Blogs from Indonesia, Asia - page 3

We keep the blackout blinds open overnight, but it doesn’t seem to make a lot of difference. Jetlag’s still got a firm hold and we miss breakfast yet again. The signs on the lift say not to use it if there’s a fire … or an earthquake. This is good advice I’m sure, but where are the stairs, or are we perhaps supposed to just jump over our room's balcony? I‘m suddenly glad we’re only on the first floor, although it’s still a fair drop even from there. There’s a palm tree a couple of metres out from the railing, so maybe we could leap out on to that and slide down to the ground if we really had to. I’m not finding that option all that appealing, so I head out in search of the ... read more

12 September Today we start our tortuously long journey home with an eleven hour overnight flight to Singapore, which we’re looking forward to like a hole in the head. Then it’s on to Bali where we’re planning to spend a few days chilling before finally heading back to reality. We’re flying with Singapore Airlines’ low cost carrier Scoot for the first time. The fare was about half that for the real thing, and it seems you get what you pay for - I think I can squeeze into my seat, but I’m going to be spending most of the flight with my legs dangling out into the aisle - I hope I don’t get run over by a food trolley. And perhaps unsurprisingly you have to pay for everything, including charging your phone? Really? The lights ... read more

Had our eggs and mangosteens for breakfast and finished packing before meeting our driver Alit who I met on the path leading to the entry car park. I left Daisy and our luggage at the side car park as it was close to our villa and would save us carrying it down. I hopped into Alit's car and we drove around to the side car park, packed our luggage in and set off on our day tour. First stop was the Ceking Rice Terraces, Tegallalang. We did one of the big swings together which was fun and then set off on a trek through the rice Terraces which was great. You did have to be careful as parts were a bit muddy and slippery, but it was a great little hike. We stopped for a drink ... read more

Woke up late and decided to eat our eggs and corn flakes. By then it was 11am so we decided to just hang around until it was time to visit our friends, Rosie and Gary who moved to Ballu a few years ago. We ordered a Grab car at noon and it artived fairly quickly but then I noticed he was going in the opposite direction to where we wanted to go, so I got him to stop and it took a while to sort out the correct destination. Rosie told us to go to Warung Ting Ting and I found it on Google Maps. For some reason the Grab app was taking the driver to a different Warung Ting Ting, so there must be two in the Ubud area. So it ended up taking an ... read more

Had a lighter breakfast at the resort restaurant because it is Day 3 of wedding celebration with a farewell lunch at another residence designed by Hadiprana. By the time we had finished breakfast and chatted to people about the previous day’s wedding , it was time to get ready for the transfers to the lunch venue. Today was pouring down with rain and we all agreed how lucky we were that the wedding day was yesterday and the rain had held off at the right time. We were amongst the first to arrive and the grounds were again magnificent. Chef Dean Nor was again in charge of the farewell lunch and this time we feasted on suckling pig with spicy blood sausage, fantastic chicken legs, corn and salads. We had a most enjoyable time chatting with ... read more