Back to Reality

Wednesday 8th February

A long days travelling, first of all back to Singapore's Changi airport where we spent 8 hours waiting for our homeward bound flight to Manchester. It is the most spacious & calm airport, with every facility the weary traveller might desire, including some pretty spectacular floral displays & even a Butterfly Park!

 

After a comfortable flight home, we were not impressed to find temperatures of - 4 degrees & snow, on our arrival in Manchester. What a contrast to the 34 degrees we had left in Bali.












Our wonderful journey has sadly come to an end. Our memories will be cherished & relived for a long time to come. This blog is a treasure trove of those memories & it has been wonderful to have you share them with us.

Until the next adventure......

Farewell to Bali

Tuesday 7th February



Our last three days in Bali have been a time for relaxing & enjoying this wonderful resort. We have whiled away the time relaxing by the pools, on the beach & enjoying the views.













 On Saturday evening, Stephen arranged tickets for us to see the Devdan Show. A theatrical spectacle of traditional & contemporary dance, music & acrobatics, with stunning scenery & costumes. The show depicts 5 of the Indonesian islands' cultures - Bali, Sumatra, Java, Borneo & Papua. Again, no photos were allowed, but take a look on the website http://www.devdanshow.com/gallery.php

We will miss the gentle nature of the Balinese people & their fascinating culture.Thank you Nikko Resort & most of all thank you Stephen for making our stay so memorable.  x

Bali Safari Park & Bali Agung

Friday 3rd February

Stephen arranged for us to spend the day at Bali Safari & Marine Park, included in the package is transfers, lunch, & tickets to the Bali Agung Show as well as a half hour ride on an elephant! Our journey involved more of the frenetic & unpredictable Bali traffic. Although places are not too far away they take a long time to reach. There are no trains lines because they are straight line routes that could not be achieved here as holy land cannot be crossed, thus I guess the roads run on circuitous routes too adding to the travelling time. The Balinese place region & its duties & rituals before all other considerations. The village elders have supreme power & are respected in all areas of life. Their main aim is to lead a good life so that in the next life they are perceived to be good people. They believe spirits are present everywhere & Stephen told us they will close their eyes & lift their hands above their head in prayer as they drive over a bridge, to appease the spirits who live under the bridge. If they crash, then they didn't pray hard enough! Illogical & strange to Westerners, but their sweet nature & calm demeanour is endearing.

The Safari Park far exceeded our expectations & is well managed & involved in caring for endangered species. With educating the public about conservation high on its list of priorities.

Having been really excited at the prospect of riding on an elephant, we were not disappointed & these beautiful Sumatran elephants seem well cared for by their keepers who treat them with great respect. Another Balinese trait is to consider all animals & never harm them. Many of their gods take animal forms & elephants rank high on the list. The joy of feeding bananas to Api, our elephant takes some describing.

Lunch was spectacular, not so much for the food as for the setting – an African themed restaurant with glass walls to one side onto the lions' paddock. One of the lionesses came to drink from the moat, right by the tables. The male watching close by.

The best was yet to come, the Bali Agung Show. A cultural spectacle staged in the purpose built theatre that seats 1200. The stage was at least 100m wide & half as deep – including a water filled area at the front of the stage that a small boat rowed along in one scene. 150 performers told a traditional story of love, heroism & revenge, featuring theatre, mime, Balinese dance, large scale puppets, shadow puppets, amazing scenery, traditional musicians, costumes & lighting & water effects as well as live animals including 5 elephants, a leopard, goats, a camel, ducks & tropical birds. This famous story depicts 2 of the major Balinese gods & their effigies are paraded through the streets of n Bali every 210 days warding off bad luck & evil spirits.  (No photos allowed )

Bali Highlights

Thursday 2^nd February

Stephen has arranged for a driver to take us out today. Abdul is from Java & he speaks very good English (mostly self taught) & has excellent local knowledge. He moved to Bali with his parents when he was a teenager, as unemployment is high & life is difficult in Java & we got the impression he was keen to escape for the prospect of a better life. His story made us feel very humble as he has strived to teach himself English & learn as much as possible about the Balinese culture, including a new language, in order to be a good tourist guide & driver. He was a mine of information as the day unfolded.

Today was a completely different experience on the road! The main mode of transport is the low cc motor bike/moped & there are hundreds & hundreds! Families travel 4 or 5 at a time on one bike. Add on rickety bamboo constructions carrying shopping /wildlife/ furniture, as required! Indonesian law, (such as it is), now requires adults to wear crash helmets – children under 12 are exempt as are Muslim women if they are wearing their habib (not sure where the logic is in that?). The driving licence requires one hour's instruction for bikes but Abdul reassured us that for his car licence he had spent a whole day!! It is complete pandemonium....no speed restrictions or right of way, though the pot holes & volume of motor bikes inhibits any major speeding.

 

Most Balinese are Hindu, but there are also many Moslems & Chistians who all live in total harmony with each other. The Balinese culture is fascinating & the religion is tied firmly to mythology. Many gods & heroes are commemorated along the roads & in public areas, with huge stone statues.

Every building, home, place of work & shop has its own 'temple' or shrine. These were decorated in drapes of black & white chequered cloth or white & gold. The Balinese pray several times a day & give offerings to the gods, only visiting the main village temple perhaps once a month. These offerings are made from folded banana leaves containing flower petals, rice, seeds & sometimes eggs. 

The 1^st of Febuary is one of many Hindu festivals.It is called Galungan, a special time for families to congregate & celebrate together. All the streets have decorations made from banana leaves representing freedom.

There are traditional processions through the streets, with instruments & the Barong – a mythical animal half shaggy dog, half dragon who represents the battle of good over evil.

Our tour took us to the sacred temple of Tanah Lot, built on a 3 acre volcanic rock.

We crossed at low tide to the holy men who sprinkled us with holy water & blessed us, sticking grains of rice to our foreheads & placing a flower behind our ears.

To the numerous craft villages of Ubud, each specialising in a different area of expertise – batik, wood carving, painting, sculpture & silversmiths. A large number of highly skilled crafts people each displaying their wares.

We wondered how they could all make a living. Tourism is the main industry here & it is the hotels who purchase the majority of the large pieces. ( Our hotel is bedecked with such artefacts & beautiful wooden furniture.) The streets are so narrow it is impossible to stop at most of them!

The Padangtegal Sacred Monkey Forest, filled with macaques, who are considered to be the guards of the 3 temples in the forest. All waiting for the tourists/locals to bring them bananas. Tiny babies & fearless adults scampering & jumping all over. Good advice to remove all shiny objects as they will jump up & grab anything that attracts them or think contains food. Rather scary when you see their bared teeth! 

 

The countryside is filled with rice fields. Lush green, so beautiful. The farmers bent over tending their precious crops. No where more stunning than the Tegalang rice terraces. 

 

Beautiful Bali

Wednesday 1^st February

Awake to a lovely ocean view from our balcony, across the gardens & hotel temple ( on left & below.)

Rob's French cousin Stephen is Operations Director of this exquisite hotel & after our buffet breakfast we meet up with him. It's 8 years since we last saw him when he was working in Jersey. He's on duty, so after a quick catch up, we arrange to meet for dinner tonight & we spend the day lazing on the beach & around one of the 4 interconnecting pools.

Stephen takes us to one of the hotel's restaurants for the pirate themed evening. Great food & fire eaters /dancers to boot.

The hotel staff are all so polite, you are greeted with a bow of the head with hands clasped together. 'Mr. Stephen' is very highly thought of & as his 'family' everyone is very keen to ensure we are happy & have everything we need.

En route to Bali

Tuesday 31^st January

A long day of travelling via Singapore, changing to Air Asia for our flight to Bali. This is the end of the rainy season & we arrive in a torrential downpour, the roads awash, but in the safe hands of our taxi driver – luckily the roads are pretty empty & he avoids the pot holes & puddles.

Arriving at the Nikko Resort 1.30 am, a lovely welcome with cool towels & jasmine tea to refresh us. Our room is gorgeous, with the most enormous bed !

Bondi Beach

A bus journey out through the city & the pleasant  suburb of Paddington to the iconic Bondi Beach.   I guess not the most beautiful beach we have seen in Australia but certainly full of the most beautiful people! We were the oldest people by far on the beach & we felt we should have worn overalls to cover the surplus flesh!!! ( All the cakes have suddenly reformed around my middle!!) We have never seen so many gorgeous figures & six packs in one place.

Check out the pecs!

The very cool life guards in their beach buggy, patrolling up & down to make sure that people were swimming between the flags & not in the surfers area. I say swimming, but actually it is impossible to swim as the surf is so powerful.

Bondi's surf champs of the future.













We took our last evening walk to Darling Harbour. We just had to have our last taste of the wonderful lemon meringue ice cream from our favourite place called   -18 degrees.

Well, all good things must come to an end & regrettably  our amazing journey is drawing to a close.
We leave this most beautiful & friendly country to travel on to Bali for a week's chill out before we return to the our former life in England.








THANK YOU to everyone along the way who has made this such a memorable trip, but especially to Joy & Barrie.

Thanks also to everyone for following our travels & if we have internet access in Bali we will continue to blog. x x

Manly & Chinese New Year

Over to Manly today, across the bay on the ferry.  Down the main streeet called the Corso, lined with cafes shops & bars. A street art & craft market to browse round before heading to the surf beach to watch the professionals in action & have a lazy day on the beach.

Strict rules apply about swimming between the flags where the lifeguards patrol, as the rip either side will pull you out to sea. Frequent announcements requesting inexperienced  swimmers to stay on the sandbank & not attempt to go in deeper than waist high. Surfers who continually stray into the swimming area are fined $110!






Back for a quick change & out again for the Chinese New Year twighlight parade, celebrating the Year of the Dragon.
The main roads closed off to traffic with crowds lining the pavements.

Lots of marching bands, floats, dragons & costumes.

The front of many buildings  projected with an assortment of changing designs.

The evening culminated in.......you've guessed........more fireworks!  This time to Chinese music with speakers all around Darling Harbour & the display set off from pontoons on the water as before.   Tremendous!

Sydney obviously has a large firework budget!

Taronga Zoo

Taronga Zoo is on a beautiful site overlooking Sydney Harbour, a 15 minute ferry ride away. An interesting day out, the animals are mostly part of conservation breeding programmes. The habitat areas are large & the talks & shows infomative. We loved the gorillas in particular.

After a ride on the City monorail, not as excitng as we'd anticipated as the views were limited to the middle of buildings & partly screened windows on the monorail itself, our evening walk took us back to Darling Harbour & Cockle Bay. The place was buzzing, bars & restaurants busy.  Lots of street entertainment - we were amused by "Beat the Street"  a great combo of comedy, street & break dancing. Then to our surprise MORE fireworks!

We love you Sydney !

Thank you to two very kind Sydney residents who have restored our faith in the city! We must have picked the wrong people to ask for directions / help previously because today two unprompted acts of kindness have warmed our hearts. Firstly a lovely lady offered to help us if we needed directions, when we were looking at our street map - we had a great chat about the city & were thankful for her kindness even though we knew where we were going (this time). Secondly, as we passed one of the Sydney Festival booths, a young man gave us two tickets to the open air cinema on the harbourside by the Botanical Gardens, for tonight's showing of Crazy Stupid Love. He explained that he had bought the tickets ( $33each) & now couldn't go - no catch - didn't want anything for them! We went & it was great - a good rom/com, beautiful evening, lights of the city as a backdrop & fruit bats for company!   WOW!                   (The screen lifts up for viewing the film. )

 Our  day was spent firstly in the Botanical Gardens, verdant lawns, mature trees of every description, exotic flower borders & wonderful views of the harbour.

It is home to a vast colony of fruit bats -  grey flying foxes (22,000). They are causing so much damage to the trees that they are seeking permission to relocate them. (Rather them than me !) They are huge!

  Next a short tour of The Governor's House in the grounds of the Gardens. Very interesting history of the house built on the site of the first home  of Admiral Arthur Philip, the first Govenor of New South Wales, who had been sent in charge of the first convict fleet of 11 ships to colonise Sydney. He landed on 26 January 1788 with the marines and convicts at Sydney Cove, which Phillip named after Lord Sydney, England's Home Secretary at that time. It is this event that is celebrated on Australia Day & last night we saw the present Govornor of New South Wales, a highly regarded lady called Prof Marie Bashir, open the Australia Day evening entertainment.

Walking round the harbourside to the Rocks. In the earliest history of the settlement, the area had a reputation as a slum, often frequented by visiting sailors and prostitutes. Now a trendy area of bars, shops  & cafes, but some old buildings are still preserved.

CIRCULAR QUAY

After a rather delicious cake shop visit (got to keep up the tradition), on to Harbour Bridge for a walk along its length & some stunning views.
























Up to Observatory Hill to overlook the other side of the harbour, back towards Darling Harbour. Then as we headed back towards the Botanical Gardens to have our picnic tea & to watch the bats at dusk, our benefactor with the cinema tickets.......talk about being in the right place at the right time!