Holland & Bali
 

Ever since I went to Cambodia and Thailand, I am addicted to temples. I love temples! In fact, as a boy I was a big fan of Indiana Jones and dreamed of becoming a famous archaeologist discovering a hidden temple with a large treasure inside. Well, it didn't come to that as my parent refused to pay for "frivolous college educations". I guess chemistry is fun too.

Anyhow, since I never had been to Bali and got exited when reading all the Trip Reports on that destination, I decided that this year was the time to go. Problem was: airfare to Bali in J from BOS is expensive and there is absolutely no way I would fly Y halfway across the globe.
Then I got thinking and looked at airfare starting in AMS, where my folks live. For whatever reason, AMS-DPS was relatively cheap on QR. Hmmm...
Looking at award availability to AMS, I got nothing but I could fly an award in J BOS-DUS on AB. Thus, my itinerary was the following:

AMS-DUS AB in J
DUS-AMS by ICE
AMS-DOH-DPS in J
DPS-DOH-BOS in J

Since the QR flights were priced in euros, I watched for a month or so the euro exchange rate and bought when the euro was somewhat low. Total outlay was about $4K for the QR flights and 60,000 Avios for the AB flight.

I had never flown AB, but thought the business class cabin was cozy. The single window seat a bit cramped however for my 6'2". The FAs were very friendly and delighted I could speak German reasonably well. We chatted a bit and had dinner before popping a pill and go to sleep.
Unfortunately, the flight was big time delayed and thus I missed my train connection. Not sure what to do when I got to the airport train station (no personnel in sight), I just hopped onto the S-Bahn to Duesseldorf Hbf. At the train station I exchanged my old ticket for a new one and in about 2 hours was in Holland.

After a week spending with my folks in Holland it was time to depart for Bali.
The QR flight from AMS departed at around 6 PM and I had my parents drive me to the airport. Exchanging hugs, I checked in at the counter and briefly visited the lounge. In the plane, I got a private window seat and had a short but very pleasant flight. The crew was outstanding. Arriving at DOH on time, I browsed some stores and went to the departure gate for the DPS flight.

OMG! WHAT A ZOO!

The departure area was packed with holiday makers, kids everywhere, bags, carry-ons and what not cluttering the floor. In short: One Big Mess. Completely the opposite of the AMS experience.
To top it off, Y passengers had to board the bus(!) first and only at the very end were J passengers called. Unacceptable IMHO.
My mood got sour, but when I eventually made myself comfortable in my private J seat I felt better. Crew was not as friendly as the AMS crew and had to be reminded constantly of your needs. In short, not impressed by QR on this sector. After arrival in DPS, I got a taxi to the Seminyak Beach Resort & Spa, had something to eat and went to bed.

What follows is mostly a picture report without much text.

The Seminyak Beach Resort & Spa is absolutely fabulous. It is a rather intimate resort with about 100 rooms either with view of the ocean, beach, or garden. My room was located near the beach with view of the garden.

The resort has a lovely garden, a beachfront infinity pool (good for lap swimming) and is close to shops, restaurants and bars. Breakfast is extensive and of good quality. Personnel is very friendly and very helpful.
My room was large with queen bed, a shower, bath and had a shaded patio. Perfect for a solo traveler like me. A free fruit bowl was present on arrival and daily complimentary water bottles were provided.

The next day I decided to just relax at the pool and at night have a look at Seminyak. Seminyak reminded me a little bit of Phuket, albeit more upscale.

The next day I went on a temple tour:

Taman Ayun

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...man-ayun-1.jpg

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...man-ayun-3.jpg

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...man-ayun-8.jpg

Ulun Danu

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...lun-danu-3.jpg

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...lun-danu-1.jpg

Tanah Lot

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...-tanah-lot.jpg

Of the three temple complexes I visited, Ulun Dana was by far my favorite. I loved the flowers, the cool weather in the mountains, the scenic setting of the water temples and the more manageable crowds (as compare to Tanah Lot).

We also visited the rice fields at Jatiluwih. Another highlight of Bali.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...atiluwih-6.jpg

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...atiluwih-5.jpg

Apart from the magnificent scenery, I found the Balinese extremely polite and helpful. And impressively religious. Not trying to force anything upon you. The only minor point was the extreme humidity which I found difficult to deal with.
Having said that, Bali should be on anyone's itinerary who is interested in experiencing a very unique culture.

I'm not sure if you know this but none of the pictures are displaying as I think you may have uploaded them to a page inaccessible to the public.

They are hosted on Flyertalk in a picture album.

No pics either:(.

Hopefully the pics are visible now ("uploaded" them to the post instead of linking to a FT album).

It's been years after my last visit. Definitely will go there again, domestic hop would be easy.

Thanks Dieuwer for this nice report.