Indonesia

I like the W concept … it’s funky, stylish and edgy. I’ve stayed at a couple W hotels and to me, this is now the shining beacon of the Starwood chain. St. Regis is obviously the high end of luxury, but I think they cater to the older, monied crowd, while the W brand caters to the hipper traveller, who …

In my first post about Borobudur, I mentioned my lack of enthusiasm for the whole “sunrise” experience. This being said, one of the main reasons for me coming to Yogyakarta, was to photograph and see Borobudur. After the morning debacle with our guide Daniel (who you can email directly here … he is awesome, friendly and well known at Borobudur …

Heading into Bali, I tried to book for 4 free nights at the W Bali Resort in Seminyak, but due to the lack of availability of “standard” rooms, I couldn’t get the first night in – so instead I had to book 1 night at the Lagoon and 3 nights at the W Bali. Plaudit #1 … Sheraton Towers, Singapore …

2011 will be my year of Rice Terraces. The last couple months have been rice terraces in Philippines and Indonesia. After going to Borobudur, we head up to an “obscure” temple in the mountains. Candi Selogriyo is a small Hindu temple, built earlier before Borobudur temple. It is located at the head of a small valley, with many terraced rice-fields …

A couple misconceptions I had before I got to Yogyakarta … since I think every preconceived idea of Indonesia has been shattered with my arrival into Yogyakarta. Yogyakarta is some dusty temple town that will be easy to get around. FALSE : “Yogya” is pretty god damn big and you will need a driver to get around. Since Yogya is …

In typical fashion online, when one person has a great opinion of something, it tends to spread viral, especially if those people have a smaller frame of context. In the true tradition of overpriced and overrated, watching the sunrise from Borobudur would fall into this category. On a sunny, clear morning, you’ll get the “mystic” sunrise from Borobudur – but …

For the next couple days, we’re going to be in Yogyakarta, hiking up and down temples and monuments. Again, using the SPG promo and points, we have a couple nights using “Cash and Points” at the Sheraton Mustika – which amounted to 30$ and 2800 pts a night. Plaudit #1 … Sheraton Towers, Singapore Plaudit #2 … Le Meridien Jakarta, …

Generally Mosques aren’t the most elaborate of places – they tend to be open spaces where the masses can congregate and worship together unless there is some reason to make a ridiculously opulent and large mosque, as was such for the Hasan II mosque in Casablanca. The biggest Mosque in Jakarta and South East Asia is the Istiqlal Mosque. The …

With one full day here in Jakarta, I ended up booking a “Cash and Points” stay at Le Meridien Jakarta – which amounted to 30$ and 2800 pts a night – not a bad deal. Plaudit #1 … Sheraton Towers, Singapore Plaudit #2 The hotel isn’t the greatest Le Meridien, I’ve ever seen, but the security is expectedly tight for …