, here's the funny part. Last year when we went, I broke the camera lens on the way there so I had no nice pictures, only ones taken on my Blackberry loaner phone. Well this year, we realized too late that the camera battery was dead so the only pictures we have are from my iPhone. And the pictures in our heads.

The big room last year was done up with drawings all over the floor and walls and it was all worn in the spots where people had walked, making it interactive. This year it was painted up like a land from fairy tales with a Singapore twist. The kids loved climbing the rainbow.

I wish there were more pictures in here because it was beautifully done: the walls were all painted and there were trees and bridges, even fairy tale animals hanging from the tree canopy ceiling. Here, the kids could draw pictures of themselves as fairy tale characters and insert it into this box that housed a projector that would show the images enlarged on the wall in a continuous slideshow.

Upstairs, we first watched a bunch of amazing animated shorts and then visited this sort of Alice-in-Wonderland themed room.

The interactive element involved making mosaic balloons or cats to hang.

I loved this display, made entirely out of thread, screws, and black lights.

It was inspired by prehistoric cave paintings as well as the zodiac.

We could all take turns making our own.

The room beyond this one allowed the kids a chance to get really loud. There was a microphone in the center of the room and images projected on every wall that made it seem like we were in outer space, stars everywhere. The volume of the voice controlled the movement of the images. If someone whispered into it, we would float along calmly. If someone started screaming (guess which my kids chose to try) we would fly crazily. The images changed to neon steps and other things periodically.

The next room was easily the kids' favorite and I had thought they would hate it. The topic was nightmares. When we walked into the gallery, we were handed 3-D glasses and asked to step through the bedroom wall into darkness. Everything there was moaning and dark and frightening. Images of ghouls would appear in "mirrors." There were spiders. They loved it.

Once we passed through it the first time, the kids made their own scary masks in between taking quick return trips to the nightmare side for inspiration.

The final exhibit was a collective project that I think would be a great activity for one of the schools in Somerville to try, or really maybe the whole community could do it. The final product covered an entire wall in a very large gallery room. The work was actually a collection of smaller paintings joined together to make one collective image from many individual projects.

I took pictures of the process description in case any art teacher sees this and might get inspired. The idea is that each easel had only a line or a dot on it originally. The kids painted them however they wanted, but with the paint provided. Then, the head artist pieced them all together to make this giant work. I think it's a great way to bring a whole community together through art. Lovely.

On the way out, we had to say hi to Walter the rabbit. He hangs out in front of the main building of the Singapore Art Museum.

Thanks for reading!

Bali, Part Two

Welcome back! Today's post will cover the remainder of our trip in Bali. I'm going to take my time writing this one so I can feel like I'm back there. Ahhhh.

After breakfast, we met Alled and headed out early for our first dance show, the Barong Kris Dance. The quick summary is that the play depicts a battle between Barong, a mythological animal, and Rangda, a mythological monster. It represents that eternal battle of good versus evil. On the way into the theatre area, we took a picture with one of the beautiful dancers.

We found our seats as the gamelan music was playing and the Barong appeared in the stage doorway. A quick note here about gamelan music, which is amazing. This type of music has been around since at least the 8th Century in Java. Its modern form involves metallophones, xylophones, and gongs. I have heard the sound described as "jarring" but I never felt that. If you would like to hear a sample and view a slideshow of Balinese images, check out this link that is not my own: Gamelan Music in Bali Anyway, maybe now you can hear the music that accompanies the next several images.

Here are the players arranged to the right of the stage.

The monkey is the best actor in the production.

The women who perform Balinese dance blow my mind. The culture in Bali is so laid-back and relaxed but the dance is so precise. Every movement of the foot, every finger gesture, every slight neck movement, even the eyes darting back and forth, all that is choreographed meticulously. The whole time women are on stage their knees are bent and their hips tilting. The basketball player and coach in me can't help but think of the intense thigh burn that comes with wall sits. These ladies must have killer thighs! 

Some characters are about to get taken over by witches.

The crazy dude with the long white dreads? That's the Rangda, the bad guy.

Everything was fine until the little person showed up. He was quite a ham on stage. Things also got a little uncomfortable when they started to disembowel this boar, I think it was. I won't even tell you what they did with the tail.

And of course, in the final battle, good always defeats evil. So we took our picture with the Barong. We really like the barong. Ted found a t-shirt with one and we even bought a wood carving of one. Not here, but later on. The Barong is kind of a big deal in Bali. We too are big fans.

After the show, we had a very long drive ahead of us. We were going to check out Mount Batur, one of Bali's volcanoes. The children were entertained with various electronic tablets and the adults were mesmerized by the scenery.

This is a woman doing her laundry while standing in a storm drain in the sidewalk. This was a regular sight.

One of many rice fields.

Finally, we could feel the air grow cooler as we climbed the hills around Mount Batur. Okay, I thought this was a dormant volcano, especially because Abhinav kept referring it to it that way. Reading later though I discovered it is actually still active, last majorly erupting in 1968.

You can see the crater at the top.

And you can see the lava flow area in black around it.

We had thought we might get to hike here, but apparently it is a tough climb and needs to be arranged with guides. The kids wouldn't be able to do it. We had to settle for stopping for lunch overlooking it, then hiking along the bottom later. The biggest challenge we would face is escaping all the hoards of people selling stuff: bracelets, t-shirts, bags, pencils, wooden bicycles, and on and on. They would never take "no" for an answer but would instead respond with "maybe later?"

After lunch, we rode down to the bottom of the volcano. Ted asked our driver to pull over so we could walk around a bit in the charred soil covered in lava rocks.

This is a pretty clear view of a mountain that has blown its top.

After exploring, we drove a little farther to some hot springs. We changed into our suits and swam in the different pools for a couple of hours but could not take pictures. The setting was gorgeous though. The hot springs were lakeside with sweeping views of the whole valley and surround mountains. We even were able to watch some fishermen in small boats catch some fish with their nets while we soaked. It wore Wyatt out, here sleeping with the Barong t-shirt.

There were plenty of road-side stands selling fruit and clothing.

The drive back to the hotel was another long one, very scenic.

We stopped for dinner at a restaurant overlooking some rice fields. We were the only ones there, but the food was delicious.

Day 3 brought the promise of white-water rafting! Before the ride to the rafting site, the kids went for a quick swim.

What are those pigs doing?

Here we are finally loaded up and ready to go.

Now the sad part. Once we arrived at the rafting place, it was hard to determine if rafting would be safe for Wyatt. Technically no one under 7 was supposed to be able to go. The guides were explaining that the rapids were Class III, which Ted felt was too much for Wyatt. We couldn't tell if they were saying Class III because they wanted people to think the rapids would be great or if it was the truth. After trying on the gear and realizing that it just couldn't fit Wyatt well enough to feel safe, we decided that Wy and I would sit this one out and meet them at the finish. We had been told the trip was about an hour. Well, it ended up being about 3 1/2 hours. Yikes. Still, Ted said afterward that the water was pretty intense and it was a good call to not risk it. Wyatt and I had some ice cream as a consolation while we explored a little and awaited their return.

Alled carried Wyatt as we walked down a million or so (only a slight exaggeration) steps to close to the river's edge so we could check it out. There was a sign here that said this was a filming location for "Eat, Pray, Love."

Look at all these steps. I knew we had walked pretty far down, but it was looking up that really hit me. We passed several women who had come from the very bottom. They deflate the rafts people use and then carry them on their heads all the way back up. All day. Yikes.

And then we walked back across the street to where the family would be arriving. We only had to wait a couple more hours. Ugh. Well, at least there was coffee, ice cream, and Bintang.

Srimathi took the rafting pictures. Shortly, I will be able to check those out and will share the best of them.

After a big meal, we headed to the hotel to relax. Actually, Srimathi and I had appointments for Balinese traditional massages. We had nice foot baths followed by a steam in a zip-up bag-like contraption. After that, there was over an hour of aromatherapy massage. Delicious. And then ginger tea. Deliciouser.

We rushed back to the hotel afterward, smelling like sandalwood and rose, to pick up the rest of the family for a big night out. First stop was another show. This one did not have gamelan music or any instruments really. It was a kecak show, which means there was a choir of men (the pamphlet says 100 men, but it didn't seem like quite that many) arranged around the stage who chanted the music. It is a trance dance. If you have the time, check out this link instead of the photos because the sound is really spectacular and unique. Also, my pictures are lousy and don't do the show justice. This video was taken by someone else, but it's the same show we saw. I'm telling you, it's one of the coolest things I've ever seen so please do check it out. Balinese Kecak Dance

The dance tells the story of Prince Rama and his wife Sita as they fight with King Rahwana. The dance ends with a man actually dancing on fire. Crazy.

Here is a shot of the kids with Hanoman the monkey.

And even though it was very late, the adults still had not eaten so we went into Ubud Centre and found a very good Indian restaurant.

Volcano dosas for the kids!

Pretty great day, right?

Day 4 was calmer. The Bach Family took an hour-long ride to the beach known as Sunrise Beach. On the way we stopped at a black-sand beach to check it out. Our driver told us that the waves were too rough here for kids so another place would be better but he let us know this was a hot spot for wedding photos. 

I wish we had taken more pictures at the top of the beach because the sand up there looked like coal, absolutely jet black but sparkling too. Unfortunately, there was also a lot of trash. The best part was this old man who had buried himself in the sand under an umbrella. The only parts of him sticking out were parts of his feet, one hand, and his head. He had the biggest smile, too.

More black sand beach shots.

OK, so quick stop there, then back in the car to the other beach, Sanur. Here we are, the Bach Fanta-Sea. The kids had chilled Fantas in the Indian Ocean.

Ted bought a $2 kite from a stall. For the kids. Right, for the kids.

Quickly, Ted made friends with some local boys who didn't speak English (except words like, "hello," "cool," and "ice cream") but did know how to get that kite going. Here is a video of Ambassador Ted and the kids: Ted Flies a Kite in Bali

Some other guys brought a giant kite and really got it going high. Look at how blue that sky is!

After a bit, we found Alled who took us to a friend's restaurant for lunch on the beach. What a sweet breeze.

And after the beach, there was shopping. We found some fun clothes for the kids, including some beautiful beach dresses. 

Mostly souvenirs. We found a lovely patchwork quilt that I have no idea how we're going to get home. A lot of nice stuff.

That night, we walked around Ubud Centre a bit and had dinner at a terrific restaurant. One of my favorite sites as a mom was seeing Wyatt looking out the van window at all the things around us. While the older kids had faces in their gadgets, Wyatt was often content to just check stuff out.

The next morning, the kids had a quick swim while we packed up.

I had a very upset stomach, but somehow made it through the packing up. Here, we say goodbye to our lovely Taman Harum Cottages and get back in the van one last time.

The kids see, hear, and speak no evil.

And it was a smooth return trip.

Bali, I wish we could visit you all the time.