Author: JellyfishKing

Day 5 – Easy day

We spent today taking it easy. We slept in after such a busy day yesterday.

After a fantastic Ramen Breakfast/Lunch at Zundou-ya we made our way to Tokyo Station to find out all about the Bullet train we’re taking to Kyoto tomorrow. The friendly boy at the ticket office explained everything to us and we bought the tickets on the spot.

We walked around the lovely old building of Tokyo Station.

We went back to Shibuya and Harajuku to buy some souvenirs and somethings for the folks back home.

 

Day 6 – Off to to Kyoto

Today is an exciting day for me. Another bucket list item crossed off. We’re taking the Shinkansen (bullet train) to Kyoto. We were lucky enough to get the Nozomi, the fastest train.

We caught a taxi to our Hotel, Monterey Kyoto.

After checking in and unpacking we ventured out to explore the area. We came across the Nishiki Market. After a while we had to come back to the hotel, it was just so cold.

We rugged up and went out to find a quick bite for dinner. Then home for a nice shower – the first decent shower for a few days. I’ll talk about our Tokyo AirBnB in another post.

Tomorrow we have a Kyoto tour planned,

Day 2 – Tokyo city tour

After the exhausting day yesterday, we had to get up early and get to the Shinjuku Prince Hotel to start our Tokyo City Grand Tour at 8 am. We woke and got ready later than we wanted to and had a quick breakfast at McDonald’s – yuk… not a great introduction to Japanese cuisine. But served its purpose I suppose.

The tour took in highlights of the city, including the Tokyo Tower, Meiji Shrine, Imperial Palace Gardens, Hama-Rikyu Garden, Sumida River cruise and Asakusa Kannon Temple & Nakamise Shopping Street.

We got a good feel for the place.

The bus dropped us back at Shinjuku at about 8pm.

We grabbed a quick bite to eat at one of the thousands of little restaurants in Shinjuku. We had sushi and Asahi.

Again we we’re exhausted and had an early night.

 

Day 3 – Shinjuku, Harajuku and Shibuya

We woke up late and decided to take things easy today.

We’ll explore on our own and test out our navigation skills. We purchased a Suica card for the trains.

First stop Harajuku. I’d heard this area is famous for young people dressed in cosplay and outrageous fashion. Sadly, we didn’t really see much of that. We went down Takeshita street which was teeming with people. It was a great atmosphere and Jane enjoyed the shopping.

Next stop was Shibuya, which is famous for its street crossing. Rumoured to be the busiest pedestrian crossing in the world, with 45,000 people crossing every 30 minutes. We had a coffee in Starbucks and watched the people crossing the road. It seems silly to say that – but it was truly mesmerising.

Shibuya also has the monument dedicated to Hachikō.

We then took the train to Ginza. The tour guide said this was the main shopping area in Tokyo. We found out that it is, but only for the rich and famous. All very high end.

We went back to Shinjuku for dinner and bed.

Day 1 – Planes, trains and automobiles

You know in movies, when the characters are always late for their flight and you see them running in the terminal calling “hold that plane”? I always comment on that… “so unrealistic”, “that never happens”, “stupid people should be more organised”. Well today, sad to say, we were those characters.

Automobile

We caught a taxi to the airport at 4.30am. Bloody Australian taxi fares… that’s a rant for another day.

Plane

AirAsia flight to Kuala Lumpur. We had a fairly tight connection  to our ANA Tokyo flight, so it was important that the AirAsia flight was on time. It was. Phew. We landed in KL (KLIA2) on time, which left us 1 hour 50 mins to go through immigration, collect our bags and transfer to KLIA to check into our Tokyo flight. Piece of cake.

Automobile

The AirAsia pilot parked the plane at the furthest bay at KLIA2, that gave us about a 30 minute walk to Immigration. There was a fairly big queue at Immigration, but we got through with over one hour left.  Our bags didn’t take too long to appear. We set about trying to find the shuttle bus to KLIA. That proved to be tricky. The signs, or lack thereof, were confusing. It took too long to find the bus stop and even then, which bus to catch. When the bus came we asked the driver if its that right bus., he said yes, but we should catch the other bus because that will be quicker. We caught that other bus which cost us 2 Ringgit each. Sitting on the bus with 45 minutes before our flight, we we’re starting to get nervous (actually Jane had been nervous for 30 minutes already!). We got to KLIA with about 30 minutes to take off, only to find the ANA check-in was closed. Shit!

Plane

There were some ANA staff at the check-in counter, so we pleaded with them to check us in. They did, but they had to open up the system again. They said our bags can go in the “oversize” area, but they weren’t guaranteeing they would make it on the flight. One of the ANA staff then escorted us to the gate. When we saw the long queue in immigration our hearts sank. We’re not going to make it. But our friendly ANA staff member escorted us through the VIP area – excellent!

Train

Then we had to catch the train to the other terminal – typical! She said when we get off the train we need to run to gate before it closes. Then we transformed into those movie characters. Jane and I felt like Jennifer Anniston and George Clooney, but in reality we probably looked more like Melissa McCarthy and Chevy Chase!

Plane

We made it! Big thank you to the ANA staff. It would have been easy for them to say “check is closed – too bad – so sad”. But they went the extra mile and ensure when made the flight. We can’t thank them enough.

The rest of the flight was a joy. We were in business class after all.

We ate the Japanese menu and it was all very delicious. We even had sake. Business class was full of business men (Jane was the sole female), and we were the only tourists. Mami Fukui, The flight attendant looking after us took an interest in our plans and actually offered to meet us after in Tokyo. We got her Facebook details, but couldn’t find a suitable day to meet. Perhaps she was just being ultra polite.

We arrived in Haneda, Tokyo early at 9.30 pm.

After going through immigration, we had our fingers crossed our bags had come with us. With great relief they were already on the carousel waiting for pick up – phew!

Train

Now began the interesting job of navigating Tokyo’s railway system to get to Shinjuku, the closest station to our AirBnB unit. I already had some instructions so it wasn’t too hard. We had to change trains at Shinagawa.

We arrived at Shinjuku and quickly realised why it had a reputation of the busiest train station in the world – there were people everywhere. They say the 3.7 million people travel though the station every day! I think we met all of them and they all seemed to be going in the opposite direction to us. We were lugging two big suitcases, my camera bag, Janes laptop bag and her handbag. It was tough going. I used google maps to navigate to the unit. It seemed to take forever.

We arrived at the apartment about 12 midnight.

We were exhausted! We were ready for bed. I switch on the light… what I thought was a light switch was in fact a fire alarm – which duly sounded. Eeek how do I turn it off? Apparently the switch is a timer that’s supposed to shut itself off after a while – our was stuck on. Strangely no one else came out of their apartment to see what all the fuss was about – also the fire brigade didn’t come. Lucky it wasn’t a real fire. Anyway the building supervisor came and sorted it out. Through his limited English I got “don’t do that again!”

What a day!

I hadn’t been to Rottnest for about twenty years. “Why not?” I hear you ask. “Its only 30 minutes away from Perth.” “Its got beautiful scenery, great beaches for swimming and snorkelling.” “Its got a great ‘vibe’ with lots to see and do (and eat (and drink))”. “Not to mention it’s lack of erupting volcanoes.” Yes, yes shut up – I don’t know – alright!?

Rottnest is a 19 sq km island situated 18 km of the coast of Perth, Western Australia.  Rottnest is an A-class reserve and the natural landscape, coastline and wildlife.have been very well protected. There are few vehicles permitted on the island and no high rise hotels or cheesy attractions.

Jane and her girls had never been to Rottnest before, so we decided to take a weekender with our friends, Gordon and Cristy and Mark and Jacquie.

We caught the last ferry on Friday night from Northport, Fremantle.  As always we were running late which gave Gordon a head start on the beers. The ferry ride over was fast and bumpy which gave the girls a …umm thrill. Mark met us at the Thomson Bay Jetty and escorted us to our new home for the weekend.

We stayed at the Winnit camp, courtesy of former president Mark. The Winnit club founded in the summer of 1930-31, its Rottnest Island’s longest-standing volunteer organisation. While founding members initially came together for annual sailing and camping trips to Rottnest Island, they soon decided they wanted to give something back to their favourite Island. Taken from their web site… more here.

The club house was fairly small but was well stocked and had all the amenities we needed. Mark and Jacquie arrived early to set the place up and prepare the food … there were Filipinos coming. Mark had the esky prep’d with beers … there were Aussies coming. I got stuck into the beers. I had some catching up to do. The ladies got stuck into the Baileys. A whole litre bottle was gone before you could blink.

We had dinner, drinks and lots of laughs before hitting the sack. The club has lots of mattresses and some beds. The kids slept inside while the adults slept outside. It wasn’t too cold and good night’s sleep was had by all. I had some ridiculous idea about getting up at 5 am to take some photos of the sunrise. I did stir at 5 am, but rolled over and mumbled something about “doing it tomorrow”.

We all got up pretty early (for us) though and had a bacon and eggs breakfast. Ready for the day.

Gordon and I went into the settlement for a coffee at The Lane. Gordon had his usual triple espresso. I had a normal coffee. The Lane is right across from the famous Rottnest Island Bakery. Well, we couldn’t resist getting a box of doughnuts to take back for the crew. Nutella filled for Bianca of course.

We caught the tourist bus from the main settlement and set off around the island. There was a strong south-westerly wind blowing which meant the southern bays were not great for swimming. Mark raved about Little Salmon Bay, but it was far too windy and choppy to visit that morning. The Northern bays were going to be much better suited to us. We alighted at Stark Bay. Jane thought the driver said “Shark Bay” and was hesitant to get off. Stark bay has a long beach with pristine white sand and crystal clear water. There was only two other people on the beach. Gordon immediately stripped down to his budgie smugglers and jumped right in the water. The water was freezing, but the girls also got it for a quick swim.

After Stark bay we decided to go back to the camp for lunch (and a nana-nap). We got off the bus at Geordie Bay and walked back to the camp via The Basin. The Basin looked very inviting so went there for a swim after lunch and nap.

After the Basin swim we headed back to the camp – it was beer-o’clock. After dinner we continued drinking and lots of laughs were had. The ladies went for a drunken walk into the settlement. We could hear their giggling all the way. When they came back they were still laughing about “what happens on the drunken Rottnest walk, stays on the drunken Rottnest walk”.

When we had out fill we hit the hay. What a great day!

At 5 am I stirred and failed to get up for the sunrise photoshoot – probably explains why I will never be professional photographer.

Up early again though and Jane and I decided to go for a walk to the Bathurst Lighthouse and Pinky Beach.

The back again to The Basin for more swimming and snorkelling.  After that we decided to go to the Hotel Rottnest for lunch. Pizzas and Fish and Chips were popular and surprisingly not that expensive.

After lunch we returned to the camp for the big cleanup and packing for the trip home. Watching the Aussies belt the Poms in the first test capped off a great weekend.

What a wonderful weekend. Many thanks to Mark for inviting us to his club room and also to Jacquie for preparing most of the food. Hope we can do it again soon.

Rottnest has been rediscovered!

 

 

 

As I mentioned in the Ubud post I got a tattoo on the most recent trip to Bali.

Sukma Purnawardi from Master Ink Studio was recommended a while ago from my good friend Gordon. Gordon, and subsequently other friends (including Jane) have had several tattoos from Sukma.

His Studio is situated down a laneway off Jn Sahadewa, Legian (locally known as Garlic Lane). Its very modern and clean. Sukma takes pride in his work and shows you the new needle out of its packet every time. Google street view here

If you’re thinking about getting inked, I thoroughly recommend Sukma. Only problem is you’ll have to spend some time in Bali… oh dear what a shame!

In 2014 I tested the waters with a simple Anchor on my back

We usually try to do Bali on the cheap. Flights are very cheap from Perth and you can pick up a reasonable hotel for $50/60 night. That makes it an inexpensive getaway. But we decided to try some luxury in Bali, so we booked three nights at the Alila Resort in Ubud.

Wow! What a place. Simply stunning.

We got a Luxury Escapes package for three night with included goodies such as a free dinner, lunch, spa sessions and cocktail.

Airport transfers were included, but as we weren’t coming from the airport, they agreed to pick us up from the Sun Island. It took n hour and a half to get to Alila through Bali’s beautiful heartland.

We arrived , checked in and immediately checked out the pool. Wow again.

We spent the day checking out the hotel. We swam in the pool and had out complimentary cocktail

Then it rained. So we had to go into the bar for another drink.

We had our complimentary dinner that night.Three courses. We went to bed stuffed.

Monday we got up late and had breakfast. Breakfast in this hotel was not the normal buffet type. It was a la carte, but you could order anything from the menu. There was a bread selection with an assorted home made jams. All delicious.

We wanted to laze around the pool. The morning was nice and we had a swim. But around lunch time it started pouring again. Quickly into the restaurant for our free lunch.

 

Monday night was a special “Barong Dinner”. A four course Balinese menu with Balinese traditional dance performances. As usual the food was great and service faultless.

The dancing (and music) was performed by people from the region and was interesting and fun.

 

 

Tuesday we we’re up early, had breakfast. The breakfast “special” for today was Eggs Benedict. It was so delicious both Jane and I ordered seconds.

The staff at Alila were brilliant. Not just one or two – all of them. The were friendly, attentive and extremely efficient. Most were happy to have a chat, asking us about our stay and plans. We were only there for 3 days, but most of the staff remembered our room number and our names. Jane raved about one of their homemade Sambal sauces. Yuni, one of the waiters arranged a special sample and recipe for Jane and delivered it the next day.

We had to go back into Legian, for tattoos, tailor and shopping. Jane had a swim before Made picked us up for the 90 minute trip.

I talk about the tattoo here.

Jane got a leather jacket made and I got two pairs of pants copied from an old pair. The name of the tailor was “Superman” – seriously. The tailor’s shop is Sanvito.  22 Jl. Sahadewa, Legian locally known as Garlic Lane. After lunch at Lemongrass (you guessed it – curry) Made took us back to Alila.

Jane is having her second massage while I’m writing this. I’m sipping my gin and tonic watching the stunning Bali sunset. I wonder how long it will take us to stay away this time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yep. In Bali again.

This time for 5 nights. Two nights in Legian and three nights in Ubud.

We have just completed our two day stay in the Sun Island Hotel in Legian. We know the Legian area very well, but it was the first time staying at this hotel.

It is situated right on Jn Legian about midway between the Poppies II and Jn Melasti. Its quite central. The hotel itself is on the cheaper scale, but is still modern, clean and comfortable. Our room was on the 3rd floor and was normal size with a king bed. The pool was also on the 3rd floor, so that was quite handy. Being on Legian rd it was quite noisy, plus there was a heavy gate in the corridor right outside our room that made a loud clanging noise every time it was used. No biggie though, the hotel was great.

The pool was nice and Jane loved the Long Island Iced Teas.

 

Saturday was spent organising tattoos, tailors and dream-catchers.

Saturday night we ate at Bella Italia Legian after it was recommended by friends. It was great. We ordered a Diavola Pizza and Tortellini Prosciutto to share. Both were delicious. I had a couple of Bintangs and Jane just had a coke. At IDR 350,000 ($35 AUD) it was pretty good value.

Sunday after breakfast and a massage for Jane, we’re off to Ubud for a few days of luxury.

 

On my most recent trip to Bali I decided to eat only chicken curry (if it was available). Most restaurants do some sort of chicken curry. Of the four days I spent on Bali, I managed to have four chicken curries.

Here’s my reviews.

Lemongrass

Lemongrass has always been a favourite restaurant of ours. It’s a Thai restaurant but has an extensive menu of other Asian dishes.  Its in Legian on Jn Melasti. I had to choose a Thai curry. I had the “Gaeng Panang” – the menu rated it 2 “chilies” which I guess was medium heat.

It was delicious – the best curry of the trip. It was full of flavour, with just the right amount of spiciness. Slightly sweet, with a coconut base and some peanuts mixed through. Definitely recommended.

Type: Thai Panang

Price: 95,000++ IDR ($9.50*)

Presentation: ♦♦♦♦◊

Spiciness: ♦♦♦♦◊

Taste: ♦♦♦♦◊

Overall rating: ♦♦♦♦◊

One word: Top-notch

 

Sheppy’s Bar & Restaurant

Sheppy’s is an Australian owned small restaurant  on Jn Melasti in Legian. We have eaten there before and the food is always good and cheap.

The curry was a normal home cooked type (probably made with curry powder). But it was actually quite tasty. It wasn’t spicy, but had nice flavour and a good blend of chicken and vegetables. This was the cheapest of the curries I had and at $5, was probably the best value for money.

Type: Chinese Yellow

Price: 50,000++ IDR ($5*)

Presentation: ♦♦♦◊◊

Spiciness: ♦♦◊◊◊

Taste: ♦♦♦◊◊

Overall rating: ♦♦♦◊◊

One word: Value

Kori

Kori is higher end restaurant is Poppies II lane in Kuta. We have eaten there many times and always enjoyed it. Kori has quite a varied menu, and I was slightly disappointed to see the Thai Green Curry on there – I had to choose it. I really wanted to select something else.

But I ordered the Green Curry and I must admit it was a let down. Thai Green Curries are usually very spicy, but sadly this one was not spicy at all and a little salty. It felt like it was dulled down for a “westerners taste”.  I’ll still return to Kori though.

Type:  Thai Green

Price: 88,000++ IDR ($8.80*)

Spiciness: ♦♦◊◊◊

Presentation: ♦♦♦◊◊

Taste: ♦♦◊◊◊

Overall rating: ♦♦◊◊◊

One word: Heartbroken

Sidewalk Cafe & Bar

This was my first visit to the Sidewalk Cafe. Like Sheppy’s is a small restaurant on Jn Melasti. Its better know for it’s fresh seafood. The Malaysian Curry looked great on the menu.

When it came its looked nothing like the picture on the menu. It looked very unappetizing. But in this case looks were deceiving – it was delicious. Nice and spicy and full of curry flavour. There was two pieces of chicken on the bone and some potatoes. The meat fell off the bone and was quite easy to eat. For those of you that know me will know I get turned off easily if I have to work too hard to get the meat off the bones. This one was a winner though.

Type: Malaysian yellow

Price: 68,000++ IDR ($6.80*)

Presentation: ♦◊◊◊◊

Spiciness: ♦♦♦◊◊

Taste: ♦♦♦♦◊

Overall rating: ♦♦♦◊◊

One Word: Surprising

 

 

* working on an exchange rate of 10,000 IDR to 1 AUD (best we got on this trip was 9,750)

++ means add 10% government tax and 5% service charge

Another Bali holiday.

We got a great price on Jetstar. Perth to Denpasar for four of us for under $800. Because of the cheap fare we decided to splurge on the hotel. We stayed at the Stones Legian

What a fantastic hotel this was. The great service started early. On checking we learned we got upgraded to a suite. The kids were in the room next door – in a standard room (haha suckers).

The suite was luxurious.

 

The Stones was recommended to us by our good friends, Amy and Conrad. They arrived the day after us, but were staying for 2 extra days. They booked a poolside room that came with a private pool. This was ideal for their two year old daughter Jamie. They were a little disappointed in the room because it didn’t have a separate sitting room, as our room did. They quickly got over that – after all they were in Bali. Enjoy it.

The pool at the stones was nice and large,

We went out for dinner with Amy  and Conrad a couple of times – as always it was a lot of fun and lots of laughs.

Dinner at the Kitchenette

The only negative for us at the Stones was the breakfast. We didn’t get breakfast included in our booking, so we had to pay for it separately.  It was a comprehensive buffet and we stuffed ourselves – but at $25++ it wasn’t cheap. We only had it once. There were plenty of good (and cheaper) options outside the hotel.

This holiday was all about relaxation. We have all been stressed lately for various reasons, and this was a chance to forget about life for a while and indulge in some serious eating, drinking and laying around. Mission accomplished!

I set myself a goal – if there was chicken curry on the menu, I would order it. Check out my reviews on the Chicken Curries.