We got up just before sunrise to prepare for our 6 AM head start to the infamous Lempuyang Temple, aka “Gates of Heaven”. Even at 6 AM arriving at 7 AM, Putu said the wait would be at least 3 hours; he had clients get up at 3 AM and wait in line for the… Read More Bali Day 5 – Lempuyang “Gates of Heaven” and Tirta Gangga Water Palace
Floating breakfast is one of the must-dos in Bali, it got so popular that it spread to other hotels all over the world. The villa offered a one-time complimentary breakfast since we booked via Marriott Home & Villas and to “upgrade” to a floating breakfast, there was an extra charge of 150K IDR per floating… Read More Bali Day 4 – Floating Breakfast, Seafood Feast, and Staying in a Bamboo House at Camaya
We had an early start today at 6 AM in order to catch the ferry over to Nusa Penida Island at 7 AM. I booked the day trip directly with Putu which includes the roundtrip transfer from our villa to Sanur Harbor, the roundtrip ferry ticket, lunch, and private drivers at Nusa Penida to take… Read More Bali Day 3 – Day Trip to Nusa Penida: Diamond Beach, Rumah Pohon Treehouse, and Kelingking
Bali is known for its Instagram-worthy waterfalls and they have way too many to choose from! I narrowed down to a few in Northern Bali: Banyumala Waterfall, Banyu Wana Amertha Waterfall, Sekumpul Waterfall. It was just not possible to visit all 3 because from Ubud to Northern Bali took around 2 hours each way. I… Read More Bali Day 2 – Sekumpul Waterfall, Handara Golf & Resort Gates, and Ulun Danu Bratan Temple
Originally, we planned to go Kanto Lampo Waterfall first thing in the morning but according to Google Maps, it was temporarily closed. I asked our driver, Putu on WhatsApp and he confirmed that too so changed in plan: Bali Swing instead. We got ready by 6:45 AM and walked down to the main road to… Read More Bali Day 1 – Bali Swing, Rice Terrace, Tirta Empul Temple, Monkey Forest, and Ubud Palace
Bali – the trip that I have been postponing since 2017…6 years later, we finally made it there. It was a long way from Boston totaling 27 hours in travel time (Boston to Hong Kong 15 hours, 7 hours layover in Hong Kong, and then a 5-hour flight to Bali). But I was lucky enough… Read More 26 Hours To Indonesia – 52nd Country!
We had an early flight back to Istanbul at 8:40 AM so our hotel pick up was at 6:30 AM. We got another opportunity to view the hot air balloon again! I will never get tired of this view every morning! Those two really enjoying the view that they were there the whole morning! Do… Read More Mosques and Bazars of Istanbul
At 5:00 AM, I woke up by the blasting sound of hot air balloons, I opened my eyes, ran to the window, opened the curtain and saw hot air balloons raising up the sky!!! I said to Jason: OMG, the balloons are here! I walked over to Judy, Jeffrey, and Peter’s room (next to our… Read More Cappadocia: Sky Filled with Hot Air Balloons and Derinkuyu Underground City
The 1 hour 25 min flight from Istanbul to Kayseri was comfortable and they even served a hot sub with melted cheese and beef! I wish the US domestic flights (those coast to coast 6 hours flights) do that. There are two airports that are in the Cappadocia area – Kayseri and Nevşehir Kapadokya. I… Read More Cappadocia: Valleys of Rock Formations
When I first saw photos of Cappadocia, the sky full of hot air balloons wowed me. Since then, Cappadocia has been on my bucket list so we were super excited and looking forward to this trip. After extensive research and reading through reviews, we picked Royal Balloon because it’s one of the biggest, most experienced,… Read More Cappadocia – Magical Hot Air Balloon Ride with Royal Balloon
