#Bali on the way to Australia

My youngest son is working in Australia for 18 months. His first 6 months are based in Darwin. I have never been to Australia. So I am on my way to spend some time in Darwin and we plan to do some touring together.

However when looking at flight options I realised/convinced myself it made sense to grab a bit of time in Bali on the way (somewhere else I have never been) ! Bali is less than a 3 hour flight from Darwin - relatively in Oz's back garden. So this blog is about my 5 nights in lovely Bali - written sat air side waiting for my Darwin flight.

So Bali. An island that forms one of 38 provinces that make up the country of Indonesia.

As usual I start by writing some general info about the country I am visiting - I do this entirely for my own interest but I pass it on just in case my young granddaughters read my blogs - ha! The results are from some basic research relating to Indonesia - in no particular order.

Indonesia is made up of 17000 islands - the largest archipelago in the world. It's land area is 14th largest in the world. It's population approaching 300 million is the 4th largest in the world. It's population is 80% Muslim makes it the largest Muslim country in the world. All a bit of a surprise for me.

Indonesia was run by the Dutch for 350 years before independence in 1945. It is now a presidential democracy. The capital city is Jakarta situated on the island of Java (where 50% of Indonesians live.) Jakarta may now be the biggest city in the world.

The list goes on. Indonesia is located on the "Pacific Rim of Fire" - it has active volcanoes and regular earthquakes but at the same time is rich in minerals including vast oil reserves. It has the highest level of bio diversity in the world and has a fully industrialised economy - including it's own space program. However many still work in agriculture and tourism and hospitality are major employers.

Bali is an island. Population about 5 million. (Unlike the rest of Indonesia which is 80% Muslim Bali itself is 80% Hindu.) Area about 150k by 110k. I always make a comparison with the Isle of Wight (where I live) for perspective. IOW 37k x 21k and the IOW is of course a diamond shape where as Bali is rectangular.

When I was a boy Bali was a place that featured in picture books along with other exotic places like the Pyramids, the Taj Mahal, Niagara Falls and tigers in the jungle ! A distant tropical unspoilt island paradise - unreachable - never on our radar. Latterly it has become reachable for many - and feedback that it has been spoilt by the backpacker party scene and tourism generally like so many other places might have some credence.

Guide book research directs me - accurately as it turns out. I decide on the  Sindhu beach Sanur area. It is quiet - felt authentic and safe as I believe Bali is. My low rise hotel is on the beach. I see the sunrise each morning and immediately go for a swim in warm and crystal clear - is it The Indian Ocean or The Timor Sea ? I am not on a desert island - it is real - it is colourful - it is aromatic - it is very warm - it is definitely South East Asia. People live and work. The locals come down for a swim morning and evening. Tourism is their income here but it is not brash or loud. This part of Bali would be definitely somewhere I would go back to for a relaxing and inexpensive holiday. The only problem is if you live in the UK it is neither relaxing or inexpensive to get there.

I should point out the significance of the time of year you visit. I am here in the low season. November to April. It is the wet season as opposed to the dry season. The upside - fewer tourists - it is cheaper - it is lush. There were rain showers some afternoons and storms but I have got to say that added to the wonderful tropical experience for me. It was always hot and I enjoy the humidity (providing I have access to air con ! ) Bali is lovely made all the more special by the genuinely warm and easy going Balinese.

In my short time I will admit to a fair bit of lounging and what they call long chairs and swimming regularly in the wonderfully warm sea. However I did cycle a fair bit along the coast which I enjoyed immensely. The people going about their business made it so colourful.

I did also undertake a major activity. I was picked up at 2am and driven to the base of Mount Bakur. The drive in the dark took about 2 hours. I was met by my guide and another trekker - a young woman from Columbia. With head torches we left around 4am for the 2 hour ascent in the dark of this active (semi) volcano. It was hard. We get to the crater rim in time for sunrise as planned but alas it was mainly cloud covered below. No matter - it was still a hugely worthwhile effort. Our guide Sar cooked us eggs in the hot rock and we breakfasted on top. A memorable thing to do. The descent in theory was easier but it certainly tests the knees. The upside it was daylight of course and the views opened up. Pretty special. As usual with these type of things it is thrilling and a relief to finish. The drive back took longer because the now  motor bike laden narrow roads took longer to negotiate but I really enjoyed watching the real life bustle unfold. My taxi driver got me a cold beer as we drove back. Brilliant. By 1pm I was back on the sun bed. Wonderful.

Darwin next xxx

Ps some Bali mob photos below.

Photos from the trek up Mt Batur.

Cooking eggs for breakfast on the hot volcano rock.

Volcanic steam

At the finish in daylight and sun

#SanFrancisco

I have always wanted to go to San Francisco. A child of the 60's - Scott McKenzie - San Francisco - be sure to wear flowers in your hair ! Such a great song - really reminds me of my childhood. Also the summer of love - flower power - hippies. However illogical San Francisco has always been in my mind as a special place and add in its world famous - iconic landmarks - The Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz. At the same time I have also been told more recently that San Francisco has become a bit of a draw for the street homeless and tacky tourism especially around Pier 39. Regardless I was keen to spend some time there and the Three Tenners trip across the USA - coast to coast - starting in Boston was planned to finish in this famous city on the Pacific.

We got back on the Californian Zephyr at Salt Lake City just before midnight. We arrived in San Francisco just before 6pm - so a long train journey. But what a journey. Super comfortable layback leather seats - plenty of room and almost always fascinating views - often exceptional - as we made our way out of Utah and Nevada and into California. Among other places we passed through Reno and the capital city of California - Sacramento. The USA is so vast. I wondered what life would be like in some of the isolated settlements miles and miles from anywhere. As we made inroads into California the landscape did start to change - greener - and gradually more sophisticated houses and developments - but much could only be described as stunning and beautiful. So many trees.

One thing about California which says so much - while it is only a state - compared to all the countries in the world it ranks 4th in GDP terms - ie the Californian economy is bigger than the UK, France Japan and India !

When I was at school I studied geology and it has been retained as an interest of mine. I still find it amazing that our continents are "floating" and that these ginormous moving lumps of rock from time to time either bash into each other or pull apart until something gives. We can witness mountains that have been formed and the earthquakes and tsunamis that result. The reason I mentioned it of course is San Francisco lies on one of the most dangerous faults on our planet - the San Andreas Fault. What makes it even more complex is there are other fault lines running both longitudinally and laterally in the area. San Francisco suffered a major earthquake in 1906 and over 3000 people died. Future earthquakes are certain but timing and scale are hard to predict of course. There are complex plans for San Francisco's survival in the event of a major earthquake but as I have read scientists believe that government authorities are not listening hard enough to warnings they are giving.

Anyway we did not experience an earthquake in the short time we were there. What did we experience ? Well we had a lovely Sunday - a beautiful warm clear day - hired bikes and cycled the length of the Bay Area coastal path and up onto and over the huge Golden Gate Bridge. The fact we did that brings big smiles and and a warm feeling to me just thinking about it now. The Bay area is lovely - lots of people out walking, exercising and enjoying the good life. We rode around several marinas. What I liked to see was they were full of proper boats - boats to use in the massive body of water that is San Francisco Bay and maybe to venture in to the Pacific by running out of the harbour by going under the Golden Gate Bridge. They were not gin palaces as St Tropez ! San Francisco felt authentic not ostentatious.

Pier 39 and Fishermans Wharf are famous and a massive tourist draw. Without being unkind it is a bit tacky in a Brighton pier sort of way - but much larger. It was not our cup of tea but we didn't resent the couple of hours we spent there. On the homeless they were not so evident - but we did encounter many more around the streets back from the front.

Another thing we did worthy of mention was we booked and journeyed in a Waygo. Waygo is the name of the business/taxi firm owned by Google that operate driverless taxis in San Francisco. It is not a gimmick - there is a large fleet of white taxis built by Jaguar that you book on an app and they will pick you up and deliver you anywhere in the city 24 hrs a day. It is so slick. Cost is just a shade more than Uber and they are the future. It is bizarre when an ordinary looking car pulls up without a driver. You need the app to open the door. Thereafter an Alexa type voice gives you full advice and instructions. They then move off and negotiate the busy streets of San Francisco as any other vehicle. We all commented how convincing it is and quickly you feel assured once you have adjusted to watching the steering wheel turn on its own. It won't be long before they spread. It won't be many years before they are commonplace.

We also hired a car. We drove north for about a couple of hours to visit Armstrong State Redwoods Nature Reserve. This a grove of the Sequoia trees that are commonly called Giant Redwoods. They grow to be the tallest living thing on earth and can live for between 500 and 1000 years old. Again I have always wanted to stand up against one - and now I have done that. One remarkable fact about the Giant Redwoods. We know there are often forest fires. The bark of a Giant Redwood is resistant to fire. However sometimes the fires are so severe they can penetrate into the trunk of the tree and burn its core. But the redwoods are amazing. They have a mechanism where arms grow out of the tree and supporting trunks grow parallel to the main trunk on either side to stabilize and nurture the original tree. Despite the base being burnt out the tree survives !

Many people drive down the west coast of America. For sure it would be something to do - but the distances are vast - despite the wide roads. We had a taster of what it might be like on what is apparently some of the most scenic stretches on the whole coast - that is the coast road going south from San Francisco towards Monterey and Pebble Beach. Once out of San Francisco the coast road became quiet with large stretches of the Pacific coast completely undeveloped and natural. It was sandy beach after sandy beach - with huge crashing waves of white surf. The power of the world's biggest ocean is wonderful to behold again. It was our intention to swim in the Pacific on this day but we could not find anywhere we considered safe to do so with the breaking waves but particularly the huge back wash evident which I reckon would be impossible to stand against. 

I will briefly mention the cost of living in the USA. It is high. America is expensive. We loved their bars of course - in San Francisco we became locals at Shanghai Kelly's. Everyone was so friendly. The other issue was food. Again the USA is challenging to eat well. So much fast food. Fresh vegetables really expensive and not so readily available.

I referred to our swim in the Pacific. Of course this was the culmination of our planned trip which started 3000 miles away on Americas east - Atlantic coast - with a swim at Boston. We completed our swim in San Francisco Harbour - definitely the Pacific - ha! but more sheltered - definitely safer and probably warmer than in the crashing surf of the day before. So job done - our journey as planned was complete and we three shook hands on that. It had been a great trip and we are proud to have done it together.

Here are some mob photos - far too many and a bit random but they will serve as a record to be sorted properly in due course - apologies !:

PS I have just heard the draw for the World Cup in June. England playing in Boston and Miami. Beware - the USA is expensive - Boston particularly for accommodation - and that was before the World Cup. Factor in travel cost and 48 teams - it could easily amount to more than you might reasonably expect.

The finishing swim in the Pacific. Everyone breathing in !

Vic sent us a picture of the three of us from a while back !

A Waygo taxi

Alcatraz just behind my head

On The Bay shore cycle route

Alcatraz

The Giant Redwoods

This guy made us laugh. We asked him to take a photo. He quickly flipped the setting and gave us the camera back !

West coast - The Pacific