Kayana Villa Seminyak

... 8211; closest thing we've had anyway for a while. Luke &amp; Sarah were having breakfast in the cafe so we sat down and caught up for a while. <br><br>We'd planned on getting our scooter for the few days also &#8211; but when I say planned, I mean we made a booking. Not for the first time in Indonesia, something related to a travel service had gone sour on us:<br><br>Me: Hi, i made a booking for your scooter a few weeks back. I'm here to collect it.<br ...

... visit to see Marcus after coming with Steve and Marky back in June 08 and we actually did more sightseeing in one day than I did with the boys in 8 days on the previous visit... What can i say HK is a great city - busy, cosmopolitan, fashionable.... We really enjoyed a trip to Stanley, which is on the opposite site of the island to the main city. It is such a nice area with lots of nice pubs - almost felt like cornwall if you blocked out the skyrise buildings all ...

... to her. I said, "So you come from Russia? Gosh. Wow." And she moved quickly onto someone more verbally dexterous, and also better looking. Oh, and I had a really nice day strolling around the "private" beach of the Grand Hyatt resort in Nusa Dua, which has to be one of the nicest beaches in Bali. And capped it off with a beautiful sunset at Seminyak's trendy Ku De Ta bar. Bye bye, Indonesia.

The first Indonesian I learned: "babi guling" - roasted, suckling pig. One of my favorite dishes here. Babi guling includes both crispy skin and tender pork. On the side are stuffed pigs intestines, vegetables and more spices. It looks better than it sounds. Actually, I think there's only one main Balinese dish: chilis with chili paste. It varies when they add chicken, pork, fish, vegetables or rice. Every dish is so hot. It took me a ...

Howdy!! Yesterday was cloudy and so we walked around seminyak and shopped at the little boutiques. We are finding that the stores are more spendy than what we had anticipated, but managed to do some damage at disini, a much touted homewares boutique. Kim bought me fun birthday presents which I am excited to show off when I get home!! Last night we were total sloths and ordered room service and watched movies, which we agreed was the best night ever (I will caveat this with food here is ...

... dinner at a great cheap eats place called Bamboo Cafe and concluded with certainty that we'd spend at least the next couple days acclimatizing in the comfortable environs of resort (and all its accroutements) ridden Kuta-Legian-Seminyak. We had combined duty-free bottle power. Thanks to Eugene and Sue: Sauza, Jim Beam... and some 1.5 leftover bottles on our part as well. The next couple days were spent sunning by day, drinking by our quadruplet set by night after dinners at all ...

... out in order to protect society against evil forces and epidemics. We were told that the horse rider is lulled into a trance by the chanting man and runs through a bed of burning coconut husks, sending sparks and husks flying, a very spectacular sight to witness in complete darkness! After the performance, we made sure the hobby horse rider's feet were okay and retired to our bungalow. Yet another amazing day in Ubud. Tomorrow: to the islands!

... from latin to jazz to 90s, and the singer, Lucy, encourages people to dance. Laura, partner/owner, made me feel welcome and it looks like this place will become my local. Obsessed with testing other nightspots, I walk over to Hu'u Bar where I've been told there's a retro night. It still amazes me that a single woman can walk down dark lanes alone and not feel in any way at risk. What defines retro? Beach Boys? After an $8 cover charge which included a drink ...

... because it was our last dinner together before I left. LT tried the local alcohol made from coconut or something (alar, I think it's called?). It tasted like gasoline and rubbing alcohol or something equally disgusting. It's one of those liquors that makes you think you could possibly go blind. Yeah, that bad. haha. Oh! and they sell gasoline for motor bikes in Absolut bottles there, so beware. =P That reminds me, the most people we saw on ...

... stag and hen days and nights. We headed up into Ubud and were going quad biking. This is somethign i did a few years ago in England...but decided that i was just going to take the photos. We arrived in the middle of a jungle type environment, and after being shown the 250cc monsters, that were semi automatic with 5 gears; we headed off on the track. We had been told to use low gears for going up and down hills. Well, the track was about 400 meters ...