Touched down in Johannesburg

Our flight finally left at 5pm on the 1st February, about 20 hours late. We were able to adjust our plans so on arrival we were picked up by the Safari company. Unfortunately a hotel night was lost, but we have another 28 ahead, so it was not the end of the world. As we boarded the plane, it was like meeting old friends. The flight staff and the passengers sitting around us were exactly the same, so we took time to share our stories of the night before, then we all settled down with a drink and enjoyed the flight. 

We arrived in Johannesburg - OR Tambo International airport just before 6am. BA needed special permission to land this early, but given the flight had been delayed two nights in a row, they had a reasonable argument. After passing customs and buying a SIM card for Janice, we met our driver and set off on the 4 hour journey to Nambiti. 

This part of South Africa is green and lush. It’s currently summertime, but it still rains, making the landscape very beautiful. After making our way through the Johannesburg morning rush hour traffic, we drove most of the way along a motorway, cutting through the country. We passed many people trying to thumb a lifts as we passed small towns of corrugated iron homes. They were far from large townships, but we started to get the first glimpses of the inequality within the country. 

We arrived at the Nambiti private game reserve around 11am. It’s about a 900 square KM reserve, which they have gradually been returning to the natural habitat after years of farming. Our driver dropped us to the parking compound, where we were picked up in a safari vehicle and driven to the Lodge. When walking into the main lodge building, we had one of those jaw dropping moments. As you walk through the lodge you can see a watering hole surrounded by Zebra and Warthog, which the locals refer to as Pumbaa (Think of the Lion King).

 
Then onto our room which did not disappoint. The only consideration is the lodge camp is made up of multiple wooden lodges, with standalone lodges for each room. The whole area is unfenced, which means animals can roam around the lodges. There are electric fences high enough to stop Elephants entering, as these can cause damage to the buildings, but other smaller animals are free to roam. This means we cannot walk to our room at night, we have to be escorted. Our lodge over looks the plains. We were greated by more Zebra and Warthog feeding. We are going to enjoy Nambiti.

At 4:30pm we headed out for our evening safari. While it is their summer and the weather is warm, there is often rain in the evening, so we went prepared. Waterproof ponchos with fleece lining supplied by the guide. The heavens opened soon after we set off, but it was worth going out. White Rhino, Giraffe, Impala, Eland Antelope (the largest Antelope in the world) and others, with the finally a pride of Lions.

Back for dinner and early to bed. We have a 5 am wake up for our next safari adventure..

All the best plans

Well, would you Adam and Eve it, our flight was delayed. We arrived at Heathrow Terminal 5 with plenty of time, checked in our bags and then spent a leisurely couple of hours around the airport before boarding. After spending 90 minutes seated on the plane we were told that one of the doors would not close properly and they needed to delay the flight to the next day. While we were happy they didn’t take off with an open door, it was all very frustrating, our schedule is quite tight when we arrive in Johannesburg. We head out on Safari early Thursday morning. There was little we could do about it, so we ordered an Uber, knowing we could spend the night in our own bed after arriving home around midnight. 

The plane is an Airbus 380, which will carry close to 450 people in the BA configuration. Apparently, many of the passengers also had their flight cancelled the night before, so I’m sure BA needed to deal with a lot of upset people, many requiring a hotel for the night. The joys of working for an airline. 

Our flight is now 4pm today, arriving at 4:55 am tomorrow. After a little admin we will be picked up at the airport and head directly to Nambiti. Unfortunately we will not see the hotel we had booked. The good news is we still have a month is South Africa ahead of us, so we remain excited 😆

And we are off again - Take 2 

Next Stop South Africa

It’s over six weeks since we arrived home from Asia. It was a wonderful adventure, but it’s amazing how quickly time goes by. It beginning to feel like a distant memory. 

Spending time at home for Christmas, followed by a sneaky skiing holiday in La Tanya, has meant these six weeks at home have been busy, but really enjoyable. We have also been busy planning our next big adventure - South Africa. We fly to Johannesburg on the 31st January. First stop is Nambiti for a safari, then fly to Cape Town via Durban, to gradually work our way along the Garden Route to Port Elizabeth. We have stops in the wine region and beach towns. It should be a gastronomic adventure through a beautiful country. 

We will keep those interested updated with our regular blog posts. South Africa, we are on our way. 

And home

 

After 45 days we are home. Before leaving we watched the sunset over Delhi from the top of our hotel and then joined the Christmas carol event which had been organised by the hotel to mark the turning on of their Christmas tree lights. A festive way to mark the end of our journey before our 3am flight to Heathrow. 

Our journey has taken us through 6 countires; India, Vietnam, Cambodia, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and travelled via many different forms of transport: 

• Aeroplane : 40 hours flying 
• Train: 15 hours
• Car : 30 hours 
• Motorbike (Vespa) : 2 hours
• Tuk Tuk : 30 minutes
• Rickshaw : 2 hours
• Bicycle : 6 hours
• Metro train : 1 hour
• Bus : 30 minutes
• Boats : 36 hours
• Canoe:  1 hour
• Walking : approx 450,000 steps

As we approached Heathrow, snow covered the ground as far as we could see. It’s 13th December and it feels like Christmas. We have loved our adventure, but its nice to be home. 

Time to head home

 

It’s time to say goodbye to Bali and head home. Our journey home takes us through Kuala Lumpur and New Delhi. Our plane from Kuala Lumpur has been delayed, so we now have a 7 hour stopover, arriving in New Delhi at 05:25 tomorrow morning. It is going to be a long day. It is not helped by the result last night. The England v France game started at 3am in Bali, so it was a long night. A good performance by England, but a penalty proved to be the downfall again 😞

Bali was a lovely place to spend the last week of our holiday. We can’t claim to have done much apart from spend time at the beach and swimming pool. The only negative is Janice ended the week with Bali Belly, which wrote off the last 24 hours. A real shame after surviving the last 6 weeks without any issues. 

So goodbye 30 degree heat. From what we understand, snow fell in the UK last night, so it is going to be a shock to the system when we land. But it will make it feel like Christmas. 

 Bali is a the holiday destination for the Australians, Japanese and South Koreans. The brits are more scarce and a fascination, especially when you mention it is 0 degrees at home. But everyone was welcoming.

A picture of us at the airport looking sad, either that or we waiting to move into long term care :-)

Nusa Dua Terraces

Our forth day in the Nusa Dua Terrace, which has been very self indulgent, so we decided to avoid posting a blog over the last few day. We are now 12,455 km from London and 8,166 km from New Delhi. We travel back via New Delhi, so a long way to travel home for Christmas. Its been the longest time away from Ryan and Danny, so we are looking forward to seeing them and the rest of our family and friends. 

Our hotel is next to Bali National Golf course, so I took the opportunity to play. The green fee includes a buggy and caddy. The temperature is around 30 degrees and humid, so a buggy is needed. The course is beautiful and tough, especially when you have not hit a golf ball for six weeks. Each hole is tree lined, so a perfect trap for any shot which is not straight. On the third hole I managed to put my ball into the trees. My caddy went armed with a club to find the ball and I followed. No luck, so a lost ball. While driving to down to the green I asked if there are snakes. “Oh yes” was the answer many Cobra’s, but they normally sleep during the day. Searching for balls on a Bali golf course is over rated.

I decided not to share my score, which was far from good. My Caddy did make my score a little more acceptable by sharing her course knowledge. The caddies have little playing experience, but they are trained for a minimum of three months to read the greens, know the course yardages at any point on a hole and recommend the shots lines, which was wasted on me, but very impressive. 

Apart from this, we have spent our time around the pool and enjoying the bars and restaurants, which ridiculously feels more tiring than it should.

  We move to our last hotel in Nusa Dua tomorrow before heading home.

Nusa Dua Bali

 

We arrived in dark, so while the first impression of our resort was good, we were looking forward to seeing it in the day light. This is a nice place. It’s slightly away from the beach, set on a small forested hill, so our room overlooks a tree lined valley, with our own plunge pool to sit and watch the world go by.

After breakfast we took the chance to cycle down to the beach before it became too hot. We were fortunate enough to visit Bali in September 2019 before lockdown. It felt like little had changed, but there were some places which had closed down. Covid did have an impact, but they are recovering. The recent G20 meeting was close to where we are staying. This is a country which is attracting investment and will continue to thrive.

     

After a little excerise, it was time to enjoy the facilities. The hotel and resort is very busy, but there are few Europeans. No idea if it is related, but the pools are very quiet. No early morning towels to block out the beds. The normal Brit v Germany towel race has not reached Bali. It’s nice to be back in Bali.  

Congratulations to Holland for making the quarter finals of the World Cup. England play their last 16 sixteen match against Senegal tonight. For us it is 3am, so we will set the alarm clock. Come on England. 

On to our furthest point - Bali

 

We have reached our 35th day of travel, which is the longest we have both been away from home before. Our sense of time and date has become blurred. We have to look at the calendar to figure out the date and which day week it is, with very little sense of the time of year, apart from the occasional Christmas decorations. They have Christmas trees, decorations and piped Christmas songs all over Singapore, which is strange when the temperature outside is close to 30 degrees. Shopping is an important past time here, so I suspect the shops are keen to create some additional motivation via some festive spending. Singapore has been fun and it is a shame to leave so soon. Living above the city skyline has been a treat and very relaxing. Eating in the Marine Bay Sands hotel was lovely, but we have been spoilt by Minas cooking back at the apartment, which is another reason not to venture out. So we spent the last morning on the roof top swimming, reading the paper and eating breakfast, while watching the world go by in Singapore. Its tough up top😎

So onto our last new destination, Bali. A two and a quarter hour flight from Singapore Changi airport to Denpaser. Its the rainy season in Bali, so we are not sure what to expect apart from its unlikley to be cold.

 

Changi Airport - The red construction is a children’s slide by the departure gate. 

We have arrived in Bali. Our home for the next five days is the Marriott Terrace Resort in Nusa Dua. It only opened last month so our room looks brand new. We didn’t arrive until late, so an excuse for room service dinner in front of the TV. Netherlands v USA in the World Cup. 

Singapore in style

A day to enjoy Singapore. By the morning the rain had cleared, but there was a sense it would not last for long. We were up early for some exercise while the city was still quiet. A run around Fort Canning Park and then back for a quick swim in the roof top pool, followed by breakfast There is a lot to like about this life style.

Singapore is a city which is booming. It’s a major shipping port for the region and a growing financial centre for Asia. The worlds largest financial organisational names are on many of the tallest office buildings. Over the last 20 years, there has been an increasing number of people relocating from Hong Kong to Singapore as the Chinese government has been taking increased control of Hong Kong. This has resulted in increased demand for housing and rising cost of living. It is not a cheap city to live in, but it is a clean and safe city, where you can have fun. 

In Singapore they abide by the rules, especially on the road, so after a month of travelling in Asia we had to adjust to respecting the rules again. Stepping into the road without waiting for a green light is dangerous here. 

Lunch in Lau Pa Sat Hawker which is a Victorian and the first wet market in Singapore. A wet market is where fish, meat and sometimes live animals are sold. It is now a bustling food market full of office workers having their lunch. Great food and atmosphere. We spent the afternoon exploring the city and then the heavens opened again. Thunder, lightening and pouring rain appeared from nowhere. They have rain here you don’t want to be walking in.

Dinner was at the top of the Marina Bay Sands Hotel which over looks Singapore. Ruth had booked a table in Spago, which has views across both the city and the bay. The restaurant is on the 56th floor and sits just behind one of the hotels infinity swimming pools. These swimming pools are not for someone with Veritgo. They go right to the edge of the hotel, with a small wall between you and 56 floors of air. 

 

To finish of the day, where else could it be apart from the Long Bar in the Raffles hotel, where they created the Singapore Sling. It is tourist trap, but worth it. We queued for 15 minutes, before being seated. The long bar is famous for the Singapore Sling, but also its monkey nuts. The shells are simply discarded on to the floor. For anyine with OCD this must be the worst place in the world, as empty shells are scattered across the room. No doubt the most untidest place in Singpore when you consider how clean the city is.

 

We have loved travelling Asia. Every country has been great; India, Vietnam and Cambodia, but its been nice to enjoy some of the luxuries Singapore can offer. This is definitely a city that provides some escapism, as long as you avoid looking too hard at the prices😆