So first I have to be frank and say that all the food we ate was food served in the resort. No, we didn’t suddenly have a moment of insanity. Rather, the purpose of our trip was to relax and spend time together as a family, so we did away with sight-seeing and traipsing around the place looking for ‘the best food’ (like we normally do).
Angsana’s food was actually pretty good, definitely not bad for hotel food and at least it didn’t make me feel so deprived. Normally, I’d be pissed off if I had to suffer hotel food for the entire trip, since to me, a holiday IS about eating 😉
Best part? Room-service breakfast. Ohhhh it is bliss sitting at the balcony overlooking the resort’s pool and the ocean…. enjoying the early morning sunshine… and chowing down on breakfast 🙂
Since Angsana Resort and Banyan Tree Resort are owned by the same company (and side-by-side), we could take the (crazy fast!) buggy between resorts. And so we got to check out some of the restaurants over at Banyan Tree 😛
In particular, I liked Tree Tops Restaurant, which was high up among the trees and had gorgeous views, not to mention excellent service. They served traditional Indonesian food, modern style. Loved the presentation and the portion sizes were very generous 🙂
We also heard that Angsana provides a babysitting service for guests. YAY!!! It’s US$7 an hour. Americans, is that ‘standard rate’ for you? Anyway, we thought it was pretty reasonable and the babysitter was a very sweet lady. And boy, what a luxury it is to be baby-free for a bit during a holiday 😛
The Cove is situated up on a hill, overlooking the ocean. It’s quiet and romantic, and really rather lovely to sit outdoors on their veranda and have a cocktail and a nice dinner date.
I guess I’m a wee bit bummed that we didn’t get to poke around the place and do local stuff. It also made me realise that once you have a family, your holidays become drastically different. Gone are the days that we can laze around and sleep in, and gone are the days that we just do whatever we want, whenever we want. Now, things need to be planned carefully, and all activities are carefully vetted to make sure they’re baby-OK.
How life has changed!
Regarding baby sitting… this was at night while he was asleep and she was watching him or? Sometime next year we want to go on a trip with my two kiddos and it would be nice to have 1 nice grown up dinner and time for 2 hours… not sure if the husband would take to the idea but…
Yep he would be asleep and she would come in.. so all she needed to do was to sit there quietly. We wouldn’t leave him alone with a sitter if he’s awake, as I feel he’s still too young and we’d only do it with someone we know really really well..!
awww, he looks so much chirpier! Must be the sight of gorgeous food 😀
Back to more beach fun up next?
I wish we lived near a beach ‘cos the problem with Singapore is that it’s all about going to malls and that’s about it! Very little of outdoorsy life – mainly cos it’s so freakin’ hot 🙁
Love following your chronicles with the hubby and Hunter…Thank goodness for good babysitting services! 😉
Aww thank you, and love your beauty blog! I’m so envious you’re in Tokyo… 😛
oh we should have synched up! our family holidays is this wednesday to Fiji and we’re planning exactly the same as you: relax, eat at the resort, lounge around the pool sipping mocktails and not go on expeditions to visit the area! Let’s sync up for next time!
Ooo have a fab time in Fiji! Heh should’ve come to Bintan with us and we could bum around and take turns babysitting and going on dates 😉
I completely understand what you mean by how trips and holidays now have to be planned carefully, and the blessing of a babysitter! When we were back in Singapore to visit, I think my hubby and I would have gone nuts if we didn’t have my Mum to help babysit our sleeping son so that we could go out gallivanting at night 😛
Yeah it makes a world of difference when you have parents around huh? I would go insane otherwise. Plus, you have 100% trust in them and aren’t worrying when you’re away!
I think I am abit of a worrier but I have never quite dared to engage a babysitter to tend to the children while they are asleep! Erm..how do you deal with that? :S
With great difficulty! We were so worried the whole time. But we felt that, at some point, we need to ‘let go’ and also have some alone time. The babysitter was through the hotel (she actually runs their childcare center) so at least we knew she was legit and adept with kids. We would never just get a random babysitter off the street..