Batam

Brother-in-law and fiance came to visit January 2014. We decided to take a long weekend family trip to Batam. It is a short 30 minute boat ride from Singapore, but I don't do well on boats. On the trip over on a Friday morning, we had to sit inside and the water was choppy. It was a miserable 30 minutes.
We stayed at the Turi Beach Resort. It had nice views. Sea water didn't look so good/clean to swim in, but the hotel had two swimming pools. The place was very windy and pool water a bit cold. The adults had complimentary massages with the room booking, followed by ginger tea. Dinner was at the teppanyaki restaurant, which was fun.

View from balcony outside room

Beach looks like this

Pool with swim up bar

Breakfast was ok - good variety of food. We walked around the property a bit, then decided to take a trip to Mega Mall for some light shopping. We stayed another day before we checked out, mostly just chilling. Kids were happy with pool and sand. The trip home was on a bigger boat and sitting outside made the boat trip more bearable.
An easy, lazy weekend destination, but expect to pay in Singapore dollars at resorts, meaning things are not at Indonesian prices.We would like to check out Bintan one day - hear the beaches are a bit nicer.

Singapore - Fun with the kids

We are constantly on the lookout for fun things to do with the kids on weekends. They spend a lot of time at school, watching tv, playing on the iPad - all indoor activities. So for outdoor fun, which is usually free (yeah!), we head to various parks.
Recently we checked out Hindhede Park in the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve. It was fun to watch people feeding the fish, and we even saw a big lizard swimming in the water. One of these days we will conquer one of the longer trails. We've also been on the Southern Ridges, where we walked on bridges atop the trees (and I was robbed by a monkey) and marveled at the Henderson Waves. I like the Botanic Gardens and the Jacob Ballas Children's Garden. The Gardens by the Bay is also free (if you don't enter either of the domes). Plenty of space for the children to run wild. Update - there has been a water feature addition (great for the kids).

Hindhede Park - view of old quarry

Then there are the paid attractions. Recently, we made a trip to the zoo with Girl's school. It is done really well, and the shows were very entertaining. We especially liked the new polar bear exhibit, and the water play feature was fantastic! Boy has been to the Night Safari, but we are waiting for an excuse to take Girl (3yo) - not sure that she is ready to appreciate it just yet. On our plans is the River Safari, but we might wait for the boat ride to be ready.

Polar bear at the zoo Frozen Tundra exhibit

Speaking of boat rides, I have taken the kids on the River Cruise but recently a friend let us in on the water taxi secret (the website doesn't have the rate) - same ride for only $3! Update - you need to have an EZ-link card for this deal now. Okay, $6 for round trip, but you could always just use another form of transportation on the return. There is no video, and you might wait a little while the ticket seller summons the boat, but on a cool day, it is excellent.

The water taxi stops at many of SG's riverside attractions

For Boy's birthday in May, we went to Adventure Cove, where he wanted to spend all day in the wave pool. Girl was fascinated by the lazy river, where we could see fish in adjacent tanks (or tunnels!) from time to time. Go early to reserve one of the cabanas - there are the fancy paid ones and the plain free ones good enough for taking a rest from the sun. Update - all the cabanas seem to have been converted to paid ones, but the upside is some are available for online booking in advance. Also part of Resorts World Sentosa is Universal Studios. Girl was tall enough for the Transformers ride (very cool), but was terrified by it (I had her take off her 3D glasses). Be ready for lines though - we never did get on the Jurassic Park Rapids ride.

Adventure Cove wave pool

Moving on indoors (and still paying), the SEA Aquarium is another Sentosa attraction and is fascinating. Kids and adults alike sit in front of the largest tank and just marvel at the sea life. We then round back to Gardens by the Bay - the domes (are they indoor or out, really?). The waterfall in the Cloud dome is nice, but I really like the Flower Dome. They do different themes throughout the year - we've seen the tulips and the mid-autumn displays. There's a cafe (expensive), and the escape from the SG heat is almost worth the entrance fee.

Gardens by the Bay Flower Dome Tulipmania

Near the Gardens is the Art Science Museum. It is really pretty, with a nice water feature. We've seen the Lego exhibit (very cool, and Boy is a Lego fan), the Mummy exhibit (a little creepy for the kids, and Mom, but the 3D movie and the activity kits were nice), and the NatGeo photo exhibit (really nice). More adventures to come!

Nozawa Onsen

The second family ski trip finally happened in 2013! In 2011, we went to Whistler as a side trip from Vancouver. This year, we decided to go to Nozawa Onsen with some friends during the spring term break in March. I really enjoy visiting Japan.

Nozawa Onsen

Nozawa Onsen is near Nagano, host of the 1998 Olympics. It's a 6h flight from SG to Tokyo, followed by a 6h car ride (we chartered a van from Chuo Taxi for our group of 8). We had a couple rest stops on the way. I was really impressed with the Japanese rest stops - the ones we stopped at were clean, had warm food, and at least a small grocery. There were vending machines that dispense warm canned drinks!
We stayed at Villa Nozawa, which was very nice. Our family had a two-bedroom arrangement with an ensuite bathroom. The adults had a bed and the kids slept on the tatami in their own room, which they thought was fun. We did find little beetles sometimes in the bedding, not gross - probably just them keeping warm. There was a fantastic dining area for breakfast (french toast, eggs, pancakes, japanese - different things each day - yum) and hanging out. I think they had themed parties on some nights, but we were usually too tired to join. It was a very family-friendly place, kids running around, and the hosts were so helpful with our various adventures that week. First thing they helped with, the morning after our late night arrival, was ski gear.
We didn't do so badly with the weather. It was actually pretty warm already - we could hear the rush of melting snow everywhere. We all got a bit sweaty in our ski gear under the sun the first few days. Then the weather cooled down and we got fresh powder! Very pretty.
Okay, I'm not a ski fan. I was hoping to get away with as little skiing as possible. The kids had a blast though. The other 3 adults were competent skiers, so I volunteered to share a ski coach with the 3 older kids for a couple mornings. Girl (3yo) was placed in a childcare for the two mornings, which she resented, but was necessary while we got the other kids started. The first day, I found my shaky footing. This being my third try, it's not as intimidating. Boy (6yo) had a harder time than the other two initially, but soon found his ski legs as well. He'd gone to ski school in Whistler but probably only threw a lot of snowballs and drank hot chocolate. By day two, we were all good on the ski lifts and the kids were flying down one of the gentler slopes - forget zigzagging, let's see who can get down the fastest!
Then it was time to help the Girl, who by this time was refusing to be left out of the fun. We did get her to ski a little. There were 3 adults watching 4 kids, while I tried to manage on my own. Once, Boy didn't get on the ski lift properly with the other kids and one adult. They let them go on his own! So it went - breakfast, ski, lunch, then I rested with Girl while everyone else skied a little more. Then a break, followed by dinner.
Food options were good. Yummy, basic food on the slopes. We all enjoyed the pizzas, curry rice and ramen noodles. For dinners in town, we had Italian, Korean BBQ, and Japanese, of course. Our favorite was Wakagiri - this family-friendly Japanese restaurant with pretty and tasty food, where we sat on the floor. The main dining strip is a little bit of a walk from the hotel, but not too bad. The village was quiet and peaceful, I guess no longer in peak ski season.

Wakagiri dinner set

 One regret was that we only tried the onsen once. There was actually one right behind the hotel and we often saw people heading to and fro. We finally got up the courage to ask about a family-friendly one our last night there and the whole group hit it. Furusato No Yu was excellent as there was a cooler pool and an outdoor one. After a good soak and a yummy dinner at a nearby Japanese restaurant, our kids passed out and it was the only time we had to take a taxi back to the hotel.

Furusato No Yu

We then had a nasty turn of events. I didn't know this, but Boy had taken a tumble during the afternoon ski. The group was skiing through a snow park and instead of avoiding a small jump like Hubby instructed, which the other kids obeyed, Boy went flying and landed on his head. Luckily he had his helmet on. He was very tired that night and when he woke up shaking, Hubby told me what happened. We then monitored him and took him to the local doctor in the morning. Local doctor sent us to the regional hospital for a CT scan. The scan turned out fine and we continued to the airport. The cherry trees were starting to bloom. I have my doubts about the next ski trip, even if Boy seems to have learned his lesson, and both kids occasionally ask about it.

Phuket

We decided to book a short last-minute trip to Phuket at the end of a busy summer, before Boy started school. I expected it to be very much like Krabi. We didn't do so much - just relaxed. One of the benefits of staying in SG is the proximity to many nice beach destinations.
We stayed at the Surin Beach Doubletree, which had two waterslides into the pool to keep the kids busy. We paid for a pool access room which turned out to be just a ground floor room close to the pool. It was a nice pool, almost lazy river-like (the water park attraction). We ate breakfasts and some dinners at the restaurant - quite ok.
The hotel location was actually quite remote. There were a couple other hotels close to it, and a few other restaurants. The beach was a short walk away, across a small street and park. A large beach club dominated the beach, expensive as it charged only full-day, all-inclusive (chair, towel, food and drink) rates. Too fancy for our family of four. Luckily there were a couple smaller outfits/restaurants along the stretch from which we rented beach chairs at a reasonable rate. We also had a nice sunset dinner at the Diamond Beach Club.
One of our favorite finds was Laem Singh Beach. It was a difficult hike down as I think we missed the easy path. It was worth it though - so pretty and relaxed. We left a little before sunset as the place didn't seem well-lighted - the easier path had welcoming mosquitoes. Caught a tuk tuk on the way back to hotel - another highlight for the kids.

Laem Singh Beach

 Other than one light shopping trip to Patong, a couple of massages and a mani/pedi for the adults, we didn't do much. The tours were a little expensive. Did manage to see an elephant on the roadside - that was our cultural experience.

Bali

Been wanting to write about this for a while, but hard to get myself to sit in front of a computer if it's not a workday...
Hubby's brother and fiance visited last November and we decided to take a trip to Bali. None of us had been before. It was going to be Girl's third birthday - the first one she had in the US, the second in SG, why not the third one someplace else? So she turned 3 in Indonesia.
I liked much about Bali. We chose to stay in Sanur because we heard that it was more laid back. If we had known that Kuta would anyway be quiet during off season, we would have stayed there. It just was a pain to deal with the traffic - Kuta would have been more central to the things we wanted to do.
Hotel isn't much to write about - it was okay. I liked the breakfast. Brother-in-law and fiance decided to have breakfast under a tree one day and some bug fell on them. Sanur Beach was nice enough - a few nice restaurants right on the beach. We celebrated Girl's birthday at one of these restaurants, owned by Ed's family.

Chilling on Sanur Beach

We met Ed when he picked us up from the airport. He seemed a nice guy and spoke good English, so we engaged him to drive us around. It turned out well. He took us on a cultural/shopping trip - batik factory, silver/goldsmith, wood shops, art shops. We stopped at a cafe where you could have kopi luwak - the cat poop coffee. The men tasted it, I think just for tasting it. The women and children watched in amusement. We had lunch at this nice place, surrounded by peaceful rice paddies. I really liked the fresh juices. We also visited the monkey temple, but I had to stay in the van with Girl taking a nap. Which is just as well, because I've heard that the monkeys were quite aggressive.

Batik factory

Kopi luwak production

Rice paddy fields

We spent another day on a snorkeling trip to Turtle Island. The snorkeling wasn't so good though, and Turtle Island was like a private zoo - other than turtles, there were snakes and birds. Donations were actively solicited from the visitors. We also stopped by a waterfall, but did not try to go swimming as it did not look like an easy walk to the water. Some tourist had taken the shortcut and dove down the waterfall. Boy asked why we didn't buy the trinkets from the boys selling them. I had to explain that perhaps we help in other ways, but we don't need trinkets.

Snorkeling

Waterfall

We had dinner a couple times at Jimbaran, simply because we liked hanging at the beach near sunset and then getting dinner right on the beach. The food was okay but the children liked the shows.

Jimbaran Beach

Bali was a lovely place - would love to see it again.

Tui Na

Yesterday, at Hubby's recommendation, I decided to try chinese massage. I'd been feeling achy for a few days. Not really a fan of massages (I prefer spa body scrubs), I figured it was just fatigue and I just needed to catch up on sleep. Toyed with the idea of a spa trip, and since the "spa" Hubby goes to monthly is so close, I decided to give it a try.

NatureCare seemed nice when I checked out their website, so I made an appointment. I arrived on time for the appointment, signed in and waited only a few minutes before a therapist brought me to the treatment room. I didn't much care for the subtle smell of food - don't know if it's the massage oil, really - nor the chat I can hear from the next treatment room. When the therapist climbed on the bed, I knew the whole thing was a bad idea. I expected more the western style massage experience - even the sports massage didn't have the therapist on top of you. She kneaded and worked my back and it started popping - ouch. I could've asked her to be gentler, I suppose, but I just grinned and bore it. The therapist seemed nice and chatted about this and that - I asked her the difference between tui na and massage and she said that western massage is more superficial while chinese massage is deeper and slightly achy. No kidding. She also started chatting about more personal stuff - as usual, people here make the leap from "hi" to "where do you live" to "do you rent or own" to "how much is the rent" surprisingly quickly.

After the session, I was served some tea and fruit. I felt quite relaxed, actually. Today, I am achy - Hubby assures there are no bruises, but the spots she worked are tender to the touch. I think I will go back to the western massage next time...

Legoland Malaysia

Boy is very fond of Legos. He wants them for birthdays, Christmases, and also buys them with his allowance. Mommy is a little tired of looking for, stepping on, and picking up Legos. It feels like Legos are quite pricey in Singapore, compared to the US. It doesn't stop people from spending on them. This past Christmas, we found this specialty Lego store at Great World City, and people were dropping BIG bucks on Christmas gifts. The Toys R Us section looked cleaned out.

With the recent opening of Legoland Malaysia, ads were splashed all over the place. So naturally, Boy requested to go. We arranged to share a taxi with another family, one that would be door-to-door on Sunday, October 14. It would be about hour and a half each way, taking into account immigration and traffic.

We had already been to the one in Florida, so had some expectations. I think the park does cater to adults too. There are coasters, and the Miniland is usually fascinating. The rides are similar to the European amusement parks to which I've been (Linnanmaki and Sarkkaniemi in Finland, Grona Lund in Sweden, and Tivoli in Denmark) and not too taxing. The one difference was that they did not allow parents to ride along with the toddlers on some rides - I was surprised at Royal Joust when the attendant blocked me from getting on and let Girl (3) on her way. Luckily, she handled this first experience (and subsequent rides) like a trooper. Boy and pal could not be dragged away from Build & Test (building and racing cars). Mommy enjoyed shooting stuff at Lost Kingdom.

Miniland

Build & Test

The facilities seemed to be still half functional (they were operating only one out of two machines for many of the rides). The restaurant process needed work - patrons were not routed efficiently. Probably growing pains that would be sorted out soon. We will likely make more trips. One thing we would do differently is to dine at the Mall of Medini before heading back to Singapore (traffic jam made for a late dinner).