Mutiara Bali Resort & Villa Seminyak

... visa first for $25 each then go through immigration after, although nobody told us this!<br><br>We took a taxi to Seminyak and our hotel Dhyana Pura.. a 20 minute journey and only 3.50 pounds. The hotel looks like the dharma initiative village in Lost. Very 70's, 25 quid a night (which is quite a lot for us at the moment!) <br>We went out straight away, rather than stay in the throw back room and took a walk down the beach just outside ...

... all the same, i tried to snap some photos but i don't think it gives it justice, the interesting thing is the hindu new year is on the 26th this year and i found out this current festival has nothing to do with the new years as the hindu year only has 220 or so days the holiday floats and its actually incredibly lucky of me to have arrived as the both come together once in a life time. the quiet day So from what i ...

... queue he offered stu a fruit basket, but i suggested he chatted up the next lady coming along, we drove through a place called teqallalang, it was a typical village but there were no stall holders &amp; just a carver carving out a piece of wood outside his door, no one else around, no tourists nothing, lovely sight another stop was the coffee plantation where we tasted ginger tea,mmmm!!coffee, coco ginsing coffee &amp; lemon grass which was very sweet, we ...

... more interested in photos than simian close encounters. It was moderately interesting, and some good photos hopefully. My favorite spot was a stream overlook that was pretty private. Right next to it are two, huge, concrete statues of Komodo Dragons. They're very detailed and lifelike, and probably only a little bigger than life sized. Covered in green moss, they overlook the stream and the monkeys frolicking in it. Must be torture for the dragons :). I ...

... go with board shorts as those cute pink j crew surf/swim shorts I bought for the occasion were - oops - a little big. It was a full moon on Kuta beach this afternoon. Yesterday we relaxed and enjoyed the nice hotel we splurged on for two nights to relax after diving (bali niksoma). After the accidental coarse black sand colonic I got on one of the shore dives at tulamben, it was refreshing to enjoy the pool and spa. Kim brought her DVD player and we have been ...

... by the pig crew and their take out lunch. After lunch we head to the Sacred Monkey Forest. Lots of monkeys, hungry, greedy monkeys. There are 3 temples, some great stonework, a grave yard, and more monkeys. I was actually and really attacked by a monkey this time. I gave him a banana and then he lunged at me, bared his teeth, and scratched my knee. I threw down the rest of the fruit (as you are supposed to do) and moved away ...

... place their morning offerings out, bowls of fresh flowers and incense. They place these in front of their temples, and businesses for good luck, and if you are the first customer of the day you get " morning price" which can be very low, and they take your money and touch it on several items in their store blessing the day for good sales all day long. Ubud as much as it had grown, still remains very local. There are no Star bucks, McDonald's ...

... overcast sky of the low season. It's luxury living with a private pool, two bedrooms and bathrooms and wi-fi Internet access. My first day got me used to having tens of thousands of rupiah in my purse at the beginning of the day and none at the end. $5 massages still abound but it is a quieter place I find on my visit as a mature traveller.

... case, it was a nice little goodbye, not too drawn out. To finish out, again, don't use Vayama.com. When I got to the airport for my midnight flight, I was informed that my travel agent hadn't reserved a spot for me on my Seoul-NYC flight and that it was full. I was really upset as you can probably imagine. But they worked it out for me. They apologized for my wait (only about 10 minutes!) and thus bumped me up to first class for my Bali-Seoul ...