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| Elaborate exterior of oceanfront property. |
Yesterday, there were two more bombings in Thailand. Click on the following link for details. When I read this article this morning I was reminded of a TV show called, “I’m a celebrity get me out a here” and although we’re certainly not celebrities we’re kind of looking forward to “getting outta here.”
Much of the loss of life has been local people, not the intended tourists in many cases. In addition to the horrific loss of life and injuries, these incidents have a deleterious effect on tourism, preventing many tourists staying away entirely or ending their vacations/holidays earlier than planned. The locals pay the price when their many small businesses suffer under these circumstances. .
That’s not to say that Bali is exempt from bombings and a variety of terrorist-type attacks. And yet as we speak people are being murdered as a result of heinous radical behavior all over the world including in our own USA.
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| Gated oceanfront property. |
We won’t elaborate this topic today since we covered it in detail over these past week. Most of us have access to news from a wide array of media outlets that keeps us informed, biased or not, as to what horrific events are transpiring throughout the world. It’s heart wrenching.
One week from today will be heading to Phuket International Airport for 10:15 am flight, including one layover to return to the capital city of Denpasar to the Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali. We’ll spend one night in a hotel in Kutu before we commence, the next day, on the four or five hour harrowing drive.
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| We weren’t certain of the purpose of this trellis or the plastic bag (sometimes used to “catch” grasshoppers or crickets) when it appeared mostly weeds were growing beneath it. |
Before we head out from Denpasar we’ll stop at the Carrefore Market to purchase food items that are unavailable anywhere close to the villa in Sumbersari. At all costs we want to avoid having to return to Denpasar for another long drive during our upcoming two month stint in Bali prior to returning to Australia for a number of cruises, vacation home stays and more.
Between October 31, 2016 and April 22, 2017, we have four cruises booked around Australia, the fourth of which sails from Sydney to Seattle. t’s hard to believe this is coming up after spending 23 months in the South Pacific having satisfied our curiosity and our interest as to what this part of the world has to offer.
Travelers could easily spend a lifetime exploring many more islands and considerably more of the continent of Australia. We have no delusions that we’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg. With visa restrictions allowing us entry into Australia for a continuous period of three months we’re disappointed we never made it to the Outback.
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| The exterior of many homes are adorned with elaborate decorations, doors and artwork. |
We’d investigated the possibility of renting a caravan/motor home but found the cost prohibitive and the time constraint restrictive. Although the concept of renting a caravan/motor home has some appeal for the future when we’ll for the US, at this point doing so is not a priority.
With only a week until our departure from Thailand we’ve begun to think about our final meals, packing and preparations for our departure. As always, on the last day, we’ll be posting the final expenses for the six weeks we’ll have spent in Phuket, Thailand.
The expenses will be considerably less than our usual expenses based on the fact that we haven’t done much while we’re here do my current condition; no restaurants, no tours and few tourist venues. The low cost of the less-than-stellar rental car will be included. Overall, the car has served us well.
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| Many residential streets are narrow with room for only one car to pass without a bit of maneuvering. |
I wish I could say we’ll be heading out to take more interesting photos but right now, it’s simply not on the agenda in light of recent attacks in tourist areas. We have enough new photos yet to share over this next week and with only one more quick trip to the market we’ve already begun the process of winding down.
Thanks to all of our loyal readers for sticking with us during this quiet time. Hopefully, as I continue to improve we’ll be able to share more interesting photos and events in our lives. Much more excitement will begin on October 31st when we board Royal Caribbean Radiance of the Seas for the 33 day cruise circumventing the Australian continent.
We’re very excited about this cruise and being back aboard ship. This will be quite a test for us to see how we feel about long cruises. The longest cruise we’ve experience to date was the 18 days from Honolulu, Hawaii to Sydney Australia in June 2015.
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| Entrance to apartment building under constriction. |
Tom says, “One of those days was only two hours long when we crossed the international dateline making that cruise only 17 days.” The cruise line unfairly referred to it as an 18 day cruise. Hmm…
Returning to the US in eight months, we’ll recover the lost day for a 24 day (or will be two hours of the 25th day?). Confusing. We’ll report back on that as it occurs.
May your day be filled with wonderful surprises that make you smile.
Photo from one year ago today, August 24, 2015:
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| Fresh greens appeared to be a little higher priced than the grocery stores at the farmer’s market in Cairns. For more photos, please click here. |