The Freedom to Go Anywhere

As much as I am loving our life up here there are some things I miss. Family, friends and perhaps a cold night in front of the fire with a glass of red! After the full moon we were having a bit of a chat and decided it might be nice to go home for a week or two. So we hoped online and booked tickets for this weekend.

One of the wonderful perks in our lifestyle is that we don’t really have to stick to a schedule and can do whatever we want most of the time. I love this freedom and I love the ability to leave life to the last minute. It often makes things so much more interesting as you never know what will happen next.

About two months ago we were having ‘another chat’ and after a little bit of homesickness and doubt we wondered if we had chosen the right place to live. So again we hoped online and booked flights to Malaysia leaving that afternoon. At one point before we left Australia we had also considered moving to Penang and I guess we just had to know if we had made the right choice.

We picked the kids up from school/tiny tots and drove straight to the airport to fly directly to Kuala Lumpur. I had been there 3 times already but was still keen to go again and check it out (as a mum). Things are definitely different with kids! We stayed in a great 3 bedroom apartment in a gorgeous condo/complex in the middle of the city. We found it on www.airbnb.com and if you are travelling with kids it is a fantastic website and worth checking out.

We spent 4 days in KL and to be honest most of it was spent inside shopping centres. The heat was phenomenal. I swear it wasnt that hot before! On the plus side we managed to grace ourselves with a little retail therapy, something that we hadnt done in a long time. After packing up our house for 3 months, selling everything else and then living in Ubud where lots of things are reasonably difficult to find, shopping in Kuala Lumpur was a dream! We bought books, toys, kids craft supplies, clothes and home-wares I found a new publisher of childrens books (Usbourne) who produce the most beautiful children’s books and we ended up buying 4 volumes!

We then hired a car and drove north to the Cameron Highlands! After driving in Ubud for 2 months straight where no one goes above 40kms an hour and where I have only gone into 5th gear twice (at a record 48kms per hour!!!), driving on a highway was pure luxury! It took about 3 hours to get up there as the road was quite slow and bendy once we got off the state highway. We stopped at a huge tea plantation and magically had turned up just in time into to have afternoon tea with warm homemade scones, fresh cream and handmade jam from the strawberry farm next door!

We drove to the little village of Tanah Rata and booked into a family suite at the Hotel de la Ferms which I can high recommend as again we had two rooms so we didn’t have to be too quiet after the kids went to bed! The area is beautiful and the best part was …. it was FREEZING! I had to buy a woollen poncho just to keep me warm! It was so nice to be cold for a night!

We went out for dinner and had the most amazing Indian food. There is not much Indian food in Indonesia so this was a bit of a treat! The night markets were fantastic and we walked through trying all the local delicacies before heading back to our hotel to snuggle up under a doona!

The next morning we left the Cameron highlands for Penang, however on the way out we went to; a tea plantation; a cactus farm; a strawberry farm (and did some strawberry picking); a bee farm and a chocolate factory … all before lunch!

The drive up to Penang is pretty straight forward and both Scott and I marvelled at how easy it was to navigate when there were actual street signs as there are very few in Bali! We stayed out in Batu Ferringhi at Miami Green in another 3 bedroom apartment and had amazing views of the ocean and sunsets. At this point I was wondering if we would ever choose to stay in a hotel again! … (with little kids)

During our trip were pretty keen to get to Penang and have a good look around as I guess in the back of our minds we thought it might be the next move for us, however as soon as we arrived we both knew that we could never have lived there. For one it was very hot, but it was mainly the fact that it was too much like a city and after living in our chilled out pool villa overlooking the calm rice fields …. neither of us were all that keen.

We caught up with friends a few times and had some amazing meals. We drove all the way around the island and parts of it were absolutely beautiful. The landscape was so diverse. It went from; built-up city to deserted palm beaches to jungle view mountain tops to densely packed derelict skyscrapers.

One of the touristy things we loved was the Butterfly Farm. It was about 15 minutes out of Batu Ferringhi and well worth the visit. We even managed to find a private guide who very carefully and patiently took us around pointing out and explaining the different stages of chrysalis and taught Tom and Milo how to ‘land’ lots of butterflies on their fingers with sugar syrup.

All in all we had a great little holiday, however I think the best part was that it had completely ruled out the area as an option for us to live. To be honest the minute we drove into Ubud I felt like I had come home …. which is where we will stay …. for now!