Day 7: Relaxing

We spent all day lying out on the beach (needed to recover from yesterday's monkey attack after all,) so here's another short post.


A woman selling sarongs. Others were selling jewellery, watches, sunglasses, and other overpriced items to tourists.


The tide started going out at around noon, and these poor guys were raking up the seaweed that was left behind. By late afternoon, the water had receded so far that the buoys that originally marked where it was safe to swim were practically lying on the sand.


We've been trying to eat a lot of Indonesian food, avoiding places that only serve Western or non-Indonesian Asian food. Most restaurants that we've seen served a variety of cuisines anyway, so we've been ordering mainly the Indonesian items off the menus. This is the nasi campur ('mixed rice') that I had, which was white rice with a bunch of different yummy curries and side dishes.


Our hotel, Melia Bali, late into the evening. They light up the paths with candles every night.

Day 6: Seminyak, Uluwatu & Jimbaran

Today we had a guide, Agus, to take us around Bali. Our first stop was Seminyak, a touristy shopping and dining area. Tourism is Bali's biggest industry, so it's not surprising that most of the places we've visited so far have seemed 'touristy.' According to Agus, tourism is the reason why most Balinese people are very friendly.


Many Balinese get around on Honda motorbikes. Traffic is chaotic, and we found it very hard to cross the streets because crosswalks and traffic lights were rare. Even at crosswalks, drivers and cyclists didn't stop for pedestrians unless they were already in the middle of the street.


We saw many shops selling racks of petrol for motorbikes on the sidewalks. Agus told us that a litre of this petrol comes to 4500 Indonesian rupiah, or 50 cents Canadian.


A man glazing a cabinet in front of one of the many furniture stores in the area.


On the sidewalk in front of almost every store were these little offering trays, called canang sari. Balinese Hindus make one of these delicate baskets every day. It was definitely an effort to avoid trampling on them as we walked down the streets.


One of the stores only sold items woven out of a type of tall grass. I bought one of these over-the-body purses after the storekeeper demonstrated how strong the grass was by trying to rip the lid off of one of them and failing to.


After finishing browsing through Seminyak, we drove to the Uluwatu Temple for sunset. It's a Hindu temple with a stunning view over a cliff on the Indian Ocean. You can see it on the right in this photo.


Agus warned us in advance of the 'naughty monkeys' who hang around the temple and like to steal tourists' bags, cameras and sunglasses. My purse and camera were securely attached to my body, and my glasses were on my face, so I didn't think too much of it. Little did I know. I stooped down a bit to take a photo of this little guy and right after I snapped this photo, he (or she) turned to look at me, so I started to back away. As soon as I lowered my camera, he jumped straight at me and snatched my glasses right off of my face. It was a very skillful snatch too, he didn't touch my face at all and it happened so fast that I couldn't even register what had happened. I was so disoriented that I was just standing there half blind and laughing helplessly while the monkey ran off into the forest and my mother flapped around yelling for help. A local ended up chasing the monkey to get my glasses back in exchange for a tip- I think his sole job is to sit around all day waiting for monkeys to harass tourists.


Much less troublesome baby monkey.


View facing away from the temple.


We drove to the nearby fishing village Jimbaran for dinner after the sun had set. All of the restaurants on Jimbaran Beach are seafood restaurants located side by side in a strip, and they all have essentially identical menus with similar prices, all with similar views from similar locations. The restaurant we went to was literally on the beach- all of the tables were in the sand. The ocean was only a few metres away from where we were sitting, and we could hear the waves at the same time as traditional Balinese music.


All of the seafood we ordered was grilled, and our platter came with red snapper, lobster, crab, prawns, squid, and clams.


Traditional Balinese dancers took the stage for a live performance during our dinner.

Day 5: Arrival again

After what seemed like no time at all, we packed everything up again and left Hong Kong bright and early for Bali, Indonesia. We arrived mid-afternoon, just in time for some stunning sunlight and fantastic weather. Our hotel is in Nusa Dua, a pretty touristy area known for its resorts and beaches. Seeing as we arrived late, we only had time to explore the grounds and a little of the surrounding area on foot.





While Indonesia is predominantly Muslim, more than 90% of Balinese are Hindus. All around the hotel grounds and all around Bali are Hindu figures draped with checkered cloth, representing good versus evil.


The sun setting over the entrance to our hotel at around 6:30pm. Bali is both close to the equator and in the Southern Hemisphere (making it technically winter now despite the warm weather) so the days are relatively short.

Day 4: Wan Chai/Causeway Bay

For today's outing, we took a double decker tram to Wan Chai/Causeway Bay. Obviously, we sat on the second floor.


The trip came out to $2.30 HKD, which is equivalent to about 30 cents Canadian. Public transit is much more affordable than the $3 it would have cost me in Toronto.


Our destination was Butao Ramen, a hole-in-the-wall Japanese restaurant. Few seats and long lines necessitate ordering before even entering. There were only about 12 seats, and we had to share a table with strangers. Here, our server reviews our orders outside.


Seeing as my Chinese reading ability is nonexistent, I blindly ordered this heaping bowl of 'black' ramen. I was later told that the strange black lump in the middle was some kind of pork and sesame...thing. Zero for presentation, especially after said lump crumbled into bits that reminded me a bit of tar, but ten for taste, as this was easily the best bowl of ramen I've ever had.


Everything in Hong Kong is very cramped, narrow and busy.


More escalator madness, this time in Times Square.


Waiting for a taxi back from Admiralty.

Day 3: Exploring

We spent much of yesterday exploring on foot (much more interesting than what I did the day before, which was exploring malls, so I've elected to skip day 2 here). I expected the weather to be unbearable, because this is the first time I've ever been to Hong Kong in the summer. Before I left, everyone warned me that going outside would be a struggle to stay alive. Luckily (or unluckily, seeing as it delayed our flight) the typhoon has cooled down the weather significantly, and it's been more cloudy than sunny.


On Sundays, thousands of domestic helpers gather in the streets, parks and bridges to socialize on their day off. Many families in Hong Kong employ domestic helpers to help out at home.


The Honolulu Coffee Shop (beats me why it's called that) is famous for its egg tarts.


The Central-Mid-Levels escalator system is the longest in the world. We took it to get to my grandparents' place.


The view down Shelley Street. The covered green corridors on the right are all escalators.


The view from the 72nd floor of the International Finance Centre, the second tallest building in Hong Kong and where my grandpa works. Hong Kong is in the foreground, and Lantau Island is in the background.


How gorgeous is Hong Kong? Kowloon, which is on the mainland, is on the left, and Hong Kong Island is on the right.

Day 1: Arrival and Instagrams

Finally arrived in Hong Kong safe and sound after an 11 hour delay! Since we arrived so late, I have no photos other than the requisite airplane wing + clouds iPhone shot that I took right before falling asleep at the start of our 15-hour flight.

I'll be blogging as much as I can, hopefully daily. Follow me here for photos of my grand Asia adventure! I'll be spending a few days here in Hong Kong, then we're jetting off again to Indonesia, then Singapore, then back to Hong Kong. I'll also be Instagramming on the go (@natasia_leung) and to make up for my lack of photos of my first day in HK, here are some of my old Instagrams of my lovely Toronto, plus one more from this morning!






Hong Kong from my aunt and uncle's apartment

masha

masha at keele station