ms_go

We have just returned from another excellent adventure—this time to Singapore and Indonesia (Central Java and Bali) to celebrate our 22-year-old daughter’s college graduation. As always, we want to thank those (Kathie, Bob & Karen, tripplanner001, and others) whose recent experiences helped pave the way for our plans. And, of course, we want to pay it forward by sharing our experiences with those whose future plans include these areas.

It was a trip of diverse experiences, with many highlights and great memories. These are a few memorable moments, not necessarily in order—chronologically or otherwise:

1. Arriving at Borobudur on Waisak—the holiest date in the Buddhist calendar, with the largest celebration taking place at Borobudur. This was a complete coincidence in our planning that we recognized a few months after booking flights. We arrived too late to see the procession, unfortunately, but still in time to observe some of the evening activities, including a speech from the president of Indonesia.

2. Receiving a complimentary upgrade to a fantastic villa near Borobudur, with private pool and private dining service at our poolside verandah—a stay that we will all remember for a long time.

3. Feeling like rock stars in Java, fielding numerous requests for photos (okay, this got a little old, but it was fun—or funny—for a bit). How often do you have giggling women saying “wow” because they’ve had the chance to take a photo with you?

4. Visiting the well-known sites of Borobudur and Prambanan—but also a few of the lesser-visited temples. In fact, we had Candi Sewa all to ourselves.

5. Stretching our legs on a few short walks/hikes, including up Menoreh hill near Borobudur, on the Campuhan Ridge near Ubud, and through the rice fields to see Candi Selogriyo.

6. Rafting down the Elo River for a couple of hours and observing daily life from a different perspective (tip: close your mouth when you go over the rapids).

7. Diving into the baggage-claim scrum at Yogyakarta airport—a chance to really get up close and personal with 100+ fellow passengers.

8. Immersing ourselves in the crowds along Yogyakarta’s Malioboro Street and in the Pasar Beringharjo (market)—a chance to get up close and personal with many more hundreds of people.

9. Taking daily dips in three fantastic pools at our accommodations to cool off after our days of sightseeing in the heat and humidity.

10. Relaxing in another stunning private villa at Alam Jiwa in Ubud, with views over the rice field, refreshing breezes, an open-air shower, and even a visiting monkey or two. It was so large that we were regularly losing track of things like our mobile phones and the front door key.

11. Popping into a local restaurant in Yogyakarta recommended by one of our drivers. There was no English spoken and no menu. One of the staff brought us small plates of every item available so that we could choose our dinner. Even though we didn’t know much about what we were choosing, it was all really good!

12. Sipping our obligatory Singapore Slings at Raffles (or gulping as the case may be, because the heat left us very thirsty)—and not even caring about the US$22 price tag.

13. Watching—and watching out for—the monkeys as we walked the path alongside the Sacred Monkey Forest of Ubud multiple times per day.

14. Seeing the Ramayana Ballet with the temples of Prambanan lit in the background.

15. Dashing into Seoul during our six-hour layover for lunch and a look around the Namdaemun market.

And Bali. We basically loved everything about Bali. Even a brief glimpse of Kuta and its Vegas-meets-Hawaii vibe was interesting (but we wouldn’t want to stay there).

There were many highlights. We blogged the trip for some friends and family and will post a link shortly to share day-to-day detail, as soon as we get some things cleaned up and fill in some missing detail.

In the meantime, we will add a little background and a few more details about our accommodations, logistics, and such.

ms_go

The occasion

Our daughter just graduated from UW-Madison in May. In celebration of that and since we haven’t had many opportunities to travel with her for a few years, this was a trip for all three of us. She helped in picking the destinations. She has been to Singapore previously on a short study-abroad program re: Chinese diaspora as part of her certificate in Southeast Asian Studies. Indonesia was a new destination for all of us (side note: our other trips to SE Asia have included Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, and a couple of visits to Bangkok; daughter has also been to Malaysia).

And just as a bit of background, we’re usually kind of “mid-range” travelers in terms of budget. We splurged a bit more this time on hotels than we might otherwise, partly because of the occasion but also because there were three of us. Accommodating three adults for two weeks is different than traveling when she was a teen. We needed some space and, thus, booked two rooms or larger suites accordingly.

progol

Oh, goody! I've been looking forward to your report! Great start - I look forward to more.

ms_go

Step 1: Figuring out how to get us there and back

We had about two weeks to play with; anything more than that becomes difficult work-wise. We were flexible on dates within about a six-week window from late May through early July. Ultimately, though, our dates would come down to award ticket availability. We wanted to fly into Singapore and home from Denpasar, all in business class—two on Mileage Plus “saver” awards and one on a paid (preferably deeply discounted) business class ticket. We were willing to take separate flights as long as they arrived reasonably close to the same time.

Getting all that took a LOT of work—particularly as we started shopping in earnest about seven months out from our time of travel, which isn’t a great window for searching for premium-cabin award tickets to very popular destinations. Ultimately, though, we made it work using a combination of ANA, Asiana, United and Air Canada flights. At least two of us were together on each leg; on a couple of legs, all three of us flew together.

How it all worked out:

We left on Friday, May 29, connected via Narita, and arrived Singapore just after midnight on May 31. Well some of us anyway; mr_go was on a United flight to Singapore that was delayed by 3.5 hours, putting him at Narita when the 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck Japan.

Our return was on Monday, June 15, departing Bali at 2:20 am (yikes!) and connecting at Incheon. From there, we split up, with one flying via San Francisco and two via Vancouver and all arriving Chicago in the evening. Our flights were scheduled to arrive at ORD 10 minutes apart, but the Chicago weather and ATC made sure that did not happen.

The Air Canada Dreamliner from Seoul to Vancouver earned positive overall reviews from the other two, particularly for the seats (I was on United at that point). Mr_go had the pleasure of flying ANA first class from Chicago to Narita…but that isn’t a fair comparison with anyone’s business class. Service on Asiana was excellent, but the seat (not Quadra Smartium) was dead last.

ms_go

Step 2: Fine tuning the itinerary and logistics

With the flights locked in and 15 days/nights allocate, we could get down to the business of itinerary planning. As usual, we would have to prioritize and not try to do it all.

We quickly determined that, while Singapore has a lot to offer, this was really a trip to Indonesia. Our couple of days in Singapore would be about adjusting to the time change and the heat and humidity, and we would be happy with whatever we could fit in. We will have other opportunities to spend more time in Singapore, given its convenience as a gateway for Southeast Asia.

Our final itinerary was as follows:

Singapore
3 nights @ the AMOY Hotel in Far East Square

Central Java
3 nights @ Villa Borobudur, near the temple
4 nights @ The Phoenix Hotel in Yogyakarta

Bali:
5 nights @ Alam Jiwa in Ubud
1 night @ Vira Bali in Kuta/Tuban Beach (very close to the airport; a last minute addition booked just a day ahead to give us a place to rest and shower before our 2:20 am flight home)

Originally, we split our week in Central Java into three stops, with 2 nights in Solo. But a few weeks before the trip, we began feeling like that would be too much moving around, so we allocated an additional day to each of the other stops and hoped to see Solo as a daytrip (we never did).

We used Air Asia for two internal flights: Singapore-Yogyakarta and Yogyakarta-Denpasar. We booked those flights six months out. There was one schedule change on the latter that moved it to earlier in the morning, but otherwise, these worked out just fine.

Finally, we arranged a couple of airport transfers in advance through our hotels but did not otherwise pre-book any driving services. Rather, we used our hotels to arrange drivers, when needed, once we were on the ground and had a good idea what we wanted to do on a particular day.

ms_go

Step 3: Picking accommodations

In hindsight, we did well. We were very happy with all accommodations and our balance of time at each. In particular, going city-rural-city-rural allowed us to end our trip on a fairly relaxing note.

The AMOY Hotel, Singapore
This is an interesting property—a fairly small hotel inspired by the area’s Chinese heritage. It is located in Far East Square, and the main entrance is part of a museum (which is closed at the moment for restoration). The rooms are not large, but they are well designed and thoughtfully furnished, comfortable, and quiet. We had the only two rooms on the fourth floor. The hotel has a nice, included breakfast buffet with Western and Asian foods. There’s also a Japanese restaurant on the premises; our rate included a dinner there one evening (food fine; service a little awkward). Everything in the minibar, including the beer (!), was complimentary.

The best feature of this hotel, though, was the absolutely terrific location between the central business district and Chinatown and very close to the MRT. We used the MRT a few times but generally were able to walk all over from this location.

Overall, this hotel reminded us in some ways of Butterfly on Wellington in Hong Kong (on a smaller scale, of course), which we very much enjoyed for its location and low-key atmosphere. Thumbs up!

SG$268++ per room, per night
http://www.stayfareast.com/en/hotels/amoy.aspx

ms_go

Villa Borobudur, Central Java
As others here have noted, there haven’t been a lot of options near the temple that fall in between the pretty basic Manohara (already booked for our dates, which corresponded with Waisak, so it was never an option) and the Amanjiwo, which priced out at around $1,000 per night for two (I didn’t even want to know what it would have cost for three).

Villa Borobudur is a newer property that opened a few years ago and is located relatively close to the Amanjiwo. It has five “Borobudur suites” in three buildings that are part of the main site, as well as a handful of standalone private villas in the surrounding acres—all located on a hillside overlooking Borobudur and several volcanoes in the distance. All of the accommodations are “all inclusive”—meaning all meals and snacks, non-alcoholic beverages, transportation to/from Yogyakarta and/or Solo, and laundry service…and probably some other things I’m forgetting. If you stay two nights or more, a guided tour of Borobudur (not at sunrise) is also included.

We booked one of regular suites with the extra-person fee—which was not inexpensive, but still well below the Amanjiwo. We arrived and saw the suite, and it would have been more than sufficient for the three of us. But the manager on duty told us not to unpack, as they had a private villa (Villa Menoreh) available and would be happy to give us a complimentary upgrade if we found it acceptable upon inspection. We weren’t able to see it for a couple of hours, but when we did…oh, yes, it was quite acceptable. It included two small buildings, each with its own bedroom and bathroom (and air conditioning), a private outdoor dining pavilion, and a private pool—all serviced by a staff that looked after that villa and one or two others near it. We rarely saw other guests.

So let’s talk meals. As noted, the rate includes three meals a day, plus a well-stocked snack table in the dining pavilion with unlimited fresh fruit, several kinds of addictive chips, and water, sodas, and tea/coffee. At the end of each meal, we reviewed a menu for the next, which offered a handful of options for appetizers, main courses, and desserts. We had the chance to try out quite a number of things over three days, and everything was delicious and fresh. Many of the dishes exceeded those we had in proper restaurants on the rest of our trip. We did not go hungry here!

But there’s more! A few weeks before we arrived, I was asked to send back a guest questionnaire from the hotel to get to know us (names, ages, etc.), our interests, our robe and slipper sizes, our food/beverage preferences, and most notably for us, any allergies. Our daughter is allergic to tree nuts (including candlenuts, which do factor in Indonesian cooking), so this is always a big concern while traveling. The fact that the hotel asked about and incorporated this into our meal service made a big impression on all of us. And it was a big relief to our daughter, who really appreciated that she was able to sit down to every meal without worrying about what she might be ingesting.

The one drawback to the hotel is that you can’t just walk out and see things; you’ll need transportation to get up or down the very steep hill (drivers had to turn off the AC when starting up the hill!), through the village below and over to the temples or other sites. They do offer drivers and guides (for a fee) for a full range of activities (from temple visits, to hikes, to rafting, to gallery visits, to cooking classes, to day trips to the cities, and much more), and we were able to take advantage of these, often on short notice.

We could go on and on, but suffice it to say, we were mighty impressed—with the accommodations and facilities, the food, and the staff and service. This is a stay that we will remember for a long time.

The blog and photos are yet to come, but here’s a little preview:
http://onelittleworld.zenfolio.com/c...b465#h4915b465

Approx. US$450 per night for three people, including taxes and service
http://villaborobudur.com

ms_go

The Phoenix Hotel, Yogyakarta
This one is kind of a known quantity here, so probably no need to go into great detail. It’s a beautiful old hotel that is very well maintained. Every afternoon, we came back to find one of the staff members polishing the marble floors of our hallway.

We had adjacent rooms on the third floor, in the wing that surrounds the swimming pool. Although the hotel seemed fairly busy, we never found the pool area to be all that crowded—and we made good use of it every day to cool off from all the walking we did.

The breakfast buffet is so expansive that after four days, I still didn’t have a chance to sample everything I wanted to. The Vino Bar has decent happy hour specials; our daughter, in particular, became a big fan of the hotel’s signature drink, the Gin Sling.

As noted above, we had ideas for what we wanted to do during our stay in Yogyakarta, but other than booking the Ramayana Ballet (which was only performed on one of our four nights there), we wanted to wait to plan each day based on what we felt like doing at the time. Accordingly, we arranged drivers through the hotel when needed, and that all worked out well. We were able to secure drivers with not more than an hour’s notice.

We thought the location was good. We like to walk, and it was pretty easy to get around from here. It is located near a busy intersection, and at first we were a little afraid of crossing the street there—but eventually we got the hang of it.

All in all, and enjoyable stay.

Approximately US$90++ per room per night
http://www.accorhotels.com/gb/hotel-...on/index.shtml


Our review for Alam Jiwa (which we also liked very much) is coming, but I need to get back to work for awhile.

Kathie

I've been looking forward to your report! The villa near Borobudur sounds fabulous!

rhkkmk

great start...

ms_go

Thanks everyone!

Kathie, it was fabulous. I should note that the specific villa obviously goes for somewhat more than what we paid. With the two separate bedroom units, it would be a great arrangement for two couples traveling together.


Alam Jiwa, Ubud, Bali
This is one of a family of small hotels that has also been reviewed here periodically, and seemingly is well liked—for good reason.

I originally inquired about some specific units at nearby Alam Shanti, but those were booked for our dates (6-7 months in advance). The reply suggested the Cendrawasih suite at Alam Jiwa, and after we took one look at the photos, we confirmed.

It is a standalone villa with a bedroom and bathroom on each floor and plenty of open air space (including a shower) to enjoy the Bali breezes and the views out over the adjacent rice fields. I won’t waste words here; the photos on the hotel’s website speak for themselves:
http://www.alamindahbali.com/alam_ji...asih_suite.htm

We found it every bit as advertised—perhaps even better. There’s even a kitchen in the basement, not that we wanted to cook, but we did use the fridge.

We thought the location in Nyuhkuning village was great. It’s about a 15-minute walk to the central part of Ubud, using the motorbike path that runs adjacent to the Monkey Forest (use caution on this path; more on that when we post our blog). We are avid walkers and had no problem getting from here to points across central Ubud; in fact, we made the walk and back several times per day in some cases and even at night. The hotel has a shuttle for anyone who wants/needs it.

We enjoyed the pool for at least some amount of time on most days. Breakfasts were excellent. We had our choice of where to have our breakfast (e.g., pool), but it was hard to pick anything other than the large open-air dining table on the villa’s second floor. One morning, we had a monkey join us briefly on our first-floor patio.

We had arranged our airport transfer in advance through the hotel, and we ended up using the same driver three other times—twice for day trips (Batur caldera and eastern Bali beaches) and once back to Kuta before our flight out. He has clearly been doing this for a long time and knows every bit of the island, and he was very accommodating of our specific interests. He also made some great suggestions along the way—the most significant of which was to get an inexpensive hotel close to the airport (with free airport shuttle) to have a base for the evening before our flight out at 2 am. We're certainly happy to recommend him to anyone interested.

We did not see any of the other 10 units on the property other than from the outside, but if they are furnished anything like our suite (and I’m sure they are—just not as large), then they should be pretty nice! There was a small tour group staying on the property part of the time we were there, and the hotel was taking some special steps to host them, such as a poolside reception and dinner and special Balinese cakes for breakfast (we benefitted from some of those).

Anyway, we knew we would be getting something pretty special with this accommodation, and we were not disappointed. It was hard to pack up and leave.

US$205++ per night
http://www.alamindahbali.com/alam_jiwa.htm


Vira Bali, South Kuta Beach, Bali
This gets a small mention. We booked it a day in advance so that we would have a place to base, rest, and shower for about 8 hours prior to leaving for the airport. We got a last minute special rate that would have been good for two people (~$50++), but we were honest and booked for all three (even though we didn’t need the bed space), which added a bit to the cost. Our rate included breakfast, which of course we did not need. We did take advantage of the free airport shuttle. The room was a standard but comfortable hotel room with balcony overlooking a nice central pool area. It’s about two blocks off the beach, so not far, and a little south of the real madness of Kuta. Pretty much perfect for what we needed…

http://www.thevirabali.com

progol

I'm so looking forward to reading this as I'm hoping/planning to do pretty much the same trip next year. I'm really looking forward to reading about everything you did - and I'm especially interested in reading about Bali.

I'm so drawn to what I understand to be a warm, welcoming traditional culture, yet get a little bit worried when I read about the growth of tourism and the traffic, so I'm glad to read that you loved your time on Bali.

Thanks for getting this started so quickly! And a big congratulations to your entire family on your daughter' graduation!

tripplanner001

Welcome back and thanks for sharing your travels with us.

We had a similar experience to you with the photos with locals on Java. Our most memorable one was at the multihued lake on the Dieng Plateau. A large Javanese family asked for a picture with us and we spent a few minutes together. They didn't speak English and we surely didn't speak Bahasa but felt like we bonded through our gestures.

Looking forward to more...

Kathie

We has not only family groups, but whole groups of children - and their teachers - who wanted photos with us! There aren't a lot of places anymore where local want photos with visitors like that!

Progol, I visited Bali for the first time in the last 1980s. It was magical then and it is magical now, despite the growth in tourism, IMO. Just avoid the places purpose-built for tourists - Nusa Dua and Kuta.

progol

Many thanks on the reassurance -- everything I read has captivated me, and am planning on going next year.

ms_go

I didn't find Java all that "touristy." Even at the big monuments, most visitors were Indonesian groups--mostly school groups. I'm not sure if the time of year had anything to do with that. Bali, yes, but generally not in a bad way.

One of the things that I loved about where we stayed in Ubud is that it felt quite traditional--not only in the construction, setting, and service, but also the location was just far enough outside the center of Ubud to have more of a window into local life. Our villa looked out on the rice fields. There was a school at the end of our street and a soccer (or, football!) field across from that, with games going on a couple of evenings.

The photo thing was interesting. There were also a lot of people and groups looking to have conversations and practice their English. We enjoyed the interaction (particularly our daughter, since many were in her age range) and tried to be as accommodating as we could, but there were a few situations where it bordered on being a little over the top.

progol, I'm hoping to post the day-to-day detail tomorrow. I'm mostly trying to fix some formatting issues right now. I've worked in corporate communications for 25 years, and it always pains me to put out something that I don't feel is as polished as it should be

progol

ms_go,
As motivated as you are to post quickly, I have no problem with a brief delay so that your posting is up to your standards! I'm planning a year from now, so I really can wait a day or two.

Now if it were to go on much longer....well....I might not be so accommodating! ��

ms_go

I've posted some links to our blog for the day-to-day trip detail. As noted, we did this so that some family could follow along and as a test to see whether we could keep it going while traveling (we did, but it took some effort). I've tried to tidy up a few things as best I could and add a few more photos. Please excuse typos and various font and line-spacing issues. I've got to get into the HTML at some point, but that's a project for another day.

It was pretty hastily written, just to get something posted--and for the most part just summarizes what we did. I'd love to enhance both the narrative and the photos some and will probably do so as time permits. One of the good things about this format (unlike posting a trip report here) is that I can now edit it as much as I want!

We will also eventually be posting an album of photos to our photo-sharing site. One note on that: My "walking-around" lens broke at the beginning of the trip. I also had a wide-angle lens that came in handy a few times but I don't like it as a general-purpose travel lens. For better or worse, a LOT of my photos are from the iPhone. I have yet to go through mr_go's photos from his camera.

Blog:
http://onelittleworldtravel.blogspot.com

Alternative link: since the Blogger site reads backwards from the most recent post, it might be easier to follow by starting here and then clicking the "newer post" link in the lower left corner at the end of each day:
http://onelittleworldtravel.blogspot...y-started.html

Florida1

I've been looking forward to your report too, mr & ms go! Sounds like a great trip! Congratulations to your daughter on her graduation!

mr go - we had an earthquake at Narita once too!

I will be checking out your blog in a few minutes. DH and I want very much to get to Indonesia soon. It won't be this year, but maybe next.

By the way, we are going to Athens and Crete over Thanksgiving (we picked Crete largely due to inspiration from your trip report from last year) and are staying at your Crete hotels! So thanks!!

ms_go

Florida1, thanks! You will love Crete and that hotel in Chania! They are so nice. I'm sitting here thinking about the breakfasts there and making myself hungry.