Travelling with baby is really a whole different experience all together! The way we usually travel is to get to the destination than plan our next few days and book tours or rent a car depending on which is more feasible at the destination. With the baby, we did a lot less and spent more days doing almost nothing. Time slowed to a crawl and we felt like we were really holidaying rather than trying to squeeze in an activity every single minute.
Hana is 4 months and 3 weeks and she’s at a perfect age to travel. She’s solely breastfed and she’s more independant now. She can play by herself for longer periods and this means that she can lie down on a couch during meals at the hotel and more or less play with her toys till we finish our meal. Of course being in Thailand, half the time she was carried around by the waitresses. The Thais are among the most warm and hospitable in Asia. They love babies! A lot! Hana received so much attention.
I brought a few toys which kept Hana entertained.
A crinkly cloth book which makes a lot of noise.
I bought these set of plastic toy links from kiddy palace. They cost S$4.90 per pack and it contains about 15 links. She really enjoyed this toy, banging it around, looping it around her wrists and gumming at them. When she got bored of playing with them on her own, I jiggled it around and played tug of war with her. It seemes to offer her unlimited play oppurtunities, she was never tired of them.
I also brought a little flat soft bear which she liked to hug and her hand and feet rattles. She enjoyed her hand and feet rattles in KL.
But I think she’s outgrown them. After some failed attempts at gnawing off the rattles, she lost interest in them.
This is how Hana goes diaper free at home. On a rubber mat with a flat prefold under her. Here she’s wearing a purple Fuzzi Bunz fitted cloth diaper for modesty sake! When we travel, I bring along a special disposable plastic sheet which is soft and cottonny on one side and plastic on the other. Its waterproof in case of leaks. I give her diaper free time when in the hotel room right after a diaper change and sometimes she naps on it as well. One sheet lasts me 2-3 days as I make sure I potty her before I put her on the sheet so she doesn’t wet.
EC-ing on holiday just meant giving her potty breaks when we were in the room. I caught a cold after snorkelling on the 3rd day of the holiday so I kind of gave up the EC-ing. However something interesting has happened these past few days. She’s been signalling when she wants to use the potty by making whimpering noises. So I have successfully caught more than the post nap pees! We’ve been having pretty good days, and I’m trying out the training pants in the afternoon. During the mornings, she has a volley of pees and poos so I always use diaper back up. But things slow down during the afternoon and she’s in her training pants during her afternoon nap. I catch a pee after the nap then another a little later as she squirms after a feed. We’ve had one or two accidents so far but then again I always put her on the rubber mat when I put her down so clean up is easy. She never ever pees on me so my clothes always remain dry. I won’t pretend that EC is really easy. It does take effort but it does get easier over time. I’ve been doing EC part time since birth but Hana only caught on proper around 3 months. She pees on cue at about that time but there are still lapses and accidents in between. Its become part of our routine so I’ll still continue to do it. It just seems natural and right. Each time I get a full potty and empty it into the toilet bowl, I feel a wierd sense of achievement, like I understood her and we had a connection. After all the months of EC-ing, its finally clicked, I sort of know when she’s got to go and she sort of tries to let me know too. Things are supposed to get better and better..? I guess we’ll see how it goes! I’ve completely abandoned my night time EC cos I just can’t get myself to get out of bed even though Hana signals and signals by squirming like mad if she has to poo. I also have not done EC out of the home or gone diaper free out of the home. So I guess its still a long journey ahead till we’re completely diaper free.
Hana in the sarong carrier at the airport. We decided to forgo the pram and carried her everywhere we went. She was in the sarong when she was with me and in her Daddy’s arms when she wasn’t. We also brought a foldable changing mat and put her down on couches or sofas for naps when we were at restaurants or by the pool or beach.
We also brought lots of bibs because she’s at a drooling stage yet hates to have her chin mopped all the time. With the bib she loves to play and nibble on it so its kind of a self cleaning device. We also bought loads of mosquito patches as with all tropical jungly areas, there were loads of mosquitoes in Krabi. You can see the blue patch on her romper. Sometimes H would feel she needs more “protection” and she would have up to 3 patches stuck onto her.
We never left the room without her sun hat and sunblock too.
We stayed at the Amari Vogue which we booked thru asiarooms. The resort is beautiful but for the price we paid, we felt that we stayed in better rooms for much less. Another minus point was the staff hardly spoke English so it was a challenge communicating our needs. We asked for a pot of brewed coffee to our room and was brought packets of instant coffee instead. When we asked for an international adaptor, we were brought an internet cable. The room also had a peeling paint on the wall and the parquet floor was quite badly scratched. But the rooms were generally very clean. There was a turn down service and we received small cakes daily. These were really delicious and included local and international cakes. We had a fabulous orange mousse in little shot glasses on evening which H and I fought over. The pools and the landscaping were fabulous. There are two restaurants in the resort and the Thai food in the Lotus restaurant was ok but wasn’t the best. The pad thai and fried rice was sooo sweet which was strange. Bellini’s their Italian restaurant is fabulous, its by the beach so we enjoyed the sunsets over dinners every evening.
The resort is located on the rather remote Tub Kaek beach which is 30 mins from the busy tourist city of Aonang. While the peace and quiet was really heavenly, the distance and expensive taxi fares made us feel rather stuck on the resort. Taxi two way is S$50 which is really ridiculous. You can book a driver for the same amount the entire day in Bali and probably a number of days in India. I didn’t expect Krabi to be so expensive and so crowded. I was expecting a quiet getaway like Koh Samui but Krabi is very very touristy and spoilt by the strength of European currencies. The locals are not interested in bargaining with you at all! Even a ride on the long tailed boat shown above to the nearby islands would cost about S$80. On a rickety boat!
We stayed a lot on the resort and had most of our meals there. We watched the sun rise and the sun set on many walks. We also had a good massage at a beach hut just down the beach from the resort. I had a facial on the last day at the resort spa which is lovely and reasonably priced.
The weather was hot with a few late afternoon showers. We downed lots of iced lattes which were plentiful along cafes along Ao Nang beach.
Hana is a great travel baby, I can’t wait for more trips!
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