Gili Trawangan

The morning after our tour of Bali, we woke up early to begin our journey to Gili Trawangan. Gili Trawangan is the largest of the Gili Islands which are located just off the north western coast of Lombok (the 3 little islands on the map).



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There are several ways to get from Bali to the Gili Islands, but the most efficient way is by fast boat. The fast boats transfer people to and from the islands each morning, and typically hold about 20 people. We knew the boats went fast, but we were still surprised to find racing-style seats upon boarding. We both immediately realized that it really was going to be a fast and bumpy ride. And indeed it was. After 2hrs skipping over large waves at top speed and watching another passenger repeatedly spew her breakfast into a bag, we finally arrived at Gili Trawangan.

Blair on our fast boat

 

Boats at the GiliT port

Locals unloading supplies for the island

There are no motorized vehicles allowed on the Gili Islands. The three modes of transportation are feet, bikes, and cidomos (horse carts). Our resort, Scallywags, was at the bottom end of the island, so rather than dragging our suitcases for 20 minutes through dirt, we figured we'd give the cidomo a try...

Horse cart

..and it was the most uncomfortable 20 minutes of our lives. Thankfully, once we arrived at Scallywags, the horse cart was quickly forgotten as we sat down to drink our welcome drink and embrace the view from our resort.

Restaurant view at our resort

Most of the resorts on Gili Trawangan, including Scallywags, offer outdoor bathrooms. While the bathroom was very private, it was a bit interesting taking a shower with the sun shining down on you.

Outdoor bathroom and shower

Pool at resort

The pool at the resort was very inviting, so we decided to spend the rest of our first day on GiliT lounging by the pool sipping pina coladas. ;-) That evening we enjoyed a traditional Gili T dinner - a beach BBQ. It was fantastic, so we indulged a bit every night we were there!

BBQ!

So much selection for the BBQ!

The next morning, we got up early to head out for a day of diving with Manta Dive. The diving was decent in terms of fish, but didn't offer much in terms of coral. It turns out that fishing with dynamite used to be very popular around the Gili Islands and it has pretty much destroyed most of the coral. We did, however, manage to see lots of tropical fish, turtles, and a shark.

Our dive boat

Sea turtle - this guy was massive despite how it looks in this pic!

Tiny little clown fish in a sea anemone

Our next day on the island was a dedicated beach day! We spent most of the day on the beach relaxing and swimming. As we wandered down the beach, we found a bar in the middle nowhere, so we stopped for some drinks and to enjoy the view.

Bar on the south end of Gili T.

Fantastic private beaches everywhere!

The next day, we took a fast boat back to Bali for our last few days of vacation. Though our time on GiliT was short lived, it was a very relaxing few days that we really needed after all the site-seeing in Singapore and Bali.

Next up - our final days back in Bali. :-)

Bali

After our whirlwind tour of Singapore, we flew to Denpasar, Bali for the second leg of our vacation.  We arrived in Bali on the evening of July 17th and, after a minor delay navigating ourselves through the chaos of the airport in order to acquire a taxi, we finally made our way to our hotel in Kuta. We had booked a private day tour for the 18th, so once we arrived we had a late dinner and headed back to our room to get some rest.

Our private day tour got off to a slow start when our driver showed up to the hotel with a SUV that had difficulty starting (see notes about the rain below!). A few phone calls and an hour later, and we were finally off on our day tour with a brand new - and much more comfortable - SUV.

The start of our tour was a bit miserable weather-wise as there was a very strong (but luckily short-lived) rain storm. The infrastructure in both Kuta and Denpasar was clearly not able to withstand this amount of rain, and as a result, the streets quickly became flooded.

Flooding in the streets!

So much water!

The first stop for our day tour was the Monkey Forest Sanctuary in Ubud. The sanctuary is home to hundreds of Macaque monkeys - as well as a temple - and is a popular place to visit in Ubud. The monkeys certainly aren't afraid of strangers and will follow you around looking for any food you might have for them.

Macaque monkey looking for food

Family cleaning the baby

Dragon statues at the temple entrance

After hanging out with the monkeys, we made our way to the market in Ubud. There wasn't really much to see at the market; some handmade crafts, typical souvenirs, and some trinkets with 'Bali' written on them. Just across the street from the market, however, was the Ubud Palace. The palace was built in the early 18th century and is set in the centre of Ubud.  The courtyard of the palace offers views of some impressive façades and statues.

Inside the palace courtyard

Interesting statue piece

After tourism, agriculture (namely, rice cultivation) is the largest employment sector in Bali. Given that we'd never seen a rice paddy before, we decided to stop by the rice terraces in Tegallalang (north of Ubud). Even though it had started raining quite heavily again, it was still an interesting sight to see for the first time.

Rice Terraces in Tagallalang

After getting drenched at the rice terraces, we headed for Gungung Kawi temple. Built in the 11th century, Gunung Kawi temple rests in a small valley and consists of several open courtyard areas which are home to shrines that have been carved out of the rock face. Thankfully the rain let up because it took us about 15 minutes to walk down to the bottom of the valley (while stopping to take in the views). The trek, however, was absolutely worth it! The shrines are absolutely huge (20ft+) and are in very good condition given that they are nearly a century old!

Massive shrines carved into the rock face

More shrines on the opposite side of the valley

The next site we visited was Goa Gajah - also known as the elephant cave temple. The entrance to the cave features a facade of creatures and demons. The cave originally got its name from the elephant-like shape of the rock face, though it's difficult to see now due to erosion. Next to the cave are two holy bathing pools. Many local people come here to clean themselves and wash away evil spirits.

Cave entrance - see the elephant shape?

Bathing pool

The last stop on our day trip was at the Oka coffee plantation. We were given an overview the coffee agriculture in Bali as well as a few samplings of some locally grown & roasted coffee and tea.

Coffee & Tea samples - tasty!

More importantly, however, is that Blair got to finally try some of the famous Kopi Luwak coffee, as well as meet the 'coffee machine' that helps produce it - the Asian Palm Civet.

Asian Palm Civet  -aka- Coffee Machine

While there were a few more sights we would have liked to have seen, we feel as though we managed to see quite a lot in a single day. A private tour with your own driver is definitely the way to go when visiting Bali as it allows you to move at your own pace and focus on the things you really want to see. But most importantly, it allows you to avoid the motorcycles.  Oh my, the motorcycles!! :S

On the left of us..

...and on the right of us!

All in all, we had a fantastic tour of Bali. It was a great cultural experience, and one we'll never forget. Something that stuck with us from our first impressions until our very last day there - the Balinese people are extremely friendly and very, very kind. They certainly helped to make this visit as great as it was.

Coming soon - some diving and beach stories from the Gili Islands!

Singapore

Apologies for the lack of blog posts recently as we've been away on vacation and decided we'd post about our travels upon our return to Canberra. So here's our first post of ~3 for this trip.

We started our vacation by traveling to Sydney and spending Friday night at a hotel near the Sydney International airport (we had an early departure the next morning). Without a doubt, this was the worst hotel we've ever stayed at.  Let's just say that the day (Friday, July 13th) was quite fitting, as this hotel felt like something out of a Friday the 13th movie. (Note that this was the one time Stacy allowed Blair to choose the hotel. Lesson learned? She thinks so!).  ;-)

On Saturday morning, we escaped left our 10'x10' prison hotel room and departed for the airport, where we caught our flight to Singapore (via Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) on Air Asia. We were a bit skeptical of Air Asia due to what some friends had told us (after booking our flights), however, the flight and connection all went smoothly and 11hrs later we landed in Singapore. Even though our flight arrived in the evening, we still had time to snap a few photos and head out for supper after checking in to our (upgraded to a fantastic view!) hotel room at Clarke Quay.

View of Clarke Quay from our hotel room balcony

We had 3 nights/2 days in Singapore (which was sufficient only to get a quick overview of the city), so we decided to try and cram in as much sightseeing as we could in our first day. Saturday morning we got up early and headed to Chinatown after breakfast. Singapore has a large population of Chinese immigrants, which has lead to significant Chinese influence in its food and culture. While in Chinatown, we stopped by the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple, a well-known landmark in Singapore due to its colorful façade.

Buddha Tooth Relic Temple

Next we we made a visit to the famous Maxwell's Food Center (hawker center) which is home to dozens of food stands serving lots of authentic Asian food. We sampled some freshly 'squeezed' sugar cane juice - which, oddly enough, looked and tasted a lot like kiwi juice.

Maxwell's Food Center

Sugar cane juicer and raw sugar cane

After our tour of a few temples in Chinatown, we headed back to Clarke Quay where we had a late lunch/early dinner at a restaurant called Mad for Garlic. Let us just say, the name is very fitting as everything on the menu is loaded with garlic! Just so you properly understand just how much garlic is in their dishes, have a look at this photo while keeping in mind that there are truly only four food items on the plate - mushroom, onion, beef and garlic:

Garlic (4 ways!) with a side of steak! Soooo good!

With a healthy dose of garlic in our system, we decided to take a water taxi down the Singapore River to the Marina Bay area. Marina Bay is home to the famous Marina Bay Sands hotel and was the site of the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics. We decided to head to the top of the Marina Bay Sands hotel for some great views of the city.

Water Taxi and Marina Bay Sands hotel

Floating Stadium and city skyline

Twice a night, the Marina Bay Sands hotel performs a light show so we decided to stick around to check it out. We're very glad we did as it was pretty spectacular! The hotel uses a combination of light, water, fire, and sound to show a series of images showcasing how wonderful the world is.

Start of the Light show

A flower projected onto the water mist

A harpist projected onto the water mist

Lights which moved likes waves of water in the bay

Only a few hundred meters away from the Marina Bay area, we came across the Singapore Food Festival (by complete accident)! The festival had dozens of food stands from restaurants all around Singapore. So we stopped by to grab a late night snack. Before heading back to the hotel to crash for the night, we snapped this cool picture of the hotel again.

Marina Bay Sands hotel at night

The next morning we decided to head to Little India to see the area, some temples, and grab some Indian food for lunch.

Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple

Streets of Little India

We spent the rest of the day on a hop-on hop-off bus tour of Singapore. It was a good way to see the renaming sights such as the botanical gardens, the famous Raffles Hotel, and other interesting monuments and buildings. We ended the day back at Clarke Quay where we enjoyed a Singapore Sling

Raffles Hotel - home of the Singapore Sling

Singapore Sling night cap!

On Tuesday we slept in a bit before heading to the airport for our afternoon flight to Bali. All-in-all we really enjoyed Singapore. The city is very clean, the people are very friendly, and the food was fantastic!

One final thing that deserves mention is Singapore's International airport (Changi). This place really knows how to cater to travelers.  Have a few hours before your flight? Why not soak up the sun and take a dip in their rooftop swimming pool? Would you rather watch a movie?  Head to their free movie theatre. Need some sleep?  Head to their napping facility. Other free services include: foot massages, showers, internet, a walk through their themed gardens, or a tour into Singapore (if you have more than 5 hours). What a place!

Coming up next.. our adventures in Bali! :)

Canada Day in Hunter Valley

This past Sunday was Canada Day, and thanks to Andrew and Stephen, we were lucky enough to spend it in Hunter Valley on a private wine tour. Hunter Valley, Australia's oldest wine region, is located
approximately 2 hours north of Sydney. The region is home to several internationally renowned wineries such as Wyndham Estate, Lindeman's, Drayton's, and McWilliam's.

The guys put us up at the Hermitage Lodge in their Pepper Tree spa suite. The accommodations were very nice (we had a jet tub and fireplace!) and offered a great view of the Hermitage estate vineyard from our private balcony.

Pepper Tree Spa Suite

View of Hermitage Estate vineyards

Our private wine tour was with Hunter Valley Private Tours and it was an exceptionally awesome tour! We visited 4 different wineries during our tour:  Mountain View Estate, Irongate Estate, Tulloch, and Calais Estate. Several of these wineries are boutique wineries and their wines can only be purchased at their estate. Additionally, all of them source their grapes within Hunter Valley exclusively - meaning you get a true taste of Hunter Valley wine. We also visited Peterson House,which produces only sparkling wines and champagnes. This was a first for us, and we quite enjoyed it!

Our own private tour van!

Of all the wineries, Irongate Estate stood out the most for us due to its use of classical wine production methods and processes. They took their time in explaining each of the wines in detail and provided some small nibbles of food that paired very well with the wines. The owner of Irongate was also nice enough to take us on a private tour of his winery!!

Nine very tasty bottles of wine!

Inside Irongate. The largest tank is a classic Italian
style red wine tank that plunges wine.

All of the wineries in the Hunter Valley experienced a poor season this year. The high levels of rain back in January and February (right before harvest) made for over-saturated crops which, unfortunately, results in very poor red varietals. As a result, many of the wineries just leave the grapes on the vines, allowing them to fall to the ground naturally, and thereby provide nourishment for next year's crops. It was kinda neat to see shriveled up grapes (effectively raisins) still sitting on the vines.

Shriveled up Shiraz grapes

During our tour around Hunter Valley, we also stopped at the Hunter Valley Olive Center and the Chocolate Center. At the Olive Center, we were able to taste some very unique preserves and chutneys, flavour infused varieties of olive oil, and lots other tasty sauces.

Lots of tasty stuff to sample!

Sampling some olive oil

The Chocolate Center was located on site with Peterson's (champagne house). The chocolate was a nice compliment to the bubbly!

Ready for chocolate!

Inside the Chocolate Center

Half way through our wine tour, we stopped at The Muse restaurant for a fantastic lunch.  It was so delicious!  Blair had the chicken and Stacy had the brisket, which was followed up with creme brulee for dessert!

Muse Restaurant

Mmm.. Pan Friend Crusted Chicken!

Beef Brisket!

Creme Brulee

All in all, the wine tour was fantastic! Being able to sample endless amounts of wine-- all whilst knowing you have a private driver -- is the best way to tour a wine region. ;-)

On the drive back home to Canberra the next day, we stopped by Hunter Valley's only Brewery - The Hunter Beer Company.  Even though it was fairly early in the morning, we were still able to sample a few of their beers and get an overview of the history of the brewery.

Hunter Valley Beer Company! Mmmmm .. beer!

Sampling beer at 10AM - nothing wrong with that!

Well, that's all for now. We hope that everyone back in Canada had a fantastic Canada Day!