Pulau Ubin

Had a lovely day cycling around an island that is very undeveloped with a few people from school. Quite a gem. It’s like stepping back in time (after city life in Singapore). Minor sore posterior but otherwise a fabulous time. Saw a mud fish – if that’s what you call them as we walked through the wetlands area and through the mangroves. Topped with a meal at a local restaurant. Definitely going back for more!

Yogya - continued

Side trips to Borobudur which had more Buddhas than you could shake an incense stick at as well as sellers of hats and all sorts of other junk. We succumbed to buying a few trinkets (“Ooh”, says Mary, “XYZ would love one of those, and those, and those!”).






















Then to Prambanan, a very impressive set of Hindu temples not too far away, before that up Mount Merapi, the scene of some devastating volcanic eruptions and lahars in 2010 and then back home. In Yogya itself we cruised the gay bars, bought batiks (picture) and had rides in becaks (picture) providing much merriment for all concerned (“will you be needing two becaks or one?”).

Yogyakarta

We got a bit lucky in that the days for graduation fell directly before a week’s holiday we’d booked in Yogya. Great place. David’s been there a few times, but never with me, so off we went! It was a nice change from Singapore. We stayed in the Phoenix – an old Dutch hotel (picture) which had a superb cooking class (another picture!).

Sydney

Fast forward to April. David finally graduated and got to change his initials from D McPh to Mc Phd (hehe). All good. Ceremony reasonably perfunctory and the hat was not as silly as David was hoping for (normal mortar board – is that how you spell it?), but very good to get it over and done with. David reports that he hasn’t a clue what he’s going to do now, but there you go.

Bali Jan

In late Jan we found ourselves in Bali for the third time in a year! This time with Ngaire, Mary’s Mum. Great place as ever. Stayed in Ubud for a few days at a lovely hotel that had added a free afternoon tea to its charms since we were there last. Superb cake, great coffee and (obviously) very convivial company.
























The hotel is set in rice fields about 5 mins drive outside of town – very quiet and peaceful. From there we caught an evening dance performance, visited the market, a white heron colony and basically cruised. One day was a trip up to some volcanoes and a lake temple (Batur). The dances are amazing – very atmospheric and nuanced (says David), but I just like them (says Mary).


























Then down to Sanur in the south of the island where we managed to blob even more. In our own small way, we tried to see how much food could be eaten in a short time and a small distance from our room (answer = a great deal). The surfer is from another Bali trip but David couldn't resist it.