Indolent in Indonesia after Singapore Slings and Supertrees!!
Our last trip of the year kicked off in Singapore. It is several years since either of us has visited this city and boy, has it changed. We stayed at Goodwood Park Hotel off Orchard Rd. This was the Japanese HQ during the occupation and where we ate teppanyaki (repeated the experience this time but sadly our chef had little repartee
and limited showmanship with his knives!) and had drinks around the pool, 29 years ago. It was still colonial although now more popular with Asians having afternoon tea and buying moon cakes for the Lantern Festival. Despite the high humidity, we walked to the old colonial area near the cricket ground which was being prepared for the F1 Grand Prix this weekend. They were installing tall metal fences with concrete bases along the affected roads. We visited Chijmes, an old convent now an eating and wedding venue, the old Chinese shopfronts of Emerald Hill, Raffles Hotel and drank Singapore Slings in its Long Bar then walked to China Town to eat Hainanese chicken rice at the Maxwell Food Centre. Little India was much busier than we remembered it with heavy traffic intersecting it. Much more enjoyable to walk down the smaller side streets. One new area l loved was Kampong Glam, especially Haji Street, an Arab area around a mosque full of Turkish and Egyptian cafés and shops. It had an arty vibe. We walked through a night market to have a drink at Clark's Quay. It is one of 3 quays developed for entertainment in the last decade but sadly without any Asian feel. The following morning, we caught the MRT, the super efficient underground, to Marina Bay with lots of F1 preparations being made. We walked past The Shoppes shopping centre and visited the Gardens by the Bay with its Supertrees Grove (lit by a lightshow every night) and its Cloud and Flower Domes full of tiny schoolchildren on school visits. Saw a fabulous orchid display in the Flower Dome. We enjoyed a sampan cruise up past the Merlion statue, Boat Quay, Clark's Quay, Fullerton Hotel and the Esplanade with its colonial buildings. Liked the history of Read Bridge - in olden times people would read and recite tales to the workers who gathered there but no tale longer than the time it took for a joss stick to burn. The cruise was a time to appreciate the huge amount of land reclamation that has been done in Singapore. The whole Marina Bay Area has been reclaimed and now showcases the Marina Bay Sands Hotel complex built by a Las Vegas company (the most expensive development in the world when it opened in 2010). We were going to have cocktails in the Ku De Ta Bar on the 57th floor but the entrance price and dress code put us off!! Torrential rain put an end to our cruise. We bought ponchos and sheltered in the theatres shaped liked durians when the thunder and lightening was too threatening. Glad we saw all the changes in Singapore. It is a remarkable place but for me lacks the sights and character of Asia that l love.
Now it was time to fly to Denpasar, Bali and take a taxi to our first destination of Ubud, the cultural town of the island. Arrived at Champlung Sari Hotel on Monkey Forest Road, aptly named as we soon saw monkeys all over the place. Kevin had a very close monkey encounter! Nice hotel with balconies, 2 pools, good location and lovely smiling staff. Ubud is a arty enclave with Hindu temples, shops (some lovely artisan things but alas l have no room), galleries, museums, cultures dance shows, bad pavements, locals in traditional dress, taxi touts everywhere, bars, cafés, live music, flower offerings outside all the shops each morning, heavy traffic, including many motorbikes on the one way road system, spas, hotels and restaurants on tourist packed main streets but often with rice fields and/or gardens hidden behind. We enjoyed a cultural dance show at Ubud Palace, a cafe with rabbits hopping around its garden, a lotus pond in front of a temple, great Rijsttafel at Cafe Lotus, cocktails at The 3 Monkeys with its illuminated rice field view, tasted the local rose wine and saw 2 bridal couples in traditional costumes. The suckling pig lunch served at Ubi Oka is an Ubud institution. Pork, intestines, rice and veg for about £2 and delicious! So popular that they now have 3 restaurants. We went to the one that is the family farm where they roast the pigs and have chickens, cockatoos and parrots in the garden. Nice to find a place to escape the relentless heat of the afternoons here. We also found some small treks off the main roads. We walked uphill for 2 kms until we reached Cafe Karsa, surrounded by beautiful rice fields. Another walk took us towards an organic farm, the home of an Aussie artist and the Yoga House, Ubud is a seriously lovely place!!! Our taxi to our northern destination, Lovina, arrived with the 2 Madays, (one to drive and one to chat). We passed rice fields, rafts of ducks, red and white Indonesian flags, villages, temples and shrines with parasols and checked clothes (some being prepared for festivals), statues and stone carvings for sale and vegetables being grown and sold. We stopped at a lake and visited the lakeside temple complex. We admired the beautiful scenery as we passed through the higher area with lots of walled villages and volcanic hills and craters. We stayed at a resort hotel, the Sunari. It was very peaceful as we lay on our loungers underneath palm trees next to the lovely pool. Lovina has long stretches of grey volcanic sand, and the sea is full of small narrow wooden fishing boats with bamboo floats making them resemble spiders. Indolence was the name of the game here (no dolphin chasing for us) but in the evenings, we walked along a busy main road to a quieter restaurant area. Ate excellent Thai at Jasmine Kitchen and fish on the roof of a BBQ seafood place. Our taxi to Amed was held up by a temple procession. A great photo opportunity! Arrived at our Eco hotel, Uyah Amed with its volcano backdrop. Nice chalets in verdant garden with chickens, ducks and dogs running around. We had the lovely pool on the beach to ourselves as many people were out diving. The hotel allows local salt production on its premises. Saw the process and bought tiny salt baskets from the woman showing me around. Later, adorable children tried to sell me their baskets. Lovely afternoon, then beer o'clock followed by fresh fish at Cafe Garam.
We took a fast commercial speedboat from Amed to Gili Trawangan, Lombok. The sea was very choppy so we bounced across the waves for just over an hour. People soon stopped smiling as the window seals were poor and boat back was open so there was lots of water and wet nauseous people. Arrived at the busy party island of Trewangan but within minutes we were on a spider boat for the 10 min crossing to Gili Meno, the smallest and quietest of the Gilis. We were dropped at a coral beach and had to wade into the beautiful turquoise sea to get off. We walked about 15 mins with our luggage along a sandy track to the Swedish owned Adeng Adeng bungalows. They were set back from the beach which initially l was disappointed about but I soon fell in love with the lovely garden, rooms, local staff. Chilled on their private beach area - all blue drapes around white bamboo poles. Lovely and peaceful except for the Muslim call to prayer from mosque on Meno and some evening party noise from Trewangan (our first night was a full moon). We sat on the beach, swam, drank gin and tonic at sunset, then walked along the beach and had red snapper BBQed by a local family. Next day was a repeat of the day before but we walked around the island past the mosque and the salt lake. It is slightly more commercial on other side of island but the only transport is horse and cart. It really is a beautiful desert island to escape to. Not as beautiful as Rawa in Malaysia where the jungle comes down to the sandy beach as it is an arid island and the sand is full of large chunks of coral. However, you can find your own piece of solitude anywhere on this island. We walked back to a spider boat to make our departure back to Trewangan and the Gili Cat boat to Padang Bai on Bali. The seas were even choppier and we had to endure over 2 hours as the engine broke down and they had to do a running repair. These islands are not for you if you are a bad sailor!!!
We spent one night at Sanur Beach at the Swiss Belresort to catch a morning flight the next day. It is a bit of a modern monstrosity but comfortable.We walked along the seafront at Sanur looking for the hotel we stayed in 29 years ago. Still not sure which one it was! Sanur is a very popular place for expat retirees but didn't do it for us. However, found the sister restaurant of the 3 Monkeys in Ubud and had a lovely meal. The next morning we took an Air Asia flight to Kota Kinabalu. The highlight was the singing steward with guitar performing George Michael!!! Arrived at Rasa Ria Hotel for our complementary stay due to not so good first visit (hotel overrun by large Indian wedding). We couldn't have had a better welcome (2 giggly PR ladies) or stay although missed Karen and Mike and the weather was more changeable than in June.. More drinks in beach bar with musical trio, drinks in foyer with resident owl spotting overhead, Malaysian buffet with cultural dancing, dinner at Japanese and Naan restaurants, massage and beach. Found a whole massive Ocean wing of the hotel which had been obscured by the huge wedding marquees. Both think we would like to explore more of Borneo.
Well, back in Penang for our last week. Time to start packing and revisiting our favourite haunts. One more tiny blog to come......