Singapore Impressions

Singapore has a large effecient airport.  As soon as we exited the airplane we were directed toward a screened carry on bag check and then directed to customs.  Everything from the carry on bag check to customs to retrieving our bags was quick and orderly.  Taxis are directly outside the airport and we were at our hotel within 15 minutes.  Singapore is a small country and the downtown area is very close to the airport which makes for easy transport from airport to hotel.    Taxis are surprisingly inexpensive in Singapore and there are taxis queues everywhere.

We were disappointed at the size of our hotel room.  It is VERY small.  I booked a family room with two single beds and a queen.  Other than the beds, there is a small walking space to the bathroom.  We are ON TOP of each other to say the least.  It’s been our smallest room yet and we feel it.  Only one of us can move about the room at a time.

Our hotel is a 7-10 minutes drive from the bustling downtown.  We have used taxis to get in and out of the city and it is probably the only inexpensive thing in Singapore.  The fee is roughly $5 US dollars each way which feels like a bargain.

The city itself is very clean.  It is against the law to litter and it is obviously enforced.  I was surprised at how busy the city is at all hours of the day and night.  There are areas that are as bustling as Manhattan minus the graffiti, litter, gum stained sidewalks and smells.  It feels particularly safe as well.  Something that surprised me is the many different cultures that make up Singapore.  I knew there would be many Chinese and Expats but was surprised at the melting pot of countries from India, Thailand, Turkey, Lebanon and Japan.  Of course, when you include all the tourists visiting from all parts of the world, it’s quite a mix.

The people are polite but not overly friendly.  Although, the taxi drivers have been quite chatty and helpful!  I feel like they give us a city tour every time we hire a cab.  I am big on making human connections and the taxi drivers have made our visit extra special, because of their kindness towards our family.

Singapore is full of gastronomic delicacies and a high end shopping mecca.  I’ve never seen so many large shopping malls.  Unfortunately, we aren’t big shoppers and we’ll eat pretty much anything and feel content from a Big Mac to filet mignon.  Also, the restaurants are ridiculously expensive.  They did have a few places that served high tea that would have been fun to try but we didn’t have correct attire to get in so it was a moot point.  We felt like the foodie part of Singapore was lost on us, although we did have some delicious baked goods a couple of times.

We’re happy we spent our Christmas in Singapore.  It offered a beautiful festive backdrop to our unconventional Christmas.

Bali Recap

We spent nearly a month in Bali and it was such an eye opener.  When we landed it felt other worldly to me.  Once exiting immigration and baggage claim, we entered another world; a sea of faces with signs held up for a taxi, the heat hit as if you opened an oven door, a small kiosk for sim cards and currency exchange is all that is there to help with the transition into this new environment.

We read that we should use the airport taxi service and avoid hiring just anyone asking to take you into town.  We did this and still got ripped off but what are you going to do.  The taxi had no air conditioning, all the windows were rolled down.  It was loud as scooters sped by, there is so much traffic in Denpasar and most of the drive to Ubud.  It must have taken an hour and a half.  We were so quiet, taking it all in.  When we found our homestay and it’s beautiful compound, we were relieved but the rooms were very simple and different than our normal hotel experiences.  We were cautiously optimistic.  We quickly put our things away and headed out for dinner.  We found a local warung (local casual restaurant) and grabbed a meal.  It was excellent and we were shocked at the price.  We paid $8.00 US for all of us.

I’ve written about our homestay and the wonderful experience it was for our family.  It will go down as one of the most special travel experiences I’ve had.  I ADORED getting a sneak peak into these families lives and their kindness will never be forgotten.

I also loved Ubud and I recommend travelers spend more time in this area.  There is so much to do and it is very inexpensive.  Everything is cheaper in this area from food to clothes to home goods and souvenirs.  It killed me not to be able to purchase anything to bring home but we don’t have any room in our luggage to buy things other than our tradition of a magnet we started when the kids were about six years old.

The locals in Ubud are lovely.  The only people calling out to you are the taxi drivers asking if you want a taxi-“cheap cheap”.  When you reply “no thanks”, they leave you alone.  I also recommend driving further away from Ubud into the many villages.  It’s a surreal experience and I came away enlightened.

Indonesian women are tough.  Households seem to have the  traditional role of women as the homemaker.  Woman get up around 4am everyday and head to the local markets which are in every village.  The markets begin opening around 3am.  The women go to the market and buy a days worth of food as well as all that is needed to make offerings.  She comes home and begins preparing food for the entire day.  Balinese don’t eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  They also only cook once a day, in the morning.  We often heard our hostess in the kitchen, which is always  a separate building or pod away from living quarters, in the early morning.  The kitchens also have an outdoor prep table with a large area for making offerings and cutting fruits.  The food is prepared for the entire day and left in the kitchen for the family to eat when they are hungry.  I would see children come out from their home and go into the kitchen and get a plate of food and take it to their lanai to eat. Also, they do not talk when they eat.  It is not a social thing, they eat for sustenance.  They don’t all eat together as a a family either.

The interesting thing is that women also perform manual labor.  I saw countless women working alongside men or simply a large group of women working.  They were  moving large mounds of rocks, gravel, and dirt using a large round plastic container to hold the material.  They then balanced it on their heads walking to wherever the material was to be used…..over and over they did this.

In addition, when working in the rice fields, there are certain laborous tasks that only the men do, and some that only the women do.  I was amazed at their work ethic.  They were quick to offer a smile when I smiled at them as well.

It seemed that women were always busy doing something.  They spent hours weaving leaves together to form square containers for offerings and then proceeded to put flower petals, leaves and food into the numerous containers.  They would shower and change into a sarong and lace blouse and take the offerings and incense to their home temple along with numerous areas of the compound.

We also spent some time in Kuta,  by the ocean.  Kuta felt like one large dirty tourist trap.  It has many bars and restaurants and is very busy and noisy.  The locals were aggressive with  their sales pitch on the street.  The beach was pretty the first couple days but then there must have been a stronge surge during high tide  overnight because the beach was littered with plastic and trash.  Our hotel staff and many restaurant servers were very friendly and outgoing.  The balinese have gorgeous large smiles that light up a room.

I would go as far as to say that Kuta can be skipped and replaced with a smaller coastal town where you get more of a local vibe.

 

Balinese Homestay

We chose to forego the typical hotel while in Ubud, Bali  Instead, we rented two rooms at a local Homestay.

What is a homestay?  It is a wonderful way to immerse yourself into Balinese culture.  Our homestay is owned by a few families and looks somewhat like a beautiful compound with many different pod style homes sprinkled throughout the property.  Our hosts home is next to ours and is not much larger than our two rooms.  The kitchens in Bali are not in the home.  They are in a separate pod or small building and are joined with an outdoor kitchen or preparation area for putting together food and flower offerings, chopping fruits and vegetables and washing dishes.

Owners home is on left.  Family temple is through the gates.

There are approximately 15 rooms with private lanais on the property.  Coffee and breakfast is served every morning on your private lanai.  We typically hear one of the  young boys, approximately 18 years old, set our cups and coffee on our table outside every morning around 6:30am.  We are up early every morning and head out for coffee.  They usually bring our breakfast about 30 minutes later.  Its such a treat for us and we have enjoyed a different breakfast every morning.  They also bring coffee and tea and sometimes a plate of fruit and sweet bread in the afternoons around 3pm.

As much as we enjoy our breakfast and afternoon tea, I think we appreciate observing the daily comings and goings of traditional Balinese life happening around us every day.

I enjoy seeing the children head off to school every morning.  All children go to school six days a week.  The younger children leave around 7:30am and return around 10:30am.  The older children have longer days similar to the United States.  The children’s uniforms are beautiful.  I would love to find the pattern of the shirts and buy one for Dan.  They are blue and white and have a unique design.  Some days they dress in the customary temple and ceremony attire; girls in the kebaya lace top with a sash and the ankle length skirt called an akin, boys also wear an akin or sarong  with a shirt and a head dress called an udeng.

Many of the woman walk around with large platters of offerings and incense and place them around the property.  They bless them by dipping the tip of a plumeria flower into water and waving their hand above their heads in a circular motion then flick the water onto diffierent statues and small shrines while saying a prayer silently.  They also light incense throughout the property.  We are slowly becoming used to the smell but often times have to close our windows because it is too strong for us.  (As I look out my window right now, I can see insense smoke floating in the air on our lanai.)

There are two young boys who serve us and clean our rooms.  They are quiet and friendly and quick to smile.  The owners daughter,  who is married with small children, does most of the cooking and interacts with the guests.  The owner is an older man and always knows what is going on.  He owns a small store just outside the homestay and sells food and drinks as well.

The property grounds are immaculate!  Every day we see people tending  it.  They use a long piece of bamboo daily to knock off dead plumeria leaves.  They are forever sweeping with a broom which is merely a number of long dried branches tied at the top with leaves from a plant.  They carry buckets of water to water plants also.  They frequently hand you a flower to put in your hair as you walk past them.  The women wear flowers behind their ear and in their hair, much like Hawaii.  The men put a small fragrant flower petal pointing vertically behind the middle of the top part of the ear.  I can’t figure out how it stays put.

Our homestay can be noisy.  Paying guests come and go and friends of the family do as well.  I, personally, love to see and hear children running around, so their voices and squeals don’t bother me.  Scooters are driven by everyone and often times you will hear a scooter drive through on the walkway in the middle of the night.  One night we woke to drumming  and chanting somewhere nearby.  One of the local families was clearly having some sort of ceremony.

We are enjoying peaking into the Balinese lifestyle and are pleased we chose to stay here.  It certainly isn’t as comfortable as a normal hotel and there isn’t air conditioning.  They have ceiling fans in every room.  I do our laundry in the sink every couple of days and each guest has drying racks on their lanais.  So far, I don’t mind at all.  (My Mom probably spit out her tea after reading that sentence, ha).  Seriously, its a great alternative and I’m so pleased that we tried something out of the box (for us).

Airbnb in Sydney, Australia

We were pleasantly surprised once again with our Airbnb apartment.  We didn’t arrive until 9pm and the owner met us outside the secured building (after we waited for about 5 minutes).  It was a warm evening and the apartment was quite stuffy when we entered.  The owner had been drying our towels in the dryer.  They had a small air con in the living room, which was necessary.  The apartment itself was much larger than anticipated and we were pleased with a washer and dryer in the unit.

The apartment was very simple and clean.  It had everything we needed.  The best part about it was its location.  It was about a 10 minute walk to Darling Harbor and the ferries which take you all over the area.  Darling Harbor isn’t quite as busy as Sydney Harbor but has everything and then some of what you need.

Chinatown, great shopping and supermarkets were 10 minutes away.  There were plenty of parks and museums nearby as well.

The street the apartment was located on was very busy but the windows were double pane and kept the noise at bay.  Although, when we did have the windows open, it was quite noisy.

The communication from first booking the apartment until our actual visit and during our visit was superb.  We received a text half way through our stay to make sure everything was okay.

The owner is planning on driving us to the airport to catch our next flight as well.  He charges the same amount as our taxi driver charged when we arrived.

We are sold on Airbnb type lodging.  We love having a kitchen, washer/dryer along with more room to spread out when coming home from sightseeing.  We are eating most of our meals at the apartment once again.  I pack sandwiches, fruit and chips for our lunches out and about and we always grab an ice cream or coffee mid day as a treat.

 

Airbnb First Impressions

Our apartment was on ground floor

Our first experience with Airbnb lodging was quite impressive.  When I began planning and booking lodging I was pleased with Airbnb’s website and the ease with which to find rooms/apartments within our budget along with swift communication with the owners.  The secure online payment was very user friendly as well.  You do pay in full when booking with Airbnb.

View from home

View from down our quiet street

When I first communicated with our owner for Whangarei Heads, NZ, he was nothing but pleasant and friendly.  He gave me solid advice about where to stay upon arriving in Auckland since his home is 3 hours north.  He responded to all of my texts and emails as well.

Backyard gardens along with a small laundry off back of home.

I have to say that everyone that I communicated with when inquiring about lodging responded promptly and courteously.  I have nothing but positive things to say about our experience.

Approximately one week before leaving for our trip, I received a text from another Airbnb owner who we booked with for our visit to the South Island.  They had to cancel our entire week due to a family emergency.  I scrambled a bit and ended up changing our plans.  In the end, I was grateful for the cancellation because our new plan is much traveler friendly.  Thanks God!!  We were refunded our money within a day or two.  It was all very seamless.

Getting back to our hosts in Whangarie Heads, we were met as we pulled in the driveway, shown our small apartment and had a book with all the details of our apartment along with fun things to do in the area.  Our hosts left early for work every day and we had the apartment and surrounding front and back yard to ourselves.  They have a beautiful garden and we picked strawberries daily.  They also had two friendly chickens who supplied fresh eggs when desired. They also had a washer and dryer which was wonderful to stay on top of our laundry.  Their kitchenette was small but I was able to cook all of our meals but one.  It worked out beautifully and they had everything we needed to make simple healthy meals.

Living area, kids trundle bed was in this area and our bedroom is visible too.

If you’re on the fence about trying an alternative to typical hotels and resorts, I highly recommend giving Airbnb and similar websites a chance.  I scoured the reviews and chose the best fit for our family within our budget.  I think we will be using this service more than hotels in the future.  I enjoy being able to make a cup of coffee or tea when I feel like it and cooking our own meals.  It’s fun to go out every now and again but as I get older, I prefer preparing our own food (and I am not an amazing cook and/or particularly like to cook).  I simply feel better when I prepare our food, ah, the joys of middle age.