Tag Archives: holidays

Our Bali Family Adventure Holidays

It was our first visit to Bali (many friends have been there countless times before us) and equally first experience with Balinese food. We did no homework about where to visit and neither did we consult friends on their recommendation of places we should visit. A friend had given me the contact of a driver (Adi) when he visited earlier for the Maybank Bali Marathon 2016 and Adi came highly recommended.

Essentially, Adi doubled as our guide the entire time we were still in Brunei. He proposed an four day itinerary for us to consider. Over the next forty eight hours, I filtered the places of interests through TripAdvisor, see what contributors had to say about their stay and experience and basically reworked the finally itinerary that way. Choice of accommodation was our own (recommended by a friend who had stayed there previously).

If you’re visiting Bali for the first time and have reached this page looking for ideas, our itinerary may be a good start to build yours. What did we think of Bali? We enjoyed our stay very much and hope to visit it again some day!

Accommodation: The Radiant Hotel & Spa (10 mins from airport)
Driver and guide: Adi Prayitna (+62 813-5310-5050)

Itinerary:
28 Nov 2016
– Pura Tirta Empul Tampaksiring Temple
– Lunch: Batur Sari, Kintamani
(view of active volcano Mount Batur)
– Tegalalang Rice Terrace, Ubud
– Dinner: Bubba Gump Kuta Bali

29 Nov 2016
– Bali Eco Tours Ubud (MTB road cycling)
– Lunch: Surya Rumah Makan Tampaksiring
– Dinner: Bawang Merah Beachfront Restaurant, Jimbaran

30 Nov 2016
– Wake Bali Adventure ATV
– Lunch: Warung Babi Guling Chandra
– Tanah Lot Bali Temple
– Dinner: Jamie’s Italian Bali Kuta

1 Dec 2016
– Bali Spirulina Farm
– Lunch: Made’s Warung Kuta
– Pandawa Marine Adventures (Marine Walk and Parasailing)
– Dinner: Lesica Resto & Kartel Resto

Send Me A Postcard

Contrary to popular belief, traditional media (the postcard) is not dead. I know this because every hotel that I’ve stayed in save for budget accommodation still includes postcards in the room. I play a very small part in keeping this age-old tradition of collecting postcards alive by asking friends to send me one when they travel abroad. In the case of social media extraordinaire Geek In White I received not one but five postcards from Paris. Many thanks, Marul! (A special mention to Colin from Singapore who sent me one while holidaying in Brisbane).

As an assignment photographer, I enjoy travelling and meeting people from all over the world. If there’s one other thing I love doing when I am not airport-hopping, it’s getting postcards from cities that I hope to visit someday. If you would send me a postcard, I’d be more than happy to reciprocate the same with one from my humble abode, on request.  As a added token of appreciation, I will add your piece to this post along with a caption of who and where it’s from (as soon as opportunity permits~been so swamped with work, I have no me time). Friends in Brunei are welcome to send me their favourite postcards too!

Address:
Jan Shim P O Box 2 . Seria Post Office KB 1190 . Brunei Darussalam

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A collage of my postcard collection from friends and NatGeo photographer, Kris LeBoutillier.
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A postcard of the ALHAMBRA from Granada, SPAIN. One of a series of five postcards from Marul I had the pleasure of receiving in the post box.
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Good friend Clovis Lai sent me a postcard from France entitled “Paris, Eiffel Tower and Bike”
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A “Why Is Grandma Happy” postcard autographed by National Geographic photographer Kris LeBoutillier at the Canon seminar in Brunei on June 8, 2009 | click on image to read blog post.

A DAY AT SENTOSA

Despite the notorious wet season in Singapore, our visit to Sentosa was blessed with good weather. Perhaps too good to the point it was hot and sunny the whole time we were there. It had been a while back since my kids last visited Sentosa but unlike the kids of my generation, I find kids today tend to possess great photographic memory of their early years. Here are some pictures from our day out (well, half a day) on the resort island and places of interests visite were The Merlion Walk, Underwater World and cable car ride.

So Much Food So Little Time | Nocturnally Speaking | ZoukOut 2009 | Retail Therapy

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^ First Senstosa bus ride after taxi drop off.
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^ Sentosa double-decker bus giving an open feel of the resort. Working bells chimes away periodically.

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^ Sentosa Express monorail that shuttles passengers between from Sentosa to VivoCity shopping centre
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^ The Merlion, Singapore’s own sea legend and enduring symbol of good fortune.

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^ SILOSO beach icon

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^ Gorgeous and stunning jelly fish at the Underwater World aquarium. Such amazing creatures of the deep made this one of my favourite attractions.

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^ Large predators co-exist with the calm and graceful Stingrays. There’s even a shallow tank where visitors are allowed to touch baby sharks and stingrays. Popular with the kids though the length of a baby shark is longer than the entire arm of my daughter.

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^ This is the actual molt or empty exoskeleton of a large Japanese Giant Spider Crab. Once or twice every year, the Japanese Giant Spider Crab has to undergo molting which is the shedding of its whole exoskeleton in order to grow a bigger new shell. This one measures nearly 1.8 Metres.

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^ “No pictures please, I’m running a business here” said the polite snake handler. Pictured here is not the hand of my daughter who were no doubt fascinated by the snake but dared not touch.

All images © Jan Shim Photography