Blogs from Bali, Indonesia, Asia - page 229

Hello, sorry its been a while. Bali is...strange. Well to be honest I'm a bit homesick. I thought even though there were bombs here it would still be vibrant, but its not really! We are currently in kuta where the bombs are...its quite big and vibrant, but really just feels so empty. I think parents having honeymooned here I was expecting white sand and bliss...but we seem to be in the touristy side, with lots of surf though. However, I can't complain, this way we are near cheap restuarants and some good night life! Indeed, we have had some very interesting nights. We went to a bar called Chasers for dinner (very good pizzas). They had free pool and good music so we ended up staying for a few games. Headed to the bar for a ... read more

On 17th May I flew from Sydney to Denpasar, the largest town on the island of Bali, Indonesia. A few friends who all live in different parts of the world had arranged to rent a lovely villa for a few days to enable us to catch up and have a good chilled out time. When I eventually got through customs at the airport I was picked up by my driver and taken to the villa in Seminyak, a small region just North of Kuta in the South of the Island. In total there was 8 of us including Kyle & Sonia who now live in Singapore, Nick & Aleks who know live in Jakarta, Simon & Ruth, Lauren and me. The holiday conisted mostly of surfing, eating and drinking. The Aussie dollar and the UK ... read more

Bali - scuba devin This is Phil's first travel update. After spending 3 days in Jakatra working I arrived Saturday afternoon. The work portion of Indonesia went very well and was extremely rewarding. As a consultant, it's always a good sign when you are invited back. It looks like I'll be back to Malaysia and Indonesia within the next 12 months, which I'm very happy about. As usual, it took almost a full week for me to work through the jet lag and I'm now feeling fully recalibrated and well rested. It was wonderful to arrive in Bali and see Devin and Jan. I'm so happy we can experience this adventure together. Typical words used to describe Bali are tropical, tranquil, beautiful and exotic. All would be true. We have a somewhat tilted view of the ... read more

I arrived in Bali on Thursday 26 April after a flight from Phuket to Kuala Lumpur and, after a 2 hour stopover, a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Bali. I eventually reached my hotel at 8pm and was asleep by 9.30pm. After a much needed 12 hour sleep, I walked around to explore and to find somewhere nicer to stay. The next 6 hours of the afternoon were spent shopping, walking along the beach and getting a general feel for the place. That evening I stayed in and watched DVDs. On Saturday morning, I checked into a nice hotel with a great outdoor swimming pool. In the afternoon, I had a well needed massage at the hotel before relaxing by the pool. After watching two football matches that evening in my room, I went out at ... read more

Tue 8th: So, we checked out the hotel in Singapore, did the blog, got the MRT and got to the airport. Got carried away with duty-free shopping (Well, 200 cigarettes each and a bottle of Smirnoff - hardly a spree of epic proportions). Got the plane, didn't get a meal, bummer. And arrived in Bali, Denpasar airport just after midnight. Wed 9th: At the airport we had to pay for a visa ($25 - US Dollars! Before we left, their Embassy website said Brits didn't have to pay!) Stepped outside and it was barren. No buses, no people, just taxi drivers asking a ridiculous amount of money. So we looked on the map, saw Kuta town was only 2km South (Turn right as you leave the airport), used the compass and started walking. About 500 ... read more