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Colonial Kolkata

Arrival We landed on time around 0100.  Seated close to the front (because I paid, because I had been auto-assigned a bad seat), I was through immigration promptly.  One stands high up on steps at immigration perhaps in order to access the fingerprint scanners that may have been introduced after the desks were made. A […]

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Wat Arun, for sure

Wat Arun, Take 2 Today, I was determined to visit Wat Arun.  I have a midday check-out and a midnight light to Kolkata. I was on my way to Wat Arun soon after breakfast.  It was a lot more impressive than what I must have thought in April, to turnaround and leave even without entering […]

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Wat Arun or not?

Wat Arun was on my agenda today because I didn’t make it there in April.  Again, I took the Chao Phraya Express from my pier Phra Arthit to Wat Arun pier, several stops away.  Pulling in there, I had the distinct sense of déjà vu.  Yes, I had been hopped off there before … and […]

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Royal Barges

Because I had an unexpected trip to Bangkok in April, I had already done all I had wanted.  But the time I had allocated for Bangkok now remains, because that April trip was booked after this one. I thought it would be a good idea to visit the Royal Barges Museum, a place I have […]

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National Museum

We arrived into Kuala Lumpur at 0245, some 25 minutes ahead of schedule.  The first bus into the city goes at 0430.  There was one at 0330 from Terminal 1 but I wouldn’t have been able to get there in time.  I debated waiting vs catching a Grab car.  I opted for the latter at […]

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Cooking class

After yoga and a light lunch of Vietnamese sandwiches, we rested before starting a cooking class at a nearby restaurant. We were taught to make things the old fashioned way with a cobek (grinding stone) and lesong (mortar/pestle  –  stone mortar and long wooden pestle used standing up, as opposed to the Malaysian one used […]

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Little sightseeing and big eating

Today was much like yesterday with yoga and not much else.  Except that I wanted to re-sample Babi Guling and try Bebek Bengil’s crispy fried duck. The former, we were able to do lunch-time at Ibu Oka.  It was delicious: the pork was tender, the crackling crispy and the floured deep-fried pork nice and salty.  […]

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Staying put

I had set the alarm for 0640 so I could have breakfast at 0700.  That would give some time for brekkie to settle before yoga at 0800 at Yoga Barn.  With 4 nights in Ubud (three full days), I thought I’d get myself into a routine of daily yoga.  It’s not often I get to […]

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Moving inland (somewhat highland)

We had organised transport to take us from Lovina to Ubud today.  This will be our move inland and somewhat of a highland at 600m.  The driver Putu turned up a little ahead of the agreed time of 1030.   He had worked in New Zealand three times as a seasonal worker on kiwifruit farms. The […]

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Dolphin disappointment

We had set the alarm for 0540 for the 0600 start to go dolphin watching.  We waited on the beach at the appointed time.  Many boats set off before us but we seemed to be the last to get going.  It was about a 30 minute ride offshore and the sea was calm despite fears […]

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