Traveling with kids: Bali 2/5 : Ubud

Jet lag wise, traveling from Australia to Bali is fantastic.

Two hours difference between Bali and Brisbane, versus the eight hours difference we usually experience when going back to Europe, makes the first days there really enjoyable. Not mentioning how easier it is to go back to work.

We arrived quite late, our flight was delayed by storms in Australia and we arrived in Denpassar at 1AM instead of 11PM. Our chauffeur, one of the hotel staff, was waiting for us anyway. Welcoming us into Bali awesomeness, the land people who are all smiley even when sleepy. He took us to shelter, our hotel in Ubud, under pouring Monsoon-like rain that you only experience in tropical countries with a wet season, in a SUV with no passenger seatbelts, on roads that are not large enough to accomodate two cars at a time- or one car and a cow and a motorcycle, or one car and a motorcycle carrying the load of a truck,... Well you get the idea, roads are narrow by place.
And all the way, I felt safe, because it seems that each and every city driver got their license in Paris. They know what they're doing. Smooth driving, avoiding obstacles while gently honking at friends, pretty girls, motorcycles before passing them, trucks, and stray dogs wondering if they're going to cross this instant.

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A major difference between Balinese and Parisian drivers of course is that the former also must have attended a 101 express training in road civility because they seem to fit way less road-rage tantrums than Westerners. 

Anyway, waking up in Ubud is quite the starting point to happy vacations. Writing this, I'm already realizing that Ubud might required 2 blog entries.
We've stayed twice in Ubud, each time on a different side of the monkey forest. It was a very different experience. While one side is super touristy, with the shops, the market, restaurants, major temples and dance shows, and massage parlors, the other side is quieter but full of family friendly accommodations.
When on the non-tourist side, you can see herds of school-age kids practicing their barong dance moves and music. Quite impressive.

There are a lot of day trips to take from Ubud.
But the city itself is quite cute, the food is good, and the art quality is excellent.

It is obviously near impossible to avoid paying a visit to the monkey forest. Monkeys there are happy, lazy, fornicate a lot, and are mostly friendly although they will steal your drink, food, fan, or sunglasses if they're not secured in your bag.

 

 

 

January in Brisbane

Here we are, new country, new job/new school, new life. We've been in Brisbane for 10 days now, and I've grew accustomed with the city organization. The suburbs organization should I say.
map of Brisbane

St Lucia, Kangaroo Point, Taringa, Toowong, Indooroopilly, Wooloongabba: no doubt... I'm now in a subtropical region, but moreover, an exotic one. For the past few days we have been trying to find a neighborhood that we could call home, and we have found one. Indooroopilly it is!
We'll keep you in the loop and post pictures of the house as soon as we move in.

Meanwhile, one has to keep the kids busy to prevent extreme boredom and fights between siblings! Thanks god for Australia's natural treasures and particularities, we've been visiting the Koalas and Kangaroos among other local creatures, at the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary http://www.koala.net/. We even have a year-round family membership!

Don't they look happy?!
The University of Queensland Campus itself is a tropical garden, with gigantic lizards out-of-this-world (out-of-my-world anyway!), great variety of vegetation, lorikeets, multicolor birds, turtles, and monster bats... More pics to come, be patient.
That's it for today, so far so good. Future is looking bright!