Jen Geer, a college roommate and veteran expat (who repatriated last July) gave me some sage advice when we were home for the Holidays: After your first trip home, plan a vacation--anything, just so you have something to look forward to after going home. It helps with the let down after the big trip home. Good advice!
What started as a plan to have a long weekend over Lunar New Year in February turned into a week-long Bali vacation in March. We affectionately call it our "Post-Holiday/Pre-Baby/Shelby's-Birthday/Honeymoon" trip. It was wonderful.
Our butler Wayan gleefully arranged the timing and presentation of our meals with the chef, made sure Kyle had cold Coke in the fridge, scheduled our daily, in-villa massages or treatments with the spa staff, planned our outings and tours with our driver and made our dinner reservations when we decided to go out. The staff cleaned up after us and did our laundry every day (love coming back with a suitcase full of clean clothes!) and even went to buy me a floating ring so I could lie out in the sun on my tummy. Kyle read three or four books and got some much needed sleep. It was wonderful. Did I write that already?! Here come the pictures!
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| The outdoor portion of the master bath |
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| Mosquito netted bed with inside living room & second full bath |
We relaxed at the villa on the first day, during which I learned how easily a pregnant woman burns in the sun. I never burn! Ouch. But Wednesday took us to beautiful
Geger Beach in Nusa Dua for a morning walk and out to lunch. We had to be back by 3pm for our spa treatments and dinner at the villa at 7pm. Busy, busy!
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| Crocketts (with burned chest!) |
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| Kyle at Geger Beach after being solicited for a massage |
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| Pregs says Hi! |
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Our table for two in our outdoor living room, Kyle reading up on Bali
Thursday was mostly about relaxing in our pool in between breakfast, lunch and spa treatments and an evening out at the beautiful St. Regis: Drinks (mocktails for me) at the King Cole Bar and dinner at Kayuputi. Delicious. |
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| Morning at the villa |
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| St. Regis, Bali |
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| St. Regis, Bali |
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| This was the waiter's third try at a picture. "A" for effort! |
Friday was FULL:
Monkey Forest, a lovely lunch at
Lamak, Mt. Batur (active
volcano!) and Lake Batur, BAS Coffee Plantation and finally a seaside dinner at
Breeze to watch the sun set.
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| Everybody loves babies |
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| That looks like it might hurt |
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| So tired |
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| Rice Terraces on the way to Mt. Batur |
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| Kyle and Pregs at Lake Batur |
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| Lake Batur |
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| Mt. Batur (black is lava flow from last eruption) |
I like to call the next stop "Taking Kyle to his People." If you know Kyle, you know how much he loves-loves-loves his coffee. Well, this isn't just any coffee. At
BAS Coffee Plantation they produce (among other kinds) the most expensive coffee in the world:
Luwak Coffee. We just called it Poo Coffee, since it comes from
poop. We agreed that it is superior to the other coffees we tasted at the plantation (yes, we drank it. Delicious).
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| Kyle roasting his beans |
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Separating male and female beans--
Who knew? |
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| Line 'em up! (Poo coffee is in the green pot) |
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| It's really better? |
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| Kyle is right at home |
Because traffic in Bali is so congested, we changed in the car on the way to Seminyak Beach in order to make our dinner at
Breeze on time. A beautiful sunset (and lemon scented wet washcloths thankfully) were waiting!
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| SBC & KDC |
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| Dinner by sunset |
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| Seminyak Beach sunset |
Saturday was gladly spent relaxing, reading, listening to music and then heading to dinner at
di Mare. My drink was called "Banana in Pajamas." Yum.
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| Kyle and his sarong preparing for a massage |
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| S + K |
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| Our table for two at di Mare |
Sunday we took it easy and again, enjoyed a casual beachside lunch at La Lucciola and ended the day with a beautiful dinner at
Kura Kura Grill in the Oberoi Hotel.
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| The baby belly |
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| Lunch at La Lucciola |
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| Blurry-blurry at Kura-Kura |
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| Loving the set up, especially the salt and pepper |
We headed back to the villa for a short nap before our 3:35am flight, where they even asked for my doctor's note before clearing me to fly. I thought I was in trouble, but the flight folks actually gave me lots of special treatment. Way to go, Baby C!
What a great trip. We are some truly lucky people.
:)sbc
Beautiful~ I love the pregnant mom styles too:)
ReplyDeleteSo many things to comment on: First, you look fantastic! Also, what an amazing, beautiful and relaxing trip! And finally, how on earth did you ever pull yourself away from the monkey farm? So adorable!
ReplyDeleteThanks Jessica and Angie! The monkey forest was really neat, but the monkeys were kind of unpredictable, which made them a little scary. They were cute, but if you bought bananas on the way in, they came after you with determination!
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