We spent spring break in Bali, Indonesia. We'd heard a lot about Bali over the years, but this was our first trip there. It won't be our last. The beaches aren't nearly as beautifl as Phuket, Thailand or Boracay, Philippines, but Bali has an almost magical feel about it. There's art and spirituality at every turn...unless you never leave Kuta, in which case there are bars and probably hookers at every turn!
Ubud Villa
We spent the first half of the week at an amazing villa outside Ubud. We traveled with another family (The Weiss family: Serge, Sally, Westen & Anika) who also had 2 kids, same ages as Aidan & Brenna. Our kids were friends at Shanghai American School. The villa was huge - 3 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, kitchen, dining area, living rooms, a couple of balconies, our own pool, etc. Plenty of room for the 8 of us.
Below: the kids enjoying our pool and that entire house behind them is our villa!
There were a few other villas in the compound. Here's a picture of Brenna helping Devey (a very friendly worker who totally fell in love with Brenna, aka Baby!) put offerings near around the grounds our first morning in Bali:
Here are more pix from the villa and Bali:
I could go on and on about the villa and Bali, but I'll cut to the highlights of the trip...
I could go on and on about the villa and Bali, but I'll cut to the highlights of the trip...
White Water Rafting
We went white water rafting on the Telaga Waja River. The 2 hour trip was full of class 3 and 4 rapids, waterfalls that we boated under and it ended with a 12 foot drop off a water damn! Very fun!
We had a girls raft and a boys raft:
Westen and Aidan chilling under a waterfall during our half-time break!
Anika and Brenna in the waterfall:
The Williams-Weiss gang riverside:
More pix of rafting:
Surfing in Kuta
On Wednesday we moved to Nusa Dua and stayed in a hotel on the beach. The kids took surfing lessons on Kuta Beach on Thursday. Westen and Anika had already taken a surf lesson in Australia, but Aidan and Brenna were total novices. I was amazed at how quickly all 4 kids picked it up. They were hanging 10 in no time! I have so many pix, it's hard to choose. I'll put a few here and then put a surf slide show.
Aidan catching a wave:
Brenna:
More Surfing Pix:
SAS Reunion
SAS Reunion
Another highlight of the trip was meeting up with friends from Shanghai. We lived across the hall from Amy, Scott and Blake for 4 years. Well, we only lived across from Blake for about a year and a half, but he was with us in spirit for the full 4 years!!! We worked with Cody & Lynsey for 4 years and only lived a couple of buildings away. They have cute little Ben, who's almost 2. We met up with them 3 times while we were in Nusa Dua and had a great time being together.
Here's the gang:
Here's the gang:
The 9th floor kids, together again:
Surprise SAS Reunion: It's a Small World After All!
The Williams-Weiss gang met up with the Hossack-Howitt gang on our last night in Bali. We met at Uno, a western Italian restaurant in Nusa Dua. We were sitting at a big, long table, when lo and behold, we see former SAS students that moved to Singapore a year ago January! What a crazily small world. Their son, Michael was friends with Aidan and Westen.
Here's a picture of all 3 of them. (L-R Aidan, Westen, Michael) Apparently they all go to the same barber!
Random Bali pix - coffee plantation, pool time, friends, etc.:
Here are pix from a trip to some temples:
