Well, the boys who were fortunate enough to have Bali Do 2005 drop by when it happened to coincide with their holiday probably won't have such fortuitous timing this year. It looks like I'll be arriving in SE Asia on May 26th but spending that weekend with Mr. Megatop in BKK. We're trying to decide between a beach/resort and a city vacation for the following week. Beijing is the leading contender. And Bali is on our list, as are other resort spots SQ serves (Maldives anyone?), but even if we do Bali we would probably arrive just as Bali Do 2006 is ending. :(

Paging cawhite60156... Out of idle curiosity (or a bit more), what's the 411 on accommodations for Bali Do 2006? Have you negotiated any kind of group rate from RC or the others?

MegatopLover -- No news yet on the RC rates for BaliDo2006, though I expect we'll start talking with them after I get back from EZE in October and can chat with ws8n about the tour we had. Currently in the process of soliciting rates from other properties....and in at least one case has been a bit, uh, "interesting" :o

Will keep y'all updated as we get more solid information to choose from.

Diana, thanks for the great update on recent changes to the Westin! It sounds like you were very favorably impressed by the new suites. Question...are the new suites in addition to the standard ones that were available at the Westin when we were all visiting in May? Or are they the standard suites (such as the one you had in May) renovated? You mention they have RBC access -- are they considered to be RBC suites in addition to the "regular" Westin suites?

247 days until the official start of BaliDo2006!
 

I got to have a bit of a Bali reminder at lunch today... Dessert had a small scoop of ginger ice cream and oh how it reminded me of Bali...and the chunks of ginger in the hot tea at Zen...which of course reminded me of... ;)

Reminded you of SPANK SPANK SPANK ? ? ? ;) :D :D

Cancellation noted, bdschobel.
Hope to see you some other time.

Where have all yesterday's posts about the explosions in Bali gone ???

mod I guess. I hate it when they do this.

The posts from yesterday's bombing were moved into the thread on same subject in Newstand

Ah... OK.
Thanks for the info, cawhite60156.

Sorry, guys. After splitting the thread and moving the tail of it I forgot to leave a note here about it. Mea culpa!

<mod hat off>BTW, I will especially be interested in the trip reports from this Do and what all your perceptions are of local life after this round of attacks. This has got to be incredibily demoralizing for the people of Bali. </mod hat off>

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essxjay
FT Community moderator

I hope after this disturbing event, we will not judge the situation too quickly. We still have 8 months to watch what is going on in Bali.

I myself still see Bali as one of the destination I should go within the next one year. Probably for my vacation early next year. Been there so many times, and yet there are so many places I have yet to explore.

I guess there are risks everywhere, be it natural disaster or terrorism. Not only in Bali.

As what CGK says, wait and see. Still many more months to go to the DO.

I am returning to Bali at the end of October. I am not at all afraid to travel to Bali, it has become my second home. It makes me angry and sad to see that the terrorists have made a beautiful, magical and healing island a target of their terror once again.

By the way, here are some photos of my Westin Ocean Suite when I was there September 17-21, 2005.