Day 148 Dec 30 2014 Candidasa Bali Indonisia

typical tourist view

about to get nailed

time for a quick drink

life in paradise

Day 148 Dec 30 2014  Candidasa Bali Indonisia

We went back to White Sand beach today.  When we got close we found out that the road to the beach was blockaded with concrete posts and barbed wire.  It turns out that the road crossed private property and the owner of the land and the local village could not come to an agreement over the road so the owner blocked access.  We had to walk the last 400 to 500 meters to get to the beach.    Isabel and I snorkeled for over an hour then we returned to the beach for lunch.   The restaurants were still in business despite the road closure so we tried one towards the middle of the beach.  The food was good and we did not get sick.   After lunch I went snorkeling again while the kids and Evy played in the waves. The snorkeling is good about 50 meters off of shore and along both sides of the cove with some nice coral gardens and a large variety of fish.

Day 147 Dec 29 2014 Candidasa Bali Indonisia

Whats class 3 and 4 mean??  More school?

great scenery 

half way rest stop

I forgot how much work this is!

you mean this end doesn't go in the water

Day 147 Dec 29 2014  Candidasa Bali Indonisia

We  went white water rafting with a company called Alam Amazing Adventures down the Telaga Waja River near Karangasem with a traveled distance of 16 KM.  It was David and Isabel’s first time rafting and they both enjoyed it.   Isabel got my elbow in her head when I pushed off a rock and David got the end of a paddle in the chest when Evy did the same thing.  David also got a paddle in the mouth when we hit one of the drops and everybody went flying forward.  No real injuries but enough to make you realize why you had to wear a helmet.  Isabel had the easiest time of all of us as she is still too small to paddle so her job was to hang on for dear life so she did not go overboard.  Our taxi driver Padole managed to get us a very good rate for the rafting so that was a bonus.

Day 146 Dec 28 2014 Candidasa Bali Indonisia

How can I get away from this girl?

The last time I was holding birds I had to get a new shirt

Mines bigger than yours

Day 146 Dec 28 2014  Candidasa Bali Indonisia

We went to the Bird park and Reptile park in Batubulan, Bali and saw several of  the bird shows and the kids had the opportunity to hold various types of birds from lorries to an owl.  After the bird park we went to the reptile park next door.  They had a fair selection of snakes, salt water crocodiles and Iguanas as well as a few geckos.  In all we spent 5 ½ hours visiting the two parks.

Day 145 Dec 27 2014 Candidasa Bali Indonisia

Day 145  Dec 27 2014   Candidasa Bali Indonisia

This day was a repeat of the 26^th with the exception that we did not even leave Catra.  We ate supper in the restaurant and swam in the pool.  Evy and I read books most of the day and the kids played video games.

Day 144 Dec 26 2014 Candidasa Bali Indonisia

David's most enjoyable moments of the trip continue to be doing school work!!!!

Day 144  Dec 26 2014   Candidasa Bali Indonisia

Today was a homework day.  In the afternoon Evy and I walked to a store and bought some groceries as the 27^th is a celebration day for the Hindu’s in Bali and we are not sure what will be open and what will be available.  In the late afternoon we went to the resort next door for supper and to swim in their pool.

Day 143 Dec 25 2014 Candidasa Bali Indonisia

small Christmas presents that we will not have to carry

David got his favorite chocolates

Day 143  Dec 25 2014   Candidasa Bali Indonisia

White Sand Beach was the place we went to today, it is a typical beach in paradise.  The kids and Evy played in the waves while I went snorkeling.  The area I was snorkeling in was along some cliffs so there was no shallow water.  I was swimming in water that ranged from 10 to 20 feet deep.  There were some very nice coral gardens with lots of very colorful fish and eels.  We saw some dolphins swimming just off the beach. We ate at a beach front restaurant, the kids had grilled squid and Evy and I had grilled fish.  Almost immediately after eating Evy and I developed pounding headaches, our heart started beating at a high rate, we developed red patches over our bodies, some stomach cramps, Evy's tongue felt swollen  and I had a bit of nausea.  We were lucky in that the taxi driver was scheduled to pick us up from the beach shortly after we started getting sick.  When we got to the apartment we both took benadryl and went to sleep for a few hours.  When we woke up we were both feeling good and we had not experienced any vomiting or diarrhea as I was expecting.  After consulting Dr. Google, I am convinced we had something called “histamine fish poisoning”.

Day 142 Dec 24 2014 Candidasa Bali Indonisia

Christmas Eve supper (notice the formal wear)

Feeding a monkey at the Monkey Forest

Our Christmas tree in Bali

Rice Terrace near Ubud Bali

Do I really want to go down there?

Day 142  Dec 24 2014   Candidasa Bali Indonisia

Our taxi driver picked us up at 8 am as our first stop of the day was a Balinese dance performance as Evy wanted to see it.  As I was sitting there watching it, I started thinking that I would rather go see a ballet.  The first and last time I saw a ballet I remember walking out of it and saying to Evy that if she loved me she would never take me to the ballet again.  The highlight of the day for me was a visit to the Monkey Forest where we fed the monkeys bananas.  I tried to hide bananas under my shirt but that turned out to be a bad idea as the moneys just climb on you and try to rip them out.  David had a few problems with the monkeys.  He was wearing shorts with a lot of yellow on them and several monkeys tried to get the bananas that he did not have.  One monkey tried to pull his shorts off and also tried to bite his pocket open.  David sat down on a bench a few feet away from a monkey and it came over to him and started to pull at his arm and then started to check the pockets and fly area of his shorts.  David stood up and tried to move away when the monkey started to check out his fly.  The monkey followed David and hung onto his leg; all of the sudden a large monkey ran over and pushed the little monkey off of David’s leg, grabbed his shorts then bit David on the leg.  It was right then that I was glad that we had made the decision to get vaccinated against rabbies, especially after seeing signs that day saying “eliminate rabies, vaccinate you pets”.  Even after getting bitten David still wanted to continue feeding the monkeys.  The last stop of the day was a rice terrace near Ubud, it was a scenic view.

Day 141 Dec 23 2014 Candidasa Bali Indonisia

Day 141  Dec 23 2014   Candidasa Bali Indonisia

The days consist of reading, playing video games, homework and updating the blog.  Evy had a hair appointment in the early afternoon and massage in the afternoon.  Isabel and I tried to go snorkeling in the late afternoon in front of our apartment.  The ocean was very stirred up and we could not see more then 2 to 3 feet in front of us.  We swan out from shore a hundred meters but things did not get better so we went swimming in the pool instead.  

Day 140 Dec 22 2014 Candidasa Bali Indonisia

Isabel grinding luwak coffee

trying our free selection of tea and coffee

Tirtagangga Water Palace

waiting for one of them to fall in

Day 140  Dec 22 2014   Candidasa Bali Indonisia

We visited 2 water palaces built by a previous King of Indonesia.  The first one we went to was the Ujung Water Palace.  It consist of several relatively small buildings surrounded by lots of water and gardens.  The second palace we went to was the Tirtagangga Water Palace it was smaller but more ornate. The next stop of the day was at a model coffee plantation just outside of Candidasa and right next to Bali Aga village.  We were served 14 different kinds of tea and a cup of regular arabic coffee for free, we also purchased a cup of Luwak coffee for IDR 50,000  (about $5.00 CAD).  It was a little weird to be drinking coffee that had passed through the digestive tract of a civet but it definitely had a very mellow taste to it.  The last stop of the day was at Bali Aga village which is a traditional village where the villagers must marry from within and no visitors are allowed in after dark.  I found it to be nothing more than a tourist trap with a donation required to enter and not much to see other than most of the people were trying to sell weavings and Balinese calendars.  It was not worth the visit.  We did see a very interesting plant that would close its leaves when we touched it.

Day 139 Dec 21 2014 Candidasa Bali Indonisia

Beach Restaurant in Amed Bali

Selfie

Isabels first time snorkeling without a life jacket

Amed with Bali's largest volcano in the background

Day 139  Dec 21 2014   Candidasa Bali Indonisia

We took a taxi to Amed which is a town close to Candidasa which has a coral reaf just off shore.  We  went snorkeling for 1 ½ hours then ate lunch at the restaurant that we were snorkeling in front of, the food was really good.  We went snorkeling for 45 min after lunch then went shopping at a grocery store in another town.  It was supposed to be a supermarket and though it did have much more selection than the little stores in Candidasa it was lacking by Canadian standards.  I ended up with a sunburn to the back of my legs and parts of my back even though I applied sunscreen to my back during lunch.  I never thought about re-applying sunscreen to the backs of my legs until it was too late.

Day 138 Dec 20 2014 Candidasa Bali Indonisia

Snorkeling in front of Catra Apartments

pool at Catra Apartments

the tooth fairy comes through

walking back from shopping in Candidasa

Day 138  Dec 20 2014   Candidasa Bali Indonisia

We hung around the apartment complex most of the day.  The kids spent hours in the pool then we went snorkeling in front of the complex.  There was a fair bit of garbage in the water but there were also a fair number of fish making it worthwhile.  David ended up with a sunburn on his back, he did not look burned but really brown.  Evy and I spent quite a bit of time reading while the kids played video games.  Towards the evening we went for a fairly long walk in the town.  

Day 137 Dec 19 2014 Candidasa Bali Indonisia

In Kuala Lumpur airport on way to Bali

Isabel loses her tooth in the Denspasar airport

looking good

Day 137  Dec 19 2014   Candidasa Bali Indonisia

We flew from Kuala Lumpur to Denspar Indonisa.  We then took a taxi from the airport to the apartment that we rented.  When we got to the complex the kids went swimming in the pool for a few hours.  We went for a walk and discovered that the stores in the town did not carry much in the way of groceries, one of the highlights for the kids was that we found peanut butter which the kids have been greatly enjoying.  We had lunch at a beach side restaurant with variety to please everyone 

Day 136 Dec 18 2014 Kuala Lumpur Malaysia

Bird Park KL

Merdeka Square KL

Day 136  Dec 18 2014  Kuala Lumpur Malaysia

We started the day early for us and went to the Bird Park.  The bird park is 21 acres with a large part of it under a net.  David and Isabel were feeding birds when one of them peed on David.  We got it on video and the expression on his face was priceless.  The bird park was without a doubt the best I have ever seen both for size and variety.  The next stop after the park was  China Town which was several streets of booths selling counterfeit goods.  The taxi drivers wanted 3 times the regular price to take us back to our apartment using traffic volume as the excuse.  I am pretty sure it was because we were obvious foreigners.  The price quoted was 40 MYR, as we were walking away the price dropped to 20 MYR.  We ended up taking the Hop on Hop off bus as we had already paid for it.  

Day 135 Dec 17 2014 Kuala Lumpur Malaysia

Aquaria Kuala Lumpur

The best ice cream of the trip to date

riding the hop on hop off bus

Day 135  Dec 17 2014  Kuala Lumpur Malaysia

I woke up at 3:30 am and could not go back to sleep, it is going to take a while longer to get used to the time change.  We ended up taking the Hop on hop off bus with the best stop being Aquaria which is Kuala Lumpur’s aquarium.  We arrived in time for the feeding of the piranhas, nutrias and otters, the most interesting being the piranhas.  There were over 200 piranhas in the tank at it was a true feeding frenzy.  

Day 135 Dec 16 2014 Kuala Lumpur Malaysia

Entrance to Berjaya Times Square amusement part

Just wait till I get my hands on a real car!

Did not stay on very long

Waiting for the spin cycle to start

Day 135  Dec 16 2014  Kuala Lumpur Malaysia

We ended up going to Berjaya Times Square amusement park, which is an indoor amusement park inside a mall.  We had planned on going to the Genting Highlands amusement park but it recently closed for renovations. It was a disappointment as we had promised the kids we would take them.  What really sucked for Isabel was that the height marker for the rides where we purchased our tickets showed that Isabel was eligible to go on quite a few of the rides.  The markers inside we at least 3 inches higher and as a result Isabel was only able to go on the little kid rides.  I have little doubt that the company did that on purpose to sell more tickets only to have you discover that your kids cannot go on most of the rides once you are inside.  If we had known that before paying the entrance we would not have gone. They did have a fun indoor roller coaster for the rest of us as well as a few other decent rides.  It was another relatively early night.

Day 134 Dec 15 2014 Kuala Lumpur Malaysia

In-front of the Petronas Towers

Petronas Towers

Entrance to the Petronas Discovery Center

A really cool rapping dinosaur inside the Discovery Center

Day 134  Dec 15 2014  Kuala Lumpur Malaysia

We were planning on staying awake until 7 pm but it never happened, we were all asleep by 3:30 pm and did not wake up till 4 am.  We went to the Batu Caves which is a large Hindu temple built into a cave.  You have to climb 272 stairs to get to the cave entrance plus more once you are inside.  It was surprising to find buildings with many vendors selling trinkets and snacks inside the temple.  I was also surprised by the amount of garbage strewn around the inside of the temple and by some guy with the religious paint on his forehead taking a wiz on the floor beside the porta-potti.  There was another cave a little way towards the train which is setup with many religious statues and figurines depicting Hindu lore.  I found it much more interesting than the temple itself.  We took the train to the Petronas Towers but could not go to the bridge as it is closed on Mondays.  We did however go to the Petronas Discovery Center which is a science center inside the Petronas Towers.  We spent quite a few hours there but did not get to see it all before closing.  When we got back to the apartment the kids  crashed on their bed, I had to force them to get up to eat supper.  We were all asleep by 8:30 pm.