Tag Archives: outdoors

In mid-December we hopped a Singapore Airlines jet for the Maldives, the low-lying island chain southwest of India. We’d long been fascinated by the place, after seeing pictures of coral atolls and sandy beaches, so we headed to a resort for a week or so, a little bit before Christmas.

It was amazing and we can’t wait to return!

We stayed at a resort called Kurumba, which took up the whole of a small island a short speedboat ride away from the island where the airport was built/ Check out these pictures of the resort and the surrounding beaches and water.

We had a little cabana right on the beach.

The resort offered diving, yoga, swimming… typical beach resort amenities. There wasn’t really all that much to do overall — which was exactly the point. Daddy went diving a lot, but otherwise we dd a lot of hanging out, reading, relaxing.

Nyan on the gorgeous beach that surrounded the entire island:

The lagoon around the beach were very shallow and warm. Sometimes a baby shark would swim by:

Don’t worry, the sharks weren’t dangerous. So Nyan spent a lot of time in the water too.

We took a lot of family pictures too:

Mostly we walked around the resort but one day we indulged Nyan’s desire to get a ride on the golf cart.

Yeah, Nyan spent most of the time being his normal self. Reading, sleeping, just being Nyan.

Including being a goofball from time to time:

Fianlly, some shots from the traveling experience. On the plane, at the airport…

And on the speedboat on the ride to the airport our last morning.  Ahh. Lovely.

In early August, to celebrate both Mommy’s birthday and the imminent end of a fun-filled summer, we took a three-night trip to Telunas, the low-key beach resort in Indonesia that we went to last August as well (see here). We absolutely loved it last year and Mommy said she wanted to return for her birthday again this year. So off we went!  

It’s an easy place to get to — a one-hour ferry from Singapore to Batam, Indonesia, followed by an hour or so on a narrow, low-riding speedboat operated by the resort. It was a little bumpy but fun. Here’s Nyan on the ride:

It’s a casual resort in a secluded cove, all of it built on stilts over the water, with a long walkway connecting it to the shore. Some photos:

Here’s an evening time-lapse from our room’s deck:

And another time-lapse from the beach, showing the little crabs doing their little crab thing:

Telunas is not a place you go for non-stop excitement and action. It’s a place to unwind, chill, and rest. There’s plenty to do though: read, play games, swim in the ocean, and eat. Here’s Nyan doing the Telunas thing:

Nyan and Mommy on the beach:

We spent a lot of time in the water, with our waterproof camera. The water was a little murky (a function of the time of year: prevailing winds in August are out of the south, and the cove faces south, so it gets steady winds that bring steady churn-y waves right into the cove. Apparently the water is much more clear at other times of the year). But who cares about the murk: we had a blast. Check it out:

And more:

Telunas is a family friendly place, so there were lots of kids around, including Warren, a half-white, half-Asian American boy who was a bit younger than Nyan. They got along great. Nyan (and Mommy) also fell in love with PJ, a months-old baby who they pretty much wouldn’t put down.

We did the rope course again, just like we did last year. Still fun!

And one day, the staff demonstrated some traditional Indonesian dance moves:

At night, the staff would start a big bonfire down on the beach, and Nyan and the other kids would gleefully roast marshmallows.

Nyan  also showed off his own traditional dance moves:

The resort has this platform about 30 feet above the sea. At high tide, you can leap from it. It’s a bit daunting but also pretty exhilarating, as Daddy found out both last year and this:

All in all, it was a super relaxing, enjoyable and successful trip. I bet we’ll be back again.