Big_Foot

This is gonna be a visual journal of our amazing trip to Asia.
Some impressions rather than a very deep review. Feel free to ask,
if you have any specific questions


- Andrew


1. LAX-NRT - a GREAT ANA First flight. A really great crew, took care of us
the way we did not expect.

2. We booked Shangri-La airport transfer to avoid any public transportation.
A really great driver waited for us in a BMW 7. A painless and very quick ride.

3. Absolutely amazing welcome at Shangri-La. They prepared TWO air-purifiers
for us, one in each room. Everything was ready. A beautiful Premier Suite.
Great Bulgari amenities. Outstanding rain shower. A GREAT view.
Their club is rather small with limited selection of food. Overall food could be
better, both breakfast and lunch.

4. Did the wagyu beef dinner at Dons de la Nature. Something we will not forget.
You pay for the first bite You have never tasted a steak if you never
experienced this restaurant. One on one with the chef as we were the only guests.


Gorgeous weather in Tokyo. A few pictures I took during our explorations.

Big_Foot

5. A wonderful Garuda business NRT-DPS flight. Tried to upgrade to First
at the airport, they refused, still no passenger in their First class...
A great smiling crew, good food, a good short flight.

6. A drive from hell from Bali airport to Mandapa.

7. A fiasco at the checkin, not gonna repeat myself (review in the other thread).

8. A stunning resort with an outstanding local crew, housekeeping,
restaurant, in-room dining, buggy transfer, all amazing, smiling people.

9. Used the BEST local driver - Made. Their website: baliaritour.com
He was just great, we used him 4 times. Highly recommend shorter,
half-day trips in the morning, best light and not-so-awful traffic.
Overall Bali traffic was way worse than we anticipated.

Again, gorgeous weather

LM225

Funny. We had this exact same experience last week on our stop in Tokyo on our way to Con Dao (starting our return journey today, will try to report soon).

Like you, we were the only ones in the restaurant. I'm ruined for steak for a while

Looking forward to the rest of your report.

Big_Foot

10. Moved to The Chedi Club, booked their unique Hadiprana Villa.
It's a 6000 sq ft 2-bedroom owner's villa, a living museum.

11. Outstanding service at Chedi, Alain the GM was waiting for us,
Bawa was our butler. The guy is the most amazing butler
we have ever met. Funny, helpful, kind. Outstanding.
Great food. The chef called Mandapa personally to learn about my wife's
food allergies.

12. Beautiful landscape, the only regret - they just cut their rice fields.
Still, continued our morning trips with Made and captured more Bali beauty.
Yes, still gorgeous weather

Big_Foot

13. AirAsia to Jogjakarta.

14. Transfer to Amanjiwo, more traffic from hell.

15. Amanjiwo... A wonderful pool villa on the upper level, towards
the back (next to the spa). Beautiful. Love the location.

16. What can I say, a different level of service. You must experience it to understand.

17. Visiting Borobudur every morning, trying to capture the best light.
Very tough. The place is crazy busy, we didn't expect that.
The driver takes us to the "VIP" entrance, gets us "sunrise" tickets.
After we are done, he takes us back to Amanjiwo. Repeat every morning
You must get there early, but no need to get sucked into the 4AM craziness.
Just go around 5.15AM. The best light is just before sunrise.
Because everyone else has been there for an hour or more, they all leave just after
sunrise and the gates are not open yet. You have at least 30 minutes of magic.
Very few people and the best light conditions.

SeamasterLux

Oh man, you sure know how to take outstanding pictures, I'm in awe.

Would you be shooting with a Sony A7-R? + a bit of vibrance in Lightroom?

Anyway, it's an impressive job and what a beautiful trip. I did the same but didn't get as lucky as you with the weather in Borobudur. I guess your persistence to come over and over again until you got the right one was a good idea.

Superb job, probably my favorite trip report on FT. Or anywhere else for that matter!

RichardInSF

This thread strikes me as a trip report more than luxury hotel reviews. So I am going let it run for a bit here and then send it to the Trip Reports forum where it will likely have a wider audience.

RichardInSF, moderator, luxury hotels

FlyingDoctorwu

Great great shots... looks like the upper level pool at Amanjiwo is more private (we had first level)... what a special place it is! Good to hear that the service is still top notch.

FDW

BENLEE

You take fantastic photos. ^^ Just curious, do you post-process them with a HDR process?

Shangri-la Tokyo and Amanjiwo are two of my favourite properties.

DSI

Amazing pictures. Really glad this is in this forum, and glad that you see luxury hotels as part of a continuum of travel rather than just a hotel room.

offerendum

Nice Villas

Big_Foot

That would be too easy
I do have Sony A7 R II, but I shoot manual glass only, Leica + Zeiss.
Plus an amazing little wonder - Sony RX1 R.

All this doesn't matter. Really. The most important thing in photography - light.
Always remember that. There is no shortcuts. You want good pictures,
you need great light.

And thanks for your wonderful comments!

Funny, we were just talking about that. Yes, I think the upper level is better.
And yes, Amanjiwo is out-of-this-world service wise. I will give you some examples later.
Let me just say now they have patience for my photography passion
We keep changing our plans as the weather changes... They never say no.

Not really an HDR. My goal is always to show the viewer what I experienced.
And thanks again to all of you for your nice comments.
I will add more content/places later.

SeamasterLux

Thanks!
RX1 R or RX1 RII ?

jfkcnf

Wow! Amazing shots, congratulations!

JetAway

I have an RX1 R plus all the big Canon bodies and lenses and the RX1 R is far and away my favorite camera. Its unprocessed output looks better than most post-processed pics from other cameras. BTW-your photos are stupendous.

ADDED: Your photo style looks very familiar. Did/do you have a travel photography website?