Part 1: This Little Kiddy Goes To Kyoto

In May, when Mr E was about 20 months, we brought him to Japan for his very first family holiday. Of course, because the thought of a week alone with Mr E in a foreign land felt just too physically and emotionally daunting, we brought reinforcements: The Grandparents.

Grandma and Mr E about to board the plane to Osaka!

We decided to go to Kyoto over Tokyo because we wanted a city that was a bit slower in pace. We were also drawn to the fact that Kyoto is literally just filled with temples and parks, making it a safe place for an inquisitive toddler to run around in. I use the word literally, literally. It is literally filled with temples and parks! I’m going to share with you how we travelled to and around, where we stayed, what we ate and what we saw in Kyoto in a series of three blog entries. So let’s start with travelling to Kyoto and where we stayed!

HOW WE TRAVELLED TO KYOTO

It seemed we weren’t the only ones who thought that Kyoto would be a lot more family friendly than Tokyo. The Singapore Airlines flight from Singapore to Osaka was carrying more than the normal load of babies and toddlers. About an hour into the flight, we became fast friends with a French family who were seated at the bulkhead seats across the aisle from us. They too embarked on inter-generational travel as the boistrous one-year-old boy introduced us to his charming mother, father and grandmama. They too were enroute to Kyoto for a family holiday.

To be very honest, the aeroplane ride to Osaka was horrible. Mr E was restless and frustrated. When the air stewardesses first set up his bassinet, he couldn’t wait to hop in and lie down because it was such a novelty to him. Our relief was short-lived when ten seconds later he wanted out and wanted to run up and down the aisle. The stewardesses were less than amused and warned us that we had to keep him off the aisle when they were serving the meals. I think he just wanted to reach across the aisle for his French friend most of the time. But was prohibited from doing so by the stewardesses which further added to his irritable mood. All I can say is, thank goodness for Peppa Pig.

We arrived in Osaka at night. Oh which brings me to #TravellinginKyotowithaToddler Tip 1: Don’t be a hero. You are already a hero for travelling with a toddler. To make your journey as comfortable as you can for you and the child, if you arrive at night, book the airport hotel. So luckily we did, and we spent the night at the Kansai Airport Hotel. It was a God-send seriously. We literally just stumbled out of the aeroplane and into our beds. It seemed an Indian family that also travelled with their toddler on the same plane as us had the exact same idea with us giving each other sheepish awkward smiles as we recognised each other in the hotel lobby and walked towards the same lift.

The next day we took the train, which was just outside the Kansai Airport Hotel, to Kyoto. It was so easy. We just pushed our airport trolleys into our rooms the night before, and then pushed the same trolleys out of the lobby and into the train station. SO CONVENIENT. It was at the train station that we bumped into the French family again. Seriously, Kyoto is a baby magnet. When we reached Kyoto, I noticed many other tourists pushing around strollers or carrying their babies in slings. It’s just that easy to travel around in Kyoto with your child.

When we reached Kyoto station, we decided to go with the easy option of just hailing a taxi to the ryokan that we booked. The cost of a daily bus pass in Kyoto is about 500 Yen (approx S$5). The staff at the ryokan advised that the cost of a taxi from the station to the ryokan would be about 800 Yen. So we decided that since there were four of us plus a toddler, it would be actually cheaper to hail a cab. I guess that brings me to #TravellinginKyotowithaToddler Tip 2: Again, don’t be a hero. Actually, sometimes, the more comfortable option may be the more economical one. One of the best things about cabs in Kyoto is that they are so polite and so accommodating. Even though some drivers may not speak English, they will try their best to communicate with you – to find out where you are going. I guess that also brings me to #TravellinginKyotowithaToddler Tip 3: Try to get the name of the place you want to go to written in Japanese before you get into the cab. While this is a probably a universal rule, it is even more true in Kyoto as most of the drivers can’t speak English and unless you have great Japanese pronunciation, you’d probably mangle the attraction name, causing embarrassment to both you and the driver when he finally figures out what you are trying to say and says it in a completely different way.

WHERE WE STAYED

We stayed at the Ryokan Sakura Honganji, just a 10 minutes cab ride away from Kyoto station. As we’d never stayed in a ryokan before, we were quite excited. Nat and I booked a traditional tatami room and my parents booked a Western room. When we first entered the ryokan, we were pleasantly greeted by this sunny chirpy lady. She told us that although we were early, check-in time is at 3 pm, she’d be happy to keep our luggage for us and deliver them to the rooms, as we headed out for lunch.

The ryokan itself was decent enough. It was filled with Americans, most notably, American university students when we were there. Also – it did not have wifi in the room. We had to use wifi downstairs. It kind of reminded me of my boarding school days where we would all huddle around the living room trying to detect a faint wifi signal. The wifi signal was strong – just inconveniently located downstairs.

Sleeping on a tatami mat was interesting. I’d slept on floors before, but I wasn’t used to such a thin mattress so it took some time getting used to. Nat thought it would help his back, but after five days, he realised it probably made it worse. The only one who was absolutely thrilled with the tatami mat was Mr E. He loved the fact that during the day, the whole tatami mat area was transformed into a free-for-all play area where he could run and jump up and down to his hearts content.

Breakfast wasn’t exciting. Luckily, we only tried breakfast once – just out of curiosity. The salmon was hard and the soup forgettable. I guess it wasn’t a traditional ryokan with a 95-year-old lady stirring rice porridge in the kitchen like I had dreamed about. Most of the staff in the ryokan when we were there were in their early 20s, a few generations away from my fantasy of a 95-year-old innkeeper who cooked food passed down from her grandmother. BUT, to make up for it, apparently there’s a famous ramen shop just 1 minute from the ryokan. Unfortunately we didn’t get to try it, but apparently the queues are pretty long.

I must say I liked the location of the ryokan. It was located right in the heart of a residential district with a playground just down the road and people cycling too and from work. It was also very quiet in the evenings which made retiring for the day very easy and peaceful – we didn’t have to worry about waking up to shattered wine bottles.

At the end of the day, I realised that the kids working in the ryokan weren’t too bad. At least they could speak good (almost fluent) English, I doubt my imaginary 95-year-old innkeeper can!

The staff at the Ryokan Sakura Honganji

Stay tuned for Part 2 to find out what this little kiddy ate in Kyoto!

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A Break Away from Baby

When I was five months pregnant with E-Man, my husband and I spent two weeks in Italy on a babymoon.  It was one of the best holidays I’ve ever had.  We travelled all the way from the South of Italy to the North.  We walked through the sun-dappled cobblestone streets of Capri and enjoyed the warm, slightly salted Mediterranean spring, braved the crowds at the Vatican, nearly got mugged in Rome (luckily we had only 20 Euros in our wallets and the mafia men weren’t interested, thankfully), lived in a stone-wall villa in Tuscany, tried to hold up the leaning tower of Pisa, shopped at the Prada Space Outlet (I mean, how could you not?) and braved the small meandering roads through to Bellagio, Lake Como, to enjoy the most beautiful views I had ever seen in my life.

The sun-kissed Capri island

At the end of our two week long journey, half of which was spent with our good friends who were on honeymoon, we met a very distinguished looking middle-aged couple at the airport in Rome.  They looked how I would like to look when I grow up.  The husband wore a navy blue blazer with kaki pants and the wife wore a beautiful silk headscarf with, if I remember correctly, a soft silk blouse with black (the actual colour eludes me) pants.  They looked great.  Calm.  Peaceful.  Happy.  They had just spent a good week by the seaside in Italy and were glowing.  I decided to describe their attire because they looked so put together compared to my husband and me who were in t-shirt and jeans.  They had time to iron their airplane outfits.  She even wore perfectly applied red lipstick.  I was lucky to even have crudely applied lip balm on.

Anyway, after waiting in line to check-in to our flight, it was established we were all from Singapore.  We soon started chatting and sharing our adventures.  During our conversation, the lady shared that they had four children.  Four children??  I looked at her, amazed.  But you don’t look frazzled or stressed.  Well, of course her children were now all teenagers or older, so that helped, but she then let us in on a secret.  She said, with the confidence that only a mother of four well-raised teenagers can have, that the secret to a great marriage was that they always went away on holiday as a couple after the birth of each child.  And continue to have couple holidays when possible.

Honestly, it was one of the best pieces of marriage advice we’ve received!

So, even before the baby was born we booked our trip to Bali.  The budget airlines were booked, our resort was booked, even my spa treatments were arranged.  We were going to go to Bali in January 2014.

HOWEVER, once E-Man came I discovered breastfeeding.  Yes, I was so ignorant I didn’t even think about engorgement and pumping.  As I had shared in my earlier posts, E-Man had trouble latching and I began my exclusive pumping journey when he was just two weeks old.  Going to Bali, while still exclusive pumping would mean:

1) Bringing my stupid breast pump
2) Deciding how and where to freeze all the milk – and whether I should pump and dump or pump and keep and how to transport all the milk back
3) Not being able to do ANYTHING but sit in the hotel room or some other clean place and pump every 3 hours
4) Having a massage while slowly getting engorged – NOT my idea of fun
5) Having to come home early from dinner or shopping just to pump – it’s not like I can pump just anywhere in Bali
6) Waking up in the middle of the night during your holiday just to pump – OMG

Bringing the 4/5 month old was out of the question as well since he doesn’t latch on demand, I would still have to pump and it’ll become more of a headache.  So we decided to postpone our trip until October this year.

Fast forward six months and we just got back from Bali.  Four days and three nights in the land of the gods.  We stayed at The Chedi Sakala basically because I saw the pictures on a website and they looked AMAZING.  I testify that it’s critical to invest in great photography for your product.  Seriously.  I literally just booked The Chedi Sakala not caring where it was because I just loved the photography.  It’s a full-suite luxury hotel, you can’t expect anything less from GHM Hotels, which means all rooms come with a separate living, dining and kitchen area.  It is actually perfect for families with young children because you can store and heat up their food in the little kitchenette.  Thanks to a friend, we got upgraded to the Cabana Suite which meant that we could jump into the pool from our balcony.  We’ve never stayed in a hotel like that before and we loved not having the hassle of changing into our bathers, looking for the sunscreen, packing the sunscreen, packing the sunglasses, packing the hat, packing the mobile phone, looking for the key card, packing the key card into a bag and walking 10 minutes to a pool.  No, staying in the Cabana Suite meant that you just changed into your bathers in your room and jumped into the pool.  Awesome.

The living room!

The bedroom!

We could jump from our room to the pool!

Oh wait, sorry for spending so much time describing the hotel, job hazard.

So we also went to the Rock Bar which was INCREDIBLE.  Truly worth the hype.  I also discovered how important it is to invest in a good DJ.  The DJ playing that day we went, 3 October, was really good.  The music was trance-y chill-out lounge-y ocean music.  The music she chose perfectly complemented the crashing of the waves onto the rocks.  Hard to describe.  My mobile phone pictures do not do it justice.

Rock Bar at AYANA Bali

Luckily for me, my husband likes shopping and eating as much as I do so we spent all our time eating and shopping.  And travelling to eat and shop.  HAHA.  Yay!  Oh and we decided to go beach parasailing on a whim.  It was SCARY and exhilarating.  Don’t do it if you are afraid of heights, though.

It’s been a really crazy six months.  I’ve been working three consulting jobs, starting up a business, going to part-time night school to become a tour guide (out of interest), trying to spend time with the baby and at one point of time trying to write a book (but I’ve since shelved that).  The long weekend was seriously much needed!

The best part about the trip away was coming back to Little E-Man.  While this is cliche, it’s SO nice to come home to your child.  Although he was sleeping when we got back Monday night, when I saw him on Tuesday morning he gave me this HUGE big smile and came to me as though we hadn’t even left!  🙂 Wonderful.  On to the next adventure!