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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.

 

 

 

 

 

Jane and I traveled to Melbourne for a 3 day weekender. Why? We got a cheap flight and it’s a nice escape from the daily grind.

We flew Virgin on Friday night and arrived in Melbourne around midnight. We checked into the Ibis on Swanston Hotel. It was a  nice hotel in a good location. The room was clean and modern, although a little small. Jane raved about the shower, with its massive shower head. The hotel was located in Carlton, a 20 minute walk into the CBD and close to restaurants and cafes. We caught the tram many times back to the hotel, mainly because our feet were aching.

I’d arranged to catch up with Friends Clare and Rodel on Saturday and cousins Martin and Kirsty on Sunday. It turns out I got the dates mixed up. We met them both on Saturday. Clare, Rodel and their son Liam for Saturday lunch and the Trunk. And Martin and Kirsty at their home in Kensington.

The Trunk was a nice little pub/restaurant in the heart of the city. It has a nice outside eating area. Typical with Melbourne, it got hot and cold in the space of an hour so we changed table. It was great to catch up with my old friend Clare. She and I worked together in Leyte, Philippines. That was ten years ago, so we had a lot to catch up on.

The food was good. Jane loved her “Breaking Bad” hotdog.

We staggered our way back to the hotel and had a snooze, only to be woken up by a phone call from Kirsty. “Did you get lost?” she asked. “Oops” I thought. I thought dinner for tomorrow – but it was indeed Saturday night. We quickly got dressed and made our way to Kensington. As they live close to the railway station, we thought about catching the train. But on our arrival at Melbourne Central  we saw the next train to Kensington was 25 minutes away. As we were already late, we caught Uber.

It was great catching up with Martin and Kirsty. Martin prepared a roast lamb with a yogurt sauce, salad and rice. It was sensational, only to be topped by Kirsty’s cheesecake for dessert. We polished off 4 bottles of wine, before it was time to call it a day.

Such a nice day. Great food, drinks and company.

Sunday we were on our own. We didn’t really have a plan. We woke late and walked to Seven Seeds Coffee Shop. Clare recommended it as a wanky hipster coffee shop. She wasn’t wrong. We has to line up to get in. Everyone in the place was around 30yo tight jeans, no socks. some with beards (mostly the men). The coffee and food was very good though I have to admit. I had a strong latte and Eggs Benedict on a bacon waffle. The sauce was their own chipotle hollandaise sauce. It was delicious. Jane had a chorizo burger that was ok, but she loved her hot chocolate.

We then caught the tram into the city and crossed the river into the arts centre of Melbourne.

We visited the National Gallery of Victoria and spend a hour or so looking at the free art.

We crossed back over the river and did some shopping.

We caught the tram back to the hotel – aching feet again. Short nap again and decided to walk into Lygon St to have dinner. We wanted to find a Greek restaurant, but there was only Italian restaurants as far as the eye could see – so we had Italian.

We settle on Tono on BorsariTono on Borsari. It looked ok – and it was. We shared a Calabrese Spaghetti and a seafood pizza. The food was great, service faultless and the price reasonable. We found out later the place has terrible reviews – we enjoyed it. I’ll be giving it a good review.

Monday was our last day. We decided to have lunch at Seven Seeds again. Monday lunch was less busy and also a more “normal” clientele. After that we caught the tram into the city for more shopping. Jane made the mistake of messaging the kids and asking what they wanted. A huge list of “demands” ensued.

After another exhausting afternoon we decided to go to the airport early. We had been upgraded to business class, so we’re currently relaxing in the Virgin Lounge. I’m looking around and I don’t see many virgins! The flight home will be nice and relaxing.

Back to the grind tomorrow.

 

My Google Photo Album

 

We spent most of Monday leaving Hong Kong and travelling to Bali.

Flying Garuda gave us a welcome opportunity to stopover in Bali for a couple of days.

We caught the MRT again to the airport. The shuttle bus to Kowloon station stopped outside our hotel and runs every 12 minutes.

Once at Kowloon Station we checked-in our bags and got our boarding passes. This is a great idea as it means you don’t have to carry your baggage on the train. More information here. Once at the airport we went straight through to Immigration and into the departure lounge.

We arrived in Bali about 9.30pm and we were meet by our driver friend Made. We have always used Made for transport in Bali. He is very helpful and always reliable.

We checked into the Ramayana Hotel in Kuta. We got a room upgrade to the “Deluxe” floor. The girls couldn’t wait to get into the pool, while Jane and I hit the stadium bar for a couple of drinks.

 

Tuesday was a veg-out day. I needed to relax, so I parked myself at the pool and stayed there all day. hahaha yes this is a travel blog. Jane booked in a long massage session and the girls bummed around the pool and their room.

Dinner that night was Jane’s birthday celebration. Jane’s birthday is Dec 30 or 31 (depending on her mood), but we postponed the dinner celebration until we got to Bali. We decided to go to the Hard Rock Cafe. Its a little expensive, but it was a special occasion.

The food was great.

A live band, “After Seven” came on at 10pm. They were quite good and played a wide variety of songs. The played Happy Birthday for Jane and got her up on stage to blow our candles (video withheld at Jane’s request). Jane requested they play her favorite song “Wonderwall”. They obliged and it rounded out a great evening.

Home tomorrow. 😦

We decided to go to Ocean Park on January 1 – not the wisest decision I’ve ever made. The place was jam-packed. It took 15 minutes just to line up for a admission ticket.

We took the MTR on the newly opened South Island Line. They have a special Ocean Park station. Easy!

We skipped the “Nature” part of the park and caught the cable car to the “rides” part. The line for the cable car was huge – an ominous sign of things to come. The cable car around the mountain is a “must-do” in Ocean Park. The views are worth the 30 minutes queuing.

The first ride we saw was the “Hair Raiser” with a massive loop. It was too scary for me but Bianca’s mouth was salivating. Surprisingly the queue was tiny with only a  minute wait – so she went on it twice.

We all went on the Raging River. The boat seated 8, so we shared ours with a Chinese lady and her two kids. The kids were about 8 and 10 yo and they all purchased rain coats. Jane and the girls screamed and laughed when we got continually sprayed with water. The mother and the two kids were dead pan and never even cracked a smile. It was as though they were being punished!

We watched the dolphin and seal show. Quite lame compared to our shows we’ve seem, and you can’t help feeling sorry for the animals.

We all rode the Dragon roller coaster on the side of the mountain with 3 loops. Jane took some convincing but she did it. It was a bit jerky, but a fun ride.

We caught the train back to the “Nature” park and went though the Oceanarium. It was quite good and had Hammerhead sharks, which I’d never seen before.

We caught the MTR back into the city and we just had to go to H&M again for cheap underwear.

Dinner at Tsui Wah again and back to the hotel exhausted again!

Hong Kong done! Bali tomorrow.

After Disneyland the girls wanted to do some Hong Kong shopping. I was their navigator and tried to do some street photography along the way.

I also thought I could “hide” in some coffee shops while they did their thing. But coffee proved to be very expensive. A medium size latte is about HKD40 – 50 – that’s $8 – $10. Ridiculous! – and even more ridiculous was that I paid it. I thought maybe that’s a high end extra snobby coffee shop, but I checked a few other, including Starbucks – they were all the same price range.

There were certain shops the girls wanted to go to. Pandora, Zara, H&M. I told them to google their locations so we could work out a route. But they didn’t. So we found a McDonalds to use their wifi.

McDonalds had trendy decor. With upside down pot plants and cubicles for the tech-savvy loner types.

We found Pandora, but their prices were more expensive than in Perth. So the girls decided to get their souvenir Mickey Mouse charm in Perth!

Zara and H&M were more of a hit.

The next day was New Year’s Eve.

Back to Disneyland.We went later this time and stayed to the closing fireworks.We all rode the Grizzly Gulch Mine Car ride. That was really good. We watched the Lion King Show. We’d already seen the night parade, so we took advantage of the lower crowds and rode Hyperspace Mountain twice back to back.

 

We ate dinner at “Tomorrow Land” – paying $20 (AUD) for noodle soup. It was special Star Wars wanton noodle soup – complete with Yoda carrots.

The fireworks were great.

Back into town for the NYE fireworks celebration.

We heard there was fireworks over the harbour. It sounded spectacular, so we headed down Nathan road. We quickly realised there would be more than a few people doing the same thing.We pushed on nevertheless and tried to get as close as possible. We ended up about 500m from the harbour amongst a huge packed in crowd. It was very claustrophobic. We waited for the countdown and watched the fireworks through a “keyhole” between the buildings. It was ok. A unique experience.

We made out way back to the hotel, exhausted as usual. The girls wanted to eat (as usual) but Jane and my feet were aching and we just wanted to rest. Anyway right opposite our hotel we found a little restaurant Tsui Wah open until 3am. They had the usual grumpy waiters but the food was excellent.

Happy New Year everyone!

Ocean Park tomorrow.

I have been to Hong Kong Disneyland twice before and to be honest I wasn’t really looking forward to going again. The long queues, the pushy Chinese people, the exorbitant food prices… But it actually was a fun day out. Perhaps it was because this time we were there with two kids. The kids embraced it, and the two tough, moody teenagers became little girls again. I wish I could bottle that, whatever it is.

 

There were three more “lands” added since out last trip in 2010.

The first thing we did was give Bianca her need for speed fix and go on Hyperspace Mountain. A tight, fast roller coaster in the dark. It was great.

We then went on the newly opened Ironman Experience. This was a virtual 3D ride with realistic flying (and dropping) and battle scenes. Lucky Ironman was there to save the day.We spent the day exploring the park. Bianca of course went on all the rides.

There were two street parades. The first was the “Flight of Fantasy” parade. We got in early and got a good position sitting on the curb.

 

The highlight of the day was just before the last parade was a Christmas show, with some songs around the giant Christmas tree. “Main Street” came alive with projected images and it started snowing. Fake snow of course, but it did feel magical.

The other parade, “Paint the Night” was at night and all the dancers and floats were lit up spectacularly.

 

 

We were all tired and decided to skip the fireworks.

You have to hand it to Disney. They really do know how to put on a show.

We made it back to Kowloon exhausted, ready for bed, but Jane got a craving for beef brisket noodle soup. So we went searching. We found a small restaurant with some English on the menu and decided its worth a try. We all had noodle soup and it was delicious.None of the staff spoke English, but we communicated our order well enough.

A fun day was had by all. We have a two-day pass to Disneyland so we’ll do it all again in a couple of days.