In April, I visited the US for approx. 2.5 weeks, without even mentioning on this blog . In detail I visited some of the National Parks, State Parks and Tribal Parks in Colorado, Utah and Arizona.
First impression of the Antelope Canyon.
So far,
P.
I am one day late, but here comes the Travel Picture of the Week.
I shoot this picture in September 2015 in the rain forest of Lombok, Indonesia. To get an impression how high the waterfalls are Chris (approx. 1.90m), a dutchman, took a closer look and can involuntary be used as a scale bar.
Waterfall, Lombok, Indonesia
So far,
P.
I really like skiing, therefore one of my most favorite hotels is the Passo Sella Resort in the mountains of south tyrol.
Here you can see one the reasons, why i like it so much, the views.
View towards Sassolungo, Selva Val Gardena, South Tyrol, Italy.
So far,
P.
View from Mount Standish in direction of Lookout Mountain, Sunshine Village, Banff, Canada
Two years ago, I visited Canada in February and went skiing at Banff Sunshine Village and at Lake Louise. I made this picture at Sunshine right after a snowfall ended. You can still see the last snowflake falling.
So far,
P.
This photo brings us back to Europe. I shooted it during a family trip in Galtür, Austria.
Cow, „Jamtal“, Galtür, Austria
So far,
P.
During our 2016 travel to Indonesia, we went to Lombok after Relaxing and Diving (Alex) on Gili Air. Our first stop was Sengiggi, with three nights it was a short stop to relax and enjoy the beautiful coastline of Sengiggi.
Beach View at Sengiggi
Our choice in Sengiggi was the Sheraton Sengiggi Beach Resort – one of the first resorts which had been built on the island. By far you see the age of the hotel in the bathroom, which will be renovated all over the hotel within a year, but not so much in the room. We knew that before, but why did we choose the Sheraton?
Garden View at Sheraton Sengiggi Beach Resort
The answer is easy, the location within Sengiggi is just perfect. The Sheraton Sengiggi Beach Resort is situated at one of the central sand beaches (Sengiggi stretches over several single beaches which are separated from each other by coastal mountains.) Due to the age the gardens are beautiful, tall palms included.
As everywhere in Asia you can easily choose between the restaurants of the resort or small beach restaurants.
Due to the number of resorts in Sengiggi you will find mainly package tourist. Sengiggi is nice for a three days, but after that period of time we had enough.
So far,
P.
I really like to take photos of flowers. In August 2016, I found this really beautiful Lotus flower in Lake Gardens (in my opinion, the most beautiful botanical garden in Kuala Lumpur)
Lotus Flower, August 2016, Lake Gardens, Kuala Lumpur.
So far,
P.
If people on Bali tell you stories about the Gilis, they always name it little paradise or get-away place. And that is what the Gilis are, besides some limitations.
3 Years ago, before going to Indonesia for the first time, Patrick and his sister decided, which Gili would fit best to them.
Gili Trawangan: Party + Diving.
Gili Meno: Honeymoon + Relaxation.
Gili Air: Relaxation + Diving.
This decision was easy and they choose Gili Air.
Accommodations:
Manta Dive Gili Air Bungalows:
Spacious and pretty bungalows build in Sasak style with a clean and good structured bathroom under the open sky. The bungalows are situated on the east coast of Gili Air within the Manta Dive base.
Since they built a new instruction pool in the back of the base, the swimming pool right in front of the bungalows is reserved to the residents of those.
The included breakfast is the standard breakfast in Indonesia consisting of a choice eggs any style, omelets, bread/croissants and jam, a fresh fruit salad/juice and tea or coffee.
Patrick stayed there twice 4 nights in 2014, 10 nights in 2015. 2015 Patrick and his sister Conny got to know the decent owner Jon and had a nice talk, after having an issue with the bill, which they thought had been undercharged by the office staff.
2016 Patrick wanted to get back there unfortunately already in February 2016 they were fully booked. When Patrick and Alex were on Gili Air, they got to know people who tried to book Manta Dive/Waterfront in April and were successful. You often can get the impression, the office staff is neither the friendliest nor the most interested.
View to the pool at Turtle Beach Hotel
Sasak style Bungalow, more spacious, but not as clean and not as bright as the ones from Manta Dive. Actually, they are pretty dark even if it is bright outside. The bathroom is also under the open sky. Turtle Beach is also on the east coast of Gili Air approx. 200 meter walk on the coast „road“ from Manta Dive. Breakfast is served in the same style as already known, but it is not as delicious as at Manta Dive.
The pool and garden area is nice pretty and has a huge variety of exotic plants. It is not as crowded, but this has a simple reason, Turtle Beach is a Hotel and not a Dive Base.
Food, Drinks & more:
Mowie’s: Sunset bar with nice fusion kitchen and delicious drinks.
Sunset at Mowie’s, view towards Gili T/Gili Meno.
Ruby’s: According to TripAdvisor you will probably get the best curries at Ruby’s. We tested it and yes in fact they are super delicious. The English owner is kind and chatty guy.
Warung Bambu: Also found on TripAdvisor, super delicious curries. But also try the Martabak.
Chillout: Beach Restaurant, with nice food and delicious sea food grill. Excellent Tuna and Marlin steaks.
Diving:
Manta Dive Gili Air: Everything just perfect, decent and well educated dive instructors (Thanks for the nice pool sessions Al) and dive guides (Cheers to Muly and Opik). Equipment in good conditions. Well organized but still relaxed (Cheers to Anna, Rob and Rob2).
Overall the Gili’s are still something like get-away, we will get back there and visit our friends.
But especially in August they just get overcrowded by French/Spanish and German families with small, 2 month-5-year-old children. So, like always, you should have the right timing to visit the Gili’s.
After finishing traveling in Indonesia and Malaysia 3 Month ago, it is time to share some impressions and some travel tips with you.
Hibiscus Cottage: Small and quite cottage in the rice fields behind Jalan Bisma. The breakfast is, as you can read everywhere, just super delicious. Patrick stayed there before 2 years ago and had a nice and relaxed stay back than. This time, we experienced some difficulties with the landlords, starting with day trips at rip-off rates, paying stuff which were broken before.
Semu Jaen: Small restaurant which you can find in the middle of the Jalan Bisma. Fusion Kitchen with Balinese spices. They offer you various teas, iced teas and juices, which are super tasty. Not the cheapest but never regretted.
Umah Pizza: If you need to escape from rice and other asian food. Umah offers you probably the best pizza on Bali. You can find them also in Jalan Bisma, right across the street from Semu Jaen.
Maha Bar&Restaurant: After a trip to the Ubud Monkey Forest, you probably need some refreshments . Maha can be found in the Jalan Monkey Forest just max. 5 min away from the entrance of the Monkey Forest. They offer fresh juices and fusion kitchen.
When talking about Ubud, many people name the typical sites: Palace, Temples, Mt. Batur.
View from Mt. Batur
Holy Spring Temple
Ubud Palace
Unfortunately the package tourist from the beach resorts in the south/west of Bali come to Ubud for 1-2 days and does exactly this program.
But in our opinion, if you really want to relax and calm down and enjoy Ubud, just have a walk in the rice fields and the canyons around Ubud.
Around Ubud, Canyon View.
So far, P.
Second day in Indonesia and we completely forgot our schedule. Nevertheless we got to the starting point of our Balinesian Cooking Class just in time.
Starting Point at Lobong Culinary Experience means, visiting a real local market for daily needs. Sang Made, host of the day, showed us the ingredients for traditional Balinesian food in an authentic environment. Market does not mean, that only vegetables, spices, meat (alive or dead) and fruits can be bought. Besides you can buy knives for engagment, sickle for harvesting rice, bowls for daily offering, etc.
After a refreshing towel and a fresh, cold water we were invited to Sang Made’s home were the cooking class took place.
Out of the shown ingredients, we chop chop chopped under perfect guidance by the master chef the following food.
After finishing the cooking, Sang Made’s mother showed us, how a traditional offerings before lunch and dinner work. Than we sat down and ate all the food we prepared.
Final Comment:
We totally recommend Lobong Culinary Experience. You don’t only learn how to prepare Balinesian dishes but also lots of very interesting cultural stuff. We booked our trip online over the website of Lobong Culinary Experience. It is a nearly full-day trip an costs around 400k IDR per person. This is not cheap but we have not regretted it.
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