A better view of Kintamani – when the first big cloud of fog moves away and just before the next one moves in.

Quick stopover at Tegalalang on the way back to our villa. We left as it started drizzling. Was expecting a sea of part gold and part green – but the sun was hiding behind layers of clouds, so no luck.

As we finished early for the day, we decided to book ourselves in for a sunset dinner by the Seminyak beach. Breeze at The Samaya was highly regarded on TripAdvisor, and so we decided to give it a try. The Samaya is a short 10 minutes stroll from our villa.

The setting at Breeze was really amazing that I think no pictures would do it justice. You just have to be there to see and feel it. How often do you get to dine to the sound of crashing waves and the cool seaside breeze?

Breeze at the Samaya probably serves the freshest seafood platter in town.

Just as we thought nothing would top the seafood platter, dessert was served. The one on the right is your usual crème brûlée. The highlight is the one on the left – the special pandan brûlée! I’m not a big fan of crème brûlée but I was absolutely blown away by the chef’s creation of pandan brûlée and loved every bit of them both!

Two happy customers.

The garden pool at The Samaya.

We thoroughly enjoyed our dining experience at Breeze. Gave very positive feedback on the suggestion form, submitted a good review on TripAdvisor and even got a thank you email from the General Manager of The Samaya. I have never felt so appreciated as a customer by any restaurants (big or small) that I have visited in my life!

Overall it was a good trip and we have had plentiful of fond memories in Bali – except the very last day when both of us were hit hard by food poisoning. Nevertheless, thank you Bali for your hospitality, friendly people, and yummy food. We will certainly be back for another holiday!

Pak Dolir suggested we watch the Balinese barong dance as our first stop of the day. We arrived 15 minutes late at the venue because some girl scouts decided to march on the road, turning a two-lane road into a single lane carriage to be shared by 300 vehicles behind them. Well at least there’s a cause to traffic congestions here – unlike back home!

As Z puts it, this is the legendary band room.

After the dance and on the way to Kintamani, we stopped by babi guling Ibu Oka’s Ubud branch for an early lunch. To be frank, we didn’t find it to be remarkably tasty given all its hype and word-of-mouth publicity. The crispy skin was not as crispy as we expected it to be. In fact, I reckon it’s a tad too thick to be described as ‘crispy’. Regrettable, but at least we enjoyed the chilli condiment (the treasure in that little orange container).

As we drove further up to the Kintamani viweing area, we stopped by Alam Bali for some coffee tasting. From left to right: cocoa, ginseng coffee, ginger tea, lemon tea, and Balinese coffee. These are for free and ginseng coffee is our favourite. The cinnamon sticks are for stirring and aroma. We also paid 50,000 IDR for a cup of luwak coffee, which is too strong to our liking – but we still finished it anyway since it’s an expensive coffee.

We noticed these 2 bottles on every desk and so we asked Pak Dolir what they were. Turns out to be home brewed rice wine, 5% (left) and vodka, 40% (right). The rice wine is too sour, probably more suited for cooking. But the vodka – it’s good stuff.

Next: Kintamani and Tegalalang…

bvilla seaside’s reception area. Very primitive, but very pleasant customer service. Oh, airport transfer shuttle was complimentary.

Welcome drinks at our villa. Tastes like bandung with a hint of lemongrass. Very refreshing on a hot day.

Private pool. Proper Balinese holiday. Proper.

Introducing my astonishing discovery on our first night in Bali – served by a small cafe near our villa, fried angel hair with chilli. It tastes like mee siam. I’m not kidding you. Salty. Dry. Spicy. Loved it to bits! Further away from the camera you can see some deep fried calamari with some super-salty salad (never mind the salad) and a burger named “G Burger” served with brilliant fries. Typical American burgers – had to be eaten in stages. Hehe.

When we woke up on the second day, we gave the reception a tinkle, and they got some lovely staff over to our villa and cooked us an American breakfast. Salty as seawater, but goes well with the orange juice.

Lunch at Warung Made, Seminyak, a joint recommended by our cab driver, Pak Bayu. Funny guy he is. Always laughing. Always joking. The epitome of a happy-go-lucky person.

Seminyak beach. Gorgeous is an understatement, isn’t it? It was so beautiful, we came back to the same beach for a different view the very next day.

Dinner at Kafe Betawi. They have stores all over Indonesia, but this one we went to is located inside Seminyak Square. Folks, I strongly recommend you try their “es jeruk kelapa”. It’s orange juice with fresh juicy coconut meat in it. Not overly sweet yet very refreshing. Whoever invented this is a real genius.

Next: More pics from Bali…

Located right behind my office building across the river, I have been there countless of times and have never ever had an under- or over-cooked steak at the Brekky Creek.

Here’s a wagyu rump with black pepper sauce, chips and salad on the side.

And here’s a rib fillet with mushroom sauce, chips and caesar salad on the side.

Bon appétit! Till next time…

HS-TJT getting ready at the gate.

First meal serving: chicken thigh with eggplant in green curry “kiew-wan”, steamed Thai hom mali rice, and vegetables.

Second meal serving: stir-fried hokkien noodles with chick and black mushroom, and stir-fried vegetables in oriental sauce.

Food onboard was alright. Cabin service was excellent. First impression? Good.

Street food behind my hotel for supper after my 9pm arrival into Bangkok. Super salty tomyum soup.

Slim/Flix Club at one of the many RCAs that we were blindly driven to by 2 cab drivers who didn’t speak a single word of English (the first cab driver dropped us off at a strip joint because he thought it was appropriate for us tourists – like, seriously?!). Inside, you have a huge crowd of teenagers gently moving their torsos vertically to the noisy trashy music. They call that “clubbing” in this part of world. Interesting! I’m too old for this clubbing thing anyway. The moment I stepped into the club, I was already looking for the way out for some fresh air and some relief to my painful eardrums.

Afternoon tea on a rainy day at the Erawan Tearoom by Grand Hyatt.

Trying to get back to our hotel after our splendid afternoon tea session was a real challenge. We got on the 6th train, and got off feeling like we have just been to the sauna (a very packed one too!).

Time flies, until I had to endure a 12-hour wait at Bangkok International Airport from the time I arrive at the airport to the time my flight is pushed back from the gates. Spent 6 hours on the boring side of the terminal (4 hours spent sitting down at a restaurant, eating, drinking and reading a book), then the next 6 hours on the less boring – but not too interesting – side of the terminal (3 hours spent sitting down at a restaurant, doing the same thing as I did in the other restaurant). Thank you very much. Never again.

Finally, it’s time to say goodbye to Bangkok. It was fun, but I don’t think I’ll be back in the near future.

Someone put their thinking caps on at fleet planning – it’s a red-eye flight, people will want to sleep, so take out the IFE’s and off you go! Or perhaps that’s the difference between the 777-200 and 777-300ER at TG. The latter has IFE/PTV installed.

Here’s some pics from my 3rd visit recently.

Assorted sashimi

The all-time impressive salmon belly nigiri

Sukiyaki, perfect food for a cold winter night

Wagyu beef slices for the sukiyaki hotpot

Black sesame ice cream

Thank you Sono! I’ll be back for more goodies.

The mission? Lavenders. Lots and lots of them – or so we expected there to be.

Welcome to Kooroomba Lavender Farm…

Ok. We are in the middle of nowhere, but you cannot disagree that the landscape here is absolute gem.

The sea of lavenders. And this, I doubt is the peak season. Just imagine how much more glorious it would be when it is in season!

Last but not least, the one shot that I’m very proud of – aimless focus, point and shoot. Surprise surprise!

View from our Hilton LAX hotel room. A Polar 744 landing onto runway 24 (L or R, I’m not sure).

Camarillo Premium Outlets. 1 hour drive from Hilton LAX if there is no traffic. The return journey took us more than 2 hours having to endure peak hour traffic!

Breakfast at Camarillo while we wait for the shops to open. Johnny Rockets style. All for under $10. Woot!

I love airports. But Los Angeles Terminal 3 is just painful. Crowded. Run-down. And the internal lightings are just way too bright. Frankly speaking, it felt more like a bus terminal than an airport terminal. And people say Sydney airport is bad – seriously??

This is the scene when the announcement was made almost half an hour late to board the red-eye flight to Brisbane. Everyone rushing to the gate!

Apart from our discovery of Carl’s Jr and Johnny Rockets in Los Angeles, the next best discovery has to be the Moose Munch Root Beer Limited Edition. We first knew about this snack when we watched the making of it on TV in San Francisco. Searched high and low for it near our SFO hotel but to no avail. Just when we were about to give up thinking it is only available during Christmas, we found a Harry and David store at Camarillo, and walar!

So that concludes my US trip series of photos for now, until I have the opportunity to visit US again – hope to do NY and Seattle again! All in all, it was a great trip. Plenty of walking, plenty of discovery, and plenty of awesome food! Big thanks to Ci-man for allowing me to tag along, for planning the trip, and for kicking me out of bed to make sure we stick to the itinerary. Cheers mate!

Single cable shown here with the bridge in the background.

Somewhere in Golden Gate Park. The Bridge to Bay run was on when we were visited the park. Needless to say, there were some very interesting scenes – although some have scarred my mind for life. This is one of the very few quiet areas at the park on the day itself.

San Francisco’s Chung Hwa near Chinatown.

World’s steepest road – Lombard Street. We walked up here, from where my back is facing in this photo. That was probably the most strenuous exercise throughout the 3 weeks in the States.

Lombard Street viewed from the bottom of the street. The little downhill stretch of the road has 8 tight hairpin turns!

San Francisco’s second hotspot – Alcatraz. Seen here with a US Coast Guard patrol unit approaching the island.

Alcatraz’s docking area. Highly recommend to pay a little extra and go for the night tours. It is more comprehensive and most likely feels more miserable too. I know I did.

San Francisco at dusk as seen from Alcatraz’s prison guard room.

Next stop – Los Angeles.

To be frank, the only reason for visiting Seattle when planning for the trip was to go on the Boeing factory tour. But the city has so much more to offer – you will see what I mean with the photos to follow – and at the conclusion of my trip has become my favourite city in the United States.

First up, photos from the Future of Flight Museum. Nothing from the Boeing Everett factory tour as it is strictly eyes only.

A 777 nose gear in the foreground and the nose section of a 727 in the background at the Future of Flight Museum, Everett WA.

The almighty GE90! Two of these powered my flight from Brisbane to Los Angeles with V Australia.

China Southern’s Boeing 787, line 36, rego unknown. Notice the tyres are all wrapped up and heavy yellow Lego-like bins are hung from the engine pylons to keep the new bird in balance. Suspect the airframe in the background is B-2725, the airline’s first 787. Photo is dedicated to Zoe who is deeply in love with the Dreamliner, as well as all you other aerosexuals out there!

Those were the days… Paper tickets. I miss them.

Outside the Future of Flight Museum is runway 16R of KPAE. And on the other side of the fence is where new Boeing widebodies are born. The photo might not be clear due to resolution issue, but there is a Dreamlifter, a few 787 (2 in ANA colours, 2 in JAL colours, and 4 in Air India colours), a few 747 (some unmarked, 1 Cathay Pacific, 1 Cargolux, 1 in Boeing’s 748-F factory colours), as well as a Korean Air 777 sitting in the far background.

The next best thing Seattle has to offer is the magnificent view and serenity of Puget Sound.

We took a ferry ride across to Bainbridge Island where we had possibly the world’s best fish and chips for lunch.

And we also had the best root beer, which cannot be found in Australia. Someone needs to import this. It’s dynamite!

Our first serve of Cheesecake Factory’s awesomeness. Photographed here is Fresh Strawberry, the Original cheesecake topped with glazed fresh strawberries.

Seattle’s partial city skyline with the snow-capped Mount Rainier in the background.

Last but not least, the Space Needle. Measures 184m at its tallest point with the observatory deck at 160m. The 60-storey equivalent elevator ride takes less than a minute. Impressive view.

Next stop – San Francisco!