Day 33 - 40

Ummm ….we have missed a few days but perhaps that is an indication that our trip was either really crazy and we had limited time or that we are finding a nice groove.  We are happy to write that it is has been a bit of both. 

We flew into Krabi International Airport on December 13 and even as we flew North West we both felt like the next leg was going to be good.  Rich and I both felt that there was  a nice energy about this place.  When we landed Sydney was in her glory to see “kids!  Mommy, I see kids!!” The two boys were burning off energy and running around the customs area so we figured ‘when in Thailand…” We let her go and she went for the gusto.  It was nice to see her running and playing with two other kids. 

Eventually we made it through customs; this time we took our sweet time and asked a few questions, made sure we were in the clear and eventually came out dead last, our luggage was being tagged and there was no one around ---fantastic! 

Of course the kicker was we had NO FREAKIN idea where we going to stay…not one single idea.  We walked out into the heat and right away bartered for a private cab to Ao Nang went from 600 baht to 450 baht.  The poor driver had no idea what he was getting himself into.  We drove and drove and drove and went to a few places. After some desperation we began to sweat a bit wondering where exactly we were going to stay.  I ended up walking and lugging Sydney down an old path that I once went on to search out a place.  Long story short we paid way to much for a complete dive.  The rain started and we both wondered “what the hell…” Rich went on a business trip…d-e-t-e-r-m-i-n-e-d …I stayed with two kids in a small dump of a room but hell, it came with a balcony. We went onto the balcony which faced a few other apartments.  To which I soon discovered had pools and were charging way, way…way less.  Piss me off.

Rich came back, told me to pack up and we were outta there.  I have never packed so fast in my life.

Rich found us a wee bit of paradise at the Queens Pavillion.  Amazing view of the limestone cliffs and three beautiful serenity pools.  A steal of deal because we have discovered that Ao Nang, thee place to be for holiday makers is very slow! 

Rich and I settled into our posh little place and madly got to work looking for a home base.  Three days later we found a three bedroom brand new home 1 k from the beach.  We rented a scooter and are calling this home until February 11 - we have a spare bedroom not being used but have found one taker for several days - Marc and Maria previously planned on coming to Thailand with Maria's sister - chances are they will stay with us for a few days before heading out to discover Thailand.  

For anyone daring enough - we have a spare room - cold beer is waiting for you in the fridge...

Day 30, 31 & 32

We arrived at KL Airport and started our one hour drive to city centre where the Concorde Hotel is located.  Jeff Colbert, someone who I knew in Jr High School, kindly offered to arrange for us to stay there.  He indicated he could get us a corporate rate at a fantastic hotel.  On our drive to KL we noticed all the beautiful palm tree fields.  This, as it turned out, was the only thing of beauty we noticed in Malaysia.  In fact, it was so bad in KL, we cut our Malaysia trip short after only 2 days and booked a flight to Krabi.  The people of KL are not what I would describe as a friendly bunch.  They are rude – as we discovered in the hotel on numerous occasions where we would be speaking to staff and someone would interrupt us in mid conversation. 

They are pushy – we visited the mall by the towers and were left waiting for an elevator after being first in line.  How, did we go from first to last?? Lets just say that the polite Canadians learned being polite in Malaysia gets you no where – don’t wait for the people to get off the elevator otherwise you won’t get on.

After finally reaching our destination at the food court via elevator our experience didn’t get much better. Sydney decided this was a perfect time not to listen and wouldn’t eat anything.  Sean knocked over a few food and drink items on the table with a good stiff right punch.  Tara and I didn’t fare much better as we continued our streak of dropping things (we are starting to feel we are ‘off’ somehow and that someone somewhere is trying to tell us something). This was one of the first times Tara and I felt we were on display for everyone to see how poorly North Americans raise their children.  We didn’t disappoint. 

The next day we took the monorail – a truly Tylenol time.  On the loud (LOUD) speakers inside the cab a constant message, in two languages, was read aloud: Watch the doors, watch your belongings, next stop, beep, beep, f****** beep.  All this in the loudest most obnoxious recorded statement man has ever heard. Get me the **** off this thing...and GOODBYE KL...

Day 27, 28 & 29

Gypsy and Ann swung by for our first and only date night.  So…one might ask, what did you do?? We had adult conversation with Richard & Richard, a same sex couple from Quebec who are in Indonesia working at the clinic Tara visited the week prior.  After getting out later than desired (the kids didn’t get dinner till later, etc) we took a cab to their place which was south of our location around the Monkey Forest.  Once we arrived at their place we realized how screwed we really got with Villa Rasa Sayang.  They paid $700/month for a 2 story Western style house which had 2 king size beds and 2 outdoor modern bathrooms located on the edge of a rice paddy field – to say the least, it was paradise.  Richard, the chef, made us a wonderful dinner while we spoke to Richard the Forester.  These 2 were wonderful to speak to and committed to helping others.  Tara and I on the other hand are barely capable of looking after our 2 charity cases.  For the night tho – we had freedom from the bonds of parenthood - ahhhhhhhhhh, nice.

Day 25 & 26

On day 25 we had a kind offer from Wayan to meet his family at his house approximately 30 minutes from Ubud.  His brother Oka picked us up and after driving around for 45 minutes (apparently he was filling in time as Wayan was cooking for everyone) we arrived at his house where we met his wife, 2 children (Agus and Dinny) and his mother.  The house was very modest with pencil markings on the inside wall.  One of the doors had a small hole in it.  The complex consisted of a small temple where the dead family members can come and visit.  Hence the offerings commonly seen at these locations.  The uncle also lived in a house that appeared to be in better condition.  Apart from the humble material items, we found richness in the relationships between the family members that was also extended towards us.  The food was good – tuna satay skewers, nasi goring, mixed vegetables and fish soup.  This family definitely put a spread on for us and I didn’t dissapoint them with my large appetite. After swearing I’d only eat small portions for the rest of the trip I fattened up a little more (who the hell am I kidding anyway).  So, like a fat kid on a smartie I had 3 huge helpings (guess they’re not having leftovers) and then consumed every piece of fresh mango they put in front of me.  Gluttony is alive and well within me and if I could pick a third given name for myself it would be Glutton - hey, that name would suit me like OJ’s glove did – nice and tight around the spare tire.

Wayan has a long life story and he seems to be wiser beyond his years. Oka and I discussed real estate (god bless him) and potential export ventures.  Real estate around his town is cheap and costs approximately 10-15 million Rupiah per square meter ($100).  Oka filled me in on his past travels while working with Carnival.  All in all a pleasant day with a generous local family.

Day 23 & 24

What I love about this place:

The mangos…unlike home, are best eaten when green.  These mangos are so incredibly juicy and dense that it almost tastes somewhat pungent.  It is truly nector from the nature.

The $4.00 massages from Sara’s Spa by Deeta.  One of us has been going every night at 8:00 p.m. for one hour and it is the best way to just completely relax.  The outdoor shower is magical too.

The small pancakes with different flavors on top …about a dozen for 70 cents—yummy!

The swimming pool, sorry to rub it in..but man it is sure great to have a swim or two or three a day to cool off (in November no doubt).

The thunder and rain—unlike any storm I have ever experienced.

The Bali Vanilla -finally made the splurge today and opened up the purse strings; for a whopping 4 bucks I purchased about 25 vanilla sticks…still sticky and moist and smelling of nothing but pure vanilla. Sydney couldn’t get enough of the smell. Though I think I might just have to mail these suckers on to a certain someone who just always makes us the best food (SJ). 

We had a nice play date today with Eka’s and his wife and 1.5 year old daughter named Putrie.  Eka, is a waiter that we have made friends with at the Barbekue restaurant located in front of our villa.  Putrie was so cute and it was nice to just chill out with another kid by the pool.  Putri had never been in a pool before so she really just took it easy by only putting her feet in. 

 

Shortly after this visit, I went with Gyspy to a not for profit birthing centre to have a tour and drop off some baby clothes, supplies and donations.  This place is called the Yayasan Bumi Sehat “Gentle Births for a Peaceful Future”  I am not too sure where to start or what to say about this experience.  It is an amazing, grassroots, truly magical place that sadly, is desperately needed. 

The centre provides pre/post pregnancy care to women and families who have little or no money. Let’s be blunt…by our standards they are poor.  The care is pretty holistic with volunteers from around the world that come as midwives, nurses, and doctors as well as teachers, massage therapists, acupuncturists and alternative care providers.  One day a week the clinic is open for pediatrics, the next day it is open for stress management/meditation/acupuncture and it is always open for labor and deliveries.  They also have a youth centre ..ahh right up my alley.. in which volunteers can teach english and computer skills to youth. 

This centre is humble and yet so incredible.  It was interesting to note that the maternal mortality ration on Bali is the highest among the ASEAN group.  Sitting at 718 deaths per 100000 live births.  This is largely due to the malnutrition caused by the introduction of Green Revolution rice in the 1960’s.  Overnight the staple of food of the people stopped providing pregnant women with the full rainbow of colors that rice once had, which in turn was necessary to sustain healthy pregnancies and birth outcomes. . . Apparently red, blue and black rice are incredibly important to both the mother and the fetus. 

 

During this visit I was invited to go into the birthing room where I was so blessed to see a 12 hour old baby boy sleeping on the bed with his mother and father looking on.  I am not the most emotional type, but that just got to me.  The universal look of love was on the mother’s face and the father looks so proud.  Don’t we all just start out so pure…

This little baby was beautiful!   I was also lucky enough to be allowed to take the mothers picture after the umbiillical cord was cut—I could get into the very important significance of this and the placenta and etc but it may just be best to say that this is VERY important to the Balinese people.  

 

I then ran into one of our two Richards that we met when we got here.  These two guys are in their forties (maybe 50’s) and are from Canada.  They are volunteering with this centre for 6 months.  One of them is a well known chef in Eastern Canada, they both have an organic hobby farm (the other Richard is a forester by trade) and they are so excited to be helping out.  Richard, the chef, is going to teach the youth how to cook and then he hopes to set up a restaurant in which the kids will cook and make the money.  I think he is going to make a success of it as he just eludes that kind of ‘can do’ vibe.  The other Richard is going to teach English.

 

I received their wish list of supplies that they would love to have and have told my Rich what I want for Christmas is on that list.   For anyone who is following along and for my own future reference the web site is www.bumisehatbali.org 

I guess I just need to end this rather long blurb by saying that I feel so blessed and so lucky to have healthy children and that I am thinking of my pregnant friends back home today and missing them.  It would not surprise me to guess that Moira had her baby today, as it seems to be a baby kind of day and Rich and I are both thinking of her daily. 

Day 20-22

Ketut, our taxi driver, jammed on us on a preplanned trip to Hardy’s grocery store.  Although he is a nice man, we are learning this is business after all and we were passed over for a bigger fare (so I lowballed him, whaddya expect).  We hung around the pool and watched some Soprano’s before heading for a nice dinner at Wayans behind the football field.

The following day Ketut took us to Kuta and discovery mall.  Nothing to note – just another mall that just happened to back onto a white sandy beach.  Prices were high (your trying to sell me things for over $1 - rubbish) and other than having a little feeling of home we left without having any wow factor.

We then traveled to Punta Lot, a temple on a small island with fantastic sunsets.  All four of us received a blessing (read $6 – hey, kinda like the silver plate thingy at Catholic mass) and had rice grains put on our head.  The weather cooperated and a memorable sunset was displayed.

Sydney found a little Korean friend and followed her everywhere.  She played in the sand and jumped in the puddles and had a fantastic time until we departed well past her bedtime.  Needless to say she screamed murder in the car for 10 minutes until she fell asleep exhausted.  Tara and I discussed the importance of routine in a very casual way (read WW III).  In all, the most scenic place we have visited to date...

Day 18 & 19

After Sean's fever broke he was left with a nasty heat rash that we feared was measles.  Lucky enough it turned out it was just a heat rash and on the first day of good health we returned to the Monkey Forest.  This time other people were around.  One little monkey decided he would try to steal Sydneys backpack while it was sitting beside Tara who was feeding Sean.  I ran over and attempted to persuade the little bastard he was not taking my daughters $5 pink carrier.  I waved my arms frantically and yelled some gibberish which made the monkey turn and say ‘are you kidding me buddy’.  He didn’t run off – in fact, he tried three times to carry the satchel away.  Lucky little Sydney has turned into a human form of a Saint Bernard and carries my beer in her backpack  (hey, she has to pull her load – okay, kidding, she only carries all of her gear). Anyways, I screamed shoo again from 6 feet away and hoped he wouldn’t kick my pansy civilized ass in front of the kids.  All turned out well as the monkey found another tourist to bother and reached into his pocket for some goodies.  Not sure if he got anything but he made me realize Sydneys potential for income earning in our family :)

While walking away from the monkeys shenanigans I dutifully watched Sydney running around pointing and laughing at the other monkeys.  I was wearing my own backpack while walking down the path when I felt a tug on my back.  Shit, I thought, the little bastard has come back to see if I’m so tough up close.   Plans of action ran thru my head as I thought of ditching my pack and running for the road.  ABANDON SHIP I thought, the kids can look after there own ungrateful ass…and hey…Tara can take care of herself…I had visions of Planet of the Apes when I spun around and faced my worst fear.  The monkey tugging at my back was the monkey the kids call mom…yes…Tara was laughing her randy ass off at me and continued to laugh till she cried. 

Payback, my dear, is a $*&@#.

Day 15, 16, and 17

Sean, the poor little traveler, woke up in the middle of the night with a nasty fever.  Maxine provided a thermometer and to our horror we discovered Sean had a temp of 40 degrees Celsius.  After spending the first day worrying about him and hoping the fever would break, Tara took him the following day to the Ubud clinic.  The nice doctor there prescribed some probiotics and other medicine.  Potentially roto-virus we were told.  We should note en route to the clinic Sean decided he would provide his own form of artwork on Ketuts shirt via stomach fluids.  As another aside Tara went to the ATM and attempted to withdraw 3 million Rupiahs.  After an incoherent message was displayed and her card was spit back, we noted the following day online our bank showed 3 million Rupiah withdrawn.  The problem – no cash was given.  The gods are not smiling with us these days.

We stayed close to home for the next few days and watched over Sean as he slept and whimpered away.  We were very, very worried about the little bugger and again we doubted our trip.

On the plus side, Sydney and Tara had some fantastic moments in the pool.  Syd decided to throw her shirt at Tara in the pool and would run off cackling away.  Tara pitched the mop back at her with some good success.  This game lasted for a half hour before Syd ended up in the pool.

Two sisters from Taiwan, Grace and Jessica, arrived at the villas and fell in love with Sydney.  When they left three days later they gave Sydney a necklace and bracelet.

We also met a nice couple from Scotland with a little boy named Felix.  Sydney and Felix met the next day at Ghandras.  It was nice for Sydney to have a little play friend but no spark was ignited and we left after about a half hour.  The day before I had suckling pig with Sydney at Ghandras – yummy and spicy.

Tara discovered Magnum icecream bars for $1.  We are making it a daily habit as I am for smoking clove cigarettes.  I could easily become addicted and turn into my father for the next 30 years.  Hopefully this habit will end when the no smoking sign is illuminated enroute to KL.

Day 14

Day 14

 

Today we traveled with Ketut to White Beach on the outside of Candidasa. White beach is at the end of a very bumpy path that should not be considered a road.  We had about one hour there before the monsoon rains hit us AGAIN.  Sydney loved the waves  - Tara is convinced she is a beach bum at heart. 

 

While traveling to Candidasa, we stopped at a Sorong store where they were made in the back shop area.  We didn’t buy any…I was convinced our driver stopped there only because nature was calling.  The cheapest sarong went for approx $17…to rich for my blood – I’m sure we can get them for half the price at the market – and really…when else am I going to wear one of these other than here??

After the sarong store we traveled to a local market where all fresh produce and spices were sold.  We could tell we were not in the tourist area anymore because no one spoke English – the universal language of a smile seemed to work well, especially for Sean, little guy makes for finding friends easy…

After the market we traveled to Padangbai where we stopped for lunch.  Padangbai is an seaside town where the hagglers try to sell you fishing tours, etc, etc.  Lunch was overpriced and Sydney decided she wanted to test the nerve of both parents. I’m not going to listen to either one of you and I’m going to do what I want when I want – sounds like me after a few beer…after a brief timeout and a discussion on listening everything went fine..until Sean had to be changed in the back of the van…

 

One must understand what stage Sean is at to get a clear picture of what I was facing…Sean likes to twist and turn whilst the filter is being changed.  To add to my pleasure was the natural tilt in the seat causing a further leaning towards facing the backrest versus lying horizontal.  Now, the details here become a bit fuzzy…Tara handed me the Vaseline after the wipe stage…and I thought I handed her back the Vaseline…apparently my definition of handing includes launching the said Vaseline towards her head…well…lets just say that a cool Calgary breeze was felt in the van for several minutes afterward while I apologized profusely for my strength and vigor.  Hey, no stain, no sorrow – van change rules….mine anyway…

 

Returning to our visit to White Beach, after Tara, Ketut, and Sydney went in the Indian Ocean, Sean and I drank coconut juice straight from the coconut. The taste was slightly sweet and very watery.  Tara had previously described the taste as milky – guess I had a bum coconut as I couldn’t taste anything close to ‘milky’.  After sucking back the remainder of the juice (why waste it??) it started to rain, and I mean monsoon rain.  Ketut told us we have to get out of there right away otherwise the road may become washed out.  After an uneventful bumpy ride back up to the road we made the long two hour trek back to Ubud with a quick stop at Hardy’s for some necessities, yogurt, milk, cheese, (gee, can you tell that part of this family is Dutch) and some great little pasteries that Tara just loves… as well as these delicious cheap little pancakes that are sprinkled with different toppings and cut in half (about one dozen for 70 cents)…amazing.  We made it home went for pizza and we put or feet up and chillaxed with two big beers it was so nice.  Sydney watched her I-crack (eye-crack) err I mean Ipod and we just sat …so nice.

Rich had his heavenly four dollar massage for one hour.  We had both decided to do this on a twice a week basis….life everyone…is all good.