Drop it Like it's Hot in Bali

Hello World! It's been a while, but I figure it's time we sat down and had another chat :)  This time about our trip to Bali.

February 28 Eric and I took it to Bali, Indonesia.  We added a new city and I added a new country to the list.  Eric took a couple days off work and we headed out.  We arrived in Bali about 11 or so I think went through the airport where you have to buy a visa on arrival and for some reason you have to pay this fee in US dollars, but the currency in the country is not USD...go figure.  We knew this ahead of time and were prepared, luckily.  Made it through the long customs line and finally out of the airport.  We grabbed a taxi and were then in awe of the driving there.  It was ridiculous, worse than Malaysia.  Many of the roads are little two way, one lane roads that barely seem big enough for one car, let alone two and there are motorbikes coming from everywhere (again, worse than KL).  A lot of the motorbikes are tourist as well, making them even worse drivers on the bikes because they aren't used to it.  I read a statistic in a magazine that an average of 1 Australian dies a day in Bali, mostly due to motorbike accidents, and it's Australians that die because most tourist in Bali are from Australia as it's an easy destination for them to travel to.  I digress, so we make it to our hotel, get checked in and relax for a few minutes as it's been a busy morning/afternoon.  I was also about 12 weeks pregnant at the time and looking forward to relaxing (so sleepy in the beginning).  Our hotel was about a 5 minute walk to the beach, so we headed that way to check it out and grab a late lunch.  We had a nice little lunch at a spot overlooking the beach, once we finished up there we headed back to the hotel to relax by the pool and soak up some sun.  The pool bar at our hotel was pretty cool, always people hanging around, which Eric enjoyed since I wasn't drinking.  We played trivia and bingo while sitting at the pool bar.  We were one right answer away from winning trivia! Bingo was fun too because the guys calling the numbers were very difficult to understand, and they made it even worse by B...ten and three (or B13) and we have no idea which number they are trying to say, B10, B3, B what?? Please repeat!! :)  It was all good though, lots of fun.  We got cleaned up and decided to walk into the Seminyak area, where we were staying, and find some place for dinner.  We had a nice dinner and went back, I was wiped out...pregnancy really takes it out of you, and so does the sun, so I had a double whammy.  I don't think we stayed out past 10 any of the three nights we were there. 

So turns out I only took once picture on our first day, whoops :/ it's of Eric fanning out the Indonesian currency, Rupiah, which $1 USD = 9753 Rupiah...I think this was 1 or 2 million Rupiah. 

Day 2 was packed! A lot of sights and a lot of time spent in the car getting to said sights.  We hired a car and driver for the day to take us around, which is so nice to be able to sit back and relax while someone drives you around for the day.  Our first stop was a temple called Tanah Lot.  It has beautiful surroundings and the actual temple is in a rock formation in the water and can only be accessed during low tide.  Tide was in while we were there, so we couldn't go out to it, but we aren't allowed inside anyway, so oh well.  We walked around the grounds for a while taking it all in and seeing everything, all while dripping in sweat! Hence the title of this blog, it was so freaking hot in Bali! So hot!! I ended up a little dehydrated by the end of the trip, I thought I was drinking enough water, but I wasn't, so if you are planning on going to Bali drink way too much water! You should probably drown yourself in and that might be enough.  I had a headache for two straight days at the end and while we were back in KL.  Anyways...Tanah Lot was really cool to see. Take a look for yourself.

After Tanah Lot we hopped in the car and headed towards Ubud, a cultural hot spot in Bali.  Our first stop there was Monkey Forest.  And don't let the name fool you, it's really forest dedicated to housing and protecting monkey's ;)  There were monkeys EVERYWHERE!! We declined to buy food at the entrance so we wouldn't be attacked and I left my snacks in the car so they wouldn't try to get into my bag and steal something out of it...which we heard they did.  We can up to the one spot that had a little swimming hole and a couple trees and statues surrounding it, this is where we saw most of the monkeys.  They were playing in the water and jumping off the trees and statues onto each other and in the water, just having a great time.  They were a lot of fun to watch, most people were gathered here watching as well.  When we walked up I had mentioned to Eric to be careful while he was taking pictures not to step on a monkey or anything as he might not be paying attention.  So, what happens...I step on a monkey tail while not paying attention and nearly get attacked by 4 different monkeys!  I was a little afraid for my life.  Teeth bared and coming at me, I backed away rather quickly and they seemed to drop it.  It was so scary.  I saw the guy that worked there staring at me afterwards and I apologized, he told me I didn't owe him an apology, so I gave a quick I'm sorry to the monkey :/  Glad that was over and I could move on.  We left the watering hole and went walking around a little to check out the rest of the forest, it was pretty neat.  Almost got attacked by another monkey a little later while we were walking, we weren't doing anything, just walking.  But this monkey didn't like us on his path or something, so he swatted at us a little...time to move on.  As we were leaving Eric had one monkey jump on his back start swatting at his head for some reason, just walking by, and even opened his mouth to his head a little.  Eric was a little afraid he had rabies for the rest of the day after that encounter.  Monkey Forest is no joking matter, watch out!

(rough life for this little guy, lol)

 

After Monkey Forest we went to Goa Gajah, or elephant caves.  They were pretty cool, small, but still nice.  We didn't stay long here as there wasn't a ton to see, and we didn't pay for one of the guides, so we don't know the whole story behind them either.  So here is what Wikipedia has to say about it...

Goa Gajah, or Elephant Cave, is located on the island of Bali near Ubud, in Indonesia. Built in the 9th century, it served as a sanctuary.^[

At the façade of the cave is a relief of various menacing creatures and demons carved right into the rock at the cave entrance. The primary figure was once thought to be an elephant, hence the nickname Elephant Cave. The site is mentioned in the Javanese poem Desawarnana written in 1365. An extensive bathing place on the site was not excavated until the 1950s.^[2] These appear to have been built to ward off evil spirits.

 

And here are some of our pics.

 

 

 

Next stop was lunch! Thank goodness, this preggo lady was HUNGRY!  Our driver took us to a nice little spot with decent views.  It was in the back of some gallery and facing some rice paddies.  Ubud is also known for their luscious green rice paddies (the ones at our lunch spot were in the process of getting green), very pretty :)

 

 

We made the hour drive back to our hotel after our late lunch and we were able to relax for a little and get cleaned up before heading back out to a nice spot called Ku De Ta.  This place is on the beach and known for its sunsets and cocktails.  I got neither :(  Sunset wasn't great as it was cloudy, but it was still a nice view and nice spot right on the beach.  Eric had a couple beers and a cigar and I enjoyed a little glass of red wine.  We had a nice place on the deck, so we ended up staying for dinner and just enjoying a relaxing time there, couldn't have asked for a better night.  After dinner we stopped by Cold Stone (since we don't have one here), got a little ice cream and went back to the hotel and crashed after the long day in the sun!

 

 

Saturday was spent relaxing after the crazy busy Friday we had.  We spent the morning at the beach and the afternoon at the pool.  It was very nice and enjoyable.  I had to stay under an umbrella most of it as the sun was brutal and Eric spent some time at the pool bar chatting it up while I caught up on gossip magazines.  That night we went to Uluwatu, another temple in Bali, this one still an hour away and on a cliff side instead of in the water.  While there we watched a Kecak show, or fire dance show.  It's a story told through acting and no speaking.  There are a group on men that sit around a circle chanting the entire time and you watch the story unfold as they do.  The story basically is about a princess that gets fooled into being stolen away by an evil king, and her being rescued by her real prince.  There was an crazy monkey, and a crazy bird, and an old man, a deer, and a princess and a  prince and king. Crazy characters, very good show.  After the show we went back to the hotel, had some dinner and hung out at the pool bar for a bit and headed to bed, another long day gone!

 

 

Here's a little clip I found on YouTube from someone showing bits and pieces of the Kecak Show.  It's 12 minutes and gets a little blurry at times towards the end, but it's not bad.

http://youtu.be/7bcCYJxfCo4

 

 

 

 

 

Here's a couple pics from the temple too, Uluwatu.

 

 

Our last day, Sunday, was spent walking around Seminyak a little seeing if there was anything to buy, didn't find anything, but had a nice day before we had to head to the airport.  Bali was fantastic, but of course, like all of our trips we didn't have nearly enough time to do everything.   Maybe next time Bali. Until then... :)

(our piece of Indonesian art we brought back, all hand carved and kind of tells the story line of the Kecak show we saw)

 

 



Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds

I have been meaning to write this for a while now, but I haven't and it needs to be written.  This blog post will be a little memorial for our sweet baby girl Lucy. 

(about a week after we got her at Skydive Houston)

We brought Lucy home June 2005.  She was the cutest little pup ever.  I don't know why, but over the year or so until we got her I just knew I wanted a little fawn pug and I wanted to name her Lucy.  She was perfect.  She went everywhere with us, went to visit grandparents and great grandparents, went to watch Eric's brother and Dad skydive, she went to Fredericksburg with us, just where ever we could bring her. 

(Lucy and her doggles after our trip to Fredericksburg)

 

(falling alseep on the way home, just like a kid)

(Christmas 2005)

One thing she did and we don't know why it started, when she was a pup she started watching tv and barking at almost every animal she saw.  She never got rid of this habit.  She would even bark at Brian the cartoon dog on Family Guy.  It was so funny, everyone loved it (except us after a few years, it got a little annoying sometimes), we couldn't watch any animal shows, lol.  Luckily, when she went to my Grandma's house or Eric's moms they would leave Animal Planet on for her or watch the Westminster Dog Show with her. She loved it.  She also had an amazing memory when it came to the tv.  If she saw a commercial one time that had a dog or another animal in it (but usually dog) and there was a song in the commercial she would remember the song and know there was a dog in the commercial.  Target commercials, pet food commercials, all of it.  Her favorite commercial was the one with the little yellow lab for K9 Advantix and he was singing "there ain't no bugs on me," she would come running from the other room as soon as she heard the first note of this commercial and watch and bark at the tv.  We could even sing the song and she would go run to the tv and be a little disappointed when there was no puppy on tv, lol.  http://youtu.be/nNlt0D_xba4

  (the cone of shame)

She had a bag full of tricks I taught her too, she was a pretty smart girl.  She could sit, shake, lay down, speak, roll over and play dead when you pretended to shoot her and said bang :)

(Halloween 2009)

 

One of Eric's favorite memories with Lucy was one night I was out of town and it was just him and Lucy hanging at the house.  He was sitting on the back patio drinking a glass of scotch, he had a little plate with him and decided he didn't want to drink alone, lol (I would have never let this happen had I been home).  He poured a little out on the plate and Lucy just lapped it up, so he gave her a little more and she lapped it up again.  When they went inside a little later he said she couldn't walk straight and ran into the door frame when trying to go back inside, poor thing. 

 

 

My favorite times with Lucy were when I would be sick and it was like she knew and would just lay with me and comfort me all day, not needing anything just being there with me.  Another good memory is that she would tell you when she was hungry and you needed to feed her.  At our house we had one of those door stoppers behind our pantry door and right next to her food bowl.  One night Eric and I were sitting on the couch and she rang the door stopper and it makes this boing noise.  We don't come, so she does it again, we still don't come and she does it again.  We still don't come and she moves a little closer and flicks the one by the garage door (about halfway closer to us) and just stares at us, like Hello, Feed Me!  It was so funny.  She did it a few times over the years, and it was hilarious everytime.  She was an amazing dog.  



In February 2008 we brought Lucy home a little friend to keep her company during the day while we were at work.  We brought home a little black pug and named her Ava.  They instantly became buddies and sisters.  Ava loved her big sister so much, she would follow her around and loved snuggling with her in the bed.  They were so cute together. 

(first pic of Lucy and Ava)

(best buds)

(snuggle buddies)

In January 2012 we said goodbye to Houston, our family and friends, and our little girls (just for a month though) while we moved here to KL and they stayed with my Grandpa for three weeks and then headed this way on a plane!  We were so excited to see them when they finally arrived.  They only had to be in quarantine for a week, so we went and saw them once while they were there and then next thing we knew they were home with us.  It was so great to have them back.  I was lonely without them, and I know they missed us too.  They were a God send to me this past year, the year would have been very tough without Lucy and Ava.  They kept me company when I was home and lonely and were my family. 

 

 (In their stroller, this is how we take them out in KL)



December 21, 2012 was a horrible day.  We had dropped Lucy and Ava off at a kennel the evening before (a kennel they had stayed once before).  We had an early flight to head to Krabi, Thailand with friends for Christmas on the 21st, which is why we dropped them the night before.  I received a phone call about 10am (I can't even finish this sentence without crying) from the kennel telling me that Lucy had passed away in her sleep over the night.  I couldn't believe it, it felt like my world was tumbling down around me.  I felt so helpless.  There was nothing I could do.  Our driver arrived to take us to the airport, we had him stop by the kennel so we could say our goodbyes to Lucy and check on Ava.  They handed me a picture they had taken of the two of them the night before in front of a little Christmas setting, their last picture together.  We told them to arrange her cremation and we would pick her up along with Ava when we got back :`(  I think it was actually good for Ava to be in the kennel surrounded by other dogs as a bit of a transition to being without Lucy.  It was heart breaking when we brought Ava home,  she kept going around the house and to the front door looking for Lucy, expecting her to be there.  I think Ava will always remember Lucy, last month I was out with Ava and another fawn pug walked by, Ava just stopped and stared at her until she could no longer see her. Another heart breaking moment. 

Lucy is and will continue to be missed by all of us, always.  I am very sad that she will never meet the two little twins we have on the way.  We love you very much and know that you are looking down on us from Heaven.

 

Christmas in Krabi

I know it's 2 months after Christmas, but I am a slacker, and haven't written anything in 2 months. So here we go.

Christmas in Krabi, Thailand was awesome, very relaxing.  Not sure we could have relaxed anymore. The above picture is the view from our patio. Pretty sweet, right?  Since we weren't going home for Christmas and we had some other friends not going home for Christmas we all decided to go somewhere together.  We settled on Krabi, as we wanted a beach destination and it was one of the cheaper options we could find :)  We went with Chantal, Scott and their daughter Ashley and Jaime and Liam.  The 7 of us rented a villa on the beach.  The villa was a three bedroom U shaped house that wrapped around a pool in the middle.  Very nice all the way around, the beds could have been better though.  Eric and I had to push together two twin beds that were super hard mattresses..fun..Other than that though, no complaints.  We got in and had our driver stop by a grocery store for us to stock up for our 5 days at the house.  We got breakfast, lunch, a couple dinners, snacks and of course a lot of beverages. (I wasn't drinking though as we were waiting to find out if I was pregnant!) The beverage situation was a disaster at Tesco.  Apparently, they only sell alcohol at certain times and if you are out of that time frame you have to purchase something like 10L worth of booze.  We were 3L short I think and they were giving us a HUGE stink about it.  We didn't want to buy anything else (of course we should have, because the guys ended up needing some more later), but I think on principal they argued with 3 or 4 different people that barely spoke English for about 30-45 min or so.  Crazy, we were all getting cranky and wanting to leave.  Finally they let us buy it all, I think to shut us up and get us out of the store.  So, off we go on our way to the villa and get settled in. 

Our second day we headed into town to check it out and stop by a dive shop as everyone but me and Eric were going out on a boat to go snorkel or dive over the weekend.  I didn't go because I thought the boat ride would be too bumpy for me if I was preggers, and my loving husband stayed back with me :)  We stopped by the shop so everyone could get fitted for flippers and the like and we walked around a little bit and grabbed a bite to eat at a little restaurant across the way before heading back and getting a little lost on the way.  We also had rented a car, and the 7 of us crammed into anytime we all went somewhere :)

 

 Most of our time was spent hanging out at the villa, playing cards, swimming, reading, laying out...just whatever we wanted to do.  It was great!  Eric and I got up early one morning to walk on the beach and pick up seashells! We got some good ones too!!  The guys also attempted a little skim boarding, it didn't quite turn out that great.  There were a lot of falls, some scrapes and sore bones, and a little hurt pride I think, lol. 

 

Christmas morning! Woohoo! It wasn't the same as being at home with family, but it was still really good.  It was weird not doing the family thing all day, this was our first Christmas away from home :(
Which is why we wanted to do something with friends and go somewhere, so we weren't sitting in our apartment by ourselves all day!  I'm so glad we went away with friends, it was nice.  We had previously picked names for a secret santa gift exchange and decided to buy a present for a white elephant as well.  Luckily we had a kid in our midst, so it was a lot about her.  She had tons of little things to open and took a good portion of the morning doing so!  Then we all took our turns opening and then guessing who had who, and then we did the white elephant exchange which was fun.  It was a fun Christmas morning and a relaxing day in all.  I think our first relaxing Christmas ever, lol!  We cooked a nice breakfast and all sat around and enjoyed it!  The rest of the day was spent laying around some more and playing games.  All followed by a delicious Christmas dinner we cooked! 

The next day we shut it down and headed home.  We all had a blast and Eric and I are so thankful to have such great friends here to enjoy the holidays with when we are so far away from home.  We had a great, relaxing trip.  Oh, and Eric actually read a book! haha! It was about 500 pages about Slash (his guitar idol).  An early Christmas present from me for him to read while we were away, and he actually read it! I couldn't believe it :)  I don't think Eric has ever relaxed so much in his life.  It was well needed for him.  We really had a great time! :)