May
18
2013

Visiting the Ubud Monkey Forest

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Monkey Eating Bread

Monkey Eating Bread

 

The monkey forest is a popular attraction in Ubud. Everyone I’ve talked to about Ubud mentioned going there. This was my first stop in Ubud after checking into my hotel.

The Ubud monkey forest is located in the central part of Ubud and approximately 340 Crab-eating Macaques live there. The entrance fee to the monkey forest is 20,000 Rp for adults and 10,000 Rp for children. The forest itself is not that big, only about 27 acres. You can easily walk a quick loop around the forest. Most of the action is in the center roundabout area.

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Apr
05
2013

Grandmas Legian Hotel Review

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Grandmas Hotel Legian Twin Room

Grandmas Hotel Legian Twin Room

 

I arrived into the Legian area of Bali without a hotel booked at 11:30 PM. To make matters worst it was also a holiday, the beginning of Eid al-Fitr which marks the end of Ramadan. I kind of knew the area and walked around about 30 minutes without find any decent hotel rooms. I finally realized that I could use my phone to look for hotel rooms on the internet. I fired up Agoda.com and found hotels close by. I saw the Grandmas Hotel being offered for about 200,000 Rp/night. It was a special price because the hotel had just opened in August of 2012.

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Apr
04
2013

Sunrise at Mount Bromo – Part 2

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Me Standing on Mount Bromo Crater Edge

Here I am standing on the crater edge of Mount Bromo

 

I started the day by waking up at 4:30 AM and going to view the sunrise over Mount Bromo from the Mount Pananjakan viewpoint. For the next part of the tour, my guide drove me down towards the base of Mount Bromo so that I could climb up to it’s crater.
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Feb
09
2013

DIY: Traveling From Yogyakarta to Mount Bromo Independently

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Cemoro Lawang Viewpoint

Cemoro Lawang Viewpoint

In Yogyakarta there are tons of travel agencies that will sell you a package tour to Mount Bromo and onward to Bali. If you want everything taken care of you can just buy a package from any travel agency. I did a little research and it seemed pretty easy to go from Yogyakarta to Mount Bromo independently so I tried it myself. This is the basic itinerary to get from Yogyakarta to Mount Bromo:

  1. Take train from Yogyakarta to Surabaya.
  2. Take taxi from Surabaya train station to Purabaya bus terminal.
  3. Take bus to Probolinggo.
  4. At Probolinggo (beware, this town is notorious for scams), take minivan up to Cemoro Lawang.

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Jan
31
2013

Getting a Chinese Visa in New York

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I recently had to get a Chinese visa for a trip to Shanghai. I could have used an online agent or a local travel agency to get the visa for me for a nominal fee but I decided to do it myself just to see how the process went. I did some research beforehand so I knew what to expect. The reviews on Yelp are not make it seem like a horrible process so I was prepared for the worse.
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Dec
30
2012

Jakarta to Yogyakarta By Train

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I traveled by train from Jakarta to Yogyakarta by train a couple days before the end of Ramadan. The price for the ticket increases a little during Ramadan. If I had planned it a little better, I probably could have found a flight for about the same price as an executive seat. I bought a ticket on the Ka Argo Dwipangga train from Jakarta to Yogyakarta. The train actually goes all the way to Solo but the ticket cost the same to go to Yogyakarta.
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