China's Golden Week 2014

This year for October holiday (the week of National Holiday in China), we decided to go to the island of Borneo.  Before this trip, I knew nothing about the island and it had a reputation that I didn't know about.  After our trip, I was texting a friend in the US and she mentioned that her grandmother would refer to the "wild women of Borneo".  Even recent episode of the BBC show, Downton Abbey, Lord Grantham referred to Borneo.

I believe that the island of Borneo is the third largest island in the world.  The northern part of the island where we stayed is governed by Malaysia and the southern part is governed by Indonesia.  After doing a bit of research, I think the former practice of head-hunting on the island might have had something to do with its reputation.  

Our visit at the beginning of October meant that there was a good chance that the rainy season might have already begun.  And, it had.  There were a few days of full sun, but many days it rained.  We were thankful for a great hotel with lots of indoor options for fun because we needed it.

Enjoying some Borneo milk tea.

This look says, "Oh, dad"

Our hotel had an orangutan rescue center.  We were fortunate to see the orangutan's up-close during their morning feeding time.

On our way to the sanctuary...

 Here they come...

Can you see the baby hanging onto the mama?

Comparing our feet to the orangutan.

 The clouds are rolling in and the rain will begin...

Date night.  Jamie and I have decided that going to dinner with fewer than your maximum amount of children constitutes a date night.  LBean and EBean partied at the Kids Club while Jamie, ChinaBean and I enjoyed a nice Indian dinner.

Mmm, Indian food!

We convinced the girls one night to go to a teppanyaki restaurant.  They were skeptical at first, but the table-side entertainment and good food won them over.  LBean sighed and said that it was too bad there weren't these kinds of restaurants in Suzhou.  I got to give her the good news that indeed China has it's fair share of Japanese teppanyaki food too.

While the rain came down, we found ways to entertain ourselves.  We enjoyed games in the kids club and it was even more fun because some friends from school happened to be staying at the same hotel.  We took advantage of the activities in the lobby and learned how to make a grasshopper out of a leaf and fold napkins in fancy ways.  The hotel also had a nice open-air game room and we introduced EBean to game Jenga and LBean tried to dominate a game of checkers.

On our last day in Borneo, when the sun broke through, we made a mad dash to the pool before the rain began again.  The water was a bit chilly since there hadn't been enough sun to warm it up, but the girls got over it quickly and enjoyed themselves.

Peeking up at our room!

On our way back to the airport that evening Jamie struck up a conversation with our Maylasian taxi driver.  The driver mentioned that he had been to the US before (I was expecting him to say L.A. or some other major city) and in fact he had been to Illinois.  He shared with us that he had gone to school for 18 months in southern Illinois to earn his FAA pilot's license.  He had been about 3 hours from where Jamie and I grew up. 

What they say is true, it's a small world! 

Coffee & Friendship: Indonesia Days 2-4

Read about our first few days in Indonesia here.

Amanda didn’t have to apply any pressure to get us to agree to visit Borabudur, a 9th century Buddhist temple, the next day.  (Feel free to insert any Lord of the Rings references here.  We did…Borabudur, kinda like Mordor)  Borabudur is a UNESCO world heritage sight and easy to drive to in a few hours.  We borrowed their hiking baby carrier, strapped ChinaBean in, covered up our knees and shoulders (required to enter and show reverence for the sight), and began our ascent to the top.  It was a hot trek and we had four girls under the age of 7 with us, so we might have missed a bit of what our guide was trying to teach us.  Never-the-less it was impressive and I’m really glad we went.  We celebrated our descent with our traditional ice cream reward.  We really have eaten ice cream at every major historical sight we’ve visited.

On our way.

There's one in every crowd.

ChinaBean had the best ride.

Listening to our guide and enjoying a rest in the shade.

Going up, up, up.

EBean

LBean

Our friend's daughter, an honorary !Bean

Hot, but smiling.

EBean made a friend and led us down.  I think she might have been running towards the promise of ice cream.

Refreshment at last.

We found a place for lunch, but more importantly a place for the girls to run off a bit of energy.  In fact, now that I think of it, how did they have any energy left?

Dinner was street vendor food.  Yippee!  More peanut sauce, more chicken (this time on a stick, and veggies and rice with peanut sauce.  Amanda said the veggie/rice/peanut sauce was an Indonesian grown-up’s version of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  

Kids in bed and time for some adult conversation.

Our last full day was low-key a bit more local.  Laundry for us, kids running around, a quick trip to a grocery store for me to buy peanut sauce packets (what else?), swimming at a local pool and pizza for dinner.  We ended with a family movie night.  It took a bit of convincing for LBean, but the movie Mary Poppins was chosen.  She was a bit concerned it might be scary, but by the end she was marching and singing along.  It left such an impression that she asked for the movie for Christmas.  It’s a favorite now.

Time for a few last pictures.

On the way back to the airport.

The next morning it was time to load up the luggage and head back to the airport to finish up our time in Singapore.  We are so grateful to Jonathan & Amanda for opening up their home to us, even though we bring along a 5-person family amount of craziness.  Thank you for turning over your bedroom to us, showing us your favorite things and what matters to you, and for sharing your life with us.  My favorite moments were chatting with you as we stop at your kitchen sink washing dishes.  Until next time…