Bali Bird Park, Komodo Dragons and the Water Temple

Chad really wanted to see a Komodo Dragon while in Bali. I blame the tourism video they showed on the airplane. Damn you. I had to hear random facts about these creatures for 10 days. He also asked just about any person willing to converse if they've visited Komodo Island (everyone said no except our tour guide). Since we were in no way taking the ferry, then hiking and camping on some isolated island to be eaten by a ferocious reptile, Chad settled on seeing one in the Bali Bird Park.

It excited Rhett seeing all the birds of Indonesia and Chad saw his dang Komodo Dragon so all was well with the world. 

Then our tour guide took us to a restaurant overlooking the rice terraces and they had Indonesia's version of rice pudding (made with coconut milk) so I was happy. 

The Water Temple was a sight to see as well.

It was a good day in Bali.

Blessed are the curious for they shall have adventure

-Lovelle Drachman

Komodo dragon info here.

Komodo Island info here (if you dare).

Bali Bird  Park info here.

Hwaseong Fortress and Chad home!

So Chad works a lot. I now realize just how spoiled we were in Germany. Working late meant eight o'clock at the latest and one Saturday a month. For reals. Working late here means he gets home and I've been asleep for hours. He also has either been in the field or working twenty-four hours shifts many weekends since we've been here. Booo! This use to cause me a lot of grief because I never knew if I should count on him for dinner... make him a plate.... leave it out... put it away...  or keep the kids up to say 'goodnight.'
Man, it was stupidly stressful.
 Once I axed that entire thought process and realized he has to work but he is a grown man who can successfully warm up a plate of leftovers in the microwave when he got home, life became a lot easier. I'm not trying to be insensitive or anything but after going weeks of what felt like being "stood up" by my husband, we both agreed it better for everyone to just go about our business... take care of the kids... get them on a good schedule, etc. 

So every day and night... dinner, bath time, bedtime... it's just the three of us.

Sometimes military spouse-hood aint all it's cracked up to be.

That is why we were super stoked when Chad got to spend nearly four entire days in our company thanks to the Columbus Day holiday. 

We took walks, went out to dinner, and visited the Hwaseong Fortress in Suwon.

We've been talking about going to this place for awhile now but as you can see, there hasn't been a lot of opportunities to do so. 

Suwon is about forty-five minutes from us so it made for a nice day trip. This fortress is a UNESCO world cultural heritage site if that means anything to you. 

Suwon itself is a pretty cool place too. They have a lot of interesting street art and it was fun just walking around.

Rhett practically gave me a heart attack every five minutes by running up to the edges of the wall but we survived!

We conveniently showed up at the same time as friends and after walking around in the scorching sun with five kids between us we decided to eat at a Lotteria (Korean McDonald's) out of desperation. Our energy was restored thanks to bulgogi burgers and soft serve ice cream. 

We checked out a few more sights (including the palace where they film a popular Korean soap opera) before heading home.

On the drive home, Chad took a wrong turn and we spent an extra hour on the road. That was annoying. It's kind of funny because as I sat there (really annoyed!) Chad says to me, "too bad, we had such a nice day too." Then I kind of got over it because... ultimately... it was a nice day.

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Every few hours they do a little bow and arrow clinic for those interested. We went on a Monday so things were a little slow. If you visit on a weekend they have lots of activities for kids. We'll keep that in mind for next time.

I never mentioned the time when I bought a coconut drink from one of these vending machines. 

It had gelatinous chunks in it and didn't taste like coconut. I was sad.

 I guess this is recycled? Up-cycled? What I can't get over is how this person grows beautiful plants in old water bottles and I kill cacti. 

Just a 350 year old tree. No big deal.

The tour guide told me these are the two main characters in the popular television show that is filmed here or based on this place?  I don't know. I was sweating a lot and had twenty-four extra pounds on my back so I (regretfully) wasn't listening.

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Just FYI: The fortress is not stroller friendly, baby-wearing all the way. There is no food on Food Street. You want to eat? Go one block over.

GPS address and more info here.

Mallipo Beach on the Yellow Sea

I guess in an unofficial celebration of our Lieutenants being so for an entire year... the Evans' came down for another visit and we took advantage of the miserable weather here at Humphrey's to drive to the beach. I had read a few blogs about Mallipo and even though the traffic there (remember, Korean school holidays?) was not ideal, it wasn't horrible either. However, if it had been horrible, it probably still would have been worth it because this beach was pretty darn nice and perfect for kids. 

There is a really large parking lot (free) with bathrooms just a few blocks up from the beach. When we got there we didn't really know how the whole thing worked but some kind people took pity on us and gave us their already paid for tarp and umbrella for the rest of the day. 

The water at this beach is clear and Rhett was wonderfully entertained by the little schools of fish you could see swimming about. The water is really shallow and the waves were small so Rhett could wade pretty far out without any help.  The beach looked really crowded but not miserably so and it wasn't really an issue for us. There are TONS of restaurants and little stores but we loaded up on commissary snacks before the trip so we didn't need to visit any of those.

We will definitely be visiting Mallipo beach again and I'd really love to go on a weekday when it's not so crowded because I think the area surrounding this beach is really pretty but I was distracted by the sea of umbrellas littering the coastline. 

The only downside to our beach day was when Chad tried to beat Tim home and got on the "expressway"(15) and.... well.... let's just say that the Evans' children were fed, bathed and in bed by the time we got home HOURS later. 

Chad learned a very valuable lesson that day. Take the 32 to Mallipo there and back. He must have forgot about the tortoise and the hare. 

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We tried unsuccessfully to catch these little fish in our bare hands. Thankfully, a nice Korean gentleman was able to catch a couple in his hat and shared them with us. 

There were lots of little shells all over the beach but we were warned to avoid the long skinny ones. I guess those ones have a little crustacean in them that are enjoyed by violently sucking them out of their little home so that they can serve as an afternoon snack.

Oh and on the drive to the beach I saw this gigantic anime character and I told Sarah that Chad will want to stop there on his way home.

He's so predictable.

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For more information about Mallipo... go here.