Bali Travel Essentials~ Singapore Visa Run Part 2

Singapore is a photographer's dream so I had to post more photos. I will let the images speak for themselves but if you want to learn a bit more on The Singapore Visa Run, please see Part 1 HERE. And for more indepth information, just send us your questions via EMAIL.

Singapore's Marina Bay Sands Hotel Nighttime LightshowSculptures line the Singapore Bay With Marina Bay Sands Hotel in the backgroundThe interior of The Marina Bay Sands Hotel and CasinoFountain view of Singapore BayView from The Marina Bay Sands Mall of Singapore's SkylinePeople gather and picnic bayside as they take in the viewThe Bornean Pitcher Orchid, a carnivorous plant species

Bali Travel Essentials~ Singapore Visa Run

Here is another installment of our Bali Travel Essentials Series. This time we explore The Singapore Visa Run. Balifornian offers an exciting side trip to Singapore and our clients use this in a number of ways. We can help you arrange a layover on your in-bound or out-bound trip. We can also coordinate your stay and tour of Singapore between other destinations such as Thailand, Vietnam or anywhere else you might like to visit. If you plan to stay in Indonesia for a few months you will likely need to do a Visa run and the most popular destination is Singapore. It's close, convinient and offers many wonders for the traveler. Contact us today to see how we can help you get the most out of your South East Asia travel experience.

Singapore's Iconic Merlion Stands Stalwart over the CitySingapore, both a country and a city, is one of the world's most successful examples of city planning. It is perhaps the cleanest city I have ever visited. I don't think I saw a single piece of rubbish on the street and hardly a blade of grass too long. Some may mistake this for sterile, lacking in culture, or unnatural, but it is a welcomed contrast to parts of Indonesia. Lets remember just a few decades ago almost none of this was here. Now it is a thriving international hub and a great example to other countries of what thier govenrment can provide for its people.

The Infinity Pool at The Marina Bay Sands Hotel provides a spectacular view of Singapore's SkylineThis photo was taken from Ku De Ta Restarant and Club (Yes, Bali has a Ku De Ta as well, but different ownership). It is a shot of the new infinity pool at The Marina Bay Sands Hotel and Casino.  It is the boat shaped structure sitting atop the three towers as seen in the top photograph.

Orchids as seen in Singapore's Botanical Gardens

Singapore is a hyper-modern city with one of the best public transport systems in the world. Despite this, the green spaces of Singapore dot the city and provide wonderful places for a walk or picnic. One of the best among them is The Botanical Gardens. It is free to the public but there is a $5 Singapore Dollar charge to enter The National Orchid Garden and it is well worth it. The cool house is a special treat and photos of the pitcher plants housed here are forthcoming in a new post.

Singapore is buzzing with entertainment, fine art and plenty of shopping. There must be more malls per capita than anywhere else on earth. If you are like me and don't care for shopping, you may find yourself in these emmense and highly styled cathedrals to capitolism just to enjoy the air conditioning, um I mean architecture.

But the big draw for us is the food, the glorious, mouthwatering, food. It seems all the great and strange foods of the world all come to Singapore to intermingle and create even tastier versions of themselves. The two not to miss items are the barbeque pork buns and the world famous chili crab. It is some of the very best stuff I have ever tasted. It's not spicy as the name may suggest but the flavor is deep, rich and complex. My mouth waters as I write this blog just thinking about them. Jumbo's Restaurant offers some of the best we had.

The Sun Sets on Singapore's Skyline from atop The Marina Bay Sands HotelMore posts and details about where to go and what to do in Singapore are to be featured in upcoming blog posts so join our newsletter to keep updated.

Part 2 of The Bali Travel Essentials~ Singapore Visa Run ~ The Photos has been posted HERE and keep an eye out for Part 3 Singapore Food!

Balifornian Tours Photo of the Day ~ Meditation ~ Kuta Beach, Lombok

Hello Fellow Travelers and Photographers,

Today's Balifornian Photo of the Day comes from Kuta Beach on Bali's neighboring island of Lombok. While Lombok's Kuta Beach is much quieter than Bali's beach that shares the same name, you will encouter some hawkers selling bracelets and nicknacks. However, nowhere near the intensity and crowds on Bali's Kuta.

Kuta Beach for yoga and meditation?

There are some secret and secluded beaches on Bali but most of the southern beaches are packed with partiers and sellers of all maner of goods. This is both a blessing and a curse to Bali, but the island offers many things to many styles of traveler. You can read more about Kuta, Bali here.

But back to Lombok's Kuta.  Here you can find solitude, a place to meditate, do yoga and remain relatively uninterupted.  Sure, upon arrival you may be surrounded by young girls wanting to sell you thier wares, but once you make it clear you are not interested (just tell them, "Mbak, tidak tertarik"). They will retort, "It is for my school and we need the money".  It's certainly up to you and supporting education is always high on my list, but if you want your peaceful beach stroll, just make your intentions clear and you are off to find your solitude.

Kuta Beach offers many hills and peaceful spots to sit in meditation, clear your mind and relax just as this woman was able to do.

Meditation, yoga and other peaceful pursuits await you on Kuta Beach if you know where to find them

Our Bali Photography Tours 

Balifornian offers fully custom small group photo safaris for all levels of photographers.  We can lead documentary film makers deep into little known areas and we can take enthusiasts new to the art of photography and provide education and direction on all aspects of photography from getting to know your camera to post processing and blogging.  Contact us today to find out about our special tours for photographers.  Feel free to have a look at the photos in our gallery as they are good examples of the types of images you will be able to create on our tours.  The tours are led by Michael, a professor of art and photography as well as some very special guest teachers, pro photographers, local artists and more.  Contact us at photo@balifornian.com today for more information.

Do you have photos from your Indonesian travels you would like to share? Please submit your photo for the Balifornian Tour and Travel Blog Photo of the Day.  Please send your JPEG, location and description to photo@balifornian.com  Files should be under 500 kb.

Happy and swift travels!

Michael and Maryam ~ Balifornian Tours and Travel Blog ~ The award winning Bali travel website.  Your best choice for Bali and Indonesia Tours and Travel information.

Balifornian Photo of the Day ~ Colorful Sunset at Kuta Beach, Lombok

A dramatic sunset bid us farewell as we left Kuta Beach in Lombok and headed back to Mataram. Good surf, good food and good company is how the day was spent and it was good to head back home to family and a big delicious dinner. The prices are still very reasonable in Lombok. In fact reasonable is not the word. Inexpensive is more like it as we had large portions of mouth watering chilli crab and crispy duck for four people for under $14 USD.

Sorry, the talk of food got me off track. Here is that photo of the sunset I was talking about...

A great day surfing is capped off with a colorful sunset at Kuta Beach, LombokCopyright © 2012 Balifornian Tours and Travel Blog ~ Michael Doliveck

A traditional Lombok design of a gecko can be seen in the monolith in the foreground as the firery sunset reflects in a salt water lake adjacent to the beach.

Our Photography Tours 

Are you a photographer or just like to take photo?  Contact us to find out about our special tours for photographers.  Take a look at the images in the gallery as they are good examples of the types of images you will be able to create on our tours.  The tours are led by Michael, a professor of art and photography as well as some very special guest teachers and pro photographers.  Contact us at photo@balifornian.com today for more information.

Do you have some great images from your Indonesian travels you would like to share? Want to submit your photo for the Balifornian Tour and Travel Blog Photo of the Day?  Please send your JPEG, location and description to photo@balifornian.com  Files must be under 500 kb.

Happy travels!

Michael and Maryam ~ Balifornian Tours and Travel Blog ~ The best Bali travel website.  Your best option for Bali and Indonesia Travel information.

Balifornian Photo of the Day ~ Two Beautiful Girls Share a Hammock on the Beach

Hello Balifornians!

Today's photo of the day comes to us from Bali's neighboring island of Lombok. We were there recently to visit our family and we visited beautiful Kuta Beach. For those of you that do not know, this is nothing like Kuta's doppelganger in Bali. Bali's Kuta Beach is beautiful but overrun with tourists and hawkers. The litter can be off putting as well. But Lombok's Kuta is unspoiled white sand beach with clean water and interesting rock out-croppings. The surfing might not be quite as good as Bali's Kuta but it does make for a more relaxing and relatively more private beach day.

Beautiful girls relax in a hammock on Kuta Beach, LombokThis photo is getting quite a bit of exposure on Facebook and other social media so I thought I should put it in its rightful place as well as our Balifornian Photo of the Day.

Sign up now for our unique Photo Tours of Bali and Indonesia today. Just email us here for more information.

If you would like to submit your Bali photo to be included in the photo of the day, just email the photograph and description to us here.

Happy Travels!