We just spent a week in Bali. I think we were all in need of some R & R. Colin had just been traveling for 2 weeks and you could tell Natalie was tired from the long days at school, homework, after school activities etc. It always takes a few months to get used to the school schedule after such a long summer break.
We stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel. A weird choice, but recommended because of the great location (on Kuta Beach) and fun swimming pools and great big family rooms! All must have ingredients for a wonderful family vacation. Kuta Beach is the tourist Mecca of Bali. A beach lined with coconut trees and supposedly the best surfing on Bali. There were tons of vendors and locals trying to sell you Balinese handicrafts, sarongs etc. Women wanting to braid your hair. Men trying to sell you henna tattoos. They were all very pushy and did not like to take no for an answer. They constantly were all over the kids, trying to play with them, touching them, wanting to take pictures of them, VERY annoying!!!!!
Natalie and Thijs spent their morning’s boogie boarding at the beach. After lunch we would hang out by the pool. Natalie made a friend from Denmark, Ina, who lives in Jakarta and the girls just swam and played all afternoon together. In the evening we would walk thru all the markets, shop a little and we would find a (safe) restaurant for dinner. The sunsets were breathtaking. But as Kuta Beach is Bali’s number one party zone, it’s very crowded and I did not always feel safe. Lots of people racing around on their mopeds. The people are very very poor. The 5 year anniversary of the Kuta bombing (2 blocks from the hotel) within a week of our stay.
One afternoon we took a private boat to a coral reef and got to go snorkling. Natalie had so much fun. We know we will have to do that again. We did not see a ton of fish, but enough to get her hooked. Colin and Thijs saw a blue water snake... YUK!!! One that turns out to be very poisonous. After the snorkling they drove us to a Turtle Park, where they have huge sea turtles and a variety of other wild animals. Komodo Dragon, Owls, Monkeys, Macaw, Bald Eagle and the kids got to hold or touch all of them. When we were done we had to walk back to the boat. It was low tide and it was weird to hike thru a foot of water/mud to get back on the boat. The kids thought it was cool. I was more worried about losing my slippers.
One morning we hired a driver who drove us to Ubud and the Kintamani Volcano. Ubud is a cute little town with lots of markets and little shops. On the way up the mountain to get to the volcano we got stopped 3!! times by police. This place is so corrupt we had to pay them off each time to let us thru. Now these are public road so we were not doing anything out of the ordinary.
We had a wonderful, relaxing trip. And to see the kids' smiley faces is ... priceless.
One of the slides at the hotel swimming pool
Fun at the hotel pool
Sandcastle building
Snorkling Fun!
Fishing for dinner
Did you ever sit on a turtle before????
Unreal!
Komodo Dragon
Walking back to the boat after visiting Turtle Park
Kintamani Vulcano
Rice Paddy
Last day, getting her hair braided by Annie
My view as I was sitting with Natalie when she was getting her hair done
All Done!
I ran a 10K yesterday with 6 friends (one is missing from the picture, she had already left). It was such a great time, over 8200 women, a beautiful morning in Singapore, what more could you ask for. Blythe (blue shirt) and I ran our best time ever. She has been such a great running partner. Great Wall Marathon 2008, here we come!!! Yes, I am going to do the Great Wall Marathon in Beijing in May of 2008 with 4 friends. Can't wait! We are planning to stay an extra couple of days for some shopping of course.
Warm-up
Thijs took one session of soccer thru the Club. He had a lot of fun, but most of the time it was too hot for him to finish out the whole 45 minutes. I think playing hard in the 33 degree weather is a little much at that age. We'll try again in January. 