Bali

PHOTO ALBUM HERE
After KL, we flew off to Bali with my sister's family six children for week of luxury in Ubud and Denpasar. Ubud was everything you'd expect from Bali guide books, beautiful beyond belief and HOT and sticky. (keep those last three words in mind because I will use them over and over again) Our Ubud resort Alam Jiwa was perfect! Our suite was on the 2nd floor and overlooked the rice fields, coconut trees and a soothing running river. Our open terrace was a playground for butterflies and birds that enjoyed zig zagging in and out of our suite. We had an open shower and the spout pour out of a statue of a voluptuous Balinese Goddess. The staff was courteous and friendly and the food amazing!

We spent the next few days riding bikes through the town, window shopping and admiring the local crafts (ornately carved furniture and pottery), feasting with a local Balinese family at their multi-generational home, feeding the monkeys in the monkey-forest, swimming at the hotel, dining at local markets, visiting and helping harvest rice with the locals and even cruising the countryside on a motorbike. we really packed it in.

We kept hearing the buzz that Julia Roberts was in town filming "EAT LOVE PRAY". We never saw her but the locals were quite excited about the American actress in town. They don't have much but boy they love their American movies.

In Denpasar, we rented a private five bedroom villa and spend a few days relaxing in the pool and at the beach. While Denpasar is cooler than Ubud, it's not as traditional and more touristy. The kids liked Denpasar because there's a cool waterpark, which we took advantage of. But personally, I could've spent the whole week in Ubud. There's a certain humility and mysticism I felt there, a connection to nature and to tradition. The Balinese way of life and beliefs are something to be respected and admired. It's in their blood and lives and there's a certain special peace I felt there

Southeast Asia Vacation: Kuala Lumpur

PHOTOS from KL
Kuala Lumpur - wow.. we love it here and wish we had come earlier. The food, WOW.. amazing, the flavors, spices, varieties and tastes. not to forget how incredibly cheap it is.. $3 a meal, $2 taxi rides, etc etc. We have a gorgeous view of the Petronus Towers & KL Towers from our hotel window and have watched nightly thunder and lightening storms.

Luckily, we've not had rain during the day and while it's humid, not too hot. So we've been exploring on foot, which is challenging. Where HK is similar to NYC, KL is more like L.A., not a walking city with it's insane six lane streets, disregard of traffic signals, crazy number of motor bikes and almost no pedestrian crossing.

Back to the food, whether it's fish, beef, chicken or some questionable meat that's probably best left unknown, you can't have a bad meal here. We've been eating mostly at local street stalls and left licking our fingers with a huge grin.

We strolled Central Market sampling the guava, coconut and orange drinks in sight. Hit the butterfly garden and the National Mosque.Priceless moment. At the National Mosque, purple robes with hoods are provided for women to wear when entering. Dante took one look at me putting on the robe and pleaded, Ï don't want to wear a sweater!" LOL tonight we'll explore the night market and indulge in another mouth-watering meal.

We took a side trip outside of KL to see the famous fire flies. Not sure the four hour round trip journey was worth it, but we slept in the van to and from and thoroughly enjoyed the light spectacle. We arrive in this primitive village in the middle of nowhere, stars and night sounds (crickets, owls, frogs) everywhere. We boarded a private canoe and peacefully got the witness the sychronized flashing lights of millions of fireflies that illuminate the river side trees. It was humbling to be so in tuned with nature and in such a remote part of the world (for us at least). In hindsight, I'm very happy we went even if we were thoroughly exhausted upon our return at 1am.

We spent our last day in KL at Science Center learning all about how to drill for oil. I wish we had more time here

Our Trip to Asia - Hong Kong edition with upgraded links

We have been in Kuala Lampur for two days and I had a chance to put together pix from the first few days when we were in Hong Kong. It was nice to visit the city but I felt like we could have spent less time there as soon as we arrived in KL because I like it so much. Nonetheless it was an interesting city and I'm really glad we got to see it. Traveling with the two children has been great. A bit more of a challenge than Dante alone but still quite manageable. For all the pix from Hong Kong click here . More to come!

Dante's Third Birthday

Click HERE for Photo Gallery
Click HERE for Happy Birthday Video

WOW! Dante is THREE.. We celebrated with a pizza making party at Rahav's house. We had a few of his friends over and a few of our friends with kids over too. Dante and the kids played with trains, cars, balloons and got along quite nicely. He especially bonded with Elena's two year old daughter Anna. He picked out a black and white oreo cookie cake. We all sang Happy Birthday to Dante, opened gifts and called it a day. On his official birthday, October 6th, we went to the Central Park Zoo and to a tucked away playground that has a long marble slide. Rahav put Augie in the swing for the first time. It was a lovely fall day as well, the leaves are starting to change. Dante makes all these adorable comments about winter coming and the leaves are changing colors. He also knows that he was born in NYC America :-)