It's been a while since we've had a nice looooong vacation and this semester gave us a chance to have one, giving up two Saturdays in return. All in all it was a good bargain for us. The week was divided nicely into pre, during and post apartment painting. The painting, requested by mommy a while back, was supported by the landlord a while back and we had all been waiting for this break to get the paint rollers out.
During the prep time, of course, we needed to make sure that apartment was 'paint ready' by putting things away and moving the big items into the middles of rooms, etc. After it was all over we had to make sure that things were as they should, with the colors in the right places and the place looking as nice as we'd hoped.
But the time in between - those three days - was just the right amount of time to head out and about. For day one we just popped into town and spent a night at one of them hotels down there that tourists normally stay at. It was grand, but with the passage of time, and the arrival of the rain, our plans for a "night on the town" ended up dwindling to more of a "watch TV and veg" with a room service meal by our bed. Either way, it wan enjoyed thoroughly.
Days two and three allowed us to head a bit further afield to a place called The Dusun, about an hour's drive away. It is a family owned hotel, largely self-catered, nestled nicely in the jungles of Malaysia. Though getting there requires driving through the mess that is today an expansion (and moving) of urban sprawl and palm plantations, once there the experience is quite delightful, filled with the little things that make vacations just right. An infinity pool, for exmaple, just meters from our front door. And a small kitchenette to do our own cooking. Breakfast was of traditional Malaysian fare and arguably the best we've ever had! The girls gobbled up that coconut rice!
We also did a bit of hanging out with our friends Leandro and Anita, whose daughter is in the same grade as our own little one. They spend almost an entire day (we counted 630 minutes) outside either enjoying lunch under the umbrellas, playing various card games or taking turns trying out new styles of diving into the water.
By the end of the two short days out of town it felt like we'd relaxed quite a bit and even encroaching urban sprawl couldn't detract from our positive outlook. The new colors in the apartment were just that added exclamation mark for a well received vacation. Now on to unpacking and replacing paintings on those new but barren walls...
