Blogs from Indonesia, Asia - page 528

I completely missed out the flight to Jakarta, which was a bit of a non event....but the arrival into indonesia was one that could have been smoother! On arrival to indonesia they give you a 30 day visa....and like the rest of asia want to see proof of onward travel (ie a plane ticket). We hadnt shown anyone any proof of onward travel in any other country.......but we showed our ticket to a moody official...leaving bali on the 16th of november from bali. The guy was seriously annoyed and said 'this is very bad', and kept shaking his head, as this is longer than 30 days. We told him of our intent to change the ticket to an earlier date so that we dont overstay our really warm welcome, but he said no.....this is not good. ... read more

The full story of our week in bali.... After arriving at midnight we picked up our bags and met our guide (James) out the front of the airport. He took us to our hotel where we checked in. By this point we had been awake for about 34+ hours, so, you would of thought we were ready to hit the sack. Nah! got a beer out the fridge and headed to the lobby and toasted the start of our travels. Sunday Awoke at 11am after a well needed sleep, too late for breakfast so we hit the pool for some sunbathing... yeah! Pool isn't heated at all, but after laying in 34 degrees for an hour its very welcoming. Monday Pretty much the same, dinner in the pool side bar with a bottle of red vino ... read more

Bali is an anomaly in the entire Southeast Asian region, let alone just Indonesia, by being a society in which Hinduism is the dominant religion. Hinduism came to Bali more than 2,000 years ago and has developed in an independent fashion ever since, assimilating aspects of Buddhism, animism, and ancestor worship. One of the interesting aspects of Balinese Hinduism (according to Wikipedia) is that it emphasises the propitiation of umpteen local spirits via aesthetically pleasing rituals - this is perhaps why the island has over 11,000 temples and pretty much every day there is a festival at one or more of them. Balinese culture, like many cultures throughout the world, has been informed and shaped by religion. And Balinese culture is perhaps best represented by Ubud (I read that Javanese culture is best represented by Yogyakarta, ... read more

Hey All Have finally arrived in Sydney and have a pc that really has broadband, not just pretending, like the one at the hotel in Bali. And what can I say about Bali, it was awesome. Hotel, weather (30 all week), room, facilities, service, food, even the gym, was fantastic. We had a really chilled week in Bali, the main aim being to get over the jetlag before arriving in Sydney (and maybe get a bit of a tan (or sunburn in Laz's case!!)) We ventured out mid week in Bali, for a bit of fun and a bit of culture. 1st, white water rafting down the Ayung River. The water level was fairly low but there were a few rapids in places and our tour certainly knew how to hit them. We were sharing the ... read more

So, after enduring a 3 hour delay and another terrifying earthquake at the Padang Airport, we were saying goodbye to Sumatra and on our way to Java. Finally, after almost 4 months in Indonesia, we were going to see the heart of this wild country. We had just touched down in Jakarta about 2 months ago but never left the vicinity of the airport as we had a flight to Singapore the following day. We arrived, this time, in the evening, hopped in a taxi and were driven through the wide and busy streets to the main backpacker center; Jalan Jaksa. First we found a hotel, a DECENT hotel (one that wasn't visibly crawling with cockroaches or trannies), had some dinner and then fell right asleep. The next day we decided to wander about, catch a ... read more