The Oberoi Hotel Seminyak

... James. We hired a scooter for the time we had there
and it was by far the best way to get round. We tried a day on the
beach in Seminyak but the wind was blowing sand everywhere and Han
ended up swearing so we knew we couldn't do that again. Another day
we traveled south about 20mins to Jimbaran bay which was a far better
and quieter beach and happened to have a whole bunch of restaurants
on the beach serving fresh seafood and great prices (read £5
for 9 king prawns ...

... so hemer d rueh und de wassertempel gnosse bevor di erste reisegruppene acho sind. jaa und denn no oepis typischs: di ganz ziit ueber simer ja mitem toeffli underwaegs xi, de toubi het sich sogar en temporaere indo-fuehrerschii bsorgt. de wiederum isch am 4. dez abgloffe, d abgab vom bike isch uf de 9. dez planed xi. und just a dem tag het eus natuerli d polizei (zum erste mal!) aghalte und gschmiert welle waerde.. grrr. :)

... a Muslim Prayer, a Civil Ceremony, a Chinese Marriage Ceremony and finally a reception for all. All of this took ALL DAY, but was so interesting to see and I can honestly say was very well scheduled. There was so much to coordinate that the brother of the groom was constantly on top of everyone to be in the right place at the right time. Not any easy task with a wedding party of about 20 people... Anyway the reception was complete with Stevie Wonder ...

... les cochonneries que la Chine a pas ete capable de vendre dans les pays riche. Tout le monde dit qu'a Bali les vetement sont pas cher. C'est vrai mais il faut pas s'atendre a avoir de la qualite. Si tu payes un t-shirt 20 000 rp(environ 3 dollars) comme j'ai fait(apres environ 10 minutes de negotiation avec la vendeuse) ben il est possible que le t-shirt soit fait en peau de pet. Meme si c'est ecrit 100 pour 100 coton dedans. On peut aussi acheter des vetements bonne qualite pour moins cher ...

... for Good! Freaking Bagus is Ingridnesian for HOLY MOLY MAN!) He told us all we needed to know about the neighborhood layout, the beaches, the beautiful Balinesian people. He gave us ball park ideas of how much things should cost in Rupees, ex. a big bottle of water is 3,000rp or about 30 cents, and a big Bintang (the 32 ounce beer 'round here) cost 16,000rp. He showed us where to get an Indo sim card for my cellphone--I never thought i'd use ...

... I am, my first instinct was to try and explore every last souvenir/craft stall. Then I realised how big the whole place was. Shops cram either side of Jalan Legian (not to mention the myriad laneways) for at least 3 suburbs. Starting from Seminyak in the north, down to Legian, then Kuta, then to at least one other suburb south. I made a valiant effort for almost an hour and a half (in the heat of the day), then resigned myself to viewing the ...

... later, its almost 100% back. part of the adventure... what else - the weather is hot hot hot. in the 80s and 90s every day and humid. but i love it! even at night it doesn't really go below 70 and sometimes remains hotter than that. we had a downpour last night, but now the sun is out again. and even when it rained, it was still in the 80s. the people here are some of the nicest and most hospitable you will find anywhere i think ...

... sea snakes being very dangerous I chose the latter of the two options which naturally convinced Bryony that the combination of sea creatures and snakes (things she does not feel very comfortable with individually let alone together) was too much to handle. This later emerged as being arguably a wise move on her part when Ben, on hearing of our encounter, declared 'OH I didn't know they had sea snakes here. Those things are deadly poisonous!' He then comforted us in the ...

... have learnt to master the Indonesian bathroom. It is quite confusing! The whole room is tiled, with a drain in one corner, and a detachable shower head on the wall (cold water only!). There is a large water tank in the corner, which looks like a very small walk in bath - it has a plug with a screw cap at the bottom on the side. For some reason, this spills onto a raised ledge which also features the toilet - a hole with footrests on either side. A plastic ...