Sunday, August 6, 2023

Day 16: 24 May – Day 1: Bye Java – Hello Bali

 

(RC) We used the hotel car service to take us to Yogyakarta Airport after a final waltz through the breakfast buffet.  The flight was on a smaller carrier, Garuda Airlines.  The flight was fine, which was good because that was one of the variables Beanie was concerned about.  The overall Asian carrier market was hit hard during covid, but the smaller carriers were hit especially hard.

It was incredible how much the Bali airport and surrounding areas have changed!  When we were last here, the airport was very small, non-airconditioned, with one lounge.  Now it is huge , air-conditioned, with a lot of shopping, two or three lounges and a multi-level parking garage.  We had to wait a bit for our hotel driver (he couldn’t find a parking spot!) and then we were off.

We’re really looking forward to seeing some of the places from our last visit.  It’s a 90 minute ride to our first hotel from the airport, 650,000 rupiah, which sounds like a boatload of cash, but it’s about $45 US for an hour and a half trip – seems reasonable.  Our driver was named Wayan and we caught his WhatsApp number and used him several times throughout the island.

Our first stay was a return to the Tandjung Sari Hotel.  It’s a terrific location right on the beach. There’s a public walkway along the beach, like a boardwalk, that has people walking, jogging, and cycling for the vast majority of the day. IMHO, its one of the best beach front properties to stay in Bali.  Great place to catch a sunset, do some people watching and just chill.  It’s not a hopping night life place, but the food competes against anyplace, the service is top shelf, and there are multiple good choices for dining within a short walk.

We got settled in, Beanie took a few dozen pics.  Once again we got the Happy 45th welcome to include a beautiful flower arrangement

Maybe the best 45th flower arrangement of the trip, certainly the most original

This villa is very nice, and it does have the biggest bathtub I have ever seen! 

This is mini me!

We had sundowners on the villa patio and watched the sunset.  After that it was a terrific wee late dinner ten feet from the beach followed by a short stroll along the boardwalk before hitting the sheets.

(KC) We were very surprised by the new airport in Bali.  I knew it had been enlarged but this was a tremendous change.  They certainly needed it.  The roads near the airport have also been enlarged, so that was good, but away from the airport traffic it is as congested as we remember – worse actually since the population has increased since 2011 and tourism is now above pre-covid numbers.  But rage drivers are not a thing on this island and everyone is patient and courteous.

Since we saw many of the major sites in Bali on our first trip, this time will be about relaxing. Some of you may remember our adventures to Bali in 2011.  We weren’t doing the blog then, but we did send emails and lots of pictures out.  We briefly thought about just reformatting the emails and photos of that trip into this blog – but no, that would be cheating!

It was great to be back at the Tandjung Sari Hotel.  It started out as the home of an Indonesian family and is still owned by the same family.  It was the first hotel in the town of Sanur on the beach and the first boutique hotel in Bali. It became known in the 1970s and 1980s when rock stars like David Bowie, Annie Lenos and Mick Jagger visited often with their families.  Its not glitzy or glamorous, just quiet and beautiful.  It has stayed popular ever since. We tried a different villa this time.  Like all the villas, it was simple but lovely with a wonderful patio that had a slight (as in tiny) view of the ocean. The breezes off the ocean were wonderful.  I loved the outdoor shower in the small backyard with a koi pond next to it. Randy preferred the in door shower, so we each had our own shower.  The hotel seemed unchanged since our last visit – yay!  I think that is the reason that most of their customers are repeat visitors.  Why mess with perfect.  The addition of a second walkway along the beach (it goes several miles) was a good thing – one for walking and jogging and the other for bicycles.  The surrounding area has definitely changed and we see more big changes coming, but more about that later.  Below are some photos of the new airport and Tandjung Sari Hotel.  Hope you enjoy them. 

We spotted a huge statue on the horizon while landing.

It's called the Garuda Wisnu Kencana.  It's 335' tall & 180' wingspan - best shot we could get!

Entry to Tandjung Sari - nice to be back!

Reception Area - same as we remember

Another shot

We affectionately call him "The Happy Puppy!"

Entry gate to our yard and villa


Front Patio

The "Guard" Garuda over our patio - we felt very safe!

The impenetrable keyed security system into the villa

Bug netting, but never did have any bug issues - you know, except the friendly Beanie bugs!

Very nice bathroom

Outdoor shower - koi pond to the left, shower to the right!

Beanie loved all the statues at this hotel, this one is next to the outdoor shower pond

Nice Beanie pose on the front patio - yay, a drying rack, no more drying clothes on a fan

Doing a walkabout of the grounds

Guards manning their posts

Old fat guy from AZ - the one on the left!!

Beanie's favorite Garuda - lucky for them he was locked up!!

Gateway to the beach

The hotel outside dining, next to the walkways and lovely beach

Time for breakfast.

Beanie developed a "fondness", or as I call it, an addiction for cappuccino!

Great thing about the tropics - fresh tropical fruit every morning.

(KC) During our previous stay here the hotel had a training class once a week for young girls to learn traditional Balinese dancing.  We were glad to see that they still have the classes going on.

(RC)  This is a video of  the dance class Beanie mentioned.  It was really fun to watch.  Be sure to check out the little girl in the red tee shirt.  Definitely a rising star.  Also, as with all the videos, enlarging to full screen brings out much more detail and don't forget to turn up the sound!!


This video is a parody of Beanie and I having a discussion on virtually any topic.  That's me on the right!!

 Day 17:  25 May – Day 2: Bali

(RC) We were advised that the pool would be closed this morning for tree trimming. Since our villa was right behind the pool area we could watch the action.  Now tree trimming in Bali is not like the states – no high reaching cherry picker and power tools, more like the Botanical Gardens in Singapore. One long piece of rope and a young man with no fear and a handsaw that can climb like a monkey.  He was impressive!  

Tree trimmers - take one!  They were actually very good and efficient!  Taken from our patio.

Rule # 1 of tree trimming - the youngest guy climbs the tree!!

Not sure if it's OSHA compliant, but it looks like it could work.

After a very nice breakfast it was an exploring day.  We’ve been to Bali previously, so now it was about relaxing from this grueling pace we’ve been maintaining and seeing what’s changed in this area since our last visit.  As it worked out, we came across many new and interesting things!

The first thing we noticed is construction was everywhere.  A large hotel in this area is undergoing a huge renovation project.  Tata, a huge Indian conglomerate, dominates the construction in a good deal of Indonesia. 

Tom - can you name the model and year???

We found this cool pair of obviously very expensive, jewel encrusted sunglasses on the beach!  Disregard Beanie's attempt to make one believe she didn't relish yet another opportunity to pose!

(KC) Randy made me try these on!  Now you know we’re grasping for items of interest to share!  

I can't believe she didn't bring these sunglasses home with her.

(RC) We also came across a new turtle rescue site right along the beach.  It was really a pretty nice set up.  Very unobtrusive WRT hawking for funds but laid out so you could see the various turtle species and chat with the dude that was running the place.  He worked for the Balinese conservation office.  They had the entire cycle from eggs buried in the sand to full grown recovering adults which would be released.  

An unexpected find - a new addition since our last visit.

I thought this was pretty clever - turtles eggs can hatch just like on the beach but safe from predators/birds.

This video is one of my tanks where the turtles are separated by age and/or sex.  All turtle that are capable of being released will eventually be returned to the ocean.  

Next we stopped and chatted with a local boat builder/repairer.  He was doing maintenance on one of the strange looking fishing boats that look like giant shrimp, had lots of boat “stuff” around, and it was fun and interesting to chat with him for a while. Most of his tools were hand tools and a couple of missing finger parts tells the story that he's been doing this for a while.

Making the side "wing buoys" that stabilize these type boats - Beanie calls them "bug boats".

Customer parking lot awaiting repair.

Office, storage, and inventory control

We also got a mini kitty fix when we came across a young kitty stalking a tree squirrel.  She was unsuccessful but put on a pretty good show with her effort.  It was clearly not her first rodeo! 

She's tracking a tree squirrel that is just out of her jumping range

Another rather unique addition was what I describe as a pigeon condo.  Someone had cobbled together chunks of good-sized PVC, large enough for pigeons to build a nest, into a grove along the beach and it was packed with pigeons.  I am not a fan of pigeons, but this was pretty cool. The vast majority of Balinese people are Hindus (this island is unique to Indonesia in that respect) and they do not believe in killing any animals and will often set up sanctuaries for them.  

The dog population is still strong in Bali and they are very prominent in this area.  The big change is there are fewer strays walking around than our previous visit, the strays you do see look healthier, and many more Balinese dog owners evident.  Here’s a short video of a woman with her three dogs on the beach – note the one dog with no control of his back legs scooting towards the water as fast as he could go. Very heart warming to see.  He clearly has no idea that he has some physical issues. 


We cut away from the beach for the return leg of our walk to find a grocery store along the main street.  We always like to visit grocery stores in the different countries we visit.  Oh, and more importantly, we needed beer!  Not too far from the hotel and on a side street, Beanie came across a small, woman’s clothing store.  She picked up a couple of dresses, primarily for our next trip to India.  She wore one that night, and IMHO pulled it off rather nicely.  

One of my favorite pictures of the trip!

Dinner was at one of our favorite places from the previous trip, a nice Italian restaurant called Village Cucina.   It was a short walk from the villa, the evening air was cool and refreshing, and a great meal was a nice way to end a very nice day.

(KC) Randy has pretty much summed up our day.  Most of the beach front area in Sanur (the town we’re in now) is comprised of small hotels (with the exception of the Hyatt about a mile west of us and the huge hotel that Randy mentioned that was being completely renovated about a mile east of us), small restaurants, a couple of open air shopping areas selling tourist stuff, but also a few beautiful homes with lush grounds and some temples.  Sanur is still much less touristy than other areas of Bali even though it has become more so since our last visit.  But the little shops and restaurants and the small boutique hotels along the water are mostly unchanged since there is limited space to expand.  Happy to see thatHere's a couple of short videos; one to capture the beachfront area and the other some friendly locals out on the water.



The waterfront areas have been vastly improved/expanded w/both riding and walking paths.

It's still prohibited to let your monkey bicycle along the beach paths.

Lots of shady dining options along the beach

One of several "fixer uppers" right on the water - more of a traditional home

A more modern layout next door - I have got to stop watching HGTV!!

Morning yoga - I was going to try it, but they said I couldn't eat my omelet at the same time!

Small temple made entirely of coral and shells right on the beach

Sometime, especially on holidays, they clothe the statues

As Randy mentioned we very much enjoyed eating at the Village Cucina restaurant again as well as the hotel restaurant, which was as good as remembered.  We also enjoyed eating outside for breakfast and dinners at the hotel next to the boardwalk. And the hotel made the best lumpia ever!  Considering we lived in he Philippines for three years (home of lumpia) that is saying a lot.  With the ocean breeze it was always comfortable, and the trees provided shade.  Lovely!  Sometimes its hard for me to sit still for more than a few minutes but I’m starting to get the hang of it. 

Day 18:  26 May – Day 3: Bali

(RC) During our walkabout yesterday we found yet another “authentic” Starbucks a short walk from the villa so today’s morning walkabout included a Starbucks – nice.

Beanie wanted to look around for another dress or two or three so we did the shopping thing for a while, but no joy.

(KC) Yes, we are definitely relaxing and taking it slow.  We enjoyed a sleep in (who am I kidding, we’ve slept in practically every day!) and a late breakfast.  I think we washed a few clothes (there was a clothes drying rack on the patio, yay, no more hanging wet clothes on the ceiling fan!) and then did a little more exploring of the area around the hotel. I was hoping to find a small carving of one of the Hindu gods (the garuda was my first choice) or an Indonesian puppet but didn’t really see anything that I liked that was small enough to get home. We also checked out another small boutique villa hotel but agreed it wasn’t as nice as Tandjung Sari. On the way back to the hotel, I stopped at a small day spa (basically one large room with four beds with curtains around them) and made an appointment for a facial for later that afternoon.  The spas are everywhere and definitely one of the things Bali is known for. It cost $25 for a 90 minute facial and arm/hand massage!  After two weeks in the tropics my skin desperately needed it and it was very relaxing.  Tried to convince Randy to get one too, but you can guess how that worked out!  After that it was sundowners on the villa patio followed by another nice dinner at the hotel beside the boardwalk.   

(RC) After dinner we took another short walk along the beach and came across what appeared to be some type of Junior ROTC, maybe high school competition.  It's was pretty fun - not exactly the USMC Silent Drill team, but nice to see the enthusiasm and support they have for their unit and country. Here's a sample of what was going on.

Day 19:  27 May – Day 4: Bali

(RC) Today we’re off to Ubud.  We contacted our trusty driver Wayan and we were off.  It wasn’t a bad drive and we asked Wayan if there were any places of interest to stop along the way.  Well of course there were numerous temples – I mean really, you can’t swing a dead cat without hitting a temple!  We narrowed it down to a Butterfly Park, a waterfall, and, wait for it, a temple!!

First stop, Tegenungan Waterfall.  It was a small waterfall, but pretty.  Lots of people were in the water and it was surrounded by small booths serving food, selling their wares, and various other things.  We stayed long enough to do a short walkabout and buy a couple large Bintang beers for our next hotel. 

The Tegenungan Waterfalls - popular local recreation area

Next stop, the Kemenuh Butterfly Park.  The park also has an adjoining waterpark.  We passed on that, but the butterfly section was a nice surprise.  In addition to a plethora of beautiful moths and butterflies, it had a cocoon house where there were many species in different stages.  Some morph from cocoon to butterfly only to live for a few hours.  Some cocoons look like they are coated in gold.  We found it interesting even though it’s not the first butterfly place we’ve been too – there’s an excellent one in Phoenix and also in Costa Rica. 

The rare Beaniefly

Pathways thru the exhibit

Sometime I just get these urges to be with a large reptile - any reptile!

Thought this was a pretty cool shot

This is the only guy I could get to stand still

Final stop along the way, the temple.  This was a small temple and the first where they were strict regarding dress.  We were both provided with a sari so we were properly “covered”.  I have to say, I was concerned regarding the color clash, but I really think I pulled it off.  You can make the call on Beanie!!!


No identity jokes - I make this look good!!


Beanie doing the Ferengi (Star Trek Fans?) ear rub on this elephant.

It was a nice temple with a few unique features. Like so many temples it’s also a work in progress.  Many of the displays are complete, but there’s always a large bunch of stones yet to find their place.  I prefer the work in progress look.  Old stuff is supposed to be a work in progress! 

Yet another temple picture

Beanie named this god Richard - or as his friends call him, "Dick"!

If this was wall paper it would be "busy" - really, no more HGTV!!

Hard to realize how small these were.

But they were, evidently, very heavy!

After the temple it was on to Alam Shanti, our next hotel.  Alam Shanti is the other return hotel.  It is on the outskirts of Ubud next to the Monkey Forest.  There has been quite a bit of “modernization” in this area.  We got the same room as our last visit.  It’s a top floor villa, almost private pool (shared with the downstairs villa), and backs up to the outer boundary of the property.  In 2011 it was next to multiple rice fields and forest.  Today there are a few rice fields, but the dominant view is a large soccer complex and a cell tower off to the side.  Still very nice, but you can never go home.

The room continued the 45th Anniversary theme.  Nice fresh flowers and fruit.  I think there were some chocolates too, but we ate them before we got pictures!  The room is pretty large especially when you add in the balcony and outside bath areas.  Outdoor showers are pretty common here and there is something about showering outside that makes it much more refreshing. 

Walkway and gardens enroute to our villa

Door access - pool to the left, villa to the right

Second floor is our place - same room as six years ago.  

View from balcony to entry way and villa yard with pool on right

Swimming pool for our villa and the one downstairs

View to master bed from balcony - lots of beautiful carved wood

I think we milked this 45th Anniversary thing to the very last drop!!

Second bed and doorway to outside shower and "facilities"

One of the two outside showers and the tub

Balcony "nap zone"

Balcony/eating area - soccer and rice fields to the right

Welcome/45th Anniversary flowers and local fruit drink - needed just a touch of vodka!

Koi pond at the bottom of the stairs - also home to a significant monitor lizard

Ganesha, the Hindu elephant god dressed for the day

Entry way to another villa - all pretty elaborate

A more festive version of Ganesha 

The resort is a one off in that it does not have an on-site restaurant.  Breakfast is provided as room service.  It works out very nice as it is delivered promptly, hot, and we can enjoy it on the back balcony. 

The upside of less forest around the villa is enhanced viewing.  The remaining rice fields are more clearly visible consequently we get to see more of the wildlife hanging around.  From many species of beautiful birds to entertaining, yet pesky monkeys. 

We saw some of the most brilliant birds here.  The crem de la crem was the Kingfisher.  He was at least 100 yards away from us and he still stood out against the backdrop.  We were lucky enough to see several more around the island but they were too fast to get pictures. He is a handsome lad.  

Stands out nicely next to the white herons 

The hotel told us to be aware of the monkeys as they are inherently curious and never pass up an opportunity for free food.  We kinda said, yeah, okay, right, and moved on.  When we came back from our evenings out the turn-down service included lowering netting all around the patio.  We thought it was a bit of overkill until . . . . The next morning Beanie was doing a walk about in our enclosed yard probably looking for lizards and such, while I was online at the desk. Something caught the corner of my eye out the window and my first thought was “what the hell is Beanie doing walking around on the roof?”  Before I extracted my cranium from my rectum, I heard a noise behind me.  There was a large male Macaque in the room stealing the fruit from our fruit basket.  The door to the balcony beside me was open and I never heard him come in the room!  When I stood up, he headed for the balcony carrying as much fruit as he could, dropping pieces along the way.  I picked up a date, chucked it at his head and he was gone.  I looked out the window and there’s Beanie walking around the grounds taking monkey pics!  Just cracked me up!!

The food at the local restaurants is very good and very reasonable.  You have to work hard to get a bill over $50 US.  Most of our meals included two entries, one or two appetizers, wine & beer, and often dessert. Usually about $43.  It explains why there are a lot of expats from many countries living in the area.

(KC)  The drive to the hotel took a few hours. Nice to see the various small towns along the way and we enjoyed the butterfly park and temple, the waterfall was just okay. Traffic has increased in this area too.  The temple we visited on the way is typical of a smaller town Hindu temple on Bali.  Every town has at least one temple.  This one was particularly nice I thought.

Ah, Alam Shanti Hotel, as beautiful as ever.  At first the addition of the soccer fields, parking lot and cell tower behind our villa was a disappointment but it was rather nice to sit on the balcony and watch and listen to the kids soccer matches and watch the parking lot guards try to shoo away the monkeys with sling shots.   

Breakfast on the balcony - nice way to start the day

The monkeys were very much more in evidence this trip and we saw big troops of them every morning crossing the remaining rice fields and the small forest behind us while we enjoyed breakfast on the balcony. 

Regarding the cheeky monkey incident, one morning I was in the yard while Randy was on the computer in our upstairs villa.  There is a koi pond on the side of the villa and I remembered a huge monitor lizard lived there so I was looking for him, but he was probably long gone. I did spot one monkey (in this area, they are Crab-eating Macaques, the only other monkey on Bali is the Javan Langar) by the pool and got a couple pictures of him.  I looked away for a second and he was gone. A minute later I heard Randy yelling “Beanie!” and leaning out the upstairs window and then a monkey streaked past him on the roof.  Too fast for me to get a picture. Drat. He had entered the villa through the balcony and was raiding the fruit bowl we had inside.  He was so quiet, Randy never heard him until he dropped a piece of fruit from overloading what he could carry.  After that we were much more careful about not leaving the door to the balcony open even while we were home.  I can just imagine the look on Randy’s face when he turned around from the desk and saw the monkey just a few feet away.  I bet the monkey had quite the look on his face too! 

The "thief" perched on the pool shelter

Close up of the culprit. Don't let the innocent face fool you - just look at his punk haircut!!

(KC) We were disappointed at the remaining rice fields behind us when we first got here.  They were obviously dried up and not in use.  But the next day a guy was working down there with a rototiller of sorts and then the next day he flooded the fields to get ready for the next rice planting.  Enjoyed watching him work.  The white egrets loved his stirring up the bugs with the rototiller and followed him around.  This had obviously been done many times in the past many years

Same rice fields, but the soccer fields are new and busy dusk to dawn.  Also a popular running place.

The next day the farmer was preparing the rice field for planting - a VERY popular event with the local bird population.

A very specialized machine - once everything is turned over, the field is flooded and rice planted

Same fields the next day after flooding was complete

(Still KC) One of the reasons we went back to this hotel is because it is in a small town called Nyuh Kuning, which translates to Yellow Coconut.  The Monkey Forest is only about two blocks up the lane from our hotel and we can walk the motorcycle path through the forest to get to the town of Ubud, which is the major draw in this area.  Ubud is too busy for us so staying in Nyuh Kuning gives us easy access to the stores and restaurants there but we can then go back to our more sleepy area. Well, a couple of things have changed.  The motorcycle path is much busier now and we wouldn’t attempt it at night like we did before and Ubud has grown and changed – not for the better.  It’s crazy busy with tourists, far more tourists are riding scooters now and traffic clogs the small roads.  Trash is much more noticeable now.  We went into Ubud once only and didn’t go back for dinners – even though the hotel would’ve provided us with free transportation.  Nyuh Kuning has retained it’s charm, stayed small, clean and far less touristy.  For two dinners, we went back to a small restaurant, Laka Leke, a short walk from our hotel, that we had liked on our last visit.  It was still very good.  We tried another small restaurant in Nyuh Kuning for the last dinner and it was also good.  Ubud has some world class restaurants, and we went to some last time here, but we were happy with our choices this time too. 

The Monkey Forest itself was also a disappointment this time.  They now charge for admittance and have closed off all but one or two entrances.  They have built a huge, fancy ticket office/snack bar on the Ubud side.  You can’t enter or exit the forest from the Nyuh Kuning side anymore so in order to enter the forest we walked the motorcycle path to Ubud, bought tickets there, walked around the forest, then exited in Ubud and took the motorcycle path back to Nyuh Kuning.  The forest pathways were all cement now and wider.  There were more statues and things like that to look at but it now seemed more like a theme park than a temple and forest home for the monkeys.  

Day 20:  28 May – Day 5: Bali

(RC) The highlight of today was our day trip to Villa Kitty, a cat rescue place. https://www.villakitty.com/  Beanie had been chatting it up with the director for weeks before our trip and had arranged for us to meet up.  On Sundays they do a worker appreciation luncheon, and we were invited.  The Villa has in excess of 500 cats at present.  Cats are not as warmly received as dogs in Bali and adoptions run at a slow clip, but this place was amazing. First of all, for any of you cat enthusiasts, imagine 500 cats and almost zero cat smells.  There were kitty boxes with fresh litter at every stop.  Every cat acted like they had their own little place to hang out.  Some places had sofas and chairs, other had beds, in some cases small infant chairs were put out, kitty hammocks, and if desired, lots of ground space with grass and shrubs.

(KC)   We loved Villa Kitty.  It was SO NICE.  The gal who runs it, Elizabeth, is doing a wonderful job.  She gave us a very nice tour and introduced us to some of her favorite kitties. They name all the kitties and she knew most of their names and personalities.  One of the workers was hand feeding a VERY young kitten while we were there, so cute.  Everything was spotlessly clean, each enclosure had some grass and shrubs as well as platforms and furniture.  So well done.  The small hospital was very nice as was the quarantine area.  I can’t imagine the time and effort it takes to run this place.  Of course, Elizabeth has a small staff but still………….And the cost, well I don’t know how she does it as contributions are probably not as good as those made for the dog rescue places. I’m thinking she must have some money of her own that she supplements donations with. We were very impressed.  We spent several hours there (with a nice lunch with some of the employees) and lots of time playing with the kitties.    

Welcome to Villa Kitty!

This is Elizabeth providing us a one-on-one tour. She knows every cat and their name.

It was amazing to see how well this many cats could get along.

Medical office - couple of very young kittens getting bottle fed.

It's like you couldn't swing a dead cat without seeing a cat!  Note all the kitty boxes under the platform.

How many cats can you find in this picture?!

The highly coveted "beach" chair accommodations

Shocking - Beanie found a Moochie kitty

(RC)  You did have to pay attention though.  Some kitties felt it was just fine to jump up and say hello whether you were ready for them or not.  We spent a few hours there and it was a good time.  Hopefully hanging around hundreds of kitties will be a good enough fix to get Beanie home!!  Probably not!  

Now this guy had what we would call "a strong personality"!


I mean really - anything can serve as a kitty perch!

Sometimes kitties get a little rambunctious and the cutest moments happen "When Kitties Turn Bad!" The first video is the cute kitty one; however, the second one, not so much!  As always, turn up the volume and use full screen to see all the gory details.



Honest, I am much more enthusiastic than I look in this video.  Really!


Day 21:  29 May – Day 6: Bali

(RC) We did a walkabout in a local, primarily residential neighborhood.  It was interesting to see how the everyday middle class folks lived.  Mostly it’s like a compound living arrangement with multiple houses within a walled in compound.  Each compound normally has a small temple type entry or building.

We stopped at a small little store along the way looking for a deal on the 650ml Bintang beer.  Beanie negotiated a fair(er) price (just can’t get the contracting gene out of her!) and we chatted with the woman and her son that ran the store.  It was interesting.  The subject of the “pandemic” came up and the son was saying how no one in his family got vaccinated.  He did not agree with it.  He also talked about his travel, including to the US.  When we asked him how he got into the US without Covid documentation, he said something to the effect of, “no problem, a Covid vaccination “is just paper!”  When we were leaving, he wished us well and told us to “stay human”, another reference to not taking the Covid shot.  Like I said, it was an interesting conversation.

(KC) It was nice to walk around Nyuh Kuning, something we hadn’t done much of the first time. The town has a nice temple (all towns have at least one temple) as well as a town center that serves as a sports field and area for kite flying, which is very popular here. We stopped by a sister hotel to Alam Shanti called Alam Indah and checked out the last remaining available room there – not as nice as ours but it still has a gorgeous view over the rice fields.  We even stopped at a real estate office to see what home prices looked like – no we won’t be moving here, just curious!  Prices looked reasonable for short term rentals.  Foreigners can’t buy a house here but you can lease for 30 years.  As in most countries, there are ways to get around that. We also stopped by a small art gallery.  Most of the paintings were by the same artist.  The paintings were okay but I fell in love with the very last painting I saw in the store.  Wouldn’t you know it was the original and not for sale and there were currently no prints available.  Probably just as well, where would we have put it


Okay, it's time for the name that cow (Allan & Terry?) Smallest horns ever on any cow??

Seem to be very good natured

Just a routine temple along the neighborhood walk

Grocery day. Traditional Balinese dress.

Local 7-11, bakery, and fuel station

A rather typical daily offering outside a local residence

Day 22:  30 May – Day 7: Bali

(RC) We once again called upon Wayan to take us to our next destination, the Intercontinental Bali Resort, near the airport. We stopped at Bali Animal Welfare Association (BAWA) along the way.  We learned about BAWA during our first visit to Bali.  They were doing a clinic on the beach near the Tandang Sari Hotel to capture & fix local and stray dogs.  It was a pretty impressive operation.  We met with the local director, Cynthia, and she gave us an update on where the organization is and future plans.  Unfortunately, it’s not set up like Villa Kitty to support tours or visits, strictly the business side.  It was a little disappointing.   

Me, Cynthia, and the resident dog/official greeter.

This little dog is a real sweetie.  She's really persistent selling the doggie love feature.


These guys are already adopted - full of personality. They're caged for a quarantine period.

(KC) I had been in touch with Cynthia at BAWA and she met us and gave us a short tour of their facility in Ubud.  She was very nice, but they really aren’t set up to give tours.  The plan is to move in the near future to a larger plot of land outside of Ubud which would provide more room for the dogs to get out of their cages and also allow for tours.  Hopefully that will happen.  Meanwhile they are doing a great job for the homeless dogs on Bali by rescuing, neutering, providing dogs for adoption and educating the Balinese people. Here’s their websitehttps://bawabali.com/

(RC) After BAWA we headed to our final hotel of the trip. The Intercontinental Resort is a huge, sprawling compound.  It’s located right on the beach with some spectacular views. We got checked in, finally.  I don’t know why, but the check-in process takes 20-30 minutes.  There were two people ahead of us that finally made it through the gauntlet and another 20 minutes or so for us.  We were upgraded to a two story suite but it wouldn’t be available until late afternoon. We decided not to wait and they found a deluxe room for us which was fine.  The room came with lounge access.  We had about an hour wait for the room to be ready, so we hit the lounge, had a few snacks and was in our room in no time.

We did a walk about on the grounds and then went city exploring.  We hadn’t stayed in this part of Bali before so it was all new.  It’s near the airport, in a larger city than the other two hotels and is more hustle and bustle.  We looked for dinner options, but really didn’t see much that appealed to us so we headed back to the hotel.

Dinner was, you guessed it, a split club sandwich, some cold beer and wine, and a great view, watching the night sky and listening to the waves on the beach. 

(KC)  The hotel, the beach and the grounds are beautiful.  It’s in the Uluwatu area and only about 15 minutes from the airport.  You can watch the planes take off from the beach – too far to hear them though.  


Entry to the hotel lobby area.  Glad I don't do the landscaping!

Walkway to the lobby

These side water features are off the left and right of the entryway above.

Very grandiose lobby - this statue of a woman dancing is about 40' tall

Lobby entrance to one of the restaurants

Very nice resort, but we didn't get upgraded (I blame Beanie) so average room

Last call for the Anniversary swag - thank goodness!

View from the patio to a series of pools and ponds - lots of birds and lizards

These are videos of the grounds  They are huge!  We thought this the best way to capture all the facilities, pools, and views offered.




Missed a couple in the video. Note the skirts on the statues.

Nice beaches, in a cove area so water is pretty calm and not real deep

Beach shot - more about dinner on the beach later

Last beach pic - well, maybe not.

Day 23:  31 May – Day 6: Bali

(KC) Today is golf day.  On the drive to the golf course we passed a funeral procession in the street.  These occur every day, everywhere on Bali.  No one is in a hurry and it’s always interesting to see.  

Local funeral procession - thinking he was probably a big deal based on size and logistics

Funeral pic 2 of 3

Pic 3 of 3 - this one holds the casket

Traffic circles are kind of a big deal in Bali - never pass up an opportunity to recognize your gods seems to be the motto.  They really were pretty impressive and very large.

These gods must be to drive away evil - they look ferocious.

Another traffic circle - not sure how effective these gods are at stopping bad drivers.

Last traffic circle.

(RC) Golf today at New Tatu Golf, not very good but at least it was expensive.  1130 tee time, 1300 start.  Very good caddy.  Course has jumped the shark, but the layout is nice.  Lots of ocean view holes.  Did get out by ourselves for first nine, hooked up with a Canadian expat from Calgary on back nine. Villa building business – married to a Russkie he met in Bali.  Tried to get shirts at every course, but they have nothing with logos except hats – really need a better marketing effort, especially considering that clothing costs throughout Indonesia is very competitive.

(KC)  The golf course was nice with gorgeous views of the hills and along the coastline. A storm had gone through that morning so they were very backed up which didn’t make for a great start but I enjoyed walking the course.  

Me and my caddie

Hard to beat this for a view - probably distracting and why I stunk it up so bad!!
From ocean views to jungle - pace of play was pretty good considering the rain delay

I think this is the god of Double Bogey

My caddie lining up my putt - god of slicing in the background



Yep, more pictures of my caddie than anything else

We had another nice dinner at the hotel – red snapper for me and mixed seafood for Randy.

Day 24:  1 Jun – Day 7: Bali

(RC) When Beanie was planning this trip she vacillated between the InterContinental and the Marriott Renaissance so today we grabbed a Blue Bird cab to the Renaissance to check it out.  Like the InterContinental, it is a large resort but instead of being on the beach it’s located up in the hills.  Great views of the ocean as well as the Tatu Golf Course.  In the end, we both agreed that it was a little too modern of a motif for us and also too isolated.

One of the things Beanie had researched is the beach dining option.  Near the Intercontinental there are at least a dozen small restaurants on the beach that set up dining for hundreds of people every night on the sand.  They go as far as the tide will permit.  The vast majority of them offer fresh seafood.  Smoke lingers across the sand from the many restaurant grills in action.  Smaller venders offer grilled corn on the cob or novelty trinkets.  It starts filling up around 5:30 so people can enjoy their evening on the beach with good drinks and food while watching the sunset.

The menu offers fixed plates for one to four or individual entrees.  We both opted for individual entrees that each could have easily fed two. Beanie got giant tiger prawns which included about a dozen large prawns with vegies and rice.  I opted for the red snapper which came as a whole fish, split and grilled.  Probably close to a pound of fish meat, all very good.  Maybe even better than a club sandwich!!

(KC) It was a lot of fun having a sunset dinner on the beach at one of the small restaurants.  This row of restaurants attracts both locals and tourists.  It’s one of the reasons we chose the Intercontinental because we could just walk up the beach from the hotel to reach this area.  The food was good and the people watching was excellent.  Lots of smoke from the barbecues though!  When we got home our suitcase with the dirty clothes in it smelled like the beach barbecues!  

Video one shows the beach dining set up.


Video two shows the dining


Video three shows the post game show.


Day 25:  2 Jun – Day 7: Bye Bali – Hello PHX

(KC)  Today we headed home.  Had a nice flight on Singapore Airlines from Bali to Singapore with a 5 hour layover in Singapore.  That gave us time to explore the Changi Airport, which is rightly considered one of the best airports in the world and is known for their shopping and gardens.  They have a cute butterfly pavilion, very well done.  Randy was about butterflied out at that point so stayed put in the lounge.  The Singapore Airlines Lounge was excellent.  I took advantage of our layover to take a shower there to get ready for the 16 hour flight home. 

You don't see things like this in many airports - a native Beanie

Garden way to the previous photo shot location

This is the butterfly exhibit within the airport. I was butterflied out so Beanie took this pic.


Oh good - more butterfly pics

This is a waterfall within the airport as viewed from the tram. 

This is Singapore Airline's Lounge

Very nice lounge. Multiple food stations with lots of cuisine options

Perhaps the coolest invention yet created by man.  It's on my Christmas list!



Ahh, only NINETEEN more hours and we touch down in LAX - oh boy, LA!!

We got to LAX too late for a connecting flight to Phoenix so spent the night at an airport hotel and flew home the next morning.

It was a wonderful trip! 

(RC)  Observations.  I had a bit of trepidation regarding a visit to Java.  I wasn’t sure how well Americans would be received in a predominantly Muslim country and had some worries about safety.  I cannot tell you how wrong I was – and as many of you know about me, this could be the first time!! Java was a completely good surprise.  As we traveled around the island, especially when we visited the various temples and historical sites, we were constantly greeted with smiles, waves (and not the one-finger type), requests to be photographed and in photographs, and thousands of “hello! hello!”  It was truly amazing and sincere.   Singapore was very good.  If I was to return, I would focus on staying out away from the inner city.  Don’t get me wrong, we saw a lot of wonderful things there and Singapore is truly an amazing city/state, but I think I would have preferred the relaxation of a slower pace.  Lastly, don’t travel to Asia without the WhatsApp installed!  It was immensely helpful for us, especially when cell service was not always the best.  Everyone uses WhatsApp in Singapore, Java and Bali.

(KC)  Final notes:  I was amazed that the trip went without a hitch as there were a lot of moving parts to it, especially considering there were 7 flights on 4 different airlines and 10 different hotels.  All of the Asian airports were very nice and very efficient, as were the Asian airlines that we used – Singapore Airlines, Garuda and Batik.  We knew Singapore Airlines would be nice but had never flown the smaller airlines.  I will now feel confident booking them for future trips.  Bed sheets – there were no top sheets at any of the hotels.  That’s common in Europe but I don’t ever remember that being the case in Asian hotels.  It was fine though as the comforters were all light weight.  The beds are on the hard side but it sure didn’t keep us from sleeping well.  Transportation everywhere was a snap and inexpensive.  WhatsApp was very helpful as Randy mentioned.  Bali is still beautiful but too busy now.  If (when?) we go back we will concentrate on the northwest area (National Park) and maybe the Eastern part, which we haven’t yet visited – fishing villages primarily.

Hope you enjoyed our 2023 Asia trip with us.

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