Seminyak: Part 2

07.26.08: We left Medewi and went back to Seminyak for our last 5 days in Bali. Since we loved it so much, we stayed at the villa that we stayed at before. I was looking forward to spending more time on the beach in Seminyak since we were either on the road or at the villa last time we were there.

Our first night, the fridge was still empty. So, we headed over to the local “see and be seen” bar, Ku De Ta, for sunset drinks and a snack. My foot cut-up was pretty tender and the first margarita (or hard alcohol) I’ve had in over 5 months seemed to make it feel better. One thing led to another and we ended up staying later than expected. Finally, Sean dragged me from the crowd I had befriended and we finally went home. It was also a much more expensive night than expected, so we made it a point to avoid that place in the future.

Still, our first day was consumed with renting a scooter, getting spelt pancakes for breakfast at a really nice health food restaurant, Earth Cafe, stocking up on groceries and a ride into Kuta to pick up sweatshirts and a cheap board rental. All the Oz’s we talked to in Medewi scared us with how cold it was over there, and all we had were shorts, flip flops, t-shirts and tank tops. We ended up with the sweatshirts, but no board.

The next day, we finally charged it right over to the beach for a pretty fun session in the waves and sand. I tried to avoid walking on sand as much as possible, but couldn’t avoid jumping on a board (that was rented at a premium on that beach) and playing in the waves for a while. When we got back to the villa, Dr. Sean had another good wound-cleaning session on my foot. Later that night, we went into Kuta to see Tom Curren play at the Hard Rock, along with the release of a new surf movie, Walking on Water, produced by a philanthropic group of surfers. Tom played a few songs, but we skipped out on the movie because it was getting late and Kailani needed dinner fast. As we sat in the Hard Rock Café, it felt like we were back in The States, but not in the right way. We probably would have preferred Indonesian food again, but this location was convenient. Oh well!

There was supposed to be a big Rip Curl competition in Padang Padang on the 28th and we hired a driver to take us there. When we got there, we found that Rip Curl delayed the competition until the next swell, which would be the day we leave. Seems that we just keep missing swells everywhere expect to have surf. It was still fun to see the beach and area. Later that afternoon, we decided to start taking advantage of the inexpensive 100,000 Rp ($10 USD) massages while we can. John, the owner of our villas, hooked us up with his masseuse, Putu, who came to the villa while Kailani napped and put us in bliss for an hour each.
Later that night, we got a visit from Banker and Celine from SF, who we met in Medewi. It was great to spend the evening with them again, even though we weren’t very prepared to have them at our villa and basically had to “ration” the pasta I made that night. Sorry guys!

The next morning, we ended up back at Earth Café, where we found Celine and Banker again unexpectedly. This time, we shared what I call “good pancakes” rather than the “bad pancake” we shared in Medewi. It’s so nice to hang with others who feel the same way about healthy living as I do! We were also honored to take with us a copy of Banker’s movie, which we look forward to watching on our flight to Sydney. Unfortunately that day, the waves in Seminyak beach were really flat. So again, we didn’t spend as much time there as we would have liked. At least, we had a great pool at our villa to play in. Again, we had Putu come for another hour each of massage bliss. She did a great job working out my calf, as it got all knotted up from hobbling around on my tore up foot!

As we prepare to depart this beautiful island that we’ve fallen in love with, we look forward to being in Australia and most of all, seeing some familiar family faces, especially Caitlin’s. But, we are also sad to be leaving this place so soon. We would have loved to spend more time here….ALOT more time here! Our last night here, we were drooling over this completely restored 1951 vehicle from Russia (looked kind of like an old topless Landcruiser) when we ran into it’s owners, Tish and Ocho, a Javanese couple that are developing some property in Seminyak. Tish was right when she said Bali has everything: rich culture, beautiful scenery (especially the rice paddies), beaches, great surf, EXTREMELY friendly people, and an inexpensive cost of living (with a little bit of effort). We just hope to be returning as soon as we can! Terimah kasih for the wonderful experiences and Selamat tinggal Bali!

Medewi

Left to right: Celine, Banker, Wayan, Sean, Mariano and Paita

07.25.08: I’m sitting here with a rash and feet so cut up that I can barely walk on them, trying to figure out how long we actually stayed in Medewi. Yep! We had an awesome time there! (I think it was 8 days.) Thanks Kevin, who we met in Kata, Thailand, for the tip on Medewi. You were spot on!

So, we got a ride from Ketut, who works at our villa in Seminyak but had the day off, to go 2+ hours up north to Medewi. The villa we stayed at for the first two days, we booked online last minute. It had an ocean view because that was all that was available. But, after staying at our brand new “oasis” in Seminyak, the place still seemed really overpriced and a bit worn. Although there was a nice reef right outside where Kai got to check out all the ocean creatures like sea urchins, local reef fish, and even an octopus swimming around in the pools at low tide, it was also not right at Medewi. You had to catch a ride from the hotel shuttle a couple kilometers down the street or walk about twenty minutes along the beach. It might have also been that my stomach still wasn’t doing good (which finally subsided after a couple days with the help of GSE and charcoal), but overall we were not impressed with it. Besides Sean trying to do a little fishing off the reef (but not catching anything), our only other goal there was to start looking for another place right at Medewi.

After two days, we moved to Medewi Beach Cottages. This place was not anything to rave about either. Our first room was really dark and even more “worn”, but at least the price was appropriate, it had a nice pool and it was right there. I suppose, if we weren’t a “family” and didn’t spend as much time inside, it would have done just fine. But after a couple days, an ocean view room became available, which was way more spacious and had a large window that looked out to the beach which let in light.

As far as Medewi itself, we spent most of our time with Sean and me switching off surfing and teaching Kai to swim at the pool, along with a couple massages, one not so good and one great one. There’s not a lot out there. As a matter of fact, no internet access except one computer with a modem line at the first place we stayed at. Also, there were only about three places to eat, all of which were not great. But, we made some great friends there. First, there was Abe and Darrah from Kauai. They were there for Abe’s work. His partner, Peter from Australia, lives in Medewi where he puts together Bale Maker pre-fab Balinese wooden houses, and then ships them over to Abe in Hawaii, who puts them up. We definitely want to check those out further. It was perfect to talk to them since we’ll be going to Kauai in October for a wedding. We also look forward to that local style BBQ that Abe kept talking about. Abe and Darrah had full-on Hawaiian style going on! Next, we met Banker and Celine from SF, who were on their honeymoon. We had a lot in common and instantly felt like we had been friends forever. (We haven’t been around Californians for a while!) They both totally charge out in the water! We had a great time with them, especially when we all got invited to Mariano and Wayan’s house (incidentally, Wayan does a GREAT massage!), a local family, for a Balinese dinner of some awesome crab in coconut milk curry, rice and grilled fish topped with a sweet, hot sauce. After dinner, we ran into Jacques and Cheryl from Australia, who are building their house in Medewi. (Poor Cheryl! Every time I saw her, I’d drill her about what it takes to buy land and build. We definitely want to know more about this!) They clued us in on this cart that made what Celine calls “Bad Pancakes” (she doesn’t usually eat wheat either), which were like a waffle sandwich, without the waffle ridges, filled with local Bali chocolate, lots of butter, crushed peanuts and sweetened condensed milk. Yummmmm! After Banker and Celine left, we spent some time hanging out with Roland from Guam. He also felt very familiar and seemed very Californian, maybe because he went to school in San Diego and had family in the Bay Area. Shaun from New Zealand leaves every winter to escape the cold. He helped us out with some places to check out there. Hopefully, we can meet up his fiancé when we get there. There were also James and Erik, a couple of single guys from Manly Beach, Australia, looking for some action at a resort predominately occupied with families and couples. Manly is a place where we are considering staying at when we go to Sydney, so they gave us some good info. Then there were another few Californians we chatted with, a family from Marin County, and Tim and Ann from Monterey, whose kids finally left the house so they are finally getting their “second honeymoon”. (Yes, I know the feeling!) Their first was spent at Plaskett Creek. (Ahhh…we miss camping there!...although we hear it’s seeing it’s share of fire right now.) Last but not least, there were the local boys, five of them, all in their 20’s, from a family of eight, and they all surf and hung out right at their mom’s little “warung” at the point, where she sold drinks and snacks. They are also who we rented boards and booties from, and one of the brothers, Harris, drove us back down south when we left Medewi.

As far as the beach, it’s a pretty long left point break, a kind of a mushy break that could bowl up once in awhile on the inside, surrounded by rocks and lots of sea urchins. The waves get better during high tide and so does the paddle in and out. But nothing beats the morning with no wind and nothing but glass with maybe a hand full of people. I let Sean surf the first day when the swell hit, and then went the next day when it was dying down a bit. The selection of boards to rent was fairly dismal. The best we could find was a 6’ 10” which had finger-groove pressure dings on the rails. It floated, but I was already nervous enough being in foreign water surrounded by rocks. Needless to say, I didn’t catch much and was REALLY missing our boards in CA, especially because almost everyone else had their own boards with them. To top it off, I seemed to catch some type of rash. They say there are little “sea lice” out in the water that can bite you. So, just as my body finally got “used to” mosquito bites that were soooo uncomfortable for me (incidentally, there are virtually none here), I was itching like a flea-bitten dog again. But finally, I broke out the homeopathic remedy kit and either the Ledum or Rhux eased it.

The second time I went out, we at least found some old long board with fins way too small for it. It was a bit chattery, but it worked. The tide was pushing to high, the waves were well overhead outside and there were some huge clean-up sets that pulled me under. First, one pulled out my ponytail. Then, another held me under so long that I had time to wonder if I’d had enough air. The last tossed me around enough that I couldn’t tell which end was up until I opened my eyes to see where the sun was shining from. But then, I lost my contact lens. After that, I decided I’d better work my way in. When I finally caught a wave inside, my hair, one big dreadlock at that point, was covered over my half-blind eyes. So, I spent half the wave pulling it away so I could see. When I got out, I decided I had enough of Medewi waters. An Australian guy who paddled out with me ended up getting out at the same time as me. He had nothing else to say except what I was thinking.

Next, it was Sean’s turn. He immediately woke up first thing in the morning, itching pretty bad to go again. When he finally came out, a half a day later, he had a big smile on his relieved-looking face. He said he finally got the monkey off his back and that it was one of his more epic sessions ever. I didn’t think much of it. But our last morning there, I changed my mind (with a little encouragement from my other half, who added this line in) and decided to go out again before breakfast. After I rented the long board, I went to Hadi who always had booties for me to rent. This time, someone got them before me. So, I walked out over the rocks, with no booties, during low tide. I kept my eye out for urchins, but still all the rocks were covered with little prickly barnacle things. Out in the water, I could feel my feet in the water were all slashed from the walk out. I was patient and finally a good set came through and a wave right to me. I was a little slow getting up but at least made the section so I could take it all the way to the end. At that point, I knew that I too had gotten the monkey off my back. :-D After waiting a bit, I decided I’d better go in before Sean, Kailani and Harris would be waiting for me so we could leave town. Getting out was the next issue. I tried my best, but it was just too hard to avoid not slipping on the rocks at least a few times. After my shower, Sean got to play doctor on my feet for about an hour, pulling out a couple urchin spines and scrubbing out the dirt from the inside of my cuts with a toothbrush. I hadn’t even eaten breakfast, but the pain was enough to “need” a beer to handle it. I still get the chills thinking about that toothbrush! As I’m typing right now, I’m getting more use out of my homeopathic remedy kit by soaking me feet in a tincture of Hypericum (for nerve damage), along with some calendula (heals the skin) and GSE (antibiotic). Next will probably be some Silica to expel the spines that Sean couldn’t get out. Ahhh….Medewi!

PS: I take it back about “no mosquitoes”. Later that night, one of those stupid buggers snuck into our room and bit us all up while we were sleeping!

Seminyak

Cremation Ceremony in Ubud

Cremation Ceremony in Ubud

Dreamland. No waves...but it's still quite dreamy, eh?

07.12.08: The selection of places to stay in Bali seems quite diverse, especially in the mid-range level. For budget, I’m sure you get a cheap dive. And at the high-end level, there seem to be many large chain luxury mega-resorts that charge several hundred dollars per night. For our stay in this area, I chose to look for something that had a kitchen since it’s been several months since I’ve had one. This led me to several individually-owned vacation rentals. We didn’t plan very well. So the day before we left Ubud, I took the first place that replied back to me. We ended up at Latitude 8, a complex of 4 villas, owned by Jon and Susan, a very friendly couple who also own a B&B where they live in Maui. We got the pleasure of meeting them since they happened to be staying in Bali while we were there. For a fraction of what you’d pay for a luxury resort or even something comparable, we have a brand new, 6 month old, 1 bedroom villa, outdoor kitchenette and OUR OWN private SALT water pool (very rare to find here) with solar heated water. This place is AMAZING! I feel like I’ve died and gone to heaven….and I wonder what I did to deserve this! Yes, it’s more than what we should be paying. But, is it worth it? YES!!!!! We were pretty sad to find that we could only get 5 nights there.

So with that said, our first half and full day there, we hung out at the villa, took dips in the pool, and rented a scooter to stock up on food and check out the beach and area. The only thing that made it less than stellar was that the weather was unusually cool for that time of the year. Don’t get me wrong. It was very pleasant, probably in the high 70’s. But just not so hot that you are forced to cool off in the pool. I was worried that Seminyak might be a little too crowded for our taste. But it’s just far enough away from the tourist-centric area of Kuta. You still have restaurants and shops around, but not too many crowds. However, we enjoyed dinner right at the villa, at Warung Riola, consisting of vegetable stir fry, brown rice and snapper.

The next day, we got a driver to take us about 45 minutes away to the south tip of Bali. Originally, we were going to hit surfer mecca, Uluwatu, but the driver recommended we check out Dreamland first on the way, because it had a good sandy beach for Kailani to play on. As it turned out, we could see both Uluwatu and another break, Padang Padang, down the coast from Dreamland and there were no waves. So, Dreamland it was. Sean rented a board and mucked-it-up in the water while Kai and I played in the sand, getting attacked by ladies wanting to sell clothes and give me a massage. It seemed like a good excuse to tell them “maybe later”, that I couldn’t get a massage while watching the kid and then it was my time to go surfing. But when Sean got out of the water, I was forced to escape them by going out, even though the waves died even worse. Sean was ready to leave by the time I got out of the water and that seemed like another good excuse for the ladies. But, he still had a beer to finish. So, I thought I was compromising when I agreed to a half hour instead of an hour. They got my money anyway. Instead, two ladies massaged me at once….not that it was torture or anything. As a matter of fact, I technically had a SIX hand massage, as Kailani joined in on the action. But, one bummer about being on the beach is that the sand gets in the way, so you technically get an exfoliation scrub too. Lesson learned: You might as well just expect to get a massage while on Bali’s beaches…unless you can handle the pressure! Again, we had another delightful dinner of spelt pasta putanesca and salad at Warung Riola.

The day after that, we had the same driver take us back to Ubud so we could see the big cremation ceremony that we saw the town preparing for the week before. It was definitely a big event. Parking was nearly impossible and there were crowds lining up and down the main street hours before anything even happened. Of course, sitting there waiting for the action, it seemed like the sun decided to come out full strength and every Balinese standing around you was smoking. After a couple hours, Kai and I couldn’t take it any longer. So we ducked into my favorite Ubud café, Bali Buddha, for some lunch and a Balinese health tonic. (They also had a little market where they sold homemade kombucha!) Sean came in too, but then went back down to the street when he heard drum beats coming toward us. Finally, the procession was coming down the main street from the Ubud Palace toward the cemetery. The cremation was for the former King and Queen of Ubud, who ruled one of several provinces of Bali. One of the two had died a few years ago, followed by a recent death of the other. In Bali, they bury recently deceased and then wait until the right day on the lunar calendar for a cremation ceremony where they usually cremate several people at once. This time, they waited for both spouses to pass before having the ceremony. Usually, it’s not such a big ordeal, but this was for a very well-respected King and Queen. It felt like the entire island was there that day. The first to come down the street, one after another, were two big paper mache bulls, each carried by a large crowd of men accompanied by drummers and musicians. After that came two very elaborately decorated, very tall towers. There was also a man standing at the top of the tower waving to the crowd. I believe that he was the Prince. We don’t quite remember all the specifics, but the ceremony has something to do with bodies going into bulls because bulls are considered sacred, and the tall towers are to get closer to the heavens. Somehow, a cremation happens between all of this. It was quite a sight to see, and we were honored to be there for it, although it all seems very tough to explain yet very amazing to see in person. As Sean was down in the crowds, taking pictures of it all, he said it was so packed that it was like he was in the front row of a big rock concert. Luckily, Kailani and I still got to see what was going on from afar, from the balcony of the restaurant. That night, Warung Riola cooked up some steak, brown rice and salad.

After our day in Ubud, we were a bit wiped out and unfortunately my stomach wasn’t doing that great. So, we spent the last day in our villa hanging out, taking dips in our private salt pool, eating up the last of the food and booking our next destination. That night, Warung Riola cooked up some more spelt pasta with tuna marinara, a specialty dish acquired from a European campervan.

Ubud

07.09.08: I didn’t really feel like we were “in Bali” when we were in Sanur. But Ubud definitely changed all that. We stayed for 3 days, but we could have stayed at least a couple days longer. I was getting used to booking rooms last minute because it was no problem in Thailand or the Philippines where it was low/rainy season. But here in Bali, it’s high season. I also found that most of the mid-range places don’t have the ability to book online. So, the morning that we were to leave for Ubud, I was on the hotel’s phone. I thought I could use up the last of my credit on my Singapore SIM card, but didn’t read the fine print that said you need at least $8 SIN to dial internationally. Oops! Somehow, we lucked out with the first place I called, which was my first pick, Alam Shanti. They had a no-show the night before and it was even the room I was interested in. We took it for the 3 nights it was available. We found later that they were completely booked for the entire months of July and August. So, we REALLY lucked out! For a price, they were even willing to pick us up in Sanur. So, that was a relief not to figure out how to get there.

Ubud is situated in the middle of the island and not by the beach. It’s also Bali’s capital for arts, crafts and culture. On the ride there, we already saw rows of shops where they were making and selling wood and stone carvings, and lots of other art/craft work. We were already drooling over it all! When we arrived at Alam Shanti, we were blown away by the tranquility of the place. It was a beautiful Balinese compound of 10 rooms a block down from the Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary. You walked into our room through traditional Balinese wooden doors where it had a large poster bed with mosquito net and large bathroom with big tub. But, most of all, it had a HUGE veranda with breakfast table and TWO day beds to lounge on and view the nearby rice paddies and listen to chicken, ducks, frogs and other creatures in the background. Every morning, we were served breakfast out on the veranda. I got the Balinese black rice pudding or jaffle (toasted bread pocket) filled with cheese, tomato and avocado, and Sean got cheese omelette. This was accompanied with fresh fruit and juice, homemade toast and croissants and Balinese coffee or tea. After, you couldn’t help but get sucked into a day bed after eating, to continue absorbing the surroundings while you digested: chickens cackling, ducks quacking and the calming hum of all the kites that they like to fly in the rice fields just to name a few.

That afternoon, we dove-in to see what Ubud had to offer. You have to walk around or through the Monkey Forest to get to town, and we were already greeted by the local monkeys a few steps down from our place. In town, there were shops filled with handcrafted artwork, jewelry, carvings and more. We only window-shopped that day, figuring out prices and exactly what we really wanted so we could figure out, logistically, how we were going to get it all home. But, we did end up getting some organic wine, organic Gouda cheese, salami and a baguette. I guess some of our ways from when we were in Europe are dying hard! It was nice to be in a community where healthy food, yoga, arts and culture are abundant! As we got a bit lost in the streets, we stumbled upon a restaurant called The Bebek Bengil, aka The Dirty Duck Diner. Not your typical restaurant, the place had several standalone pavilions, each with a knee height table and cushions, set amongst the gardens with rice paddies in the background. They also served up some awesome crispy fried duck! Another great thing about where we stayed is that they offer free shuttles to/from town. So, just as you’ve walked far enough, you pop into a café for something to eat or drink and call for a pick-up. Our hotel also has a fairly long list of cultural performances happening every night. This ended up being VERY convenient! That night, we went out to see a wayang kulit (shadow puppet) play. It was a little drawn out, but interesting to see nonetheless. The narrator had a great voice and interesting how they choreograph the play with music. When Kailani got a little too loud and squirmy, I took her outside to find a window where you can see what they are doing “behind the scenes”. It was a bonus for us!

The next day, we spent some time exploring the Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary, feeding the monkeys bananas and seeing the temples. There are three temples and they believe the monkeys are there to protect the temples. After, we walked into town. I was on a mission to find this restaurant that I saw on Anthony Bourdain’s show, No Reservations, called Warung Oka Ibu. As we walked there, we window shopped a bit more. We also walked by the Ubud Palace, they actually had the streets closed off because the community was getting ready for a Cremation Ceremony the next week. We learned that they usually bury people as they die, then have a mass cremation later. This ceremony was a bigger-than-usual one, because it was for a local king and another local politico. They were building very large paper mache structures and crafting tons of other little decorative pieces for the ceremony. They would carry the dead up one of the “tower” structures, drop the bodies into a “bull” structure and then light it on fire. We hope we can go back to Ubud to see it happen. We finally found Oka Ibu, and the place was packed. We sat on a ledge amongst others who couldn’t get a table and ate our roasted suckling pig topped with a spicy concoction (except for Kai’s plate), simply served with rice and a vegetable saute. It was as good as Bourdain made it up to be, especially the sweet crispy skin that was basted with coconut water the entire morning. Even Kai kept asking “More pig!” I was very happily vegetarian for 7 years of my life. But, the past couple days of duck and pig carnage has been pretty delightful too! Now if I can just work it all off…. After that, being fat dumb and happy, we called for a pick-up and spent the rest of the afternoon “digesting” on our veranda’s day bed, as well as another mad scramble to find somewhere to stay next. I took the first place that replied back to me.

That night, we went to the restaurant next door, where they had a dance performance. One dance was called a butterfly dance, where the women held “wing” fans and fluttered them as they danced. We especially liked the children’s rabbit dance, where the children had rabbit ear hats and hopped as they danced. The last dance was considered a “flirting” dance and dancers picked audience members to come up and dance with them. I nailed it when I said that Sean would be picked. I was pretty bummed that, when he went up there, he had our camera still in his pocket, so no embarrassing shots. Of course, because I was laughing at him getting picked, a gal came up to pick me. Trying to figure Balinese dancing is a lot harder than it looks!

On day 3, we went into town to actually buy some of the great pieces of art work that we’ve been drooling at. Later that day, we had a Balinese cooking class at the same restaurant that we saw the dance at the night before. It was great to see the place in the daylight. The place was very similar to the Dirty Duck, with several private small eating areas set amongst the gardens with rice paddies behind it. They also had a great vegetable and herb garden and our teacher, Wayan (means “first child”, so there are several Wayan’s in Bali), pointed out what everything was. The class was fun. Sean and I were the only students. It was interesting to see what is typically used in Balinese cooking as well as to simply cook for the first time in months. It was also nice to have someone there to play with Kailani while we cooked. We made nasi goreng (fried rice), grilled chicken salad, chicken coconut curry and sweet and sour shrimp. My favorite dish to learn was the black rice pudding that I’ve been eating every morning for breakfast. It ended up being very simple to make too! After all the cooking, the three of us got to eat what we made for dinner. Unfortunately, we were not too hungry after all that cooking. However, they were nice enough to pack it up and I had some more the next morning.

The next morning, we packed up and got ready to leave. As previously mentioned, I really missed not having a kitchen for the past 2 months. So when we picked out our next spot, I got a villa with kitchen. Ubud happened to be having their weekly organic farmer’s market, albeit very small. But, we went there to get a couple things before leaving, as well as a couple more paintings that we had our eyes on but didn’t get a chance to get. Now with a whole carload full of stuff, we drove off to our villa in Seminyak by the beach. And, our list of great places to stay got longer when we arrived!

Sanur, Bali

07.06.08: OK, maybe not for young one’s and/or party animals, but our 7:30pm flight from Singapore to Denpasar, Bali seemed late for us! When we finally got on the plane, Kailani fell asleep fairly fast. This can be nice for Sean and me not to have a two and a half year old jumping all over the walls and us. When she woke up towards the later part of the flight, she was completely burning up. Of course, our thermometer was in our check-in luggage, so I didn’t know exactly how bad it was. I was not only afraid that she might have caught the same bug that Sean had in Singapore, but was wondering if Indonesian immigration would allow her into the country! (They did check her temperature at the Hong Kong airport.) Fortunately, she did cool down, just a bit, when we disembarked. Now, the only thing we had to worry about was how to pay for our visa-on-arrivals, as we didn’t have enough cash, and they didn’t take credit cards or traveler’s checks. We ended up having to “sneak” past the immigration line to get to luggage carousels where they had ATMs. Blame it on being tired I guess, but I couldn’t get my head around the $1 USD to 10,000 Indonesia Rupiah conversion rate, so we got tens of dollars worth out, thinking we were getting hundreds. This, we did a couple times too! Of course, the immigration lines went from almost nothing to long and slow by the time we got back there! But, we were allowed into country #13 with nothing more than a long wait.

Our hotel in Sanur, The Paradise Plaza Hotel, run by American chain Radisson, was as nice as expected. I booked it that way, figuring I didn’t want any unexpected surprises arriving in a new country so late. I also booked us a “bonus” room with an outdoor but covered large size bathtub, rain shower and toilet area. Just outside that was a zen garden, a bonus to look at while bathing, showering or doing other things. By then, Kai’s fever seemed to subside. I checked inside her mouth to find a new molar in the way back corner. Just as you think the “teething” phase is all over, here comes a new one! I was just so grateful that she wasn’t sick!

The next morning, we did find one little “bait and switch” with our hotel. One reason we picked this hotel was because we thought, if for some reason we didn’t want to go to the beach, this place had a kid’s pool, complete with water slide. Unfortunately, it wasn’t ON the property, rather a couple kilometers away at the Paradise Plaza SUITES. But at least they provided an hourly shuttle that ran from one property to another, the shopping area and the beach. Unfortunately, we decide to jump on the shuttle during the driver’s lunch break. Good thing a taxi’s only a couple bucks! The water slide was fun. I kept telling Kai about it before we got there, and she seemed scared to do it. I told her she could try the “baby” one first. When we got there, she didn’t want to go on the baby one, she was all over the big one…over and over and over again… After that, we decided to check out the beach. We go to pick up the shuttle, but this time we missed it by a couple minutes. Again, at least the taxi’s cheap. When we got to the beach, I realized why our guide book said Sanur’s nickname is “Snore”. Usually “snore” sounds much better than “big party beach”. But, this place seemed to be right in between, not much going on but local kids playing on the water near the boat harbor, but not a secluded tropical hideaway either. There were very way less restaurants or shops than what we were expecting. But, we did manage to find something to eat. After, we started walking toward the hotel. Kai fell asleep in the backpack carrier. When we got across the street from the hotel, I noticed a sign for an organic spa. We went inside to check it out and ended up with massages for two in the couple’s room, Kailani napping on a massage table mattress on the floor at our heads. It worked out wonderful and we both RELISHED it immensely! For ~$10 USD each, the price was a bit high but EXTREMELY worth it, after having a bad massage in Phuket which lead me to the chiropractor. Sean also had an extremely short and unrelaxing one there too. They also sold the infamous Balinese salt, so we took some home and had a “family bath”. Later that night, we walked out to catch the shuttle to the “shopping area” to find dinner only to find it doesn’t run that late. The hotel’s transportation desk was happy to get us another taxi. But for some reason, the lady kept suggesting other places besides eating at the night market. We kept saying “No, we WANT to eat local food” and “Yes, we are OK with eating at carts!” OK, maybe Sean and I were talking for ourselves, because we did end up having to get some McD’s for Kai, who doesn’t care for spicy. (That’s about the 2nd time in her life she’s eaten it!) Kailani was also still giving people at the Night Market a Thai wai (hands in prayer position and bowing her head) and saying “Kup Kun Kaw” which is “Thank you” in Thai. We all need to learn to say “Terimah Casih”, which means “Thank you” in Indonesian!

Our 2nd day in Sanur, we were really lazy. We woke late and decided to try the hotel’s all-you-can-eat dim sum. After the feast, it was about time for Kai’s nap, so we walked down to the beach with her in the backpack, which usually puts her out. As soon as she was out, we headed back to the organic spa. It wasn’t quite like the first time. Kai woke up in the middle. But, she went back to sleep, so Sean was at least able to finish his massage. (His masseuse woke him up after she saw Kai rolling off the mattress and tried to console her, but couldn’t.) Later that day, we packed up for our next stop on the island of Bali and ate a light/fast dinner next door to the spa.

Singapore

July 1, 2008: First, apologies for this being so long...I don't know how it happens!

We left for the Phuket airport at the crack of dawn for our flight on discount airline Asia Air. Getting onboard, Kailani was putting up a fuss and wouldn’t stay in Sean’s arms. Next thing we knew, she was crying about her arm. The flight attendants were nice enough to offer ice packs throughout the flight, but she was still crutching it with her other hand. After a couple hours, we were in country #12. At the Singapore airport, it was pretty plush with foot massaging machines, internet and showers, all free, as well as a 24 hour medical clinic that we stopped into but decided not to wait for the doctor to come while our luggage went around a carousel. We jumped on their MRT (Mass Rapid Transit). It reminded me of Hong Kong as it was clean and efficient and said “Please mind the platform gap.” in perfect British English, as well as Chinese and Indian, I think. Although, people-wise, it’s definitely a land all of it’s own with Malay, Chinese and Indian cultures, as well as a good portion of expats, all living together. Very cool!

We arrived to the middle of the city, near Little India, to Hangout at Mt. Emily hostel - not your average hostel. It’s actually one of the hippest hostels I have ever seen, very clean and modern, decked out with Ikea furniture. It’s not the cheapest, but reasonable for Singapore standards. If only it had at least one thing framed hanging on the wall. Our private room had its own bathroom and view of the city. (No dorm sleeping for us. I wouldn’t subject anyone to sharing a room with Kailani!) On the top of the building, there was a lounge area with a view and an ankle pool, although it wasn’t full. At the bottom of our building, there’s a restaurant with free, unappetizing breakfast. They also offer lunch and dinner, but it’s nice enough that I don’t really have anything to wear. Next door, there’s also a nice park with playground. We figure we haven’t been to one since the indoor one at a Manila shopping mall. But then again, who needs one when you have a pool or a beach! Next door on the other side, there’s a nice bar where you can lounge on the deck in the evenings.

Luckily, Kailani’s arm didn’t seem to bother her after her nap. So, I guess we saved a doctor’s visit. We went down the street to some random dive for a late lunch of one of Singapore’s dishes, chicken rice. We were still pretty wiped out from the early rise, so we didn’t manage to do anything else besides wash stinky beach clothes and go to the bar next door for dinner (which consisted of appetizers, we weren’t too hungry) and a couple pretty good Bloody Mary’s for me and Sean tried the Singapore Sling.

Singapore has a pretty long list of tourist attractions to offer and I was also looking forward to hitting all their food stalls. With only 5 days there, we were originally just going to jump in right away and see what we could tackle. But, the next morning, Sean was still feeling wiped out. So instead, we decided get business done our first day - hit the post office to pick up a package we had mailed to us via Post Restante that never arrived, mail home another package of junk, get a new SIM card for the phone and do some shopping. Most would think of shopping as picking up local handicraft souvenirs or getting a new wardrobe. But for me, that meant going to a natural health food store. They haven’t existed in the past 2 months of trekking throughout the Philippines or Thailand, So, it felt like I was back in civilization again! We also haven’t seen a laundry machine in that long, which hasn’t been a problem to hand wash most of our clothes. But, my poor jeans (only warn occasionally), our sleep sheets and our towels haven’t been washed since the UK. Also in the Philippines and Thailand, you can’t really find anything “natural” there (except coconut oil and aloe vera in lieu of lotion in Thailand). So, we went to a store called SuperNatural for non-chemical laundry liquid and body products. It sucks to have sensitive skin like me! I got so excited over all the organic food, that I walked out with a large bag (a reusable one, which the guy commented I must not be from Singapore, because nobody ever brings their own…) FULL of kombucha, Newman’s Spelt Pretzels, wheat free vegan chocolate cookies, some fruit to eat for the day and other snacks. It’s probably a good thing that we didn’t have a fridge, or even a kitchen for that matter, or else I would have bought sheep yogurt, goat milk and everything else in the store. I say “good thing” because the prices were EXORBITANT. A 16 oz bottle of High Country Kombucha, produced in Colorado, ended up costing $18.50 Singapore dollars ($13.60 USD). One bottle! I made Sean turn away from the register as the guy totaled the bill. AND after all that, I didn’t walk out with any laundry liquid or body products! Somehow, I never saw them on the shelves…

Then, we had lunch and witnessed Singapore’s “real” national past time, shopping. We strolled down Orchard Road, their big shopping street with side-by-side mega malls. Although Sean commented that the guys look pretty “normal”, we both noticed that there were some extreme fashionista Asian women, mostly decked out with short, straight bangs, pale skin, lots of eyeliner, high heels and short, what Sean calls “garbage bag” mini dresses. Inside one mall, Paragon, they had stores like YSL, Gucci and Versace. There was also a Shu Uemura “Tokyo Lash Bar”, where you could get very obviously fake lashes of every length and thickness as well as blue ones, ones made of lace, or spider webbed ones. That was a trip!

After that, we got pretty sick of carrying a bag full of groceries. So we headed back to our hostel. Sean was still feeling wiped out and then proceeded to get very sick. I hope it wasn’t that his body went into shock with such healthy food after not having it in a couple months! And, I’m pretty sure it wasn’t anything he ate for lunch, because we shared. But, it could have been a bug that I had, but worse. Because I wasn’t feeling well two days before we left Thailand. All I know is he was sicker than anything I’ve ever seen in him. Kailani and I went downstairs to the “fancy” restaurant for dinner. Unfortunately, there were no others close by. I had to play a movie on the PSP (held under the table to be discreet) to keep her entertained and quiet. When we finished our Chilean sea bass, we brought some plain congee up to Sean.

On day 2, we were still taking it easy. I was still on a mission to find laundry liquid and body products. We finally found body products at a store called Brown Rice Paradise, and laundry liquid at a chain grocery store, Marketplace, which is similar to Andronico’s or Droeger’s in CA. They had cantaloupe from Japan that costs $100 Singapore dollars (~$66 USD), although it did appear absolutely perfect. Then, we went to Japanese for lunch. Sean was able to stomach some udon. Later, we hit the park next to our hostel for some playground time and research on Bali. We felt good enough to adventure out that night, so we went to the Lavender Street Hawker Centre. Hawker Centers are basically food courts, ie a bunch of food stalls, and they are ALL OVER this city. Our guide book mentioned that this one is less frequented by tourists. But I swear, Sean was the only white guy (and only half-white at that!) that I saw there. We went to the stall with the longest line and found they had dumpling noodles. It tasted great! We also got a couple dim sum plates simply because it sounded good. Sean mentioning that the siu mai was one of the best he’s tried, even though he was still only able to eat one bite. Of course, we had to wash it down with some of Singapore’s Tiger Beer, the replacement for Thailand’s Singha and Chang.

The next day, we ventured to the Singapore Zoo. Normally, I’m not one that likes to see animals all caged up. But, this zoo was really a world class zoo, with natural surroundings that made the animals not appear caged. They also had a great selection of exotic tropical animals – all the one’s that are really fun to see, and they looked happy to be in that climate! They had the world’s largest collection of primates, including a bunch of free roaming orangutans that hung out on the tree tops above the trails where you walked. It really made you feel as if you were just walking through a jungle with paved walkways, not your typical zoo. We had such a good time there, we ended up staying until they closed, rather than what I thought would be a couple hours. We figured we were on a roll, so we decided to walk next door to see the Night Safari next. The Night Safari’s grounds are entirely different, but are under the same management as the zoo. It focuses more on nocturnal animals. For that one, our feet were getting tired, so we took a guided tour on a tram, followed by seeing a show that was pretty entertaining.

On day 4, we were still on a mission to sample everything Singapore has to eat in their Hawker Centres. This time, we took the MRT to Chinatown. Originally, we were looking for the Chinatown Complex Food Centre. But somehow, we ended up at the Maxwell Road Food Centre. Our guide book said that this was one of the best anyway. Again, I just chose the stall with the longest line. This time, I had rice porridge with fish. Sean didn’t luck out as much. He wanted the Dragon Soup Dumpling, but they were all out. Instead, he got the gyoza and chive pancakes, which were just OK. So then, he ended up also getting some roasted duck and rice, which ended up being better. We were stuffed, AND we were still a bit tired from all the walking the day before. So, we ended up deciding to see Singapore’s Chinatown by their old fashioned mode of transportation, a trishaw, even though it is now just a tourist attraction. I was happy when they settled for more than half of the quoted price, as I wasn’t expecting them to agree to that low. It’s basically a bike with a sidecar attachment. It was great! We hired someone to burn sweat rather than burning any CO2 into the air. Our guide showed us around, pointing out various buildings and temples while dodging people and cars. Later that night, we decided to try Singapura Restaurant because it was right down the hill from us. At first, we couldn’t find it. It ended up being in the ground floor of what appeared to be an apartment building. As we entered, Sean noticed a picture of Anthony Bourdain from the Travel Network show, No Reservations. The place appeared to be famous for their cold crab, which we of course got. We also tried the Kway Teow (sautéed broad rice noodles) and an excellent dish of scallops with broccoli. Overall, we felt like we stumbled upon a great hole-in-the-wall.

Our last day there, we figured we still didn’t get a chance to get any Indian food, although we WERE technically staying in Little India, granted our place was really on a hill above it. So, we headed to the Tekka Mall food court for lunch. I was a bit bummed that there was really only one Indian food stall. When I attempted to order something, their naan bread was still not done. So instead, I ended up with another Singapore dish, curry chicken noodles. (I think the later’s called Laska.) Eh, it was alright. After that, we packed up, took the MRT back to the airport and, after some free beer, playground time with Kailani’s new friend Noemi from France and spending the afternoon hanging out at the pretty nice Singapore airport, we finally took off to Bali via Singapore Airlines that evening.