Bali and Singapore

We've just returned from a wonderful vacation to Bali and Singapore. It was the May holidays and we were told we had 3 days off at the beginning of the year, so we booked a weeklong trip. However, we found out later that the Chinese government meant 3 days off, Friday, Saturday and Sunday! Not 3 days off, only one day off. In the past the May holidays were weeklong holidays, but the government is trying to space out the holidays a bit, so we now get one other 3 day weekend at the end of the month for Dragon Boat Festival. Oh well, it was well worth the vacation days and it was the last time I was going to be able to fly before MIC arrives. I'm now 31 weeks along and feeling big. The baby apparently was head down at the last check-up so we are hoping MIC will stay that way, but it certainly feels different with the butt up against your ribs than the head. Carrying a breech baby is actually a bit more comfortable I think! But I definitely want to try a natural delivery this time, so hope the baby will stay head down.

Anyhow, we went all-out on this trip and brought our nanny with us. It was Sun Ayi's first flight and she did great. We rented a fabulous villa in Umalas, near Seminyak with the Lewis' who have two boys. They were our neighbors in Beijing and now live in Hong Kong. It was wonderful to spend time with them and have Sophia and Lucas, play together again. They were each other's first playmates. The staff at the villa was wonderful and the cooking was also fantastic, although the adults went out to a fancy dinner one night. We also took a day trip to Ubud, an art village that also happens to have a monkey forest. I'm not a big fan of monkeys and our friend Mat got checked out by one who jumped on top of him and looked down his shirt. Sophia was perfectly content sitting in her stroller as we walked through the forest, which was comforting to me, since the monkeys freaked me out a bit. We had a friend whose daughter was actually bitten by a monkey in SE Asia and had to get the full rabies shots, so I was doing my best to stay away. But they were cute and very human like or are we very monkey like?

Sophia LOVED the pools. We had to stay at a hotel one night since the villa was booked and Sophia went down her first water slide with Josh. Unfortunately, Josh somehow got stuck on the slide and some kids ran into them, Sophia didn't think it was very fun, but loved splashing around in the pool. She swam at least twice a day, sometimes 3 times. There were two small pools at our villa including a kiddie pool which Sophia loved jumping around in it.

Our villa was also right next door to the Umalas Stables so Sophia visited the horses everyday as well. We headed to the beach one day, but the waves were very, very strong so we didn't stay long there. Bali is a beautiful place, where the people are gentle and kind. It was a long trip, about 9 hours on a plane, so I highly recommend a stay at least 5 days if you visit.

We broke the trip up on the way home and stopped in Singapore for 2 nights. The nanny flew back to BJ directly and we cashed in our Starwood points and stayed at the St. Regis which was beautiful. However, the service was not as good as we expected. We visited the Singapore Zoo where we were able to have breakfast with orangutans, elephants and snakes. Sophia loved it. The Zoo has a wonderful children's area with miniature ponies, bunnies, mini goats and lots of water play areas and a Ben and Jerry's! The entire Zoo is like a rainforest, extremely lush with some good shade. I highly recommend taking children there.

The fresh air of Bali and Singapore were great for our lungs and for our souls. It was a perfect holiday for the three of us before MIC arrives.