Category: Indochina (Page 1 of 2)

Homeward Bound, A Summary

2 January 2026 / Juliet Stratton

Today, Friday, is our last day in Bali, we leave our hotel this afternoon for a 19 hour journey back to Manchester, where Graham and Diane head north to Hull and we stay overnight before flying back to Alicante on Sunday morning.

This has been a journey of two halves, a lively cruise and a chilled beachside Hotel. The cruise was brilliant, excellent food and drink, service and staff were amazing, stops at ports were perfectly placed to explore in a day (all except one), the ship was comfortable and could be as busy or as quiet as you wanted and waking every morning to a different view was interesting and refreshing.

The Hotel stay has been the opposite, chilled and relaxing, more suited to a honeymoon visit 😊 The location of the Hotel (on a peninsular and south of the capital Denpasar) plus the time of year we are here meant traffic was beyond chaotic, limiting our touring of the Island. We would liked to have visited Ubud, a spiritual and cultural area north of here, but 3+ hours in traffic to get there was not an option we were prepared to consider. The Hotel is typically Balinese in spirit and style but offers nothing in the evenings except a guitarist or pianist for a few hours between 6 and 9pm, other than that it’s Balinese Bongos from dawn to dusk, a sound that is now driving us mad 😂

I think it’s safe to say we are all pleased to be going home, back to British staples (we’ve missed bacon and sausages this past two weeks!!), our own beds, the cooler weather and a proper cup of strong Yorkshire tea and Spanish coffee!!

It has rained whilst we’ve been here, hard, sudden and heavy but then the sun comes right back out and dries up all the rain.

Finally, Graham and David managed to fit in a scuba diving day, few pictures showing them preparing to leave, spotting a turtle (as well as other things) and returning very tired. More photos to follow another day!

A Day At The Zoo

2 January 2026 / Juliet Stratton

All kids need a day at the Zoo during their holidays, and this day out was just right for the Wright and Stratton kids, lots of different animals in a well maintained enclosure in a clean and comfortable environment. Graham and Diane got to feed an elephant, I fed a marmoset monkey and David did a bit of aerobics with an orangutan!

Despite the animal enclosures being small, it was clear that each animal had water, food, shade and space to move about and play.

GWK and Uluwatu

1 January 2026 / Juliet Stratton

On arrival in Benoa Port and when you arrive into Bali by plane, the most prominent monument visible on the skyline is known as GWK. Garuda Wisnu Kencana is the correct name for a huge monument built in the grounds of a country park which we visited one hot and humid day.

We boarded a shuttle bus from the car park to the entrance, once through the gates you enter a calming water plaza thats home to a statue of Lakshmi with everyone posing in front of her. Lakshmi in Hindu belief, is the mother of the universe, Goddess of prosperity, happiness and wellbeing and is the Consort of Vishnu the Protector.

We follow a carefully planned path around and next up is a massive statue of Vishna, surrounded by water. Here Graham was inundated by facts from a tour guide who took a liking to him.

Eagle like Garuda is mounted into a hillside, the 18 metre high statue of Vishna’s mount is made of metal and copper, we wound our way through impressive gardens and alleys cut out of colossal limestone pillars, an area used for concerts and events.

Finally we get to the summit and wait in the queue inside to take a guided tour to the 9th floor then the 23rd floor. Its size is unimaginable until you are at the base of the statue then you see how tall it is – its the tallest statue in Indonesia and the 4th tallest in the world!

Taking 4 and a half years to build, starting in July 2014, it originally began as a community project but a company took over the build, using over 1000 workers (with a Zero accident rate) to build this copper plated steel and concrete structure, testing its wind strength in the UK and officially opening in 2019. The information given on the tour was overwhelming, but fascinating if you were an engineer!

You get to see the inside of the structure, all steel frames and panels, and then at the 23rd floor is a viewing platform out through some eye shaped windows, with amazing views over the countryside. There is also aviewing platform at this point that’s glass floored, looking down through the structure to the base at the 9th floor.

We meandered back through the gardens and headed back to the car for a sandwich lunch and to chill in the aircon!

Next stop was a hillside temple at a place called Uluwatu, right on the coast. Records suggest it dates back to the 9th century, built as a sea Temple to protect Balinese people from the negative spirit forces of the ocean. Balinese temples are recognised as sea temples, village or mountain temples, Uluwatu is one of 6 strategically placed temples on the island, offering protection for the southwest coast and is dedicated to Shiva Rudra, the manifestation of Lord Shiva as the god of transformation and dissolution.

It was far too hot to explore the whole temple grounds, especially as we had to cover our knees in a tasteful mauve nylon skirt so we climbed bits of the external walls before heading back to the air con in the car! However, the monkey kept us entertained and on our toes, all on the lookout for the thieving blighters who take a liking to sunglasses, food, handbag contents and anything they can grab 😀

Festive Days in Bali

28 December 2025 / Juliet Stratton

The ship docked in Benoa Port, Bali a day and night before we had to actually disembark as some cruise guests were heading straight to the airport; we stayed on board that night, enjoyed a last supper with our dining team, last drinks in the Sunset Bar and checked out leisurely before getting a small coach to our Hotel, our home for the next 2 weeks.

The Hotel is called the Nusa Dua Beach Hotel and appears to be in a “secure resort complex” of several luxury hotels, a shopping centre and medical centre all surrounded by beautifully manicured gardens running up to the beach. Within the complex a taxi anywhere is approximately £2.20 regardless of the number of occupants, a set fee! Brilliant idea.

The beach has a walkway all the way along its 14 kilometres, cutting through the grounds of neighbouring hotels and ending up at a peninsular overlooking an area of sea that’s a surfers paradise, beautiful white sandy beaches, clear aqua blue sea and waves out past the bay.

We have several speciality restaurants on site and an open buffet restaurant, food in the restaurants is good but the buffet isn’t to the standards we had become accustomed to on the ship. Our rooms are traditionally Indonesian, lots of wooden furniture and marble or stone floors, comfortable enough. We have views over a tropical duck pond, that turned into a lake when it rained!

It seems very strange to be in 30c humid temperatures and listening to Carols being sung in Indonesian in a country that doesn’t celebrate Christmas but that’s what has happened. Half the guests in the Hotel were off the cruise ship, so the Hotel has really gone out of its way to help us feel festive.

We had a gala dinner on the night of the 24th December, lots of fresh fish, salads and soups to start. They cooked a whole roast turkey, tried to recreate stuffing (advertised as Bread pudding), cranberry sauce and then a great big BBQ, steak, chicken, fish, prawns etc. They even made mini apple crumbles and an apple strudel with vanilla sauce!

Christmas Day started with Carol singers at 9am breakfast, local children sung for nearly an hour without song sheets and all in perfect harmony and timing.

Again dinner was a veritable feast, lots of good BBQ’d fish and meat, salads and desserts.

During the day we took a walk along the seafront, to the end of our peninsular bay where there is a small Buddist temple, beautiful beaches and coves and perfect breakwater for surfing, so we spent an hour or so watching the surfers. A very chilled day!!

Life On Board Part 2

25 December 2025 / Juliet Stratton

STATEROOMS

We didn’t choose our rooms, they were allocated to us as soon as we booked, our only requirement was a balcony, so you can imagine our surprise when we found out that we had probably the best rooms on board! Ours is a corner room with an extra large balcony and rear and side views, Diane and Graham’s is just along the corridor with rear views and we are both on the highest deck, apart from the Gold Card Club Class guests who’ve paid a silly fortune for questionable extras – more padded loungers with cushions, canapés at 5pm, better toiletries and a concierge, but smaller rooms and balconies!!

Our rooms are cleaned and replenished twice a day by our friendly Room Attendant Tim who seems to live permanently in our corridor and is always available:) We wondered if he had a buzzer that notified him as soon as we left our room because he kept appearing!

FOOD

Well, where do I start???? Breakfast starts at 7am and finishes 10.30, lunch starts at midday, dinner is from 6pm and 8.15pm for the second sitting in restaurants but self serve restaurants stay open from 7am until 9.30pm when it reduces to snacks, pizzas and burgers all through the night!! Coffee, cakes, ice cream, afternoon tea and small snacks are available somewhere on the ship at any time of day, so you can easily see how the waistline expands on cruises!!!

Lunch times are as well stocked with food as evenings are, cooking stations dish up Chinese, Indian, Malay, American, Roasts, Grilled Meat, Seafood and Fish, Healthy Salads, Soup & Light Bites, Fruit, Desserts and anything else you can think of, some days there is far too much choice!!!

We actually prefer to sit down in one of the restaurants in the evenings, a daily menu offers 5 or 6 starters, 6 to 7 mains and several desserts, there is less choice but we find it easier and nicer. Food is served to the table, its much more leisurely and enjoyable and we always have a laugh with our allocated Waiter Asep (from Bali, with impeccable service manners) and Sommelier Kan (from New Delhi, India).

Our Assistant Waiter is a new recruit called Raymond, this was his first job on a cruise and he was so keen to impress and learn, so I’m sure he has learned a lot from David and Graham, especially about their exact cheese board requirements!!! Cheddar, brie and gorgonzola only, biscuits with butter, seedless grapes and fresh cranberries and a constantly filled glass of Port.

SUNRISES IN PORTS

Most mornings, apart from 3, we rose to different views, some picturesque and green, some misty and very commercial. In our second week, we experienced morning rain most days, sometimes torrential, but it was still between 26 and 30c so humid.

Eventually, we had to disembark, smoothly and orderly, serenaded by a Bali band and waved goodbye by the Captain’s team, it was a sad moment.

We’ve met some lovely people, made new friends, drunk and eaten far too much, learned so much about new cultures, seen different parts of the world, danced a lot and had great fun so our journey ends on a high!

Category: Indochina (Page 1 of 2)

Homeward Bound, A Summary

A Day At The Zoo

GWK and Uluwatu

Festive Days in Bali

Life On Board Part 2

Last Update

Archives

Categories

Recent Comments

Admin