Bali ~ Temple Water Garden

Bali ~ National Museum

Bali ~ Sidewalk Offerings

Feeding the Rats later at night...? I've seen this...!

Bali ~ at Seminyak Cafe

Bali Temple

Bali ~ Kuta Beach

Bali ~ Kuta Beach Hindu High Tide Ceremony

Bali ~ Popies I

Hindu Ceremony ~ Kuta Beach Bali

Hindu Ceremony ~ Kuta Beach Bali

Kuta Beach Surfer ~ Bali

Kuta Beach ~ Bali

Door Kala Figure ~ Bali

Legian Street ~ Bali

In Bali...Currently Traveling...

My Bali Blog has a lot of extra commentary...which I don't have time to post here...

Bali ~ Impressions

Bali...or the Kuta area anyway ... is a town of court yards...and narrow streets... There is little consideration of the pedestrian... Narrow high walled extremely narrow streets will go on for hundreds of meters...without any breaks or even a "cut throughs"...

So walking can be risky...and take you far far out of your way... There are often dogs to contend with...if the motor bikes are not bad enough...

Bali is best done at the large gated and gaurded beach resorts...these are luxurious and verdant...and designed to impress...even if the surrounding area is rather run down and impossible to navigate on foot...

The exception is the Kuta area between Hard Rock Cafe...and the Legian Beach area...This is all public and is the heart of the Poppies Lane Surfing ....

On the streets there are taxis and touts all over. Some are even genuinely helpful... after all this is their home...!

The Beach is "accessed" via the resorts...not through a public road or path...this may be designed to control traffic on the beach...which of course is beautiful...the exception being Kuta area...

The gangs or alleyways are full of small hotels and "losmens"...which are much cheaper than the main beach front resorts...Sorga is probably the best to check out in a pinch...but the facilities of the resorts are available on a walkin basis...so anyone can use them within limits...and photography is allowed...

The best way to see Bali is by private car...or small tour bus... Cars cost about $40 per day for all day...including gas... So perhaps a good deal...

There are convenience stores every few blocks for snacks and water...These are very western looking...and amid the other local businesses they stand out...

I saw a couple with kids trying to venture outside a big resort today...and I thought ...They just got here...! The Streets of Bali are no place for kids...there simply is no place to walk...and the traffic ( on the "wrong side" of the street ) is constant...

So that is my immediate "take" on Bali...I'll be moving around a bit...and going to the hinterland later...

Chora Mosaics ~ Istanbul

Bangkok Streets....

Mirador Mansion Hotels...Hong Kong...Sleep Cheap...

The Mirador Mansion and the Chung King Mansion provide Cheap places to sleep while in Hong Kong... The are both on the same block...and only ONE BLOCK from the Famous Penninsula Hotel and the respected Salisbury YMCA... Very easy to walk to from both hotels...right down Nathan Street...not far.

If you are intimidated by the high prices of hotels in Hong Kong...check out these two options... I've stayed in both...

There are many "hotels" in each of these buildings... Essentially, people have rented floors or space on floors to set up their "hotel"... These are mostly basic and cheap...some are a little seedy...but not bad...considering you are right in the middle of the Kowloon district...walking distance to the harbor and the view of the Hong Kong Island side...and the Star Ferry which is very easy to use... Most taxi drivers should know where these buildings are...if not just ask to go to the Penninsula or YMCA...then you can walk up Nathan Street for about 1/1/2 blocks...they are large buildings on the right side of the street...

The Streets of Bangkok....

Not really as crazy as many people say...certainly not as bad as Cairo...!

Female Ruby Throated Hummingbird

Some people will travel long distances to see certain Hummingbirds...a Hummingbird Pilgrimage...?

Thai Peppers

White Horse Pub ~ Oxford England

An ancient pub wedged oddly between two Blackwells bookstores...

Bangkok ~ Small Buddhist Shrines are all around the city

Spirit House ~ Angkor Cambodia

Greenwich Time Ball

Toth at Habu Temple Luxor

Five European Libraries for the Literary Tourist.

Hong Kong

How to use foreign phones...dailing for Dollars...or Euros.

Got the One Star Traveling Blues...?

The NYT Frugal Traveler notes that the first 24 hours in a new town can be disorienting...

True...but that's why its important to have a room lined up...and to just chill for 24 hours...

Anyone who "does" Athens in two days...or Rome in 36 hours...is seriously missing the point of travel...

Any city worth visiting is worth at least a week... The only problem is that after a week...you really start to get the hang of a place... And then you have to move on to the next city...and start all over again...!

Well...travel can be a bit stressful...and often it is "rewarding" only in retrospect...not as its happening...

But at least you can try to enjoy it...! LoL...

Usce Shopping Center ~ Belgrade, Serbia

Right across the bridge from Mihalova Street Pedestrian Mall...might draw some evening walkers off the old shopping street...?? This mall is very deluxe ...with a big cinema...restaurants, cafes, taverns... Very high end and crowded in the evenings and weekends... Serbs like to socialize and shop a little...

Times in Budapest...

View from the Citadella...