Our hotel in Bali, Indonesia (Courtyard Hotel, Legian)
My girlfriend Melissa at the Melbourne aquarium.
Yarra River, Melbourne, Australia
Melbourne, Australia
Melbourne, Australia
Melbourne, Australia
Although I have lots to say about our trip and especially Australia, but I'll try to keep it short.
Dec. 22-29 in Bali, and Dec. 29-Jan. 4 in Melbourne.
First was the flight. New York via Anchorage, Alaska via Taipei, Taiwan to Denpasar, Bali. 25 hours of fun! Our first flight with EVA was amazing -besides the fish porridge for breakfast- the plane was only something like a month old. The American airline companies could really learn a thing or fifty. Our flight back was with American Airlines (bah!) via LA, but operated by Quantas (woohoo!)... so once again we were quite lucky.
BALI~
Bali was great... it always is, cheap, laid back, and relaxing. Although the first couple days we were there it rained non-stop, and the streets flooded (make sure to check out the link at the bottom for ALL the pictures... including the flooding!).
When it storms of course all the crap from the ocean gets placed on the beach, so that was pretty much a bummer, but we still had an amazing time.
The last time I had been in Bali had been exactly a decade earlier, and you could really sense the change. There had been 2 separate bombings in between targeted completely at tourism, killing over 200 people. We visited the site, and had a beer at Paddy's II. It's sad because it really hurt tourism, the streets were alot emptier than 10 years earlier. Once again religion proves to be a destructive force. Bali is one of the only islands belonging to Indonesia which isn't muslim, and as you should know this country has the largest muslim population of any country in the world, hence their dislike for western lifestyle and influences due to Balinese tourism.
I really can't say any of that really matters to me, you can't live life in fear (although the Bush administration sees that a little differently, but f**k Bush, only 9 months left with that monkey).
AUSTRALIA~
First of all a place that calls itself a "drinking culture" should have bars that are open past midnight. We got kicked out of a bar at 1am because it was closing... I mention this because it was NEW YEARS EVE. A six-pack of beers in a supermarket should also not exceed $10. Which they did. Even Victoria Bitter (brewed and bottled in Australia) ran up to $14 (Aussie dollars). We also learned that "Fosters, Australian for beer" is a completely farce. The only Fosters I had was on the airplane leaving Australia. It's sad if I can get a Australian beer cheaper here in NYC than there. Really REALLY sad.
Bali, on the other hand, was the complete opposite, $1 bottles of beer at the bar (which are open 24/7). And they only sell Bintang beer, which means 'star' in Indonesian, and if you know your beers looks identical to the Heineken star on it's bottle. Quick history lesson: the Dutch colonized Indonesia back in the day, and they didn't leave on the greatest terms, so as not to correlate too much with Dutchness, they changed 'Heineken' to 'Bintang.'
The only problem Bali seemed to have was electricity. Couple times we had to relax by candle light as the entire town's electricity went out. We also rented a scooter for the day for US$3!
Dec. 22-29 in Bali, and Dec. 29-Jan. 4 in Melbourne.
First was the flight. New York via Anchorage, Alaska via Taipei, Taiwan to Denpasar, Bali. 25 hours of fun! Our first flight with EVA was amazing -besides the fish porridge for breakfast- the plane was only something like a month old. The American airline companies could really learn a thing or fifty. Our flight back was with American Airlines (bah!) via LA, but operated by Quantas (woohoo!)... so once again we were quite lucky.
BALI~
Bali was great... it always is, cheap, laid back, and relaxing. Although the first couple days we were there it rained non-stop, and the streets flooded (make sure to check out the link at the bottom for ALL the pictures... including the flooding!).
When it storms of course all the crap from the ocean gets placed on the beach, so that was pretty much a bummer, but we still had an amazing time.
The last time I had been in Bali had been exactly a decade earlier, and you could really sense the change. There had been 2 separate bombings in between targeted completely at tourism, killing over 200 people. We visited the site, and had a beer at Paddy's II. It's sad because it really hurt tourism, the streets were alot emptier than 10 years earlier. Once again religion proves to be a destructive force. Bali is one of the only islands belonging to Indonesia which isn't muslim, and as you should know this country has the largest muslim population of any country in the world, hence their dislike for western lifestyle and influences due to Balinese tourism.
I really can't say any of that really matters to me, you can't live life in fear (although the Bush administration sees that a little differently, but f**k Bush, only 9 months left with that monkey).
AUSTRALIA~
First of all a place that calls itself a "drinking culture" should have bars that are open past midnight. We got kicked out of a bar at 1am because it was closing... I mention this because it was NEW YEARS EVE. A six-pack of beers in a supermarket should also not exceed $10. Which they did. Even Victoria Bitter (brewed and bottled in Australia) ran up to $14 (Aussie dollars). We also learned that "Fosters, Australian for beer" is a completely farce. The only Fosters I had was on the airplane leaving Australia. It's sad if I can get a Australian beer cheaper here in NYC than there. Really REALLY sad.
Bali, on the other hand, was the complete opposite, $1 bottles of beer at the bar (which are open 24/7). And they only sell Bintang beer, which means 'star' in Indonesian, and if you know your beers looks identical to the Heineken star on it's bottle. Quick history lesson: the Dutch colonized Indonesia back in the day, and they didn't leave on the greatest terms, so as not to correlate too much with Dutchness, they changed 'Heineken' to 'Bintang.'
The only problem Bali seemed to have was electricity. Couple times we had to relax by candle light as the entire town's electricity went out. We also rented a scooter for the day for US$3!
All our photo's can be found here:
Check it out, because it's worth it! Photo's from inland Bali, the Royal Palace, massive spider, menstruation sign, wild koala bears, and my very own police mug shot! Enjoy.
