Best.Smoothie.Ever

At La Luciola in Seminyak, Bali:

Spent the weekend in Seminyak, stayed in a villa at the very lovely mostly excellent Elysian, rained the first morning but all in all was an excellent family weekend. I know it's been a while, but not to worry, The Teeny Travelers haven't stopped - Mama's just gotten lazy with the blog. Might be a pipe dream to think that I'll be able to go back and recap a bunch of recent trips, but you never know. Will get organized again one of these days...

Kids in Stockholm: Junibacken

Just back from 2 weeks (was that all?) in Europe. Since going through the trip sequentially is, decidedly, for squares, I'll start with a great Stockholm destination for young'uns. It's a major plus if they're familiar with Astrid Lindgren's stories, of course, since that's what Junibacken is all about - Pippi Långstrump (Pippi Longstocking in english), Emil, Karlsson på Taket, etc. It's an indoor museum with multiple play areas, a cafe, a little theater, and a great shop. The highlight is the Sagotåget, the Storybook train, which is a short (10 minutes, maybe?) ride that takes you through a bunch of the Astrid Lindgren stories. They can set it for 12 different languages, so no need to brush up on your Swedish for this one. We also lucked out, since we hadn't consulted a schedule beforehand, but just as we got off the ride, a Pippi show was about to start. Unfortunately, the performances are (as far as I know) only in Swedish, so maybe not as interesting for tourists and visitors. Matias had a great time crawling and cruising around all the play areas, and even sat still for the Storybook train ride. All in all, we spent an amazing 3 hours there - more than twice the usual time we spend at our "usual" Djurgården destination, Skansen, and since I could sit and relax while Matias and Bella were running around, I was able to recharge for the next 3 hours of walking we (well, I-- the kids were in the stroller) did around town.

Think Bella's excited to get on the Storybook train? Nooooooo......

At Villa Villekulla, Pippi Långstrump's house:

Matias getting written up for extreme cuteness by Konstable Kling:

On Djurgården, near the National and Vasa Museums. Opening times and more information on their website: http://www.junibacken.se/

Today's Arf: Poopanalysis?

In the ladies' room at the Butterfly Farm, Penang, Malaysia.

Also, (in the same public bathroom), they would like you to please not bathe in the sink:

Rawa Island

Since Lola was able to watch the kids last weekend, Mik and I decided to run off for a quick beachy getaway. We waited too long to make bookings, so flights to Bali or Phuket were wicked expensive; and everything on Bintan Island was fully booked. So we looked a bit further afield in Malaysia and more or less randomly settled on Rawa Island. Turns out that it would've actually made a great family weekend, though it was nice to be able to kayak, snorkel, kayak, snorkel (oh wait, yep, that's all there was to do), without having to worry about naptimes or bringing crayons and paper and things.

Just about everyone else at the resort had kids with them - the wide, white sand beach is perfect for little ones, and they even had a slide off the jetty for the bigger kids.

The reef is pretty close to shore, making for some easy snorkeling (though the visibility varied somewhat).

And there was some, ah, pretty cool wildlife to be seen. This was one of a family of 5-6 juvenile blacktip reef sharks, though "Mama" did swim by a bit later. We actually have a video of them swimming by, but it's too embarrassing to post as it includes audio of me yelling "AAAAAHHH! AAAAAH!" into my snorkel and then the camera jiggling around nauseatingly due to my climbing on top of Mik's back as he was trying to shoot the video.

The deets:

Rawa Safaris Island Resort - decent accommodations, so-so service, and fairly awful food in a gorgeous, kid-friendly setting. Hugely overpriced for what it is, frankly, but for the proximity and convenience, you can (just barely) justify the price. The "Book Online" button on their website doesn't work, but you can call and make a reservation fairly easily. They rent sit-on-top kayaks and those pedalboat things, but apparently their Hobie Cat has been out of commission since last year (though it's still listed as being available both on their website and on the activity price lists all over the island). They don't take very good care of their equipment - two of the masks we used leaked, and they didn't have any goggle defogger, so bring your own.

Getting there from Singapore: The resort has its own private ferry from Mersing to Rawa Island, so when you book, make sure to note the ferry times. We made the Johor Bahru checkpoint to Mersing in 1.5 hours, but that was with driving like a madwoman on 2-lane roads and having to turn off the a/c whenever we had to pass someone (we rented a 1.0-liter Chevy Spark). We could've gone at a much more leisurely pace had we left home just half an hour earlier, and had we remembered that there were immigration forms that had to be filled out before entering Malaysia. Sigh.

First things first: Saigon shopping

I was in Ho Chi Minh City for two and a half days, and the mission of the first day (when Mik and Bella had not yet arrived) was to get my shopping done. Most of the first day went by, taken up by a couple of baby naps, a trip to the market and dinner with friends, but lucky me, a couple of cool shops on my walk back to the hotel were still open at 8:30 on a Friday night.

At Nagu, the gorgeous kids' clothes and bags are made in Vietnam with local and Japanese materials. Lots of linen and cotton with simple but eye-catching embroidery detailing.

And, of course, I had to get a bag for me:Their card:There was also a more "traditional" kids' clothing store, with lots of embroidered and smocked dresses, shirts, nightgowns, literally thousands of dresses, hundreds of designs packed into this one store:I was also thrilled that they actually had cool boys' stuff too. I got Matias this cute t-shirt and another pair of overalls that he will probably wear once (because he spends most of his time in a t-shirt and diaper, or in onesies, but oh well):I am a sucker for embroidered seersucker.And then, a sweet green nightgown for Bella, and this white dress that I just unpacked, today belatedly realizing that it is a size too small. Gutted. Luckily we have a bunch of littler girl friends who would look super sweet in it.

Oh - and the coolest part - all told, the nightgown, dress, shirt and overalls = $35 USD. Score!

Nagu - HCMC and Hanoi, address and contact info on their card above.
NKid - On Le Loi, on the left side when walking from the market to the Opera House.
(Sorry, I threw away their card and the dress tags provide no info)

Horror-Strollerific Saigon

And the award for MOST STROLLER UN-FRIENDLY CITY WE HAVE EVER SEEN goes to... (drumroll please) Ho Chi Minh City!!!

In addition to the "usual" disappearing sidewalks and twice-every-block construction sites, there were downed electric cables, giant potholes, cobblestones, and curbs that were always at least 1 foot high. Or: I might be biased, still reeling from the experience of having to untangle my stroller from the random coil of very thin (almost invisible) metal wire that was laying on the road, while dodging cars and evil, evil little motos. If planning a trip there with a baby, I have two words for you: BABY BJORN.

Not as straightforward as you would think

Chart detailing maximum occupancy in a Singapore taxicab:

And you can forget about riding at all if you just bought a durian.

Angkor

Both Teeny Travelers stayed home for this trip, and my brother Vincent and I made a short hop over to Cambodia to see Angkor. Travel tips? Well, it was the right decision to leave both kids at home; it was blisteringly hot, and I can't imagine that the temples would hold much interest for any kids under the age of 8 or so (and that's only if they've seen Tomb Raider/Indiana Jones and can pretend to be treasure hunters). But AMAZING for adults, and there was certainly a wide range and many choices for food and accommodations. I used my usual combination of TripAdvisor (traveler reviews, recommendations, and, most importantly, photos), HotelsCombined (or Kayak, same thing), Lonely Planet (for "usual" itineraries and the highlights) and the Luxe Guide (which exercises far more editorial restraint in making its selections, and is highly entertaining to boot) to make plans, bookings, and reservations.

We hired a guide with a car/driver (not too terribly expensive at ~$60/day), which made the temple-hopping much more efficient. Rather than cram in as many temples as possible, we really only made it a point to see the highlights - Ankor Thom and Angkor Wat the first day, and on the second day, hiked up Phnom Bakheng in the dark for sunrise, and on to further-out Banteay Srey, and Ta Prom and Pre Rup afterwards. This left lots of time for good meals (at restaurants that we picked off the Luxe Guide, rather than letting our guide choose for us), refreshing beverages at the end of the day, and even a couple of foot massages and a somewhat disturbing fish pedicure.

One nice diversion from the temples that I'll mention, though, was The Happy Ranch. At the end of our last day, we rode through countryside and rice fields and villages to get to, well, another temple. The horses were healthy and obviously well-taken care of, and they were able to cater to different levels of riding experience. There's also something about having grit in your teeth and horse hair all over you that makes that gin and tonic at the end of the day extra-delicious.

After having been in Cambodia a few years ago, when for some strange reason we DIDN'T go to Angkor, it was great to finally be able to cross it off my list. Next? Mik votes for Borobodur...

Baby turtle release: Lombok, Indonesia

We happened to pick a strong swimmer who made a beeline for the open sea, so we tried to keep Bella focused on him/her, rather than the other baby turtles who kept repeatedly getting washed back onto shore by the (not very strong) surf. Ultimately, not sure how romantic this Valentine's Day activity was, thought up by the otherwise very nice Oberoi Lombok. Reminded me of those butterfly releases that people sometimes do for weddings, which I always thought was more traumatic than romantic.

Well, of course she ended up sitting in with the band

At the lovely Oberoi Lombok, which is here:

View Larger Map

Traveling with kids: Manila

An actual travel tip, for once. Actually, here are a couple:

We have family in the Manila area, but usually it's simpler for us to stay in a hotel, even if we're only there for the weekend. After trying quite a few of the major hotels in Makati, the business district, I've found THE one that hands-down, is the best with kids: The New World Hotel in Makati, also sometimes known as the Renaissance. The hotel itself is fine - in general, it's on par with the Mandarin or the Peninsula and maybe even the Shangri-La. But it's the location that's key--on the Makati Greenbelt, with gobs and gobs of cafes, restaurants, shops, and little gardens, most of which is actually stroller friendly and walkable (and if you've ever spent a lot of time in Manila/Makati, you know how uncommon that is!). Use hotelscombined.com to get an aggregator rate, then compare it with what they are offering on the site to get the best deal.

Matias and I flew to Manila from Singapore on discount carrier JetStar. The seats, unsurprisingly, were tiiiiiny, not much fun when holding a lap child for a 3.5 hour flight. But not many people know that you can get one of the "extra leg room" seats for only $20-30 more--you can actually book it ahead of time on their website, which I did for the Singapore-Jakarta leg of our recent trip to Indonesia. They have the first row marked as an exit row, which normally you can't occupy when holding or traveling with a child-- ignore that. Most of their Asian fleet are A-330s, on which the first row is actually a regular bulkhead row and not an exit row. On our trip to Manila, I hadn't booked ahead of time, but those seats were empty so I was able to move and paid the $30 on the spot. A no-brainer!

Third tip is the little contraption clipped to the top of Matias' stroller in the picture above. A stroller fan with foam blades - it runs on two AA batteries, and has made a huge difference in Matias' comfort when out and about in the heat of the tropics. And because the blades are made of foam, I can clip it close to him with no worries about his little fingers or toes. There are more expensive ones around, but I bought this one for 6.95 SGD at Mothercare in Singapore, and have seen similar ones for sale at Watson's as well.

So that's my contribution to the world of usefulness for today.

On the Road Again: Melaka, Malaysia

We're back! The small one is now 3 months old, and we thought it was about time we took a weekend trip to Malaysia. Actually, we had gotten as far as renting a car in early December, but luckily remembered that Matias' passport wasn't ready yet, and we would be crossing an international border. Anyway, after less than 4 hours on the road (a piece of cake for the kids, after all the time we spent on I-95 in the U.S. at Christmastime - more on that later), we were in Melaka, Malaysia, a U.N. World Heritage City and bastion of Peranakan culture.

Since it was a bit of a last-minute decision to go, our first two choices for accommodations (the lovely-looking Hotel Puri and Courtyard @ Heeren) were fully booked, but we ended up finding a great deal on the Majestic Hotel on Expedia instead.

We arrived to find that a baby doll came free with the room! Ha ha, just kidding, that's the boy, Matias, lounging on the cool fluffy white sheets after the car ride.

More pics:

Happy to be back and on the road again!!

Little things from Panjiayuan

One of my favorite things to do in Beijing is to spend a couple of hours wandering around the market at Panjiayuan. It's a huge market area with a bunch of wholesale-type vendors, as well as many many random people selling all manner of antique and faux-antique goods. I've had some really cool finds from here over the years, and the trick is definitely to go slow, take your time, and to keep a "look around" mindset, rather than a "must buy something" mindset. I normally gravitate towards the porcelains, but on this trip, nothing there jumped out and screamed "BUY ME!" Instead, I picked up these amazing pieces of embroidery (from the tiniest old lady - I'm 5'3" and she only came up to my armpit), and some tiny animal figurines for $2 apiece. FUN.

Kids in Madrid: Baby Deli

As soon as we arrived in Madrid and started talking over weekend plans with my friend Gabi, I could tell she was absolutely dying to take Bella to this place. It's owned by Carolina Herrera's daughter, and it WAS sooper sooper cute. The food is all organic and pretty delicious, though fairly expensive and in small, kid-sized portions. And, of course, served up with the usual service-with-a-smile that Spain is SO well known for (Can you hear the sarcasm? Actually, the lady behind the counter all but chucked the tray and change at my head; but that was our first day in Madrid so I wasn't used to it yet).

Gabi and I hadn't seen each other in a year, so we were too busy getting caught up for me to take lots of pictures of the place, but it's basically a very VERY upscale version of our @play Cafe in Reston, minus the child minders (I guess you have to BYO). If you happen to be shopping in Salamanca anyway, it's a perfect stop for playtime and a bite.

Baby Deli - www.babydeliworld.com
Calle de Lagasca 54
28001 Madrid, Spain
+34 915 763 810

Kids in Stockholm: Musikmuseet

Not really "off the beaten path," as it's just a short walk from the Östermalm subway stop and Stureplan, and it's a convenient stop before or after the more energy-draining trip to Djurgården, but the Stockholm Music Museum has been an old standby of ours since Bella was a baby. Two whole sections are dedicated to trying all sorts of acoustic and electronic instruments, and throughout the museum, there are headphones to put on and buttons to push, perfect for compulsive little button-pushers and dial-fiddlers like Bella. And, unlike many "high-touch" museums, everything is well-maintained and 99% of the instruments and equipment actually work.

And this is fun; Bella at the same instrument in 2006:
Musikmuseet, see their website for current opening hours.
Sibyllegatan 2, behind the Royal Dramatic Theater ("Dramaten")

Major yikes in Barcelona

WAY up there on my list of Freakiest Things I Have Ever Seen. And they were in a swanky toy shop window in Barcelona, on the same block as our hotel on Rambla Catalunya, about as major a thoroughfare as you can get. So I'm guessing they must be expensive.

Oh - and yes - because I've had to clarify more than once - these are supposed to be newborn baby dolls. Complete with lanugo and all. I'm half-surprised there isn't a "Lotus Birth" version with the placenta still attached. Ewwwwwwwww.

CORRECTION: I was referring above to the white stuff that newborn babies come coated in, which is actually called vernix caseosa. Lanugo is the super fine baby fuzz/hair.

Rough life

This is how Bella had her baths out on Boxo-ö last week.

Debating whether to dip her feet in the Baltic. Brrrrr.

Very efficiently doing some of her laundry at the same time (yep, child labor!)
Having a glass of "shiny sparkly (carbonated) water" in the bath on our last day. Skål!