Altitude

Singapore at night, from the tallest tower in the city. 

So the newest coolest bar in Singapore is on the top of one of the office buildings downtown- called Altitude. Last weekend we finally got around to checking it out. 

Pretty cool view!

The bar was so-so, the drinks were outrageously priced, but the view made up for it. And, even though it was a Saturday night, there were hardly any people there (guess it's not that cool anymore, or there are not that many suckers willing to spend S$20 on a crappy drink). 

Another Big Thank You!

We have been so spoiled recently! In addition to the wonderful package we received from the Kilduff's in Baltimore, and all the thoughtful anniversary cards (thanks everyone!), we got another fabulous package from the Curtiss fam!

A new aero garden! Woot woot. 

In addition to our new and improved garden, we got lots of other goodies too!

It was like Christmas in our house in September! Dave was thrilled to get the new Madden for PS3 (I was ever so slightly less thrilled to have more video games in the house), and the forbidden delicacy- GUM! And popcorn and a book. It was overwhelming!

They also sent us our wedding flag that they got for the beach house for the wedding!

Thanks Mom and Dad! 

We reallllllly appreciate it!

And thanks to everyone who sent us cards to celebrate our anniversary! We love getting mail and it was such a nice surprise. They are looking lovely decorating our apartment!

Bali Hai- 4- Ubud

On the last day of our trip, we bid farewell to the Gangsa (only when they kicked us out at check-out time) and headed to Ubud to check out the sights and pass time until our 10:00pm flight. 

Dave playing the Gangsa. 

Bye Bye Kajar!

Ubud is the "cultural-center" of Bali and home to lots of lovely shops and cafes and plenty of art galleries. We didn't get a chance to visit last time- too focused on the beach- so our 10 hours to kill before the flight proved to be the perfect opportunity to go explore. 

As per our routine, our exploration of Ubud consisted of walking, drinking beer, eating, walking. We also threw in some shopping and monkeys for good measure. 

Having beer at a beautiful cafe. 

The good life. 

At one of the bars we saw this large black thing moving around in the trees. On closer exploration, it was a massive BAT! Hanging upside down in the tree, in the middle of the day!

This bat was bigger than a terrier. We are talking BIG. Don't bat's sleep during the day? 

After many a few beers, we headed down the hill to see the most famous Ubud attraction- the Sacred Monkey Forest. And boy howdy were there monkeys!

After paying our entrance fee, we gleefully bought a mountain of mini bananas from the locals selling them at the gate. This was our first big mistake. The monkeys, those smart little devils, wait at the entrance to pounce on unsuspecting tourists with freshly purchased bananas. I had my hands full of my camera and a pound of bananas and they were quickly swarming. I quickly tossed some bananas to the attackers and fled to safety. Thankfully, my husband came to the rescue and took command of the banana situation. 

Note the pants. This was a HUGE mistake. Add to the fact that he had hidden bananas in his pockets, this man was a walking monkey target. And the monkeys LOVED him. Loved the banana pants. 

Dave decided to see if the monkeys knew how to catch. To mixed results. 

First try:

Second try: 

Hugh victory for the monkey. The first miss resulted in a larger monkey scoring the banana. It could have been the beers we were consuming prior to the monkey forest, but these monkeys were so darn entertaining!

Oh yea, there were temples in the forest too.

Turns out we broke a few of the cardinal rules of the monkey forest:

After all the monkeys, we had one last Bali beer to top off our great vacation. 

Bye Bali- we hope to see you again soon!

Bali Hai- 3- Happy Anniversary!

One year went by so fast!

A lot has happened in a year! First we moved in to our first apartment at 1 Irving,got settled in with all of our new wedding presents, then we moved to Singapore, and now here we are in Asia, close enough to Bali to go back! It is all really crazy. 

To celebrate our anniversary, we asked the wonderful people at the Gangsa to set up a private BBQ in our villa. And they really knocked themselves out making it beautiful!

Checking out the BBQ.

Floating candles in our pool.

Before dinner, we went to check out some very cool Balinese dancing.

And when we came back from the dancing, our villa looked like this:

Then Dave had to go check on the pig. 

It was seriously a whole pig, just for us. They don't mess around. 

Yum. 

We had a HUGE dinner, and finished with this pretty cake!

Which was delivered to us by these guys:

This is the point at which our evening got really interesting. We kept hearing the LOUDEST frogs you have ever heard in your life. I optimistically thought they were in the garden behind the pool. Nope. Turns out they were IN the pool. 

Seriously eww. There were lots of them. And of course, after a few glasses of wine, we had to break out the flashlight and hunt them across the yard and pool. 

Frog hunting.

At this point Dave was really strongly regretting that late night dip in the pool he took the first night we were in Bali. Swimming with frogs, gross.

The night devolved in to chasing the frogs around the pool and garden with the flashlights, and shrieking when the frogs touched me. We're adults, we swear. 

All in all we had a WONDEFUL anniversary dinner!

Bali Hai- 2

OK, so the majority of the rest of our trip went like this:

Eat, read kindle, drink Bintang beer, eat more, suntanning, more kindling, more eating, more beer, sleep. In short, it was amazing. I left so incredibly relaxed. And tan.

This sort of exciting activity doesn't lend itself to too many exciting stories, so here are some pretty pictures instead!

Ahhhh, the beach. 

A happy man. =) Please note that he is FULLY in the shade. Fully. Where he remained at all times, except for infrequent visits to the water. Despite this, he still managed to get a sun burn! Meanwhile, I am slathering myself in oil and laying in direct sun, and I hardly even got a tan line! Unfair. 

The makings of a perfect day = beach, beer, kindle and sunscreen. 

Not a bad view. 

The next day we decided to be a little bit more active, and went on a nice bike ride on the Sanur beach walk. Mainly because Dave was too burned to lay in the sun again and we were not feeling brave enough to deal with Bali traffic and go anywhere outside of the Sanur area. 

Our bike trip was mainly beer drinking with occasional biking in between beers. 

Ran in to a little worship service on the beach. The best part was watching the kids in the front here behave exactly like kids behave in worship services anywhere in the world. But luckily for them, their offerings and flowers made for the perfect toys to throw at each other while the adults prayed.

Another stop for beer.

And tending to some bike related injuries. 

Watching some very cool kite surfing in the inlet. 

In addition to lounging at the beach and beer drinking, we also did some good eating of delicious Balinese food.

Yummy pina colada at Bumbu Bali. 

Quite the spread for dinner.