Bali, Indonesia (April 2024)

 We had the opportunity to visit Bali again this month for 9 nights and we were lucky to be able to stay at The Melia Bali (click here) in Nusa Dua.  The resort was amazing with great rooms and facilities.  The breakfast each morning was buffet style and had so much choice that it was hard to know what to select each morning.  The pool was lovely and the beachside bar/restaurant were great to sit around and have a leisurely drink at on an evening.

One of the best things about the resorts in Nusa Dua is that it is possible to talk along the path next to the beach and walk through all the resorts and have a decent walk too.

Definitely one of the highlights of our travels.

Lovely pool at the Melia Resort

Lovely gardens at the Melia Resort

The Temple on the cliff top at Nusa Dua

Beachside bar/restaurant at the Melia

Rayong, Thailand (February 2024)

An interesting and unusual long weekend away at Treeroots Retreat, approximately 2.5 hours drive from Bangkok.  The link above explains the resort perfectly and is worth reading to give you a feel for the vibe and the facilities available.

The resort is a 10 minute walk to the beach although I wouldn’t recommend walking this path late on a night as the local houses all seem to have guard dogs wandering free.  We were also advised the snakes come out at night!   Whilst the beach is not like the beaches we frequent around Perth, the bars and restaurants make for a relaxing and entertaining evening and certainly the food (mostly seafood) was delicious.

Rayon Beach

Small but extremely refreshing pool at Treetops Resort (our room in the background)

Genting Highlands, Malaysia (December 2023)

 Genting Highlands is approximately 90 minutes by car from Kuala Lumpur, high in the Titiwangsa Mountains.  It was established in 1965 by a Malaysian businessman.  The main tourist attraction is Resorts World, a hill resort with casinos and theme parks.  Our hotel was located at the lower part of the mountains so we took the cable car to the top of the mountain and visited Resorts World.  The cable trip up the mountain is quite amazing and well worth the trip for the view and to visit the Chin Swee Caves Temple half way up the mountain.  We were, however, not too keen on Resorts World as it seems out of character with the surrounding area. 

Amazing view from the cable car

View of the theme part at Resorts World

QingShui, a buddhist monk sitting high in the mountains to summon rain and ward off evil spirits

Chin Swee Cave Temple (Taoist temple), with nine-storey pagoda

 

Singapore (November 2022 and September 2023)

Singapore has to be one of my favourite places in the world.  It is clean, efficient, has great shopping, restaurants and hotels and plenty of interesting places to visit.  It is also somewhere where we feel completely comfortable, having previously lived in Singapore for a year.   It is easy to understand why Singapore was recently voted one of the safest cities in the world. The only downside to Singapore is that it is quite expensive but it is still possible to find great, reasonably priced, places to eat and drink.

The highlight of our trips to Singapore is always Gardens by the Bay.  The Marina Bay Sands Hotel is quite spectacular, the Supertrees look as if they belong on another planet and the Cloud Forrest and Flower Dome are always lovely to visit.  Since our last trip, the MRT (underground) has expanded extensively making a visit to the Gardens by the Bay much easier.

We were also lucky enough to go back to Singapore in September 2023 and attended the Formula 1 Grand Prix which was a fantastic event.  Robbie Williams was the star performer at the completion of the event which I was thrilled about as I have always wanted to see Robbie live. 

The Supertrees and the Flower Dome

The Skywalk at the Supertrees

The Supertrees and Marina Bay Sands Hotel

The Jewel, Changi Airport.  The largest indoor waterfall in the world.

Beautiful flower display in the Flower Dome

Macau, (September 2023)

We were excited to be returning to Macau as it has been approximately 8 years since we last visited.  We flew into Hong Kong as we were keen to travel to Macau on the new 55km Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge.   The journey takes 40 minutes and is the longest bridge/tunnel sea crossing in the world.  

We stayed in the Crowne Plaza hotel which was lovely with great rooms, service and excellent buffet breakfast. Crowne Plaza Macau

Macau is known as the Vegas of the East as there are just over 50 casinos, the largest being The Venetian.   The Venetian offers a resort, casino and the Grand Canal shopping centre (complete with gondolas and serenading gondoliers!).  We spent most evenings visiting the various casino/resorts as all have good restaurants, entertainment and shops.  We also had a lovely day and evening touring the old Portuguese area which collectively have been designated a UNESCO World Heritage site.  

The Zhuhai bridge in the background, taken from the hotel in Macau

The Grand Canal Shopping Centre in the Venetian Resort/Casino

The ruins of St Paul’s (17th century Catholic religious complex)

The new Londoner Resort, complete with replica Houses of Parliament and Big Ben

Luang Prabang, Laos (August 2023)

Luang Prabang, the former capital of Laos, is located in Northern Laos and has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage site.  It is surrounded by mountains and is built on a peninsula, formed by the Mekong and Nam Khan Rivers.  We stayed in a lovely hotel where we had a room overlooking the pool where we could watch the torrential rain bouncing off the water every day at around 4pm. Sunrise Garden Hotel 

Luang Prabang is a remarkably well-preserved town and wandering through the streets is interesting due to its architecture and acknowledgement of heritage.  Many of the traditional Laos wooden houses remain and there are many Buddhist temples and monuments.  Early every morning, the monks walk through the streets in a procession collecting alms. 

Every evening at 6pm the main street turns into a night market selling beautiful local handicrafts.  It is impossible not to purchase anything as the skill involved in making the scarves, table runners, cushions and bags is quite unique.  Once you have walked through the market, the street becomes a restaurant and bar strip where great and very cheap food is available. 

We also had a day trip to the Kuang Si Waterfalls, the Tat Kuang Si Bear Rescue Centre, a civet cat coffee plantation, an elephant sanctuary and a buffalo dairy.

Kuang Si Waterfalls

Floating restaurants and bars on and next to the Mekong River

South Korea (July 2023)

We arrived in Seoul’s Inchon airport (regularly voted the Worlds Best Airport) and headed to our hotel which was a golf/health resort https://www.mayfield.co.kr/main/ The hotel was lovely with a great indoor swimming pool, gym and spa.  Unfortunately, I didn’t realise that access to the sauna and spa was not included in our accommodation and I was only advised of this while lounging in the sauna when I was told I had to leave!  Luckily, I was able to use the gym and pool facilities but the experience of being thrown out of the sauna put me off using the rest of these facilities for our stay.  

The highlight of our time in South Korea was my day trip to the DMZ (Demilitarisation Zone) between North and South Korea.  It is only possible to enter the DMZ on an organised tour and the time in the area is restricted with passports being held at the border to ensure you return.  The DMZ is 4kms wide and 250kms long. Since 1974 South Korea has discovered 4 tunnels which are believed to have been built by North Korea.  We visited and climbed down into the 3rd Infiltration Tunnel which is 260m long and 73m below the surface.    It was an interesting experience but not an easy walk/climb and a large part of the descent is so low that the only way through is to bend over.  At the end of the tunnel is a small window where we could see two North Korean troops guarding their side. 

The Monument at the Third Infiltration Tunnel in the DMZ

The entrance to the Third Infiltration Tunnel in the DMZ

After recovering from the walk into the tunnel, I headed to the Dorasan Observatory, which offers views over into North Korea.  There isn’t a great deal to see except the Propaganda Village (named by South Korean) or Freedom Village (named by North Korea).   I could see the North Korean flagpole, once the highest flagpole in the world.  We also visited Freedom Bridge and our final stop was the Unification Village.   The whole trip was fascinating and one I would certainly recommend to anyone visiting South Korea.

Peace ribbons, hung by South Koreans with messages to family members in the North 

Freedom Bridge in the DMZ

Looking into North Korea from the Dorasan Observatory in the DMZ