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Round the World in 205 Days

January - August 2019
A journal of the Jones Family sabbatical 2019 Read more
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  • Round the World in 205 Days
    Day 5

    Télécabine to nowhere

    February 2, 2019 in Macao ⋅ 🌙 19 °C

    Light show at the Wynn Palace! Amazing water fountain show choreographed to music - all the most delightful hits from both the East and the West (sarcasm).

    They've got a free gondola ride around the lake which is very cool. Free and one of the few things to do for families that doesn't involve buying a Swiss watch, so quite the queue even in February.

    Piece of marketing genius really, as we didn't realize until we were halfway through that the only way down was to walk all the way back through the Wynn hotel/ mall/ casino!    Read more

  • Round the World in 205 Days
    Day 6

    Turbojet trimaran

    February 3, 2019 in Macao ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    Zoom! This trimaran thing's fast. Surprisingly quiet, but very vomit-inducing considering how smooth the water is today. The port in Macao is connected to the airport in Hong Kong, so our bags are checked all the way through to Bali now - or so we hope! They do treat the bags with all the love and care one might expect - so there's a good chance they're in the drink already.

    In other news, after only four days in China (sorta), we've already been stopped about three dozen times by people gushing over how amazingly attractive Davy is?! The gruff immigration lady was about ready to adopt. Of course they all think he's a girl, but that's just a detail. If he has trouble finding a girlfriend, we can just send him over and he'll have half a billion to choose from!    Read more

  • Round the World in 205 Days
    Day 6

    Tchau Macao

    February 3, 2019 in Macao ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    Some closing shots from our last few hours in Macao: All in all well worth a stop through - brief however, as we did, would be more than sufficient, especially if gambling is not on the agenda. Lots of quirky little neighbourhoods and street experiences and so also recommended to wander around on foot. In terms of getting there and away via HK, the shuttle bus would get our vote for next time: more cost effective and speedy, less motion sickness-inducing. Only drawback is that it drops off at a secondary terminal that only the largest casino/ hotels run shuttles to.Read more

  • Round the World in 205 Days
    Day 6

    Cathay Dragon zen and a 2048

    February 3, 2019 in Hong Kong ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    Made it to the plane! Yah! They even gave us some kind of last minute tax refund upon arrival at Hong Kong Airport and so between that bonus and the balances left on our octopus cards, we had a bit of snack shopping to do. Key learnings: Dried mangoes don’t need sugar, dried longan are surprisingly tasty, dried strawberries surprisingly not!

    We snapped a shot of a hilarious sign on the moving carpets to not look exclusively at your phone - kind of apt that Davy’s head got cut out of that shot. Davy and Monkey had a nice zen moment on the plane (fortunately he has decided that he likes Cathay), we learned the passé composé, imparfait, futur of avoir as well as être, and working together we got a 2048!!    Read more

  • Round the World in 205 Days
    Day 6

    Warm welcome to Bali

    February 3, 2019 in Indonesia ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    Wow it is warm here! Warm temperatures, warm people, warm pools! We landed into a beautiful sunset and were driven into Sanur - thankful for air conditioning. Traffic was not nearly as bad as expected and most drivers even seemed to obey some rules of the road.

    Agus greeted us at the Nesa Sanur and check-in was smooth - the internet however remains a little patchy. Nice-looking pool that the kids are dying to step into, great sense of humour at the bar!

    We did a little bit of exploring around the neighbourhood and found a great little “warung” called the Coconut Tree - will be going back again for sure! And a funky supermarket/ department store that sells everything for super cheap - well except for milk, which is apparently at a premium in Asia.

    Given the exchange rates, we decided to withdraw 3,000,000 rupiah from the bank and Davy’s first excited thought was - hey let’s take this back to Switzerland and I can get myself a Tesla!    Read more

  • Round the World in 205 Days
    Day 7

    Sanur beach stroll

    February 4, 2019 in Indonesia ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    Everyone feeling lazy today, still not 100% recovered from the jet lag, decided to live the “less is more” motto and take a pool/ beach day. Took a stroll along the 1-2km stretch of ocean that is Sanur beach - complete with sun, sand, salt water, shops, restaurants and touts along the boardwalk.

    Kids got a gentle introduction to touts at tourist sites - there are a million of them here, but they're all pretty mild, smiley and not too annoying (as far as touts go anyway). This transformed into a lesson on economics and the knowledge society, which ended with Davy wanting to be an architect when he grows up.

    Quote of the day -
    Poppy: “Do you pay attention to anything other than yourself, Meg?”
    Meg: “Uh... No! Now I want to go swimming."    Read more

  • Round the World in 205 Days
    Day 7

    Around town: Shrines, flora and fauna

    February 4, 2019 in Indonesia ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    So many new, different things to see just meandering around town! We have observed that pretty much every house has some kind of mini-temple or shrine and that many of them have sarongs draped around them. While unclear why sarongs at all, the black, white and gray checkered pattern is apparently ubiquitous, whereas more colourful sarongs (orange in particular) are reserved for village temples.

    There are also many statues of what appear to be Hindu deities - giant Shiva fountains, lots of Ganesha and even a few Hanuman protecting individual houses.

    Two other unusual and amusing finds: Leafy the leaf bug and a real gourd tree!    Read more

  • Round the World in 205 Days
    Day 7

    Dinner at the hole around the corner

    February 4, 2019 in Indonesia ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    Had dinner at a place that’s down the back alley, around the corner and down another back alley from our hotel (that’s down a back alley already). What can I say, it had good reviews!

    Pretty weird joint! Pictures of the family going back about 100 years on the walls. Geckos everywhere - realized halfway through dinner that there were about a dozen of them right above our heads... cabinets of old costume jewelry for sale between the tables... I think one of them had even been washed this century.

    What really added to the ambiance though was the huge courtyard that was part of the restaurant that was stuffed with weird old stuff. Racks of old clothes, half a dozen busted bikes, old printer, a temple (of course), and some sleeping woman that we spent half the meal trying to decide if she was a corpse, or just asleep (spoiler - just asleep!). The 200 year old hunchback that seemed to be cooking the food added a little something too.

    They did have a gourd-tree in the courtyard though! We had no idea gourd-trees were real things, but they are! Halfway through the meal one of them fell down - they land with a pretty good wallop. Asked the woman who owns the place what you do with them, and she said that they’re just for decoration.    Read more

  • Round the World in 205 Days
    Day 7

    Hotel Nesa breakfast and first monsoon

    February 4, 2019 in Indonesia ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    Mie goreng for breakfast?! Heaps of dragonfruit!? Sure thing! Not necessarily Michelin star fare at the Nesa, but a nice home-cooked touch. Afterwards at the nearby beach, Davy and Poppy both found the ocean water too salty to stay in for long - back to the hotel for a dip in the pool then. Oddly rather hot there as well - had to come out to cool off in the chilly 30 degree air every once in a while!

    The same fogies were sun bathing peacefully around the Nesa pool when we got back from the beach as when we left - hope they are ready to meet the loudest kids in Bali! What a relief when the old ladies went to get pool noodles for the kids and the old guys a beer for Poppy 😀 It was a bit deep for Meg and the kids decided to play the “teacher game” (usually played with stuffed bears doing Davy's last year's homework). Fortunately Davy played the role of teacher, so he managed the drowning situation and soon had Meg swimming laps without the noodle!

    Meanwhile Poppy got a full lesson on how chlorine is made in Australia from a vacationing plant operator - actually quite interesting. Found out about some pretty novel electricity initiatives going on there too - just before getting chucked out of the pool early due to our first tropical monsoon! Nothing to buckets in seconds - amazing.    Read more

  • Round the World in 205 Days
    Day 8

    Tanah Lot temple complex

    February 5, 2019 in Indonesia ⋅ ⛅ 32 °C

    That is some impressive photography! Makes it look like Meg wasn’t continuously whining from the first step about the heat, lack of ice cream and the horror of walking back to a restaurant to eat instead of one appearing magically in front of her when hunger arose.

    Never seen quite so many stalls selling tourist stuff anywhere before - there were far more stalls than tourists, and *way* more stalls than temples. Can’t imagine that the temples are still active, it’s got to be just for tourists now (including the suspicious brand new temples being built at this ancient site...). Of course we did find a nice wooden monkey-box for Davy’s Bali souvenir, and it was a pretty pain-free process. The Balinese touts are pretty good.

    Having said that, it is a pretty impressive place. Right on the water with some of temples out on little islands that are only accessible at low tide. You can even see where some temples used to be carved right into the rock under water (don’t know if that’s global warming or if they just used to have wet basements).

    Walked down one random path where the concrete had been set with various giant leaves on the surface that then made a permanent etching. Made for a great pattern that might show up one day in our garden.    Read more

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