After our ten day stop-over in Saigon, we took an almost empty flight to Bali. From there, we immediately continued to Gili Trawangan, a car-free island next to Bali’s neighboring island Lombok. Here, we spent about three weeks at the Green Banana hotel. Our eldest quickly became friends with a girl from the neighborhood and the absence of motorized vehicles allowed us to worrylessly float in the pool while he was out training his intercultural communication. We spent our days SUP-snorkeling after sea turtles (which should be captured by rented go-pros rather than ruining one’s child’s not quite water-proof camera) and eating our way through all restaurants that served cheap vegetarian food. Every once in a while, Simon went scuba diving, and once a week we took part in the Gili Ecotrust’s beach clean-up.
After this island paradise episode, we spent three days in a home-stay in Tetebatu, where we went monkey spotting and enjoyed finally getting closer to local culture (which had been quite difficult in Thailand).
Then we continued to our final common destination: the city of Ubud in Bali. We spent about two weeks in an Airbnb overlooking the roofs of Ubud. Since most tourists rely on motorscooters and the sidewalks were far from barrier-free, it was a bit cumbersome to move around with our stroller and hand-cart assisted by taxis. We therefore rented a car for a couple of days in order to reach destinations such as the monkey forest, butterfly parks, the bird and the reptile park, rafting sites, waterfalls, thermal wells and the surfing beach of Kuta. There, our five-year old stood the first wave he was put on as if it was the most natural thing in the world, but then refused to stand up because he hated getting his head wet.
Then my wife had to decide whether to fly back with our now three kids for our son’s unconfirmed schooling test, or whether to stay in Bali a little longer and risk to miss that test. She wisely decided to fly home, and during the flight the date got confirmed and we therefore got our son a place in the school we were hoping for. I was granted another four weeks of family-free traveling which I used to spend two days in Singapore, five days in Koh Phangan, a four-day track from Pokhara to the Mardi Himal viewpoint and a little pilgrimage to Lumbini, Varanasi and Bod Gaya.