Our friend Kevin highly recommended an exhibit downtown called Portals. It was an enormous collection of fantasy and sci-fi books, memorobila and art from the early 20th century to the early 2000s. It was facinating and immesive. The kids really enjoyed as did my Mum who remembered many books from the 60s and 70s.
Before we went in we visited another location fo Tiong Bahru bakery for just a little more of those ridiculous pastries.
After swimming and journalling all through the first half of the day we decided to get us out of the apartment for a small excursion.
Both A and C were fascinated by the idea that all the malls downtown are connected by tunnels so I took us down there to show them. We started at Ion and then went across to Wheelock Pl and then we went above ground and I showed them Isitan (for the grocery store) and finally Far East Plaza for some old skool mall style. We met my friend for dinner at a middle eastern place deep in Far East Plaza and it was fabulous food. In North America we don't go into malls expecting phenomenal food but in Singapore it's why you go. The basement floors are filled with every gourmet temptation you could imagine. From local food stalls to French patisseries and Michelin star dumplings. Basements are hidden gold in Singapore mall culture.
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| Before we left I bought every one of us a blank journal and packed supplies to create scapbook journals as we went along. We also had a polaroid camera to add to the detail. |
Our serviced apartment was finally ready for us to move back in so we checked out of the The Grand Park after a morning stroll on the river and a fantastic breakfast at Tiong Bahru in Fort Canning.
Back to apartment living where we could order in groceries and settle in again. But first, can we just have a long look at this croissant filled with Lychee creme pat, glazed with a strawberry yogurt glaze.
As soon as I had the ability to walk, I busted us out of the world's most boring golf hotel and moved us into a charming Peranakan hotel, the The Grand Park at City Hall. We walked to the Peranakan Museum and took in a few hours of history and beautiful story-telling. Later we went to an old haunt of ours, brotzeit, for dinner. A Bavarian restaurant that delivered on the comfort foods we needed at that time.
There was always a chance that another of us might go down. The Dr wasn't entirely sure Caelen had eColi and had put him on an antibiotic just in case. When I woke the next morning I knew something wasn't right. I was immediately stricken with all the symptoms C had had. I ignored the advice to let my body "get rid of it all first" and took all the meds that were already in my possession. I stabilized but felt weak and flushed. I knew I was on very borrowed time. Mum and I strategized. I decided we should just get ourselves to the airport and try to get on our way. Even if we just got as far as our layover in Singapore, we could get a hotel and see a Dr there. And that is what we did. Forfeiting the flight onward to KL, we got into a car at Changi and went to the closest hotel I could find and I tumbled into bed. I emerged a few hours later and headed to the clinic knowing that a forfeited flight was going to require a paper trail of illness documented and I needed adult dosed meds.
The hotel was at a golf course and was about as boring and corporate as they come. Every faux wood veneer and vinyl detail could be in a hotel in Sacramento. Again our crew had to find the inner peace to just sit. We missed our cabana. And we were sad that our whole side trip to Malaysia for three nights was just not going to happen. I was down for the count and after seeing what happened to Caelen I knew the first two days I was going to be flat out in bed.
Mum and I had more shopping to do so Mum and I called a car and went down to check out some shops and also a local mall hoping to uncover some boutiques that would have some higher quality but local items. We were successful but just as we were wrapping up I got a call from Joel that made me heart sink. Could I come to him right away, they had biked to the far end of the beach and C was vomiting. "Bali Belly" was something I was really hoping we'd avoid somehow with extremely careful measures around food and water and touching things. But eColi is absolutely everywhere in a country without public sanitation accessible to all and I knew the risk was very high. I was traveling with charcoal and several medications and they were on me at the time so we called another car and were there to rescue in about 10 minutes.
C was sicker than I have ever seen anyone with Bali Belly. I ended up getting him onto heavy duty drugs to stop the vomiting pretty early as he became dehydrated and by the next morning the staff at the hotel were urging us to have the Dr come in. We were unfortunately checking out so they coordinated the Dr to meet us at the next hotel.
At the same time Joel was leaving for the airport to fly back home so as he left, so did we with C, flushed and floppy at my side. The medical team arrived right on time and immediately assessed him and started an IV drip. This was not what C was expecting but I explained that it needed to happen and told him afterward he'd start to feel better. He was so brave, he just looked at me and didn't make a peep.
By the time they left it was dinner time. We got ready for bed and hoped for a better day.
Last night we got out of the taxi and were greeted by staff who immediately anticipated who were were and where we needed to go, leaving us to the reception where we were met by two women who performed a water clearing ritual and pressed rice to our foreheads with a thumb, leaving the grains there as a reminder that we had been changed in that moment. Fully exhaling plastic fumes and inhaling ocean breeze. Our rooms were through antique doors and had 12 foot ceilings, king size beds with hand-woven linens and tapestries. Everything spoke of being made nearby, by hand and of the highest quality. Solid teak, marble, threadcounts for days. We slept well and wandered to breakfast, sitting out in the morning sun with plates of some of the most sumptuous brunch fare we'd seen so far. We had three rooms, not far away with little back gates from our patios where we could cross the garden and enter oneanothers spaces. We swam in the pool, ordered cocktails and settled in to truly relax.
Later in the evening Joel and I took the kids to meet some old friends from Singapore who now live in Sanur. The evening was spent at a beachside table enjoying a long catch up while all the children run up and down the sand under a harvest moon.
We had to change room on our second night because all their "basic" rooms were fully booked and found ourselves in giant suites! Yet another level of oooh and aahs.
Our driver returned the next morning to take us for a little more sight-seeing on our way to Sanur to check into the next place we were staying. We stopped at some gardens for lunch - Nasi Lemak and Satay.
I hired us a driver to take us to see the usual locations to watch locals carve wood, paint, weave, batik, roast coffee and all the skilled artisan things Balinese people are well known for. The kids were very interested and we did quite a good deal of shopping along the way.
Joel woke from his very short "night" and joined us at the Goa Gahjah Temple and then we continued on to the Volcano for the views and a lunch. C was especially insistent on seeing an active volcano.
The boys did some night swimming in the pool in the temple gardens at the hotel while I ordered local food cooked up by staff who were amused by our evening escapades. Everyone got packed up to get ready to move on the following morning to Sanur.
