IAD-ICN-DPS-SIN-MFM-HKG-EWR (First/Biz/LCC) Lux hotels and even a ferry & train ride!
Sep 22, 2014, 7:55 am
#31
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Baltimore MD
Posts: 3,457
Quite enjoying the trip report so far... sorry to hear that the FS Sayan was disappointing- I had considered switching to a villa here but my travel agent really didn't have good things to say... Chedi Club in Ubud looks nice as well...
FDW
FDW
Sep 22, 2014, 8:14 am
#32
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: BWI
Posts: 1,782
What are your plans for Ubud?
We would not pick Aman, as it is more than we would likely want to spend. I think there are other choices other than FS Sayan that would be better. Perhaps our expectations were too great.
Thanks FDW. Wish I had listened to my TA and skipped it for Chedi Club...
Sep 26, 2014, 7:21 pm
#33
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: BWI
Posts: 1,782
My wife asked me before our trip “What is there in Bali?”
I responded that I’d like to go to a fantastic beach hotel and then also stay near Ubud. I explained that Ubud was the “cultural center” of Bali. Could I explain what that meant? Probably not...But I said we’d see a monkey forest, some temples, etc.
In reality, I’m not sure I was correct. We did walk a bit in the town of Ubud and saw a lot of stores and a bunch of restaurants etc. Some were very nice and some were pretty junky. We also went to a “market” in town. You know the drill for these markets. The stuff is all out for you to see. They tell you it is hand made by a craftsman and costs 100. It’s likely made in some factory and costs the store 5. You walk away and they come back to you. You say 20 and finally settle on 25. You think you did great and the store is laughing, because they would have settled for 15. Or something like that.
We did see some art, but couldn’t agree on anything. There is a photo of a souvenir I’ve included that did not make it on our list of purchases. Worth a picture for fun...We ended up buying some chazerai and even stopped in Starbucks for a cold drink. I never go to Starbucks and don’t even know how to order from that place. My wife had to help me
Twice we ventured into Ubud for dinner and we were happy with both. The finer of two restaurants was “Bridges” and it was a really good meal. We tried to go to Naughty Nuri’s, but the line was too long and they didn’t take a reservation. One of our restaurants for lunch was in the same ownership group as a bunch of other places, and we ended up with a coupon if we visited another. Our dinner was casual and good and we ended up chatting with another couple from Shanghai (I think – and they were from New Jersey originally).
Our hotel was located a very short cab ride from Ubud. The hotel had a shuttle into town, but we were not impressed by the service (not often enough, not well marked, etc). The cab ride was so cheap, it didn’t make sense to wait for the shuttle each and every time.
The first excursion that we really enjoyed was a trip to the John Hardy Factory. The hotel made an appointment (don’t think they take walk-ins) for us at the factory and we got a driver to take us there and wait. The representative was very nice and showed us different parts of the factory. She explained that he set up his business in Bali because he thought that all of the different types of craftsmen could be found there. He sold it a few years ago, but the business still has his name. We were not allowed to take pictures inside the factory, but we could on the grounds and the store. In my prior life, I sold filling equipment for Crown Cork & Seal, so the manufacturing process is something that interests me. You could see how they made each piece by hand. The jobs seemed to be very desirable, as they provided health insurance and I think even lunch. There were hundreds of workers that rode their scooters to work each day. We visited the store after the tour and my wife got two pair of earrings. They only could discount older jewelry. Interestingly, they said that all jewelry went to Hong Kong to be sent worldwide, even the jewelry that was for sale in Bali. I think that our whole visit was not even a half of a day.
The second excursion was to the Elephant Park in Taro. We got a driver again to take us there and wait for us. My wife rode elephants in Thailand, but it would be my first time. They put on a little show where the elephants would paint (not great self portraits like others), play basketball and soccer, etc. When it is your turn to ride, you are on a higher level than the elephant and you climb onto a wooden seat of sorts. The driver of the elephant sits forward of you. Our driver was really nice and spoke excellent English. He told us about the elephants and his life as we walked around. The whole trip on the elephant may have been ten minutes or so?You walked around the entire park, not just one little lap around a small track for sure. At the end of the ride, you gave your camera to someone and they took pictures of you. I was glad that they weren’t trying to push their own photographer.
We did get to walk around town and enjoyed our time there. We were able to get gifts for our relatives and it was a nice change from the beach and what we anticipated for our next stops in Singapore, Macau and Hong Kong.
Following are some pictures and I’ll comment on them as I feel necessary.
This is one of a few statues of elephants in the park. The park was nice and clean and not too big. Easy to get around. They did have cruise ships come to the park as an excursion. I'd hate to get behind a group from the cruiseship...
I've seen other elephants paint self portraits, but this elephant did not. Maybe they're not as talented? You could buy the picture, but it wasn't a hard sell or anything.
This truckload of elephant poop I think was later used for fertilizer...
Below are some sites we saw in Ubud and about...
I think this was getting ready for a wedding?
Lots of mopeds...These were the main source of transportation for the Balinese.
Here are some pictures of the John Hardy Factory...The place was very interesting and I highly recommend visiting it.
This is but a few of the mopeds from the workers...
This cool looking building was entirely made from bamboo (I think) and was the showroom...
Inside the showroom. They did discount a bit, but only the older collections.
Some scenes of Ubud...
The moped thing is amazing. Everyone drives one. Grownups wear a helmet (mostly) and the little kids mostly never. I guess they parent like Bill Cosby. Remember when he said "You know, I brought you in this world, and I can take you out. And it don't make no difference to me, I'll make another one look just like you." Sometimes there were 3 or even 4 passengers.
Normally I would avoid Starbucks, but it was pretty hot and we got some kind of cold drink thingy.
I know the swatstika is an ancient symbol, but it is weird to see.
We had a great dinner at Bridges. It was very near a 7-11, so were able to get some sodas to put in the mini-bar for a fraction of the price from Four Seasons.
Though it wasn't really necessary, they did have some bug spray for us.
The duck was awesome
What can I say, it was worth a picture.
Food cooked in the banana leaves was delicious.
I responded that I’d like to go to a fantastic beach hotel and then also stay near Ubud. I explained that Ubud was the “cultural center” of Bali. Could I explain what that meant? Probably not...But I said we’d see a monkey forest, some temples, etc.
In reality, I’m not sure I was correct. We did walk a bit in the town of Ubud and saw a lot of stores and a bunch of restaurants etc. Some were very nice and some were pretty junky. We also went to a “market” in town. You know the drill for these markets. The stuff is all out for you to see. They tell you it is hand made by a craftsman and costs 100. It’s likely made in some factory and costs the store 5. You walk away and they come back to you. You say 20 and finally settle on 25. You think you did great and the store is laughing, because they would have settled for 15. Or something like that.
We did see some art, but couldn’t agree on anything. There is a photo of a souvenir I’ve included that did not make it on our list of purchases. Worth a picture for fun...We ended up buying some chazerai and even stopped in Starbucks for a cold drink. I never go to Starbucks and don’t even know how to order from that place. My wife had to help me
Twice we ventured into Ubud for dinner and we were happy with both. The finer of two restaurants was “Bridges” and it was a really good meal. We tried to go to Naughty Nuri’s, but the line was too long and they didn’t take a reservation. One of our restaurants for lunch was in the same ownership group as a bunch of other places, and we ended up with a coupon if we visited another. Our dinner was casual and good and we ended up chatting with another couple from Shanghai (I think – and they were from New Jersey originally).
Our hotel was located a very short cab ride from Ubud. The hotel had a shuttle into town, but we were not impressed by the service (not often enough, not well marked, etc). The cab ride was so cheap, it didn’t make sense to wait for the shuttle each and every time.
The first excursion that we really enjoyed was a trip to the John Hardy Factory. The hotel made an appointment (don’t think they take walk-ins) for us at the factory and we got a driver to take us there and wait. The representative was very nice and showed us different parts of the factory. She explained that he set up his business in Bali because he thought that all of the different types of craftsmen could be found there. He sold it a few years ago, but the business still has his name. We were not allowed to take pictures inside the factory, but we could on the grounds and the store. In my prior life, I sold filling equipment for Crown Cork & Seal, so the manufacturing process is something that interests me. You could see how they made each piece by hand. The jobs seemed to be very desirable, as they provided health insurance and I think even lunch. There were hundreds of workers that rode their scooters to work each day. We visited the store after the tour and my wife got two pair of earrings. They only could discount older jewelry. Interestingly, they said that all jewelry went to Hong Kong to be sent worldwide, even the jewelry that was for sale in Bali. I think that our whole visit was not even a half of a day.
The second excursion was to the Elephant Park in Taro. We got a driver again to take us there and wait for us. My wife rode elephants in Thailand, but it would be my first time. They put on a little show where the elephants would paint (not great self portraits like others), play basketball and soccer, etc. When it is your turn to ride, you are on a higher level than the elephant and you climb onto a wooden seat of sorts. The driver of the elephant sits forward of you. Our driver was really nice and spoke excellent English. He told us about the elephants and his life as we walked around. The whole trip on the elephant may have been ten minutes or so?You walked around the entire park, not just one little lap around a small track for sure. At the end of the ride, you gave your camera to someone and they took pictures of you. I was glad that they weren’t trying to push their own photographer.
We did get to walk around town and enjoyed our time there. We were able to get gifts for our relatives and it was a nice change from the beach and what we anticipated for our next stops in Singapore, Macau and Hong Kong.
Following are some pictures and I’ll comment on them as I feel necessary.
This is one of a few statues of elephants in the park. The park was nice and clean and not too big. Easy to get around. They did have cruise ships come to the park as an excursion. I'd hate to get behind a group from the cruiseship...
I've seen other elephants paint self portraits, but this elephant did not. Maybe they're not as talented? You could buy the picture, but it wasn't a hard sell or anything.
This truckload of elephant poop I think was later used for fertilizer...
Below are some sites we saw in Ubud and about...
I think this was getting ready for a wedding?
Lots of mopeds...These were the main source of transportation for the Balinese.
Here are some pictures of the John Hardy Factory...The place was very interesting and I highly recommend visiting it.
This is but a few of the mopeds from the workers...
This cool looking building was entirely made from bamboo (I think) and was the showroom...
Inside the showroom. They did discount a bit, but only the older collections.
Some scenes of Ubud...
The moped thing is amazing. Everyone drives one. Grownups wear a helmet (mostly) and the little kids mostly never. I guess they parent like Bill Cosby. Remember when he said "You know, I brought you in this world, and I can take you out. And it don't make no difference to me, I'll make another one look just like you." Sometimes there were 3 or even 4 passengers.
Normally I would avoid Starbucks, but it was pretty hot and we got some kind of cold drink thingy.
I know the swatstika is an ancient symbol, but it is weird to see.
We had a great dinner at Bridges. It was very near a 7-11, so were able to get some sodas to put in the mini-bar for a fraction of the price from Four Seasons.
Though it wasn't really necessary, they did have some bug spray for us.
The duck was awesome
What can I say, it was worth a picture.
Food cooked in the banana leaves was delicious.
Sep 28, 2014, 1:39 pm
#34
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: YVR - Vancouver, with most winter weekends in Whistler.
Programs: Aeroplan 35K, Alaska MVP, Marriott Titanium / Lifetime Platinum, Hertz President's Circle
Posts: 4,609
Some good photos there and experiences staying at some properties not normally featured here.
Bali doesn't always run smoothly. It runs less smoothly than Thailand in my experience. It's both a good and a bad. . .
Looking forward to the rest.
Bali doesn't always run smoothly. It runs less smoothly than Thailand in my experience. It's both a good and a bad. . .
Looking forward to the rest.
Sep 29, 2014, 12:44 pm
#35
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: BWI
Posts: 1,782
So, it was time to leave Bali. We had 6 nights in Seminyak and 3 nights in Ubud and we looked forward to our 3 nights in Singapore, to be followed by 2 nights in Macau and finally 4 nights in Hong Kong.
We secured our own shuttle to the airport. It seemed that any taxi driver would also give you a card and you could make up a time for the next day. I don’t recall how we found this guy, but he was on time in picking us up from the Four Seasons.
The drive to the airport wasn’t too bad. I managed to get a few pictures of the airport this time. Arriving at around midnight doesn’t make me wanna take any pictures, so I was glad we were departing from the same airport. We loaded up the car and had an easy drive to the airport.
I read that the design of the airport is supposed to remind you of the waves of the water and the parking lot has grass or rice growing in tiers, like the rice terraces. Pretty cool design.
We got to the airport nice and early and went to the check-in area to drop off our luggage. Our flight today was on Valueair, a airline owned by Jetstar. We booked online very easily. They charged for things like baggage etc. We could have used points for Singapore Air flight, but in the end, the cost wasn’t so much and we decided to save our points. The flight time was about 2:30, so we didn’t need a luxury flight, so a flight on Singapore Air will have to wait…
Once we were told were to stand, we waited about 20 minutes for the check in counter to open. Of course, they told us the wrong spot and we were one counter off. We tried to get on another flight that was leaving earlier, but they couldn’t do that. There were some nice people that let us get into the right line and not have to go to the end of the queue. Once our bags were checked, we paid our departure fee and went to find the lounge. Access to the lounge was provided by Priority Pass.
The lounge was pretty crappy really. It did provide a somewhat better spot than the gate, but nothing special and certainly nothing to aspire to. I think we got charged whatever the Priority Pass charges. They had minimal food and drink and I think they even ran out of ice. The food was fair at best. This lounge was temporary and provided access to a large number of airlines. The lounge did have some masseuses to do foot massages for a fee. Just outside the lounge were some duty free items.
There was an opportunity to do a little plane spotting. Much different than what I see at BWI...
Soon it was time to go to the gate. There were handy signs to tell you how long it would take to get to the gate.
Of course people waited in line to board. I hate the term gate lice and won't use it.
You would think that they could keep the airport nice and clean with the cheap labor in Bali. Someone forgot to clean this part of the gate. Must have been days and days...
They called for us to board and we went right on. Here is a seat showing the leg room.
Very serious warnings about drug trafficking. Anyone that tries and gets caught is in big doodoo.
The plane was perfectly fine and the flight was smooth. Do you like the young passenger across the aisle? The parents didn’t have one word to say to their kid.
Once we landed we hot footed our way down to immigration and found this waiting for us..
We got a cab from the airport to the St. Regis. The Singapore airport had all of the modern conveniences of currency exchange and fine dining options...
We thought the hotel was very pretty and our room was luxurious. Public spaces were very nice as well. I was only able to grab a few shots of the public spaces on the way out. Sorry about that. Also, this post is getting very long and I don't feel like resizing any more pics for this one. My regrets on that.
Check in was done at a nice desk and we were able to negotiate a price for the breakfast buffet and it also included a couple of items to be laundered. We only required two breakfasts as we were meeting friends at a local place for one of the days. We paid for this hotel using "Cash & Points".
We enjoyed our stay at the hotel. It is expensive, but then again, it is a St. Regis. The butler is really a gimmick in my opinion. Maybe if we sat in the room and just had him do stuff for us, but that's not our style. The hotel's location was perfect for us. We ended up walking down Orchard Road towards the Ion Mall a few times. There were some other hotels that were closer down that way (Marriott and/or Hilton maybe, and other non-chain options).
Lovely artwork in the hotel...
Once we checked into our room, the butler came by and introduced himself and explained how some of the things worked in the room. Millions of buttons to control lights etc...
The bathroom was very large and provided a nice space for us to wash clothes. We brought a clothesline with suction cups to do laundry and this was our chance. We also used their clothes hanging thingy to dry some clothes that wouldn't fit on the clothesline. Are we the first people to wash our underwear in this tub?
Can you see the buttons on the night table?
I do like my slippers at hotels. But why are they always so freaking small?
We did sit by the pool for a little bit on one or two days...Nice pool...
More cool art
The breakfasts were pretty decent, but the service was a little lacking. I'm not sure what the problem was. Maybe too many guests and not enough help? Was the kitchen far away? Did they just get slammed?
The only real complaint we had was the concierge made a horrible dinner recommendation (two actually). I'll detail that in my next post that will cover our touring in Singapore, Marina Bay Sands, Gardens by the Bay and a bit of Jewish Singapore.
Thanks for following along.
We secured our own shuttle to the airport. It seemed that any taxi driver would also give you a card and you could make up a time for the next day. I don’t recall how we found this guy, but he was on time in picking us up from the Four Seasons.
The drive to the airport wasn’t too bad. I managed to get a few pictures of the airport this time. Arriving at around midnight doesn’t make me wanna take any pictures, so I was glad we were departing from the same airport. We loaded up the car and had an easy drive to the airport.
I read that the design of the airport is supposed to remind you of the waves of the water and the parking lot has grass or rice growing in tiers, like the rice terraces. Pretty cool design.
We got to the airport nice and early and went to the check-in area to drop off our luggage. Our flight today was on Valueair, a airline owned by Jetstar. We booked online very easily. They charged for things like baggage etc. We could have used points for Singapore Air flight, but in the end, the cost wasn’t so much and we decided to save our points. The flight time was about 2:30, so we didn’t need a luxury flight, so a flight on Singapore Air will have to wait…
Once we were told were to stand, we waited about 20 minutes for the check in counter to open. Of course, they told us the wrong spot and we were one counter off. We tried to get on another flight that was leaving earlier, but they couldn’t do that. There were some nice people that let us get into the right line and not have to go to the end of the queue. Once our bags were checked, we paid our departure fee and went to find the lounge. Access to the lounge was provided by Priority Pass.
The lounge was pretty crappy really. It did provide a somewhat better spot than the gate, but nothing special and certainly nothing to aspire to. I think we got charged whatever the Priority Pass charges. They had minimal food and drink and I think they even ran out of ice. The food was fair at best. This lounge was temporary and provided access to a large number of airlines. The lounge did have some masseuses to do foot massages for a fee. Just outside the lounge were some duty free items.
There was an opportunity to do a little plane spotting. Much different than what I see at BWI...
Soon it was time to go to the gate. There were handy signs to tell you how long it would take to get to the gate.
Of course people waited in line to board. I hate the term gate lice and won't use it.
You would think that they could keep the airport nice and clean with the cheap labor in Bali. Someone forgot to clean this part of the gate. Must have been days and days...
They called for us to board and we went right on. Here is a seat showing the leg room.
Very serious warnings about drug trafficking. Anyone that tries and gets caught is in big doodoo.
The plane was perfectly fine and the flight was smooth. Do you like the young passenger across the aisle? The parents didn’t have one word to say to their kid.
Once we landed we hot footed our way down to immigration and found this waiting for us..
We got a cab from the airport to the St. Regis. The Singapore airport had all of the modern conveniences of currency exchange and fine dining options...
We thought the hotel was very pretty and our room was luxurious. Public spaces were very nice as well. I was only able to grab a few shots of the public spaces on the way out. Sorry about that. Also, this post is getting very long and I don't feel like resizing any more pics for this one. My regrets on that.
Check in was done at a nice desk and we were able to negotiate a price for the breakfast buffet and it also included a couple of items to be laundered. We only required two breakfasts as we were meeting friends at a local place for one of the days. We paid for this hotel using "Cash & Points".
We enjoyed our stay at the hotel. It is expensive, but then again, it is a St. Regis. The butler is really a gimmick in my opinion. Maybe if we sat in the room and just had him do stuff for us, but that's not our style. The hotel's location was perfect for us. We ended up walking down Orchard Road towards the Ion Mall a few times. There were some other hotels that were closer down that way (Marriott and/or Hilton maybe, and other non-chain options).
Lovely artwork in the hotel...
Once we checked into our room, the butler came by and introduced himself and explained how some of the things worked in the room. Millions of buttons to control lights etc...
The bathroom was very large and provided a nice space for us to wash clothes. We brought a clothesline with suction cups to do laundry and this was our chance. We also used their clothes hanging thingy to dry some clothes that wouldn't fit on the clothesline. Are we the first people to wash our underwear in this tub?
Can you see the buttons on the night table?
I do like my slippers at hotels. But why are they always so freaking small?
We did sit by the pool for a little bit on one or two days...Nice pool...
More cool art
The breakfasts were pretty decent, but the service was a little lacking. I'm not sure what the problem was. Maybe too many guests and not enough help? Was the kitchen far away? Did they just get slammed?
The only real complaint we had was the concierge made a horrible dinner recommendation (two actually). I'll detail that in my next post that will cover our touring in Singapore, Marina Bay Sands, Gardens by the Bay and a bit of Jewish Singapore.
Thanks for following along.
Oct 16, 2014, 8:52 pm
#38
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Traveling the World
Posts: 6,072
A Little Bit of Background...
This is my third attempt at a trip report and hopefully will be the most successful. I confess that I didn’t finish up the second one as there were a fair number of views, but zero comments. I guess I bored everyone to death. But hey, even Eightblack has unfinished reports... I have read many trip reports here and marvel at the great ones. Even the ones that I don’t care for as much are so much work and I really do appreciate the time and effort that goes into even making a short one with no pictures. Hopefully, this report will neither bore nor infuriate you.
Trip Genesis: My wife and I are in our lower 40’s and have two girls aged 13 and 11. Each summer, the girls go to sleepover camp for seven weeks in the Poconos. The only day we see them is on Visiting Day, the third Saturday of camp. My wife and I work together at our own business and luckily, the summer is a slow time for us work-wise and we are able to take a nice, long vacation between Visiting Day and the end of camp.
The last three summers we cruised. The first cruise we did was from Athens-Istanbul (Greek Island) on the Silver Spirit. We extended on both ends for three nights. The second summer cruise was from Barcelona to Venice on the same ship and we extended in Barcelona and instead of staying in Venice, we went to Milan. Why Milan you ask? Because after our Italy trip on the ship, we went home and got our kids from camp and then returned to Italy for a 10 day or so land trip to Italy with my girls and the in-laws. The third cruise was in 2013 and from London to London around the British Isles and Iceland on the Silver Cloud. This was really amazing and we are huge fans of Silversea. They really do it right.
So, having had three consecutive summers of cruising, we were looking for something different. We would have done another cruise, but we didn’t want to go to Alaska or the Baltics and we’ve done the Med twice...We realized that what we liked was that the cruise allowed us to have a combination of touring and relaxing. We could take an excursion in the morning and come back in the afternoon for a late lunch and lounge by the pool. Don’t even get me started on how much fun trivia is! Or afternoon tea with the little sandwiches!!
We looked at Europe as it is an easy flight from our home in Baltimore. My wife really likes a larger beach resort as opposed to a hotel on a cliff in Italy. Me, I’m game for anything, but very happy to please my wife. There were no hotels/resorts that we could find that really interested us in Europe, having previously been to the Cannes and Monte Carlo. I wanted to do some combination of Paris and something else relaxing, but just couldn’t find anything that thrilled us.
For several years we’ve been collecting points through credit card signups, bonus points, work spend, personal spend etc. It seemed like it was high time to put these points to use. My wife agreed to go to Bali after hearing how nice it was and we then planned an almost three week jaunt through Southeast Asia.
Our trip broke down as follows:
Hotels:
Flights:
Our flights between USA and Asia were on Korean Air (First Class to ICN and Business to DPS) from IAD-ICN-DPS and then back on Cathay (Business Class) from HKG-EWR. We took LCC’s from DPS-SIN and SIN-MFM and then the ferry from Macau to Hong Kong. We landed in EWR and used a free night (credit card anniversary I think) at the Spring Hill Suites at EWR. The next morning we took Amtrak to Baltimore Penn Station to conclude our amazing trip.
In the interest of transparency, we used points for the big flights that were accumulated from credit card signups and spending. I don’t recall the amount for the Korean flight and the Cathay flight was 55,000 points/pax plus taxes. We paid for our LCC’s and the ferry of course. Points were used for the Conrad in Macau as well as the Intercon. I got the points for the Conrad by purchasing gift cards at CVS back when it was a bonus category. The IHG points were achieved by each of us getting their credit card and meeting the minimum spend. I think we used all of the signup points (80,000) and threw in maybe $100 each.
I am going to try to have this trip report cover three areas: transportation, hotels and what we did in each destination. The trip was fantastic. We had really great flights and wonderful hotel stays. Each locale was interesting and we ate well and even relaxed a bit! Now I’m working on next years trip.
Please feel free to comment either here or by PM.
I've added a map as people seem to like them.
Thanks for following along.
This is my third attempt at a trip report and hopefully will be the most successful. I confess that I didn’t finish up the second one as there were a fair number of views, but zero comments. I guess I bored everyone to death. But hey, even Eightblack has unfinished reports... I have read many trip reports here and marvel at the great ones. Even the ones that I don’t care for as much are so much work and I really do appreciate the time and effort that goes into even making a short one with no pictures. Hopefully, this report will neither bore nor infuriate you.
Trip Genesis: My wife and I are in our lower 40’s and have two girls aged 13 and 11. Each summer, the girls go to sleepover camp for seven weeks in the Poconos. The only day we see them is on Visiting Day, the third Saturday of camp. My wife and I work together at our own business and luckily, the summer is a slow time for us work-wise and we are able to take a nice, long vacation between Visiting Day and the end of camp.
The last three summers we cruised. The first cruise we did was from Athens-Istanbul (Greek Island) on the Silver Spirit. We extended on both ends for three nights. The second summer cruise was from Barcelona to Venice on the same ship and we extended in Barcelona and instead of staying in Venice, we went to Milan. Why Milan you ask? Because after our Italy trip on the ship, we went home and got our kids from camp and then returned to Italy for a 10 day or so land trip to Italy with my girls and the in-laws. The third cruise was in 2013 and from London to London around the British Isles and Iceland on the Silver Cloud. This was really amazing and we are huge fans of Silversea. They really do it right.
So, having had three consecutive summers of cruising, we were looking for something different. We would have done another cruise, but we didn’t want to go to Alaska or the Baltics and we’ve done the Med twice...We realized that what we liked was that the cruise allowed us to have a combination of touring and relaxing. We could take an excursion in the morning and come back in the afternoon for a late lunch and lounge by the pool. Don’t even get me started on how much fun trivia is! Or afternoon tea with the little sandwiches!!
We looked at Europe as it is an easy flight from our home in Baltimore. My wife really likes a larger beach resort as opposed to a hotel on a cliff in Italy. Me, I’m game for anything, but very happy to please my wife. There were no hotels/resorts that we could find that really interested us in Europe, having previously been to the Cannes and Monte Carlo. I wanted to do some combination of Paris and something else relaxing, but just couldn’t find anything that thrilled us.
For several years we’ve been collecting points through credit card signups, bonus points, work spend, personal spend etc. It seemed like it was high time to put these points to use. My wife agreed to go to Bali after hearing how nice it was and we then planned an almost three week jaunt through Southeast Asia.
Our trip broke down as follows:
Hotels:
- Nine nights in Bali (6 at GHM Legian Seminyak {awesome} and 3 at Four Seasons Sayan {meh}) – all charged on Arrival Card.
- Three nights in Singapore (St. Regis {excellent except concierge}) – Cash and Points
- Two nights in Macau (Conrad {fantastic, great upgrade}) - Points
- Four nights in Hong Kong (Intercontinental on Salisbury Rd. {great view}) - Points
Flights:
Our flights between USA and Asia were on Korean Air (First Class to ICN and Business to DPS) from IAD-ICN-DPS and then back on Cathay (Business Class) from HKG-EWR. We took LCC’s from DPS-SIN and SIN-MFM and then the ferry from Macau to Hong Kong. We landed in EWR and used a free night (credit card anniversary I think) at the Spring Hill Suites at EWR. The next morning we took Amtrak to Baltimore Penn Station to conclude our amazing trip.
In the interest of transparency, we used points for the big flights that were accumulated from credit card signups and spending. I don’t recall the amount for the Korean flight and the Cathay flight was 55,000 points/pax plus taxes. We paid for our LCC’s and the ferry of course. Points were used for the Conrad in Macau as well as the Intercon. I got the points for the Conrad by purchasing gift cards at CVS back when it was a bonus category. The IHG points were achieved by each of us getting their credit card and meeting the minimum spend. I think we used all of the signup points (80,000) and threw in maybe $100 each.
I am going to try to have this trip report cover three areas: transportation, hotels and what we did in each destination. The trip was fantastic. We had really great flights and wonderful hotel stays. Each locale was interesting and we ate well and even relaxed a bit! Now I’m working on next years trip.
Please feel free to comment either here or by PM.
I've added a map as people seem to like them.
Thanks for following along.
In fact when I was 13 almost 14 my family and I took a 3 month trip around Europe and Israel. We had such a great time.
I love flying as well(: Quite happily instead of attending camp I would go to Hawaii or some other cool place during the summer. I'm not one to stay around some campfire singing songs. I would much rather be eating pizza in Rome with a good bottle of Red Wine.
Oh and I enjoy Luxury Hotels as well.
Oct 17, 2014, 11:16 pm
#39
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Bargara Australia
Programs: VA, SQ, IHG, HH,ALL, Europcar
Posts: 1,530
Ubud is a special place , very mystical and spiritual if you can get away all the hawkers and tourists.
Bridges is an awesome restaurant, It is owned by friends of mine who also run a Yoga and related Retreats up Jalan Suweta near the Waka Di Ume Resort.
Sad to read that your hotel experience was not the best, the FS at Sayan has a good name, just wondering why the staff were meh - maybe management is not treating them well.
Not acceptable regardless.
Looking forward to reading the rest of your TR
Bridges is an awesome restaurant, It is owned by friends of mine who also run a Yoga and related Retreats up Jalan Suweta near the Waka Di Ume Resort.
Sad to read that your hotel experience was not the best, the FS at Sayan has a good name, just wondering why the staff were meh - maybe management is not treating them well.
Not acceptable regardless.
Looking forward to reading the rest of your TR
Oct 20, 2014, 7:41 am
#40
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: BWI
Posts: 1,782
Unfortunately, I don't have the luxury of taking seven weeks off. Someone has got to work to pay for their camp. But seriously, my girls are not deprived of international travel, albeit not in all luxury hotel. Their camp on the other hand is not roughing it.
Maybe our experience would have been better if we were in a villa? We met the GM of Sayan and he was a nice guy. Lots of experience at 4S, but the level of service from the hotel in general was just ok. Nothing like GHM and I'm trying to not let ruin 4S for me...
I'll try to add another installment tonight...
I'm the exact opposite of your daughters. If I have 7 weeks I will board as many flights as possible and enjoy traveling the world. I would be quite bored at a sleep-away camp. I would much rather be lounging around a First Class airline lounge, basking in an Airbus 380 suite.
In fact when I was 13 almost 14 my family and I took a 3 month trip around Europe and Israel. We had such a great time.
I love flying as well(: Quite happily instead of attending camp I would go to Hawaii or some other cool place during the summer. I'm not one to stay around some campfire singing songs. I would much rather be eating pizza in Rome with a good bottle of Red Wine.
Oh and I enjoy Luxury Hotels as well.
In fact when I was 13 almost 14 my family and I took a 3 month trip around Europe and Israel. We had such a great time.
I love flying as well(: Quite happily instead of attending camp I would go to Hawaii or some other cool place during the summer. I'm not one to stay around some campfire singing songs. I would much rather be eating pizza in Rome with a good bottle of Red Wine.
Oh and I enjoy Luxury Hotels as well.
I'll try to add another installment tonight...
Ubud is a special place , very mystical and spiritual if you can get away all the hawkers and tourists.
Bridges is an awesome restaurant, It is owned by friends of mine who also run a Yoga and related Retreats up Jalan Suweta near the Waka Di Ume Resort.
Sad to read that your hotel experience was not the best, the FS at Sayan has a good name, just wondering why the staff were meh - maybe management is not treating them well.
Not acceptable regardless.
Looking forward to reading the rest of your TR
Bridges is an awesome restaurant, It is owned by friends of mine who also run a Yoga and related Retreats up Jalan Suweta near the Waka Di Ume Resort.
Sad to read that your hotel experience was not the best, the FS at Sayan has a good name, just wondering why the staff were meh - maybe management is not treating them well.
Not acceptable regardless.
Looking forward to reading the rest of your TR
Oct 20, 2014, 8:59 pm
#41
Join Date: May 2009
Location: DCA
Programs: US Chairman, Marriott Platinum, PCR Platinum, and SPG Gold
Posts: 1,244
Row 1 on ICN-DPS
Nice trip report. We just booked a similar routing (IAD-ICN-DPS so and return with ICN stop) for 9/2015 on a first class bonus award. I understand that the ICN-DPS leg is sold 2 class but does how a row 1/ first class. Did you ask to be seated in row 1 and if yes...any luck?
Oct 21, 2014, 7:46 am
#42
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: BWI
Posts: 1,782
We did not get row one as it was occupied by the relief pilot.
The seating from IAD-ICN was 1-2-1 and we had the 2 center seats in the back row and used the two window seats as our bed. The relief pilot took the right-center seat.
The seating from IAD-ICN was 1-2-1 and we had the 2 center seats in the back row and used the two window seats as our bed. The relief pilot took the right-center seat.
Nice trip report. We just booked a similar routing (IAD-ICN-DPS so and return with ICN stop) for 9/2015 on a first class bonus award. I understand that the ICN-DPS leg is sold 2 class but does how a row 1/ first class. Did you ask to be seated in row 1 and if yes...any luck?
Oct 21, 2014, 7:44 pm
#43
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: BOS, Latin America
Programs: AA Plat
Posts: 712
Oct 23, 2014, 7:46 pm
#44
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: BWI
Posts: 1,782
So, one of the things we learned on our trip was that Singapore was a stopping point for traders going back many, many years. Sort of an aquatic Silk Road. You can find more information http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strait_of_Malacca and also http://www.economist.com/blogs/banya...tury-singapore
The impact of Singapore being along a trading route is that there are several different ethnic groups represented. Among the many, there are Chinese, Muslim, Indian and British influences. These influences obviously extend to the foods.
I understood that Singapore is one of the best foodie cities in the world. We did not experience that. We enjoyed all of our meals, but we missed the famous Chili Crab.
Reading trip reports here on FT is educational, as I've learned about different foods that are found across the world. I read that Chili Crab is a fun food to eat in Singapore and it is probably casual enough that we wouldn't have to dress up or feel formal.
Sadly, we only had three dinners in Singapore. The first dinner we ended up eating at Ion Mall in their food court. It just worked out for us to go there.It was fun to see all of the different stalls/counters where we could get different foods. Another dinner was at the buffet at Marina Bay Sands and then that left one more dinner and a major failure by the concierge at the St. Regis.
We asked the concierge to make reservations for Chili Crab at Jumbo Seafood. Unfortunately, we asked so late in the day, we could only get a reservation for about 9:30, that it wasn't worth going to. Can't blame anyone but ourselves for that problem. So we asked the concierge to make us a reservation for Chinese food. They got us a reservation at, of all places, The Four Seasons. Now I like the Four Seasons, even after our experience in Bali. But I didn't come all the way to Singapore to eat at the Four Seasons. I'm not sure why they thought we would, perhaps because they figured it was a safe bet? Or that it was easy for them and they wouldn't need to work hard to find a good spot.
In any event, we rejected that reservation and they made us an alternate one at Chatterbox, a restaurant located in the Mandarin Orchard Hotel. We were able to walk down Orchard Road towards the Ion Mall and it was on the right. The hotel was nice and the restaurant is apparently famous for their Mandarin Chicken Rice dish. Ok, so it's not Chili Crab, but it's famous
The problem was that the restaurant wasn't very good. Both the service and food were lacking. The couple next to us (from Singapore) were also frustrated with the food/service and actually said they had been looking forward to coming back here after not coming for a while and that they were very disappointed and even sad for us that we had such a bad experience. I must say that I gave my wife a lot of grief over this meal. Oh well, a nice Jewish boy isn't supposed to eat Chili Crab anyway
This car was parked at the Mandarin Orchard (not Mandarin Oriental) hotel and did give us hope...
The lobby of the hotel. Pretty interesting. It was hard to capture on film how pretty the lighting fixture was. But, it was good enough for me to photo.
Here is a picture of their famous chicken dish. Can't understand why it was famous...
We ended up with two lunches in Singapore. One we ate at Ion Mall with our tour guide (just ended up there due to subway I think). Some of the pictures are from dinner time and some may be from lunch...The food court is called Food Opera. Makes it sound fancier right?
Fancy Name and all...
This bakery smelled great!
Definitely not mall food back in America
I'm a little ashamed to say that this is where we had lunch. We didn't have that long for lunch during our tour and we just picked this as the safe and fast choice. Pretty good actually.
My burger. I think I got it with a fried egg on top? I always like that
Our second lunch was at Marina Bay Sands (more about MBS in the next post) at db Bistro by Daniel Boulud. I've never been to one of his places, but have heard of him of course. This burger caught my attention. It was really, really good. Nothing like what we get at home. Do you remember Crocodile Dundee? Imagine DB eating one of those Charlie burgers above. DB would say, "That's not a burger, this is a burger!
A most delicious burger. Inside is braised short ribs and foie gras.
We also had dinner at the buffet at MBS. Sometimes, it is just easier to go to the buffet. Everyone can get something that they want and no one really has to compromise. Besides, who doesn't like to pig out a bit? We had walked from the Raffles Hotel to MBS and I checked googlemaps and it is over one mile. Did I tell you it was hot? As in really, really, really hot. As in, who in their right mind would live here hot? I rationalized that we worked enough on our walk to earn a trip to the buffet. Some pictures to follow...
Some sushi. My wife likes the nigiri.
I had to get one of these guys...Didn't get one at the Long Bar, so I did for dinner.
fruit?
More food...
Can't pass this up!
All of the meals were enjoyable as were the various snacks we ate with our tour guide. She tried to introduce to us (really me) some of the local food by the various ethnic groups.
Following are some pictures from our walking tour.
This is really good!
Eggs are not refrigerated
Trying something yummy
I'm so brave! Can you see how small that piece is?
This is what I'm eating. I think it's a really old egg or something like that...
A famous egg tart
And just like that, we're at the end of this post. The next post will detail our touring in Singapore...
As always, thanks for following along! Any questions, please feel free to ask away
The impact of Singapore being along a trading route is that there are several different ethnic groups represented. Among the many, there are Chinese, Muslim, Indian and British influences. These influences obviously extend to the foods.
I understood that Singapore is one of the best foodie cities in the world. We did not experience that. We enjoyed all of our meals, but we missed the famous Chili Crab.
Reading trip reports here on FT is educational, as I've learned about different foods that are found across the world. I read that Chili Crab is a fun food to eat in Singapore and it is probably casual enough that we wouldn't have to dress up or feel formal.
Sadly, we only had three dinners in Singapore. The first dinner we ended up eating at Ion Mall in their food court. It just worked out for us to go there.It was fun to see all of the different stalls/counters where we could get different foods. Another dinner was at the buffet at Marina Bay Sands and then that left one more dinner and a major failure by the concierge at the St. Regis.
We asked the concierge to make reservations for Chili Crab at Jumbo Seafood. Unfortunately, we asked so late in the day, we could only get a reservation for about 9:30, that it wasn't worth going to. Can't blame anyone but ourselves for that problem. So we asked the concierge to make us a reservation for Chinese food. They got us a reservation at, of all places, The Four Seasons. Now I like the Four Seasons, even after our experience in Bali. But I didn't come all the way to Singapore to eat at the Four Seasons. I'm not sure why they thought we would, perhaps because they figured it was a safe bet? Or that it was easy for them and they wouldn't need to work hard to find a good spot.
In any event, we rejected that reservation and they made us an alternate one at Chatterbox, a restaurant located in the Mandarin Orchard Hotel. We were able to walk down Orchard Road towards the Ion Mall and it was on the right. The hotel was nice and the restaurant is apparently famous for their Mandarin Chicken Rice dish. Ok, so it's not Chili Crab, but it's famous
The problem was that the restaurant wasn't very good. Both the service and food were lacking. The couple next to us (from Singapore) were also frustrated with the food/service and actually said they had been looking forward to coming back here after not coming for a while and that they were very disappointed and even sad for us that we had such a bad experience. I must say that I gave my wife a lot of grief over this meal. Oh well, a nice Jewish boy isn't supposed to eat Chili Crab anyway
This car was parked at the Mandarin Orchard (not Mandarin Oriental) hotel and did give us hope...
The lobby of the hotel. Pretty interesting. It was hard to capture on film how pretty the lighting fixture was. But, it was good enough for me to photo.
Here is a picture of their famous chicken dish. Can't understand why it was famous...
We ended up with two lunches in Singapore. One we ate at Ion Mall with our tour guide (just ended up there due to subway I think). Some of the pictures are from dinner time and some may be from lunch...The food court is called Food Opera. Makes it sound fancier right?
Fancy Name and all...
This bakery smelled great!
Definitely not mall food back in America
I'm a little ashamed to say that this is where we had lunch. We didn't have that long for lunch during our tour and we just picked this as the safe and fast choice. Pretty good actually.
My burger. I think I got it with a fried egg on top? I always like that
Our second lunch was at Marina Bay Sands (more about MBS in the next post) at db Bistro by Daniel Boulud. I've never been to one of his places, but have heard of him of course. This burger caught my attention. It was really, really good. Nothing like what we get at home. Do you remember Crocodile Dundee? Imagine DB eating one of those Charlie burgers above. DB would say, "That's not a burger, this is a burger!
A most delicious burger. Inside is braised short ribs and foie gras.
We also had dinner at the buffet at MBS. Sometimes, it is just easier to go to the buffet. Everyone can get something that they want and no one really has to compromise. Besides, who doesn't like to pig out a bit? We had walked from the Raffles Hotel to MBS and I checked googlemaps and it is over one mile. Did I tell you it was hot? As in really, really, really hot. As in, who in their right mind would live here hot? I rationalized that we worked enough on our walk to earn a trip to the buffet. Some pictures to follow...
Some sushi. My wife likes the nigiri.
I had to get one of these guys...Didn't get one at the Long Bar, so I did for dinner.
fruit?
More food...
Can't pass this up!
All of the meals were enjoyable as were the various snacks we ate with our tour guide. She tried to introduce to us (really me) some of the local food by the various ethnic groups.
Following are some pictures from our walking tour.
This is really good!
Eggs are not refrigerated
Trying something yummy
I'm so brave! Can you see how small that piece is?
This is what I'm eating. I think it's a really old egg or something like that...
A famous egg tart
And just like that, we're at the end of this post. The next post will detail our touring in Singapore...
As always, thanks for following along! Any questions, please feel free to ask away
Oct 24, 2014, 2:20 am
#45
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: EWR
Posts: 2,112
