Blogs from Kuta, Bali, Indonesia, Asia - page 25

We were up today at about half eight again as we had a meeting with our wedding planner at half nine. After breakfast we went up to the foyer cafe to wait for her. She was late, but we figured that was our karma for missing the meeting with the functions guy at our hotel. She arrived and we went over the details for the wedding ceremony, including photos, video, timing and music. She seems lovely and paid a lot of attention to details for a control freak like me was really good. After the meeting had concluded we returned to our room to get a stuff together for our first shopping expedition into Kuta. We again took a car from the hotel at a cost of IDR76,500 which wasn't bad and probably on par with ... read more

hope you all had a great new year, we did. nick nick and i went down to our fave bar here calleed little wing where they have a live band on everynight and basically anything goes in there! we intended to move on to 1 of the big clubs but never made it as ht e atmosphere was amazing, everyone dancing, singing, swopping drinks and blowing horns!!! we had agreat time, the boys (nick and nick) baught hideous shirts to go out in like vomit on cotton! so needless to say today we havent done a great deal, just chilled round the pool (other nicks pool as we are staying in i complete dive) and ive just had a facial my nick had a massage (oooh errr!) and big nick had a manicure and pedicure. each ... read more

Experiencing a great flight from Singapore to Denpasar Airport in Bali, (good meal and a great film - 'Wanted' with the lovely James McEvoy!) we arrived in good spirits. Then we saw our hotel and our grins broadened even further! The Dewi Sri Hotel in Kuta, booked by our dear mate Trude, was everything we weary travellers could have wanted after some of the dives that we'd been staying in. Air con, hot shower and space! Oh, how the little luxuries mean so much! The hotel was set back from the main strip, Legian St, in Kuta and was a stone's throw from the Memorial of the Bali bombing. Even though we were all a bit nervous about the possibility of reprisals following the execution on the bombers only a week or so before, and in ... read more

"Where do i catch a bus to Surabaya?", I asked the travel guide at my resort hotel in Legian. "What, you want to go to Surabaya by bus" was the incredulous reply. It seems Bali has become such a world tourist destination that any thought of independent travel is not cool. People fly in and fly out or get on a boat to Lombok. But the idea of catching a bus off the island is so outrageous that it's beyond the comprehension of a hotel travel hostess. Still, I persevered and found out that Ubung bus terminal was the place to get to when it was time to leave. After a week of looking at Kath and Kim's, Aussie beer bellies and sun bleached surfers as well as sunsets on the beach and riding around the ... read more

Major panic! The alarm went off silently so we were woken at 07:30 by the telephone ringing! So slightly bleary eyed we headed off to the local market with our cooking instructor and another "student". The market was amazing, walking around with someone who knows what they're talking about always helps, especially with everything so foreign. After the tour we headed to the cook school, or rather the really impressive kitchen of a guest house! We were treated to Hibiscus Tea and a selection of sweet rice deserts, which are served as snack items or for celebrations. It's amazing what you can do with rice, palm sugar and coconut! The cooking class itself introduced us to ten traditional Balinese dishes. Thankfully the kitchen staff had carried out the more time consuming task of chopping and slicing ... read more