Langkawi, Malaysia

Greetings family and friends. I wanted to share with you some (okay, a lot) of photos from our first holiday as a little family of 3! 

The past couple weeks we had been going back and forth on weather or not we should attempt to take a little trip since this past Monday was a public holiday here in Singapore. With just a couple days left to plan we decided to pull the trigger and book a trip to the island of Langkawi, just off the West coast of neighboring Malaysia. I mean, how hard can it be to travel with a tiny 10lb human?! ;)

Now in Singapore if there's one thing they like more than on orderly queue, it's catering to those with extra needs. Let's just say we were a sight to see walking through the airport with multiple bags, a small baby, frazzled mom and dad in a massive arm sling still recovering from surgery. Michael and I joked we collectively qualified for like 4 out of the 5 reasons to receive special care. 

Long story short, we successfully got packed up, Marie was perfect on her first flight (only 1.25hrs to our destination) and in the end, even though a vacation with a baby is certainly not a vacation, we were so glad we did it. Not only did we have a wonderful time, but as first time parents we were so proud of ourselves for making it through and proving to ourselves we could do it. 

Now, onto the photos... 

The day before we left we tried on our swim costumes and had a little pep talk to get ready to hit the beach. 

(Confession: I mostly included this photo because it's my all-time favorite at the moment. I think Marie looks exactly like Michael here and it makes my heart swell)

Good morning Langkawi! We made it! 

Time to hit the breakfast buffet. Let's just say we're not liable to miss breakfast any time soon... 

The big kids pool (we never swam in). 

Marie's first time in the pool was a little hit and miss. She did okay in the water, but didn't like coming out and being cold much. Overall I would consider it a success. 

More relaxing by the pool with regular intervals to eat, sleep and take photos. We didn't do much else. "Vacationing" with babies is hard work - and not in the 'vacationing is hard, haha' kind of way, like it's actually hard. Good thing she's cute! ;)

We did however manage to make it out to dinner both nights (we WILL adult!). This is Marie checking out her first beach sunset in her pjs. Hehe - the struggle of living on the equator.  

The next morning we ventured out to dip our toes in the ocean.

As luck would have it, my real camera decided to stop working just as we got to the water. (If you've ever had a camera in a tropical location, you know that a camera sitting inside in the air con all night fogs up like crazy once outside and doesn't work until it adjusts) :( 

I still managed to get some cute pics and videos with my iPhone, but the mom guilt was in full force that morning. 

Back to our little pool - much better. 

Family selfie attempt. 

My favorite photo from the trip... bursting heart. 

And that's a wrap! 

It was certainly a MUCH different experience from our previous adventures, but we are getting used to and loving our new, crazy and exhausting normal.  

So long Langkawi! 

XO,

CD

P.S. Marie's official 2 month portrait :) We're celebrating by welcoming Nana and Aunt Niki to Singapore tonight! Woo! 

Read More »

Pulau Sibu, Johor, Malaysia

Hey friends!

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter - from the looks of it on social media everyone was well dressed, well fed and time was well spent with families. Not going to lie, I was feeling a little blue on Monday looking at ya'll.

Anyway, here is how Michael and I spent our long Easter weekend. But Cassi, you ask, how can you possibly feel anything but awesome when you spent your weekend at an awesome looking beach?! It's possible my friends and family, that's just how much we love and miss you :) 

Side note: did anyone else have like 8 engagements on their newsfeed this weekend? Is Easter the new Christmas proposal? Congrats to all the happy couples. 

Okay, the good stuff. We spent 3 days and 3 nights at this resort / dive base on a tiny island in Malaysia. (as I am typing this Michael just leaned over my shoulder saying how we NEED to learn how to dive. In due time - I still don't like to swim out far enough that I cant touch the bottom for fear of getting eaten by some mysterious sea monster - a real fear in SE Asia!) Anyway, the island was very 'back to the basics.' We stayed in this little amazing beach chalet right on the water. Like I am talking about the slightest sneeze of a tsunami and we'd be so dead. We somehow got the best chalet closest to the water. The beach huts like the one we stayed in all had a little wrap around deck, a single bed and small bathroom (no aircon, no hot water, no cell or internet, no chance of not being continually covered in sand). We slept under a large mosquito net with the windows and doors open to the open ocean - it was magical - spiritual almost! The huts around the island don't even have keys or locks. You check your valuables at the front desk and just chit your way to beach bliss the rest of the weekend.    

   

We got in late on Thursday night, but here is the Friday morning boat ready to join the fun. The journey from Singapore by car (a van from the resort) was about 3 hours. From the jetty to our island was about 20 min - a little nerve racking in the moon light, but it was really neat looking back. Beach to room to bar in lickity-split! 

Our chalet. Lucky number V0.

Tiny little A-frame huts. 

This is us dying laughing at the slightly inappropriate and for whatever reason extra loud sound of a beer cracking open. Hey! It's always 5:00 somewhere when you're on island time :)   

Part of the beach bar and activities headquarters. 

Friday night we signed up for the sunset beach cruise. It was by far our favorite part of the trip. We took a short boat ride over to this teeny-tiny white sand beach to build a fire and watch the sun set. We were with a few other couples, young and old, best friends and happy families. It was a really special evening.

My favorite pic from the trip ^^

I snagged a few pieces of the most perfect white coral for some new home decor.

  

This darling couple has been coming to Sea Gypsy for many, many years. They were celebrating her birthday and they were the absolute cutest couple I had ever seen in my life. 

Most of the weekend was spent bouncing between our deck chairs, the water and the bar reading, relaxing and enjoying each others presence (because we don't spend enough time together we joked ;))

Taking a break from all that nothingness, we decided to sign up for a jungle hike. 

  

A quick boat, 30 min of legit hiking (in sandals, oops) and a whole lot of oily tropical sweating later, we made it to this little fresh water pond. They say the waterfall is usually a legit waterfall, but today it was just a trickle. 

The water was deep enough for a few cannon balls for those who dared.

 Sadly, there are more than a few abandoned resorts in the area. 2 on our island and 1 where we went on our hike. There was also an abandoned and run down sea turtle sanctuary - all the turtles were stolen by poachers a few years ago :( (my initial thought was, are poachers a slightly nicer word for pirates?!) We were told a lot of the resorts are owned by foreigners living far away who do a poor job of managing their local staff or their own finances for that matter. The place goes bankrupt and it's just abandoned to rot - pretty sad. Not to mention, no one is responsible for cleaning up the beach in that area which seemed to collect a shocking amount of trash - save the Earth people! 

  

Omg is that one of those cool, expensive resorts on stilts?! Nope, we were told this is just the Sultan of Johor's private holiday fishing village. I am not sure if the rumor is true.

The restaurant. Did I mention everyone on the island eats breakfast, lunch and dinner together at the same time? It was like camp! (not that I have ever been to camp...)

And that's all folks! 

Xo,

C

[Disclaimer: it was the perfect weekend except 2 major fails. I brought my nice camera with all intentions of making this post even more awesome. I brought the battery charger but failed to bring the wall adapter #expatfail. Secondly, I made a point to double check with the resort if there was room in the van for us to bring a guitar. Of course they said no, and once we got to the car there was in fact tons of space for it (not sure Michael forgave me the entire weekend). It was an ask for forgiveness not permission kind of situation. Lesson learned on both fronts.]    

Read More »