Bali, Part One

Well friends, I'm 40 now. And I was lucky enough to be able to spend this big birthday in Bali with my family and some friends. Earlier this year after our trip to Bangkok and Phuket, I had decided to skip the idea of visiting Bali because I didn't want to visit another over-crowded beach area. Then, Ted and I started actually reading the Bali guidebooks, discovering that there is a whole lot more to Bali than beaches. Rather than stay on the coast, we decided to choose a hotel in Ubud, known as the cultural centre of Bali, an arts and crafts hub full of great paintings and works in stone and wood.

We loved it! If we lived closer, we would spend every vacation there because it was that amazing. This first blog will take you through the first part of the trip.

We left Tuesday evening from Singapore on the day before my 40th birthday. We met our friends Srimathi and Ananth and their son Abhinav at the airport and boarded our two-hour flight to Denpasar Airport, arriving at 11:30 at night. After paying $25 each for a tourist visa and clearing customs, we quickly and easily found our hotel van's driver and were on our way. It may have been the middle of the night but it was sweltering hot and very humid. Welcome to Bali!

It was around 1:30 in the morning when we pulled into our hotel and a man met us to take us directly to our room. We would check in in the morning. We stayed at the Taman Harum Cottages in an area called Mas in Ubud. It may have been dark but we could tell the place was gorgeous. There were stone statues hiding everywhere in the dense gardens. There were many outdoor seating areas and fountains. And our room? It was the family cottage so it was technically two adjoining rooms each with a spacious separate seating area and a large master suite with semi-outdoor bathroom. One side had a top-level with another bedroom and bathroom as well as a beautiful private balcony. Oh, and there was air conditioning. Very nice. Here we are at about 2 AM, still not ready for bed, just some cool Heinekens.  

This is where the kids slept. We put one cot in between the two beds.

The kids went to bed around 2:30 and the adults stayed up for another hour or so, hoping we might be able to sleep in the next day. No such luck of course! We woke up around 8 and had breakfast at the hotel: toast, eggs, fruit, bacon, coffee, and juice. When I returned to our room, someone had decorated it with balloons and a birthday banner. How fun!

We had a lot planned for the first day and we made it through most of it successfully. Ted and Ananth had been recommended a driver in Ubud who would have a van big enough to haul us all around in for our stay so they had all that set up. Each morning we met Alled and talked through the day's itinerary before heading out around 9. First stop today was the Monkey Forest.

The sign goes into great detail explaining not to take food here because the monkeys will find it and take it. It also says to put away sunglasses and other little things because the monkeys will sometimes take those items for ransom and only return them for actual food. The best rule stated that if they were becoming too aggressive, you were supposed to drop your bag and back slowly away. We weren't nervous before, but maybe now?

The monkeys were fine. They were everywhere. The forest was deep, green, and gorgeous. The trails were dotted with all sorts of stone statues. There was plenty of shade. This was a perfect spot.

We decided to take a smaller path to something called the Holy Spring. It took us down a steep stairwell and across a serpent bridge.

This is a shot looking back at the bridge we had just crossed. Doesn't it look like something from a fairy village cartoon? or a Led Zeppelin album?

That's Ananth taking our picture up there.

and waving.

The kids checked out the koi pond.

This whole scene was unreal and stunning, but my favorite view was up. Look at all those vines.

Here are some of the statues.

We wound our way along the ledge above the little falls.

Ted's favorite photos are always of the roots.

Ananth and I were very busy photographers.

Here he is throwing his son into the water. Okay, not really. The kids all wanted to feel the cool water.

Here is an entrance to the temple. We used it as a frame for a photo shoot.

Less than 12 hours into our trip and the kids are having a blast.

One cool spot was this little pool. When we passed this time, there were several monkey swimming in it. Yes, swimming. Underwater. I had no idea they could swim. Some of them were monkeying around by climbing up the tree and wrestling, then diving into the water and making a big splash. If you look closely, you can see it happening here.

And these are the scary monkeys. One jumped up on a woman who had sat on a bench. She thought he was playing so she was enjoying the attention. Then he bit her. When Ted walked by them with Wyatt on his shoulders, he accidentally stepped on a little guy's tail. The rest of the group was farther up the trail by another temple but we could hear the ruckus and saw Ted jogging to us. About 15 minutes later, it was time to pass back by and Ted chose another route in case they hadn't forgotten him. I took the girls by this group and maybe it was a mistake because they ran after them reaching out to scratch their legs. Luckily, the girls got on by without getting too scared, at least not as scared as their mom.

We were hungry by the time we left the Monkey Forest so our driver took us to a restaurant just outside of Ubud Centre overlooking the rice fields. I had a very yummy chicken curry and we all had some refreshing Bintang beers.

After lunch, we jumped back into the van to return to the Centre to visit the Royal Palace.

Most of the palace grounds were closed off but we explored what we could. The palace is known locally as Puri Saren Agung and was the residence of the kings in Ubud until the 1940s. Some descendants still live there today.

Many statues are wrapped in sarongs.

These ones are my favorite.

Ted and Ananth got in on the action.

After touring the palace, we were hot and tired enough to head back to the hotel to relax. This is the hotel's entrance, well one of them.

There were a few galleries in our hotel. This was the entrance to one of them.

A lovely outdoor seating area.

and another. With swing. This is where we met our driver every morning.

This is the long path through the hotel grounds, leading eventually to our cottage.

The dining room.

The front of our cottage.

There was some swimming naturally.

And there was a big surprise before dinner. The hotel was celebrating its 1st anniversary with a big pig roast and they invited us to join, even preparing a separate cake for my birthday. All the guests and workers sang Happy Birthday to me and to the hotel. It was really cool and fun. And Ted had added my 4 and 0 candles sent by my mom. As well as trick candles that confused everyone.

Then--after cake--we had dinner, sort of. And presents! The kids had made pretty cards for me and they gave me some fancy nail polishes, which we tried out right away. Ted gave me lovely set of pearl jewelry. Srimathi and Ananth even gave me a pretty jewelry set too. Am I lucky or what? As if the trip to Bali wasn't enough?

And yes, there were more Bintangs!

It was a perfect first day and a perfect way to spend my 40th birthday. I know I'll never forget it.

The next post will cover the remainder of the trip, including Indonesian dances and gamelon music, a volcano and sweeping views, rafting, the fire dance, a black sand beach, a regular beach, and the return. We just got back two days ago and I'm ready to return to Bali!

MacRitchie Park Treetops Hike

One blistering hot Sunday morning we decided to all get out early and enjoy a very long hike in MacRitchie Park. We headed for the Treetops trail because we have been meaning to check out this suspension bridge. The problem is that the trail is one way so you have to complete the whole circuit, can't turn around. Today, we felt prepared enough to conquer it.

There were plenty of monkey along the way.

The kids took a lesson from Totoro and turned these big leaves into sun parasols.

Here we go across the suspension bridge.

Watch out for monkey poo.

Woah, that's a long way down.

Here you can see a bit beyond the nature reserve and back to where the high rises begin again.

There were many, many, many steps.

Can you spot the jungle-sized ant?

When we got home, it was time for water fun on the balcony.

And magna-tiles. Always magna-tiles. Notice the chandeliers at the princess ball?

Unfortunately, the next day marked the beginning of 2-3 weeks of sickness for the whole family. Wyatt missed school the whole next week. Eleanor and Zoe missed many days. The following week Ted had to work from home for two days because I was too sick to get out of bed. Terrible.

But then we all got better just in time to head to Bali. Those blogs will be next. And they will be beautiful.

Eleanor's Learning Fiesta at Gan Eng Seng Primary School

 In April, Eleanor's school hosted a Learning Fiesta one Saturday afternoon. All the students from Primary 1 through 4 were invited to visit the school with their families to play games, make some crafts, learn new skills, have snacks, and watch some performances.

Each child was given a passport and they would collect stamps after completing each activity. If they completed enough of them, they could earn a prize. We joined the festivities a bit late and took Zoe and Wyatt along too so we didn't collect enough stamps for a prize but still had lots of fun.

Each classroom was sponsored by a different group like Boy Scouts, Malay language teachers, or Health teachers, etc. There were 3-4 activities in each room to complete before earning a stamp. One of the first rooms we visited was a vocabulary classroom.

We walked upstairs and found these math problems on the way.

One of my favorite activities was Guess the Dish! Some of the teachers made the little dishes out of clay in their spare time. The objective was to figure out what the dish was and then categorize it correctly into Malay, Indian, Chinese, or Wester

The Boy Scouts had a fun room where students could learn to tie knots, something Eleanor was already learning in her PAL extended day program. I loved that the older students were the teachers in every classroom. Teachers and/or parents were only there to supervise.

Eleanor and her classmate spent most of the day together. They loved eating this treat and sharing its two different names: cotton candy and candy floss.

This is Eleanor's canteen where she gets her lunch at school. Here are three of her stall choices. She says she usually goes to Noodles Delight, which is not in this picture. Sometimes she gets chicken rice from Rice Paradise pictured.

Zoe made a pretty necklace.

While we snacked in the canteen, the P1-P4 band members gave a performance. It was outstanding. Here is a piece, including the girls dancing.

Gan Eng Seng Primary School Gangnam Style (45 sec.)

After our snack, we headed up to the hall and went fishing for some letters.

We also learned about recycling.

Eleanor showed off her knowledge of the food pyramid.

They all painted pretty magnets too.

We settled into a spot in the hall to watch the talent show. Several of Eleanor's friends joined us.

If you're interested in seeing some of the talent performances, I have some excerpts here. The last two videos are the most fun for friends and family because they show the kids joining in.

First, here is a dance by some older kids, P4 I think.

GESPS Talent Show 1 (17 sec.)

Here are some of Eleanor's friends dancing along with a performance of "That One Thing."

GESPS Talent Show 2 (44 sec.)

Here is an amazing P1 student playing the piano.

GESPS Talent Show 3 (12 sec.)

Some of the performances were in Tamil or Korean. Yeah, there was a lot of K-Pop. This one is in Chinese.

GESPS Talent Show 4 (33 sec.)

The next two are from the same act. Some girls in Eleanor's grade, P2, performed their favorite song by One Direction. She and her friends can't resist. Even Wyatt joins in.

GESPS Talent Show 5 (57 sec.)

And from the front:

GESPS Talent Show 6 (32 sec.)

Like usual, we returned home exhausted and sweaty so it was another successful outing in Singapore.