Kathie

I loved reading about your time in Singapore - looking forward to the next chapter in Java!

kja

@ progol: Thanks again, and count me in on the group rant against selfies!

@ jdc26: I’m glad I brought Singapore to life for you, but regret the discomfort -- keep a fan handy!

@ ms_go: Welcome back and welcome along! Stockholm is stunning, isn’t it?

@ jacketwatch: Thank you so much! (blushing)

@ thursdaysd: I did enjoy Singapore! Of course, I approached it with the benefit of the insights that you, and so many others, generously provided.

@ Kathie: Thanks for reading along! I thought of you and Cheryl often while in Java, and hope my words bring back some great memories.

thursdaysd

BTW, re: selfie sticks - I call them ego sticks. I didn't see as many of them as I expected last year in Scandinavia, maybe I was lucky.

Smeagol

I have a soft spot for Singapore, it was because my best friend moved there that I went to visit and of course fell in love with SE Asia,and been going back to the area once or twice a year since then. yes Singapore is Asia light and yep that heat and humidity is a killer ( I think the only month I haven't been is October ) hoping to pack in visit number 15 before K leaves early next year!
Absolutely love this report and written in a very reader friendly style.

jacketwatch

Well you should see prices in French Polynesia for booze, esp. if its imported. In 2006 a 1.75 L bottle of good old Jack Daniels was a whooping $140.00! .

We actually ate indoors at Sky on 57 so it was comfortable and also outside was fine too but this was mid Feb. and sorry about the meal you had. Ours was pretty good but hey I would be disappointed too for a less than satisfactory meal at those prices! It was hot but not so bad really. We could walk during the day just fine though in the evening you could feel being out in the heat during the day but all in all it was ok then. However for you the time of yr. had to make it a lot harder.

Conversely we were not treated well at Raffles when we went there for a Sling. We were not permitted to enter inside unless we were guests and as we did not want to sit in 95F temps outside this was rather awful. On top of that the doorman seemed like he did not want to be bothered to get us a cab. I emailed the manager when we got back and he apologized and offered us free tea service should we ever return so that was nice. Im glad you had a better time of it.

Still following!!

Nelson

Really enjoyable report kja, thanks!

It brought back wonderful memories of my numerous trips to Singapore, 1985-2008. I wouldn't recognize much of the place today, less than a decade later. The Gardens by the Bay were just a hole in the ground on my last visit. But glad to hear many of my favorites are still there and still deliver.

The only thing that could have made your TR better is if I read it with a Tiger beer, plate of pepper crab, or even better, a bowl full of mangosteens in front of me.

Oddly enough, I actually enjoyed walking out into the heat and humidity after a day working in a cold air conditioned office.

Looking forward to traveling Java with you. Bring on the gamelan!

kja

@ thursdaysd: “I call them ego sticks” – perfect!

@ Smeagol: Thanks for your kind words and hoping you enjoy visit # 15!

@ jacketwatch: Oh, the irony of it! Prices like that for a bottle of Jack could, well, drive one to drink! ;-)

@ Nelson: I can certainly appreciate that one might find it extremely enjoyable to step out into even truly awful heat and humidity after a day at work. (Oh .. I seemed to have omitted your reference to the office’s AC! What an inexplicable oversight. ;-) ) I’m glad to have brought back some wonderful memories and encourage you to stock up on the Tiger – we have a long way to go yet!


Time for <b>Java</b>!

<u>Day 7</u>: (continued) – arrival in <u><b>Java</b></u>; transit to Borobudur

• After a short, pleasant flight on SilkAir, I landed in Yogyakarta, where
• a driver from my hotel – Dodo (pronounced doodoo) – greeted me. I found Dodo to be a very gracious and hospitable gentleman, and over the next few days, I treasured his efforts to communicate about all sorts of things, including some very serious matters, such as how young girls are treated in Java. After a bit of a drive, we reached
• the <b>Manohara Resort</b>, which is adjacent to Borobudur and which (I’m pleased to report) served my needs for the area very well. I checked in and
• made arrangements for Dodo to pick me up the next day. As I settled in to my room,
• I was bombarded by the sounds of a “jazz concert” that I had been “very lucky” to encounter. Hmmm … I had thought syncopation a key element of jazz? Planning on getting up extremely early in the morning, I tried to go to sleep … “try” being the operative verb.
• The concert ended at about 11 p.m., and after a reasonably short interval during which people accessed their cars – which were in a parking lot very close to my room – a welcome silence greeted me.


<u>Day 8</u>: <u><b>Central Java</u></b> -- <b>Borobudur</b> and <b>Gedong Songo</b>

• To my astonishment, I actually managed to get up a 4 a.m. (I am, in general, more likely to still be awake at sunrise than to get up for it!) and
• made my way to the top of <b>Borobudor</b> (OMG, some of those stairs are high!) long before the first signs of the approaching sunrise. Despite the irritating use by all too many people of brightly back-lit smartphones, the night sky was awesome – SO many stars!
• As the sky slowly lightened, I began to catch glimpses of the mist that lingered between various ridges all around, and as tinges of pink streaked the sky and the stars faded, the slopes of Merapi took shape, as did Borobudor’s many Buddhas. A hitherto black and white scene began to take on the delicate tints of a light ink wash, and then a charcoal with pastels, and eventually the colors intensified and deepened until I was looking out over a lush landscape of myriad greens topped by an azure sky, with a horizon anchored to the east by the awesome cratered cone of Merapi, above which the sun obligingly rose. Ooh, what a glorious experience! I am SO glad that I made a sunrise at Borobudur a priority! (And apparently I was very lucky – it had been too hazy to see Merapi for several days, and it couldn’t be seen the next day, either.

• Later, I walked around every level of this masterful mandala, savoring every relief and every statue and every view of the surroundings, feeling so very fortunate to be alive and to see this treasure.
• As I reached the ground level, a gardener smiled and I smiled back and said something innocuous, probably “good morning” (in Indonesian), and we shared just a very few words (which was all I could manage!), and then he pointed to a far corner of the grounds and signaled that I should go there. Not one to refuse the advice of a local expert, off I went
• to what may be the only place on the grounds from which one can see two sides and all levels of this amazing structure. It’s by the marker noting the UNESCO World Heritage Site designation, and although the mandala was swarming with people (especially after the gates opened to those who hadn’t come for sunrise), I saw only a few others at this corner.
• After many happy hours, I looked at the time: OMG, I barely have time to get back to the Manohara for breakfast – and I was HUNGRY (having skipped dinner the night before)! Hot and tired, I was ill-prepared to discover that one must take a LONG route from the temple back to the resort (not the shorter route used before sunrise). Moving at nearly a trot, despite the heat , I
• reached the Manohara, where I went straight to the breakfast area and enjoyed a very tasty selection from the Manohara’s extensive array of Eastern and Western options.
• With barely enough time before I was to meet Dodo, reminding myself that I’ve paid for his time and if I’m late, that’s OK, I dashed
• to my room for a quick shower and the discovery that -- oh! I completely forgot that my flight from Singapore to Java crossed a time zone. I had reset my alarm, but not my camera (which I used to tell the time). I was an hour ahead of schedule! Although it was, by then, too late to go back to visit the museums on site, at least I did have time for
• a long shower and a leisurely cup of coffee.

• Dodo then greeted me, as planned, to take me to Gedong Songo – and
• my first daylight experience of <b>central Java’s main east-west road</b>. The traffic seemed to me to be utter chaos, with roads filled with cars, trucks, motorcycles, tuktuks, horse-and-buggies, mopeds, bicycles, pedestrians, and every imaginable conveyance of any size or speed, all weaving and tailgating and often holding awesome loads -- sheafs of grain or stacked baskets or cages of live chickens or whatever -- and every one of these modes of conveyance violatied every rule my father stressed as critical to safe driving. All too many of the motorcyclists were youngsters barely in their teens (a problem several of my drivers mentioned) and many of them had no helmets. Argh! During my time in Indonesia, I came to recognize some of the rules that govern traffic patterns (how glad I was to realize that there ARE operative norms!), but OMG, driving there takes constant alertness; quick reactions; and great control over turn signals, warning lights, and the horn. As a passenger, I found paying close attention to the sights to the SIDE of the road helpful. ;-)
• I also realized something that I had only vaguely noted on the drive from the airport the night before: The road is lined by mile after mile after mile of nonstop buildings -- houses and sheds and shops and abandoned buildings and roadside stalls and whatever, most set back just a yard or two (if that) from the road. It never occurred to me that there would be no way for drivers to avoid cities, but they can’t, at least not from somewhere east of Surakarta through well west of Yogyakarta – there is just this one main east-west road. At times, the traffic, and traffic jams, seemed unbelievable!
• Many of these small structures we passed had cages with songbirds or a blooming plant or two or some little thing of beauty and many also held piles of litter or rubble or refuse; I often saw a woman meticulously sweeping debris from one tiny area to the adjacent pile of trash and rubble.

• After what seemed an interminable time, we reached an area where there were beautiful stretches of deep forest or rice paddies or fields of sugar cane, sometimes lined by trumpet trees in glorious bloom or other trees that had been treated with colorful patterns of lime.
• We finally reached <b>Gedong Songo</b>, where – as I had hoped -- I was able to hire a man and his “small horse” (he – the horse, not the local man -- looked like a Shetland pony; I have no idea if he was!) to explore some of the temples high up this mountain. I’d been on a horse before – once! when I was 20 -- so this experience was a bit of an adventure for me. ;-) With a LOT of patient assistance from my local guide and his sweet-tempered horse, I managed to get the hang of going UP hill well enough to not require constant attention. Going DOWN was a bit more of a challenge for me. Once we reached the generally downhill portion, I was happy to walk – and I’m sure that was a welcome relief to both horse and guide!
• We visited several interesting temple ruins (among the oldest Hindu temples in Java), rode by a steaming hot spring, and stopped for a cup of delicious coffee. While the woman brewed our coffee, my guide went off and gathered several coffee berries in varying stages of ripeness to show me. How nice!
• The scenery from Gedong Songo is supposed to include volcanos. I certainly appreciated some beautiful vistas, but there was sufficient humidity to prevent me from seeing any of the distant volcanoes that can, apparently, sometimes be seen. Still, I was glad to see what I did see!
• After a long (2 hour or so) ride back to Borobudur, during which we encountered some bits of rain, we stopped at

• <b>Candi Mendut</b>, which still has Buddhas inside (and a surprising number of roosters strutting nearby), and the adjacent, functioning
• <b>Mendut Monastery</b>, with its delightful and extensive collection of Buddhist statuary, lovingly scattered among various bits of lovely landscaping.
• Rain began again in earnest, then, and we were running later than planned for the day, so I was very surprised, and grateful, when Dodo stopped at
• the small, but interesting <b>Candi Pawon</b>. How nice! We soon reached
• the Manohara Resort, where a man was playing a xylophone-like gamelan instrument in the covered, open-air entry area. I enjoyed a beer while he finished his performance for the day,
• savored a wonderful meal at the hotel’s restaurant (my first experience of gurame – a grilled and seasoned fish, I think carp -- that I found incredibly delicious), and then
• Collapsed after a LONG – but absolutely delightful – day.

To be continued….

tripplanner001

What a day! Your visit to Borobudur sounds near perfect. And I'm with you on your impressions of the traffic; what really annoys me about traffic in Asia is the unrelentless streams of motorbikes on what seems like every thoroughfare.

thursdaysd

What a beautiful description of the dawn! And it does indeed sound worth getting up for.

Re: traffic - you are now in Asia, not Singapore, lol! Re: helmets - the first time I went to Vietnam, 2002, no-one wore a helmet. The last time I was there, 2011, seemed like everyone did - although they still put whole families on one small bike.

kja

@ tripplanner001: Yes, that was one awesome day, and if anyone has had a better visit to Borobudur, no worries -- mine was quite spectacular enough!

@ thursdaysd: Thank you! To be honest, I can’t imagine that any words I could write would ever truly capture that extraordinary dawn. I was SO lucky to see it!

@ trippplanner001 <u><b>&</u></b> thursdaysd: I ended up speaking with almost every driver I had about mopeds, motorbikes, and motorcycles, and while I can’t assert that I fully understood what they were saying, or that what they said was accurate, here’s what I gathered:
• Although elementary school education – and tranpsoration to and from -- is free in Indonesia, families must pay for anything beyond that.
• Because education is highly valued there, most families try to pay for at least secondary education – meaning (I think) through what I would call high school, or readiness for university.
• Because of that interest, and MANY other economic stresses, an increasing number of mothers are working outside the home.
• But with the possible exception of some urban areas, transportation to secondary education is NOT readily available.
• With both mom and dad at work, and no public transit, the only way for many adolescents to get to school is for them to bike (if close enough) or – more often – go by motorbike (etc.).
• And that has apparently means that MANY parents let their children use motorbikes to get to school – and of course, once you do that, it’s really hard to control where they go.
• According to the law, only those aged 16 or older can be licensed to drive a motorcycle – but the police are well aware of the lack of options available to many of people, and so they turn a blind eye to both age and use of proper safety equipment.
• (And apparently, parents do generally buy the appropriate helmets, etc. – it’s just really hard to make adolescents use them, particularly when they all know that they are being allowed to ride at all, against all apparent safety rules….)
• And of course, motorbikes are more gas efficient than anything larger and provide an affordable transportation option that works well year-round … more arguments in their favor! (And I must admit that I can’t bring myself to argue against energy efficiency.)

Again, I have no idea of the accuracy of these generalizations; I can only say that I heard enough common elements from enough different people to think there may be some germs of truth in it.

progol

Oh, kja, what an amazing experience so far! Your description of Borodobur at sunrise is picture-perfect -- I can really see it unfold in your words. Beautiful and I'm so glad that you had such a wonderful experience.

Looking forward to more --- this is just great so far!

Kathie

A wonderful first day in Java!

You were fortunate to see the sunrise at Borobudur, as I've always been there on days when the mist meant I couldn't see the sunrise. But even without the lovely colors of the sunrise, it's a special place that early in the morning.

Candi Mendut is one of my favorites, with the unique (and original) Buddha seated on a chair.

The fish you ate was gourami which you will find all over Indonesia. We ate it at a small riverside restaurant near Prambanam on our last trip. Tropical fish aficionados know it as a fish you can buy for aquariums. They are large and colorful.

I'm loving going along with you on this adventure.

jdc26

I'm still enjoying your adventure kja. I hope to be able to follow in your footsteps one day.

jdc

jacketwatch

Reading about Java now;

Interesting how names in one language mean something so different in another. Dodo is extinct and doodoo is well, you know. . He does sound like a very reflective person of course.

Maybe their style of jazz there is deconstructed. . In the future bring ear plugs. We were in Delhi during Diwali one yr. and with all the fireworks blasting all night I am glad we had them. If you didn't know better you would have sworn Pakistan was invading. .

I am glad you had a good, non-hazy day to see Merapi.

Traffic in Asia. Yep its semi-controlled chaos. What you described reminds me of Delhi. I always say the first thing to break on cars there is the horn. And BTW you rarely see a vehicle there without a dent or a scratch. Did you notice the same in Java?

It does sound like a very long but memorable day with no wasted time. I hope you had time for some Kopi Luwak too. .

Keep it coming and thanks again!!

Guenmai

I seldom read trip reports, but this one has been great. Plus, I like the bullet points as I can speed read through it in such a format. Glad you had such a great trip.

Happy Travels!

tripplanner001

Thanks for the added perspective on the motorbikes. Whether fully accurate or not, there seems to be some truths to it.

kja

@ progol: Sunrise at Borobudur was incredible! I hope you get to experience it some day!

@ Kathie: It was a wonderful first day in Java – and yes, I was VERY fortunate! I was also pretty sure that you would know gourami – as you’ll see, I followed in your footsteps for my dinner before the Ramayana Ballet.

@ jdc26: I hope you, too, are able to visit this part of the world one day – it is special!

@ jacketwatch:
• As you suspected, I saw almost no dents or scratches or other signs of vehicular accidents – the traffic does seem chaotic, but there really are rules that drivers are following! I asked a couple of my drivers about accidents: Both said that the vast majority involve motorcycles driven by young people. Granted, that could be because the vast majority of driven miles involve young people on motorcycles, but I tend to suspect it also reflects inexperience and youthful confidence in one’s abilities and one’s immortality. One driver also said that accident rates of all sorts increase toward the end of Ramadan and suggested -- if I understood correctly -- that it was linked to prolonged fasting. Interesting!
• As for Kopi Luwak … as a coffee lover and serious caffeine addict, I decided to decline. I couldn’t bear to think that I might spend every day of the rest of my life thinking that I could have better! (That, and the price.) ;-)

@ Guenmai: Thanks for your kind words! It really was a GREAT trip.

@ tripplanner001: I thought the comments I heard about motorbikes seemed to have some truth to them, too – particularly because I heard much the same thing from just about every driver with whom I worked.


<u>Day 9</u>: <u><b>Central Java</u></b> -- <b>Dieng Plateau</b>

• After another generous and tasty breakfast at the Manohara, I
• met Dodo for our trip to the Dieng Plateau, about 3 hours away. As before, the roads seemed chaotic and we had to drive some distance to “escape” continuous stretches of road-side buildings, but we did, eventually, escape.
• passing through stretches of forest and farmland, and then, as we ascended to the plateau, an increasing numbers of incredibly steeply terraced hillsides, which Dodo said were planted primarily with peanuts, potatoes, and cabbage. He stopped for a break at
• a wonderfully situated gazebo-like structure with stunning views over the terraces and mist-shrouded mountains – awesome! While there,
• Dodo bought me a cone of freshly roasted peanuts that were incredibly tasty and of a texture unlike any peanut I’d ever had (something like a barely cooked bean) – delicious! And how nice of Dodo!

• Once at the <b>Dieng Plateau</b>, I hired a local guide who led me up a slippery, muddy hillside to a point from which I could view the “Green Lake” and, further, the much smaller “Colored Lake,” which seemed to me to be generally green, but with a small area that is not. (Nice! But don’t expect to see the truly multicolor lakes of the Plitvice Lakes National Park.) We then went to
• <b>Candi Biwa</b>, with its unusual array of Buddhas’ heads looking out from external niches.
• The <b>Sikidang Crater</b> steamed and roiled and reeked of sulfur, and I found it interesting because I’d never been anywhere quite like it. But the area around the crater has a number of places for “photo ops” involving wildlife – a place where owls had been tethered; animals could be mounted, etc. I must admit that I can’t believe the sulfur did those creatures any good, and it seemed a bit unnecessary to me. JMO.
• The temples of the <b>Arjuna Complex</b> (which, along with the temples of the Gedong Songo, are among the oldest Hindu structures on Java) were not the most impressive I saw, but they held some architectural features that I thought intriguing and WELL worth seeing.
• By this time, I was becoming accustomed to something that was to prove somewhat irksome throughout my time in Java: Many, many, MANY people wanted to have a picture taken with me. I don’t like having my picture taken. I can’t imagine why anyone would want to have a picture showing them with someone with whom they have no connection. BUT I also didn’t want to remain in their memories as the person (or worse, the “rude American”) who refused their request, so as long as people asked politely, I tried to oblige. (On the few occasions when someone did not ask, I had no problem turning away or blocking my face.) And of course, once you say yes to one person, the line forms…. I think ms_go also remarked on this issue, and I agree -- it definitely gets old.

• Once again, humidity prevented me from seeing the volcanoes that can, I believe, sometimes be seen from this plateau, but I thought the scenery quite beautiful nonetheless. After saying farewell to the local guide, Dodo and I began
• Our long drive back to Borobudor … down and down and down. A sudden rainstorm or two later, and
• OMG, there’s a volcanic cone high above the horizon! OMG, that’s not ONE cone, it’s two, one much further than the other! Wow! I’m so glad for those brief glimpses!

• Dodo then invited me to join him for coffee in his family’s home, which was built in a traitional style. What a kind and generous offer, and what a welcome experience! The main room had a high, beautifully constructed roof and lots of ventilation and indirect light – SOOoooo pleasant!

• He then suggested that we might go to a place that offers <b>a view over Borobudur</b>. I was game! After a
• short drive through village lanes just barely wide enough for a single vehicle and seemingly made (I think) of concrete slabs positioned over supports, with room in between (and so below the “road”) for rain run-off, he drove
• up and up to a parking lot where I was given the option to hire a motorscooter to climb further up the hill. Me? Not!!! So
• Dodo and I began to climb on foot, one step after another, up and up and up, huffing and puffing, to…
• A huge chicken roosting atop the hill. Seriously: A chicken. And I mean HUGE – as in at least 3 or 4 stories tall! We made it there
• JUST before it closed and climbed (inside) several stories up to the (open) beak, from which there were, indeed, impressive views out over the countryside. And yes, I could see Borobudur off in the distance. Who knew?!?
• FWIW, you can trust me that trying to climb 2 or 3 flights of stairs while already struggling for air and while laughing so hard that one’s side hurts poses a challenge. But such fun and so different and honestly, a good laugh is, IMO, always welcome!

• Back at the Manohara, I had another welcome beer as the gamelan player finished his set, and then another delicious dinner, this time noting that there was a gamelan player in the restaurant, too!
• And, as I listened, a sweet little cat jumped on my lap and purred and let me pet her until I left for my nightly preparations, and as I reflected upon my day, my overriding thought was:
• OMG, I am a lucky person!


<u>Day 10</u>: <u><b>Central Java</u></b> -- <b>Yogyakarta</b>

• After another tasty breakfast, Dodo took me to my hotel in Jogja, where I said a fond farewell to him – such a nice man! It was too early to check in, but I enjoyed a welcoming treat and stopped at the hotel’s travel office to make some arrangements. I then

• took a tuktuk to the <b>kraton</b> (palace), arriving in time to enjoy quite a bit of a performance of <u>wayang golek</u> (a type of puppet show using 3D puppets), accompanied by a large gamelan orchestra. Wonderful!!! Such skill and craftsmanship from all involved! After it ended,
• I walked by some of the occupied portions of the palace, glimpsing lovely spaces created from very high quality materials.
• I was not enamored by the museum. Perhaps it’s just because the English signage was limited, but I really didn’t understand why I should look at a pair of quilted oven mitts. ??? It did hold at least a few items of interest, though.
• I was downright irritated with the touts trying to convince people that nearby puppet and batik shops were part of the palace and that they offerd a “rare” opportunity to see the craftsmen at work. Thankfully, my guidebooks had given ample forwarning.
• (I was surprised by the aggressiveness of touts in Jogja – in most of the places I visited on this trip, a simple “no, thank you” was sufficient. I don’t blame them for trying – that’s their job, isn’t it? Just as it’s MY job to say no – which I always try to do politely. I didn’t see the need for the pushiness of all-too-many touts in Jogya, though, or for so many downright lies. JMO.)

• After a much needed break for water and juice – this day was HOT!!! -- I headed toward my next destination, passing
• shops selling singing birds or stunning textiles or whatever, and briefly
• roaming around a little market with just a few open produce stands and a few hot food stalls, with their enticing smells, until I
• got quite lost. But people were very helpful, and I soon found myself at my goal:
• the <b>Taman Sari</b> (aka Water Castle). I found it very interesting (why wasn’t it symmetrical?), and in parts, very beautiful – but I was unable to free myself of a local man who tried to insist on serving as my guide, no matter how many times, or how many ways, I told him that I did <u>not</u> want his services. So frustrating!

• After a VERY long walk -- and a few more wrong turns -- on this VERY hot and humid day, I finally reached the <b>Agung Mosque</b>, where a gentleman showed me where I could wash my feet prior to entering. This very large mosque had, I thought, some very pleasant features, and it was surprisingly (and welcomingly) cool inside.

• In an unsuccessful search for a place where I could get a beer , I continued walking -- and was amazed by the many ways in which men involved in the transportation industry caught naps: There were men draped over their tuktuks, or over adjacent benches, or even on the sidewalks, and – at one large lot filled by tour buses, it seemed that someone was sleeping in the under-carriage luggage compartment of every single one. ;-) I finally
• reached a large market – just as a Phoenix Hotel tuktuk pulled in to let off a young couple. Perfect! I was soon safely ensconced in

• my delightful room at the <b>Phoenix Hotel</b>. I enjoyed a beer from its mini-fridge (OK, I chugged one, and then sipped another ;-) ), and savored my first ever snakefruit from the complimentary fruit bowl as I settled in.
• After a quick dip in the hotel’s pool,
• I ate a delicious dinner of gudeg at the hotel’s restaurant (thanks to Tontorino for making sure I knew to try it) and then
• took a taxi to the Museum Sonobudoyo, where I enjoyed part of a <u>wayang kulit</u> performance – such fun! I found it fascinating to see strong similarities to puppet theater in Xi’an and Bursa, even though the story itself was completely different. I
• also admired the full gamelan orchestra backing this performance. Then
• another taxi back to the Phoenix and some much needed rest.


To be continued….

tripplanner001

These two days sounds very similar to our time in Central Java. I'm so glad that you had that unexpected time with Dodo; these are the types of experiences, IMHO, that gives you some of the better opportunities to dig deeper into the lives of the people you are visiting.

AskOksena

Warm Friday greetings from a winding down Kathmandu business & reunion trip to you kja -- and thank you kindly for more brilliant writing. Just catching up with Fodor's and your report is a delight; well done.

Glad you enjoyed your holiday in our fine home of Singapore. Fortunate to call SIN home for work, family and residence. (Quite the changes from my first Singapore visit ~ half-century back with my parents and siblings; she's always evolving and believe more positive developments are forthcoming.)

Will be honoured to pass along your praise of our National Gallery Singapore; some wonderful friends at that venue. Also pleased to hear of your enjoyable experiences at the Adonis and Raffles.

[Regarding lodging, attended a presentation in Kathmandu earlier this week about a potential new Nepalese property. It's been wonderful to be back in KTM for meetings and to see some cherished climbing Sherpa friends and their families; relationships going back ~ three decades. Special part of the world.]

Thanks again kja, for such thoughtful writing. Warmest wishes to you from Kathmandu and soon, back home to Singapore,

robert


... Singapore Airlines, You're a Great Way to Fly ...

kja

@ tripplanner001: I agree completely – my experiences with Dodo offered irreplaceable enrichments to my time in Java!

@ AskOksena: And warm greetings to you, robert! I’ve been hoping that you would respond to this TR, because I wanted to be sure that you knew that I greatly benefited from your input and thoroughly enjoyed Singapore. I can’t imagine that my remarks would matter to the National Gallery, but by all means, feel free to pass my praise along! More to the point (I think), I can’t thank you enough for making sure I knew about it – and honestly, it would have been all-to-easy for me to miss, given that I rely on guidebooks for most of my planning, and none of my guidebooks were sufficiently up to date to capture the recent (re)opening of this magnficent museum. So again – please give it a smile for me when you next visit it (and other visits, too!). Enjoy your moments in Kathmandu and elsewhere….