pedwards98

Today started off pretty much as we anticipated. The driver we had arranged to collect us did not arrive. Up to last week everything was all right until I asked him the price and I had not heard from him since. Anyhow we arranged another driver from the pool at the hotel and we went on a 6 hour tour of central Bali, primarily to places that paid commission. I just wonder if an extra Rp100,000 tip to the driver would prevent that happening. In six hours about the only non-commission paying place we saw was some terraced paddy fields and that was at our request. We were just amazed at the urbanisation of South Bali. When we went to Jimbaran on Sunday it was pretty much urban all the way and today we headed east ... read more

Today was a rather relaxing day. In the morning we had a swim and a laze around the pool for couple of hours before lunch. We then went for a walk along the beach boardwalk, really a paved path, towards Kuta. This was a really nice walk and surprisingly we were not hassled by vendors. There were a few, but a shake of the head and they accepted it quite well. Our intention was to get a massage and we went to place called Melasti Spa. We had a one hour massage which they called a Melasti massage, a combination of Balinese, Swedish and Shiatsu techniques. How can someone so small inflict such pain? The massage was great and we will be going back there again. It only cost Rp115,000 or about $12. Such good value. ... read more

We had a great start to our holiday. The gods and wind were on our side today and we flew straight to Bali without having to stop for refuelling in Darwin. In the end we arrived about 2 hours earlier than expected. On arrival at Bali we cleared customs and of course, because we were so early our lift was not there. In the end we decided to get a cab to the hotel. It nearly broke the bank costing the grand sum of Rp50,000 or $5. We checked into the hotel and we got our ground floor room as requested which opens up into beautiful tropical gardens and the three pools. The gardens lead down to the pool area and then onto the beach with the boardwalk running along the beach to Kuta itself. It ... read more

This is our last full day in Hong Kong so it’s flat out full time shopping and sightseeing. Our first stop was to take a walk up Nathan Road to check out a few shops on the way to Mong Kok. We had to go into Chungking Mansions, a place of ill repute. There is a rabbit warren of shops in this building but a lot weren’t open early in the day so it wasn’t real busy. There are nearly 2,000 cheap rooms available here in various guesthouses. Have a look on Wikipedia for a lot more information about this rambling building. By the way, Mansions is a gross exaggeration. We continued up Nathan Road looking into the windows and dreaming of being able to afford some of the items in the jewellers windows. Most of ... read more

This morning is a bit of an orientation day as we get ourselves a bit organised. The first plan is to go for a walk and get an Octopus card each for our travels around Hong Kong. We went for a walk down to the Star Ferry terminal and along the waterfront of Victoria Harbour where we found a Starbucks and had a cup of coffee. I thought we may be able to get the card at the ferry but couldn’t find an outlet but we went to an information centre instead. They have a walk of the starts along the waterfront celebrating Chinese movie stars but the only ones we recognised were Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan. We continued walking along the esplanade and crossed Salisbury Road and found a shopping centre called Win On ... read more