Bali Nusa Dua / Jakarta

Bali Nusa Dua / Jakarta 

Bali airport is nice, small but not large. 

Visa on arrival for over 100 countries (mostly European)

Getting a taxi from the airport to your hotel...

First things first you can get grab or uber but a warning if you do instead of a local taxi. Tell the uber driver to pick you up at departure drop off area. The reason being is that I found out form my uber driver that local taxi Drivers are having serious conflicts with uber and grab Drivers. So bad is the situation that a Taxi driver refused to leave my side and followed me everywhere around the airport arrival area when I told him I have booked uber with constant forced conversations such as, don't trust uber, the government doesn't allow uber, yesterday uber driver made an accident with a motorcycle, uber Drivers will cheat you and so forth. I had trouble locating my uber driver because once you leave the airport building the wifi stops working. Thank god that uber has a picture of the driver because I wouldn't have recognised him or found his car. I luckily did tell him to identity me by my army print baseball cap. The poor fellow came looking for me and when he identified me he waited for us to get eye contact, it was a simple head nod and a hushed hand gesture to follow him. Once in the car it took a good 5 mins for the uber driver to calm down (he was visibly scared by what the cab Drivers might do to him). As a single traveler, as I was, this can be frightening to some, especially in a country and city you've never been to. Never the less as I relax drinking some duty free whisky on my 5th floor balcony with a cool breeze, I reflect that my adventure into Bali has finally begun! Tomorrow is a new day and one that will start early because I've booked a boat to go fishing! 

My first full day in Bali started off with the complimentary breakfast at ibis hotel at 630 am. They offer a wide verity of things to eat. Being filled up with breakfast my preplanned fishing trip awaited. After picking up my friend and Mother we headed of to Sanur beach to meet the person who would take us out to see. My god did that turn out to be a fiasco! The person I contacted made the wrong arrangements with her contact... he quoted her 185 per person to which she assumed it was was in rupia! When we reached he said it would be 555 USD!!! For 3 of us! Bloody outrageous!!! I know petrol prices have gone up but to ask 185 USD per person in Asia on a motor boat that looks like it's never been serviced is day light robbery...it seems to be be the theme in Bali... over charge by minimum 200%. Negotiations only got the price down to 135 USD for 6 hours. Let me tell you I've been fishing in malaysia and singapore for many years and that sort of price gets you either a full days trip (12 hours of fishing) or 2 days one night inclusive of transport/food and drinks to the fishing port! My god the people in Bali just seriously Want to rip you off and what's more they do it with a smile. We opted not to take that operator and decided to take a small local wooden boat. 3 of us managed to get it for 60$ total for 4 hours...we didn't catch any fish ! The only thing we did catch was plastic bags! A lot of plastic bags. The ocean there seems full of it. Once we got back to shore we had lunch on a beach side resort. I had a club sandwich with a small beer which cost about 15$... metropolitan prices... and after lunch I decided to stroll in the shallows of the ocean to at least see a fish even if it was tiny...zero absolute zero...Sanur seems void of fish... throughly fed up I decided to head back to my hotel doing the same song and dance trying to find my uber driver while avoiding taxi Drivers! Once onboard uber, I was asked if I wanted to go via the highway (pay a toll fee) or go via the "Long" way around... I opted for the "Long way" and funny enough it's not Long at all. Few minor traffic jams and I'm back at my hotel in roughly the same time it would have taken me to go the short way round. Absolutely tired by that point I downed a few shots of whiskey and passed out. 

Early morning again to get my complimentary breakfast...and while munching away I talked to a few staff about fishing near and around my area...(no way I was going to go back to Sanur to fish ) to which I was directed to a cab driver who had a "Friend" who could organise a boat for me. Again prices quoted in USD....180... I politely said wow that's expensive no thank you (go to hell you rip off artist I said to myself in my head) to which he replied ok special price Usd 100... I replied I'd only pay 1 million rupia and was not giving dollars nor did I have any. I really wanted to catch fish in Bali and was hoping for the best .....so arrangements were made and off I went to Tanjung Benoa where my boat was waiting. Taxi driver charged me 40,000 rupia, 4$ for a 10 min drive. Half way there there was a checkpoint where locals where stopping cars and handing out tickets next to a big sign saying "illegal!! Banned!! Uber and grab!" Thank goodness I didn't take a uber there... could have been a nightmare for both me and the uber driver... once I reached my destination I was in the proverbial tourist trap. Loads of tourists being touted to go on all sorts of water sports activities like hanna boat, jet ski, parasailing and more... I was made to pay first then Wait 30 minutes for them to prepare the boat... once the boat was ready I was taken to it... old and poorly maintained like the one in Sanur... so off we went with me in high hopes.... the price included a few bottles on mineral water nothing else... I started trolling two rods once the captain (the only other person on the boat) put out his line..... we were doing the slowest troll ever... 1 or 2 knots and Low and behold for the next two hours I was busy reeling my line in every now and again to clear plastic bags from my lure...the captain couldn't be bothered to help.... after a while my Guess is the captain got hungry and also wanted save gas by stopping the boat and said you can try jigging here... ok I thought better than cleaning up Bali's ocean and so put a 180 gram jig on my line and let it drop.... a minute later my line is still going out and at a angle... the current was strong and the water was deep!!! I asked the Captain how deep is the water? He replied at least 100 meters and more...then casually took out his lunch (never offered any to me) and said you jig for a while I'm going to eat.... after letting out 200 yards jigging it back to the boat a few times I was exhausted!!! Hard work pulling in so much line!!! So I asked if the captain would take over and help jig while I rested...he just laughed and said no thank you..... we stayed at that spot for nearly a hour...Guess the captain wanted to dijest his food. I said I can't jig anymore! let's troll and try our luck again...which we did with same results (plastic bags) and half hour of untangling my two lines that got tangled because of bad boat driving and plastic bags...while that was happening, trolling and untangling lines the boat was pointing at the port we came from... no surprise we caught zero fish that day and after two days of fishing my conclusion is fishing Operators are not operating to help you fish but operating to fish your cash. There was no enthusiasm no real anything about fishing by those people.

Fully frustrated once I got back to shore I decided against doing the song and dance with uber or the local taxi Drivers... I decided I was going to walk back to my hotel!!

This decision to walk was by far the best I had taken in Bali. Firstly, up until my walk I felt as though I was being treated by the locals as a walking ATM machine that dispensed cash or a currency note and not as a person.. literally almost everyone is trying to squeeze out as much as they can from you be it the people on the beach, the taxi drives to even the fishing tour organisers...seriously felt violated and bewildered by why people had such wonderful things to say about Bali. For two days straight I was robbed blind by inflated prices, intimidated by local taxi Drivers for taking uber and so forth already mentioned. However there is always a silver lining. My walk took more than a hour to reach my hotel but by far it was the best experience I had in bali. While walking I got to see and interact with the real Bali and not just zoom by it in a taxi. I saw beautiful and unique architecture, stone carved walls, doors and idols. You get to see the real bali by walking past schools, houses, little Mom and pop shops along the road with real locals not trying to hustle a tourist. It was smiles and polite nods of the head all along the way. After about 45 minutes I walked upon a few souvenir shops where there were middle aged women sitting out side making and preparing little prayer basket offerings. Conversation soon followed by if I had caught any fish and general polite question of where I was from? How Long I've been there and so forth. I was a little guarded because of my last two days of being ripped off but that soon all washed away when the feeling of genuineness of the ladies showed through with their conversation with me. Feeling rested I asked where I could buy a beer and they directed me to a local provisions store where the patron and I also struck up a good conversation...I Guess he must have been watching me and asked if I caught any fish... zero was my reply and immediately he asked if I wanted to go fishing again because he has a Friend who goes fishing and he said he that he would call him to see if he was going tomorrow. Unfortunately I told him today was my last day and even if I wanted to go I was broke and didn't have the time. He politely asked how much I was charged on my trips to which he was shocked...he replied his friend would of helped book a boat for 500 rupia ($50) for a whole day's fishing 8 to 10 hours!!!  I was cursing myself in my head that I should have taken my walk the first day. Hahaha. After finishing off my beer and heading to my hotel I decided I would head back to the ladies shop to buy some souvenirs for home and ended up buying a few items. 

When traveling I always make it a point to eat where locals eat..why? Well because firstly the food is so much tastier and secondly it's at reasonable prices! So I asked the shop lady where I could eat, she knew immediately I wasn't taking about a restaurants that cater for tourists and told me to head around the corner down a ally and pointed to a takeaway bag filled with food saying " cheap, good, I also eat from there". 2 dishes and a small beer cost me $7.50. It was tasty and filling nothing compared to what I got at Sanur!! Half for double the amount! 

Once back at my hotel and done packing for my trip to Jakarta i reflected on my time in Bali and a few thoughts crossed my mind. Not every trip goes well but this was exceptional in the case of cost (over priced everything! I like to haggle a bit but this was crazy) and the local conflict of cheaper reliable transportation those were the two worst highlights of the trip besides the dreadful fishing and plastic bags. 

However if I do decide to ever go back to Bali it would be on a much longer duration. You are given 1 month visa and I strongly advise to use as much of it as possible for in my last day I truly got to meet some nice locals that which I feel is what Bali truly is about. The longer you stay the more you'll meet people like them and the more you become a familiar face to those that try to overcharge you.. In short Bali is a beautiful place that just needs time to be explored to find the best that it truly has to offer. 

Andaman Nicobar Islands Adventure

Andaman Nicobar Islands Adventure

Port Blair - the adventure begins! 

The flight from Kolkata leaves at 525am and is a short 2 hour flight which gives you endless blue ocean views. The jet airways captain announces over the p.a. system that we will be landing soon to which the views of the surrounding islands give you a small taste of the breath taking views we will be hopefully viewing in the coming days. 

Port Blair airport is small, rustic and a flurry of activity receiving the passengers of our flight. Foreigners please take note you will be asked by airport authorities to register and show relevant permits (restricted area permit aka RAP). Baggage claim is quick and effortless and within 10 minutes you'll be out the airport greeted by a plethora of taxi Drivers. We were met by Joseph (+9197324125 or 725) who took us to our hotel, The Nest Bed & Breakfast, for a total of Rs. 300/-. 

The hotel is small but clean and the staff are very courteous. After enquiring where to eat the staff directed is to go to the lighthouse restaurant which is a 5 min auto rickshaw ride away. We, instead, decided to walk along the sea front (The Nest B&B is right in front of the sea front.) which you will be greeted with ladies selling the night before catch along with locals fishing along the shore to which the catch varied from coral grouper, octopus and parrot fish among other smaller species. 

The lighthouse restaurant is a small but normal busy eatery right next to the local governments fishery department exhibitions building as well as the Rajiv Gandhi water sports park. Don't expect much in terms of seafood, there was some fresh "live" crabs (mostly all dead) and some "fresh" fish that had seen better days...(they weren't on ice and were half way dried). So best to order food like chicken curry and rice. 

The local governments fishery department exhibitions building entry costs Rs. 10/- per person and it exhibits a variety of fish such as clown fish, small groupers, trigger fish etc etc along with bottled specimen species native to the area. This quick tour takes no more than 10-15 minutes. As we are after all in the Andaman Islands we headed to the water park to let our feet touch the ocean from the beach. Heavenly! The water is clear as crystal and warm. After a getting our fill we decided to head to the main market by catching a auto (Rs. 30/-). Since it was Palm Sunday and Sunday never the less most of the shops were closed but the few that were open we decided to buy some provisions like snacks, soft drinks, cigarettes and other small items to prepare for our trip the next day to Havelock Island. 
 

After shopping for provisions we took a auto rickshaw back towards a small bar near our B&B. Beer! oh Gosh nice cold beer! We ordered two bottles (Rs 170 each  650ml) and gulped a few cold gulps, however we noticed that the patrons looked at us in a strange way and felt a hint of tension and uneasiness in the air (we are from the east of India in which we have oriental features and speak Hindi) when my companion asked in Hindi to a server why he was staring at us so much he replied "that a certain Indian tribe are banned from drinking at bars". To which we replied we weren't them and didn't enquire further on the matter. After that the was clarified the atmosphere became relaxed and conversations started about our state in India along with questions about the Andaman's. A few more bottles later we decided to head back to our B&B as we wanted to get a early night for our next adventure for the ferry "makruzz Gold" awaited to take us to Havelock island at 8:30am.

530am alarm goes off! I roll out make a cup of coffee and go to the rooms balcony. There you are greeted with a small flurry of activity of women and fishermen transporting the nights catch from boat to shore. Lots of golden snappers and variety of other fish. Breakfast was simple toast and large omelette. The auto rickshaw ride to the jetty to catch the ferry was a quick ten minute ride.(ask the hotel staff to arrange one for you) Please note non Indian nationals will need to show their RAP to the jetty security. We took makruzz ferry at the rate of Rs. 1000 /-, you will need to buy return as well. We left exactly on time and there no complaints on ride which is assigned seating and air conditioned. 2 hours flew by and we reached the paradise island called Havelock. 

Don't worry about transport to your hotel as there are a plethora of auto rickshaws waiting for passengers and being a small island the place we stayed at (the emerald gecko) was just a 5 to 10 minutes away. The emerald gecko (EG)is a rustic beach side resort with bamboo huts for accommodation and a small restaurant where breakfast, lunch and dinner is served. Though it is basic, the staff are extremely friendly and make up for the lack of other facilities such as a bar! Yes when we went the Indian court made a new ruling affectively making Havelock with zero alcohol being served! So if you like a night cap do buy some in port Blair and pack it in your suitcase. The EG can arrange;

Snorkeling 

Kayaking 

Sports fishing (will mention that later)

Transport (scooter for hire etc)

 We decided to hire a scooter (automatic) arranged by EG at a rate of Rs. 400 per day. A deposit Rs 2000, driving license and you need to fill up your own tank. Once it was sorted we headed off to the main market to find and arrange an off shore fishing trip! There we were given available date and they offer full day or half day sports fishing trips. So we opted for a full day Tuesday and made arrangements to meet the crew at 8am. After sorting that out we walked around the market to buy a few things and headed back to EG for relaxed dinner, prepare the my fishing gear and to sleep off before 12. 

Another early morning but this time with sense of excitement for the fishing trip ahead. Since we didn't have our scooter yet we had a early breakfast, At EG we get complementary breakfast, which is very tasty....so off we went to flag down a auto rickshaw to take us to the jetty to meet the crew!

The sun was out with a few clouds, the water was clam and the ocean breeze was divine! We met the Crew at the jetty without any difficulties. Fret not to the angler who doesn't bring his own rod, reel and gear, our boat was fully stocked with all them. If you don't bring any gear. I would suggest that you do bring your own poppers, stick baits, jigs, leaders and hooks! The ones on our boat have been beaten up by the many monsters they've caught. Giant trivally is the target on these boats and they can be caught as BIG as 40 kgs ! 
 

Off we went and within 30 minutes we saw a feeding frenzy of fish breaking the water eating jellyfish. We tried our popper and lures but unfortunately these fish were more interested in the Jellyfish. To cut the to the chase we cruised to various islands getting many hits on the troll as well as casting. It was a whole day fishing and the boat guide tried his hardest to hook up the monsters we were looking for...he will even cast for you as casting, let me tell you is Super tiring! so half hour you cast then the guide and even the boat driver will pitch in and if hooked up he will pass the rod to you. We did manage to hookup on a 6" lure but the it was so massive that it tore off the treble hook from the ring! We finally called it as the sun set and we were ecstatic over all with the day out on the ocean but slightly disappointed that we couldn't land the Monster we were looking for. Since the boat we were on was catch and release for anything above 10kg we were happy to be able to take back 2 coral trouts weighing together 6kg for dinner. 

As soon as we got back EG we asked the cook to prepare and serve one of the coral trouts... and omg was it tasty. After dinner we sat chatted for a while and started planning the next day before heading to bed. 

It was not that early a wake up like the day before but we woke up around 730 to get the complimentary breakfast which was a choice of different pancakes (banana, coconut, chocolate etc) and or omelette toast coffee or tea. We had our scooter so we decided to go to kala pathur beach (translated black rock) to check it out and also do a bit of surfcasting. One of the EG staff had said high chance to land GT from the beach. So off we went with one rod and some fishing gear. Wow the beach is beautifully long with soft White Sands till the eyes can see. We met up the one of the staff from the other night and he had bought some octopus that he had caught the night before...I told him I'd try it later because I wanted to try some popping. Pop pop pop and no bites... the staff told me that the spot I was fishing was best done at night with small fish or octopus and that he had a secret location that he wanted to take me further down the beach since it was Low tide. We walked for half out through a jungle trail parallel to the beach and when we went out we were still not even half way of the entire beach! We unpacked the gear and I decided to do double Apollo rig using chunks of octopus... casted and put my rod on my rod holder...then mid way through asked the staff "what kind of catch should I expect..." and my reel starts screaming with the rod fully bent! I grabbed the rod and started reeling! What a fight!!! letting the fish run and trying to avoid the massive corals just below the surface! Finally saw colour and landed my first 4 kg Andaman Islands gt!!! First cast and not even 1 minute to hook up! This place is amazing! To the beach caster please note that foreigners must catch and release but if your with a local, which I was with, you can take your catch as the local will say it's his fish! After the gt, the bite died and we move another few meters as the staff was saying the fish must of been spooked. And what do you know. First cast in the new spot an reel screams again. This time the fight was short lived and a new species to check off my bucket list, a nice 3 kg trigger fish! After that we decided to call it a day as the tide was coming in fast and the coral rock I was fishing off was already knee deep. Literally had to semi swim back as the waters were already past a meter deep after getting off the rock. 

After reaching EG, we checked out msgs (via wifi), reception out of the main town

Is zero (no network) and to my surprise I received a msg from the proprietor of yesterday's fishing trip asking if I would be interested in going on a a half day trip with his Son. We gladly accepted the offer! 

Dinner at EG was different as the night before as we had invited the staff of EG to join us eat the remaining coral trout and gt as a thank you to themfor their wonderful service...again the preparation was scrumptious! After dinner we went to bed early again as we needed to be at the jetty by 830am.

6am and after a quick breakfast we were at the jetty just on time to meet the proprietors Son and the same fishing guide as before. We headed out into a different direction this time and we mostly did our fishing near mangroves using a variety of different lures, stick baits, sabiki and poppers. Our aim was sea bass/barramundi! Unfortunately we didn't catch any of those but we did catch a 3 kg mangrove jack, the rare and beautiful blue fin trivally (1 kg on sabiki) and a few other species. I must say another wonderful day out at sea and thoroughly impressed with the diversity of fish that can can be caught! This too only using lures! I can't imagine what the catch would be like with live baits!!!! (Octopus, shrimp, bait fish etc etc). Since it was a short trip we headed back around 130pm and once at shore we went to look for so local food for lunch. During dinner tried a bit of night beach casting but since the tide was high and our hotel beach had trees it was difficult to cast so after a few casts we decided to call it a night as we yet again had to get up early to pack and catch our ferry back to port Blair. 

Packing done we caught a auto rickshaw to the jetty and we just about made it as the ferry counters close at 1030 any one that is late will not get a ticket issued to board the ferry. It was a over cast day and the minute we boarded the ferry it started to rain! Thank you lord for saving the rains for the last day of our trip! The seas were rough, winds strong, waves were very high and soon we felt like we were on a roller coaster! For the first five minutes almost all the passengers were enjoying shouting with joy, laughter and excitement! Whoop whoop! Waaah!!! That quickly came to a end as the roller coaster ride did not stop and the cabin became very quiet. You could feel the tension in the air for what was elation early soon turned to worry...as staff of the ferry started to fill the passage ways...I quickly asked a crew member what the situation was and he whispered there's a cyclone warning at the North of Andaman island, category red and it's been locked down! But not to worry we are In the south and will be safe but expect a rough ride! No sooner had he finished his sentence...the vomiting started all over the boat, every other person had their vomit bags to their faces and the torrent started! Oh it was a nightmare. Even myself a person who's been on many boats and some extremely rocky ones, tested me to the limit (I didn't vomit FYI). The staff were well trained, vomit bags were constantly being handed out, air freshener constantly being sprayed! I felt sorry for the other passengers that didn't have the stomach for the rough seas and also sorry for those that vomit when others vomit...once one person vomited you'd hear another then another just like domino effect. A hour and half later the captain made an announcement saying we were 10 mins from reaching port Blair and that was greeted with cheers by all the passengers still able to cheer. As I finally was able to stand to go to the toilet you could see the casualties of the ride. One boy about 16 had passed out in his chair and family members slapping him to get him up. 

 Once that was over all we could think of was getting to our hotel having something to eat and drink then sleeeeeeep! We did all those and even managed to do a little shopping for family back home. Andaman tumeric is very nice must buy for those that like to make curry. 

Our last day on the island was breakfast final last minute packing and off to the airport to catch our flight out. Just as we reached the airport the rains and wind picked up and we were told our flight would be delayed for about a hour...after that the plane finally landed and we were boarded into it. Again another half hour delay in which I was quite scared the wind was so strong that it was rocking the plane but thankfully the captain and crew were experience and did their best to keep us occupied but serving drinks and snacks. The sky cleared and the wind stopped and the captain to the break in the weather to take off! Once we left the ground it was a smooth 2h40m flight. During those two ours I reflected my time and experience in Andamans and told my self I'll be back again!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Melaka Malaysia; A Weekend Holiday

Melaka  Malaysia 2017.

Melaka is a two hour bus ride from Kuala Lumpur (KL). The bus we took was KKKL executive from TBS to Melaka Central Bus Station. With the ticket costing RM 14 per person it gives you a clean, comfortable air conditioned ride.

The Drive is pretty much like going to any destination in Malaysia, a smooth ride with views of palm oil plantations and small villages. Once you reach Melaka, it at first can seem deceptive, deceptive in the sense it starts off looking like the rest of Malaysia but once you start to get into the historical areas (Jonker Street) then this place truly becomes unique and piques your inquisitiveness about this state, It has a rich history of European colonialism, Chinese, Indian and Malay culture. The history is preserved by its architecture but fused with modern amenities. Compared to other locations in Malaysia, Melaka truly feels like a balanced multicultural society that is predominantly influenced by one. There is a undescribed feeling of freedom to be oneself in Melaka.

So now you might be thinking what 's there to do!? This place is great for a weekend or short 3-4 days getaway from the hustle and bustle of metropolitan life. Jonker Street by 6pm (weekends) transforms into a long stretch of road night market with many side roads filled with restaurants, pubs with live bands (try exodus pub, the staff are friendly and accommodating) and shops for you to see, eat and drink. During the day there are just as many shops, restaurants and pubs to visit but with the added attractions of museums, local food shops serving local delicacies, a river tour and if feeling for a bit of fun tricked out rickshaw rides with on board sound system included!

We stayed at Puri Hotel, a must stay to anyone who want to live in a beautiful heritage building with all the modern amenities such as a spa for those looking to unwind a bit. Staff are helpful, polite and knowledgeable to point you in the right direction for food and sightseeing. The location is ideal, right behind Jonker Street, So its quiet, and not far from all the major tourist attractions.

Melaka is a must go destination to anyone as it offers a little of everything about Malaysia's past and present.

Below are a few photos of Melaka.

Melaka, Malacca