Author Topic: MP and Co's Trip Around the World in Thirteen Days  (Read 49830 times)

Offline doodle

  • Dansdeals Gold Elite
  • ***
  • Join Date: Oct 2013
  • Posts: 237
  • Total likes: 9
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 0
    • View Profile
  • Location: Dead Sea
Re: MP and Co's Trip Around the World in Thirteen Days
« Reply #60 on: July 31, 2015, 12:01:04 PM »
The guy could have posted pictures of himself eating a stolen cheeseburger on Yom Kippur (Cholov Yisroel cheese, of course) and it would STILL be wrong of you criticize and accuse.
 
SHAMEFULL
Salt Is Good

Offline Marco Polo

  • Dansdeals Lifetime 10K Presidential Platinum Elite
  • *******
  • Join Date: Jul 2012
  • Posts: 13121
  • Total likes: 49
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 104
  • Gender: Male
    • View Profile
Re: MP and Co's Trip Around the World in Thirteen Days
« Reply #61 on: August 01, 2015, 07:26:04 AM »
Favorite line!  ;D
Little "Easter Eggs" for the diligent reader :)
Quaerite et Invenietis.

Offline Marco Polo

  • Dansdeals Lifetime 10K Presidential Platinum Elite
  • *******
  • Join Date: Jul 2012
  • Posts: 13121
  • Total likes: 49
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 104
  • Gender: Male
    • View Profile
Re: MP and Co's Trip Around the World in Thirteen Days
« Reply #62 on: August 01, 2015, 07:50:41 AM »
Part Four:

   While this will not be as exciting as the rest of the posts, I did promise another installment, so here it is. We had ordered our food to come right before Shabbat started and had them set it up on our balcony, where the candles were lit. There was a cocktail hour or two going on around the corner in the Executive Lounge, so we walked over (separately, as they do not let kids under 12 in) and got some drinks to have for the meal. We ate our luxurious Noah’s Ark meals, had some fruit and went to bed. We did have to turn away housekeeping and the turn down service, but we will get to enjoy that a few times before we leave.

   We were all up for the day around 5:30/6:00, so we got dressed and went for an early morning walk around the property. The property here is extremely nice and has lots of little nooks and walkways to explore. While not nearly as exclusive as the Conrad Koh Samui felt and was, this is still a great location. Walking along the beach we could see an aircraft carrier, or something of the sort parked right off the coast. Interestingly enough, it looked like an American flag flying from it (will get a picture tomorrow if it is still there). As Diamond members, we get complimentary breakfast, so we went in and had some fruit and drinks. The spread for breakfast was absolutely incredible, and would satisfy anyone for a full day. The rest of the day was spent hanging around the different pools and lagoon that wind it’s way throughout the property and some of the other hotel activities. This location has a great kids area and is free for kids 3-12. While we don’t fit in that age group, we were able to use the facilities when we were there to watch our kid. We also found out that we can get babysitting service for 50,000 IDR and hour (this is about $3.75) While we are not sure when we would need one, this is a great and very affordable option to have.

   While there weren't any temples to see or think about today ( ;P ), tomorrow we will take our first full day tour to Ubud, and hopefully a more exciting post to follow that.
Quaerite et Invenietis.

Offline Chapshnell

  • Dansdeals Presidential Platinum Elite
  • ********
  • Join Date: Apr 2013
  • Posts: 4818
  • Total likes: 275
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 12
  • Gender: Male
    • View Profile
  • Location: BP
  • Programs: Delta Skypesos, AA Shilling, AS Pounds.
Re: MP and Co's Trip Around the World in Thirteen Days
« Reply #63 on: August 01, 2015, 08:46:47 PM »
Where are you storing all the food? Big fridge in the room?

Offline Marco Polo

  • Dansdeals Lifetime 10K Presidential Platinum Elite
  • *******
  • Join Date: Jul 2012
  • Posts: 13121
  • Total likes: 49
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 104
  • Gender: Male
    • View Profile
Re: MP and Co's Trip Around the World in Thirteen Days
« Reply #64 on: August 02, 2015, 04:20:26 AM »
Where are you storing all the food? Big fridge in the room?
Hotel freezer.
Quaerite et Invenietis.

Offline Marco Polo

  • Dansdeals Lifetime 10K Presidential Platinum Elite
  • *******
  • Join Date: Jul 2012
  • Posts: 13121
  • Total likes: 49
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 104
  • Gender: Male
    • View Profile
Re: MP and Co's Trip Around the World in Thirteen Days
« Reply #65 on: August 02, 2015, 05:24:41 AM »
Part Five:

   Our trip started with pickup at 8:30 from the Conrad Suites entrance. This was extremely convenient, as there are lots of steps just to make it to the lobby. Our trip today would revolve around Ubud and some of the surrounding areas. The drive to Ubud is around an hour from the hotel and most of the time more intense than the Road to Hana in Maui. While there may be “two” lanes here, there are cars and motorcycles parked along both sides of the street and cars and motorcycles are constantly cutting each other off with little to no signaling.

   Our first stop was the traditional Barong Balinese dance. This show was by far the most expensive thing we did (100,000 IDR per person ~7.50) and took around an hour. The dance is really some story about good and evil with what seemed like some “questionable” scene at the end. While not a must go, it was pretty Interesting, aside from the screaming the performers were doing.

Dance Musicians:

These guys looked grumpy the entire time.

Tiger:

We were a bit late so did not get great seats.

Story of the Dance:



   Stop two was in the art village at some random art shop/house/temple? We were escorted around and shown the different pieces of art, but it all looked kind of manufactured to me, with some kids looking at phones and tracing pictures. After about ten minutes there, we were ready to move on to the next stop.

   Stop three was the monkey temple and sanctuary. This was a really cool stop and blows the monkey show in Thailand out of the water. You walk around paths in and out of these structures, along bridges just looking out for monkeys. While looking makes it sound like they were hard to find, the monkey were in fact everywhere and were even jumping/climbing on people. There was a sign posted with some guidelines about what you should do if a monkey jumps on you, and screaming was one you were not supposed to do. However, some of the tourists could not help themselves and made matters worse for themselves. I believe the entrance fee was 10,000 IDR (about $0.80 a person), and the kid was free. We spent an hour or so walking around the area and then did a little souvenir shopping right outside.

Parent/Child Cleaning:


Monkey:


Monkey Temple:


   Stop four was a bit f the way up the road and at Ubud market and the Ubud Palace. Here our driver managed to squeeze into some spot with the help of a parking man(?), who you tip/pay afterwards. We did some walking around the different shops, but they were all very similar and did not have anything too intriguing.  At this point my kid was getting cranky so we stopped to eat lunch. We had asked the hotel to warm up our lunch for the day and have it ready for 8:15. We were then able to put it in our cooler/heater bag and had a reasonable warm lunch of pizza and mac and cheese. The Ubud palace was across the street and was a lot smaller than the one we saw in Seoul. After some pictures and walking around, we were off to our final stop.

   Stop five was the rice paddies. It was at least 25 minutes farther out of the direction we would eventually go back in, but it was something we wanted to see. When we arrived at the parking lot, there was a little booth to get your ticket (10,000 IDR per person) and the baby was free. Now the parking area is not by the entrance to the rice paddies. We were told to make a left and walk a bit down to see it. Well walk we did, and see it we did as well, however, we could not find the entrance to the rice paddies. We kept walking down stairs to restaurants and shops with amazing views, but no real way down the mountain. After some more walking around, we found steps that supposedly led to the paddies. For anyone with a kid or little kids, these stairs were not so easy at all and really take a lot out of you. By the time we made it down, we about had enough and decided to just walk back up, as the views were much better. There were 215 oddly shaped and placed steps to get back up, and it was rough. So a heads-up for anyone going, beware.

Rice Terracing from Above:


Another Shot:


   At this point we were wiped out and just wanted to get back to the hotel. The drive was around 1.5 hours and much of the same repetitive stores and shops. We made it back in time for afternoon tea, where I am sitting with my feet up writing this. The rest of the day will be relaxing with a hotel/water sports day planned for tomorrow.

Low Tide on The Way Home:

This was all water on the drive this morning.
Quaerite et Invenietis.

Offline chuchem

  • Dansdeals Lifetime Platinum Elite
  • *******
  • Join Date: Jun 2009
  • Posts: 2323
  • Total likes: 30
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 1
    • View Profile
Re: MP and Co's Trip Around the World in Thirteen Days
« Reply #66 on: August 02, 2015, 07:28:41 AM »
Can I ask politely how you can go to these places. Even just looking at them is considered having "hanoe" from avoida Zora! I am not trying to be frum here, but I dont see any type of heter here?!

Nice tr, but this makes me really curios, same goes for big buddah in hkg and other places?!

Offline grodnoking

  • Dansdeals Lifetime Presidential Platinum Elite
  • *********
  • Join Date: Nov 2014
  • Posts: 5847
  • Total likes: 767
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 17
    • View Profile
Re: MP and Co's Trip Around the World in Thirteen Days
« Reply #67 on: August 02, 2015, 08:21:24 AM »
Can I ask politely how you can go to these places. Even just looking at them is considered having "hanoe" from avoida Zora! I am not trying to be frum here, but I dont see any type of heter here?!

Nice tr, but this makes me really curios, same goes for big buddah in hkg and other places?!
Can I ask politely how you can go and ruin this tr? If you feel your question is so important pm him. Oh, and your question is not important because im sure he's as jewish as you and spoke to his own rabbi... so shhh.
I'm not who you think I am.

Offline shwarmabob

  • Dansdeals Lifetime Platinum Elite
  • *******
  • Join Date: Dec 2014
  • Posts: 1264
  • Total likes: 201
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 0
  • Gender: Male
    • View Profile
Re: MP and Co's Trip Around the World in Thirteen Days
« Reply #68 on: August 02, 2015, 08:33:00 AM »
Can I ask politely how you can go to these places. Even just looking at them is considered having "hanoe" from avoida Zora! I am not trying to be frum here, but I dont see any type of heter here?!

Nice tr, but this makes me really curios, same goes for big buddah in hkg and other places?!
MP is on vacation so probably he is relaxing and you can't expect him to give you a detailed answer. If anything you should wait with asking him these polite questions until he gets back. He already wrote that he did not enter but looked from outside which is different. Additionally, the places that look exotic to you and seem like A"Z are actually royal palaces (Ubud) and not A"Z.

Offline lunatic

  • Dansdeals Presidential Platinum Elite
  • ********
  • Join Date: May 2009
  • Posts: 4430
  • Total likes: 29
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 8
    • View Profile
Re: MP and Co's Trip Around the World in Thirteen Days
« Reply #69 on: August 02, 2015, 08:43:02 AM »
Can I ask politely how you can go and ruin this tr? If you feel your question is so important pm him. Oh, and your question is not important because im sure he's as jewish as you and spoke to his own rabbi... so shhh.
At least he asked politely....

Offline AJK

  • Dansdeals Lifetime 20K Presidential Platinum Elite
  • ********
  • Join Date: Jun 2011
  • Posts: 25419
  • Total likes: 721
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 15
  • Gender: Male
    • View Profile
  • Programs: United Concierge Key; Delta Global Services; American Chairman; US Airways 1K; Hilton Sapphire; Hyatt Tritium; Marriott Californium; Starwood Kryptonium; Hertz Plutonium; National Adamantium, Avis Executive Proactanium
Re: MP and Co's Trip Around the World in Thirteen Days
« Reply #70 on: August 02, 2015, 09:28:43 AM »
Great TR! Empty F cabins are a joy.

But, dude, you really should focus on *enjoying* the vacation you're writing about instead of writing it  to satisfy the insatiable DDF masses.

It may not be the popular choice, but enjoy first, write second.

And, for the love of God, the halacha police need to vacate the premises. If you have a concern about someone's religiosity, the proper form of communication is PM, not calling him out in public.
2015: 116K bkd | 1.6M brnd | F: OZ,NH,AA,EK | J: UA,CA,TK,DL,TN,AF,VA | LIH,NRT,ROR,PEK,CNS,BOB,MEL,TLV & Pacific Hopper

Offline dpk4588

  • Dansdeals Lifetime Platinum Elite
  • *******
  • Join Date: Nov 2012
  • Posts: 1159
  • Total likes: 66
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 23
    • View Profile
  • Location: New York
Re: MP and Co's Trip Around the World in Thirteen Days
« Reply #71 on: August 02, 2015, 09:32:11 AM »
But, dude, you really should focus on *enjoying* the vacation you're writing about instead of writing it  to satisfy the insatiable DDF masses.
I do agree, and I don't know if this is why he's doing it, but I find its easier to write (not necessarily edit and post) a TR as its happening, since its fresh in your mind.
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.
-Albert Einstein

Offline lunatic

  • Dansdeals Presidential Platinum Elite
  • ********
  • Join Date: May 2009
  • Posts: 4430
  • Total likes: 29
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 8
    • View Profile
Re: MP and Co's Trip Around the World in Thirteen Days
« Reply #72 on: August 02, 2015, 09:54:14 AM »
Some people (seemingly mp included) enjoy writing as part of the trip

Offline Marco Polo

  • Dansdeals Lifetime 10K Presidential Platinum Elite
  • *******
  • Join Date: Jul 2012
  • Posts: 13121
  • Total likes: 49
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 104
  • Gender: Male
    • View Profile
Re: MP and Co's Trip Around the World in Thirteen Days
« Reply #73 on: August 02, 2015, 11:12:47 AM »
I definitely do enjoy writing this up at the end of each day. I'm not taking away from doing anything else, rather writing as I enjoy a lounge or a nice sunset.
Quaerite et Invenietis.

Offline AJK

  • Dansdeals Lifetime 20K Presidential Platinum Elite
  • ********
  • Join Date: Jun 2011
  • Posts: 25419
  • Total likes: 721
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 15
  • Gender: Male
    • View Profile
  • Programs: United Concierge Key; Delta Global Services; American Chairman; US Airways 1K; Hilton Sapphire; Hyatt Tritium; Marriott Californium; Starwood Kryptonium; Hertz Plutonium; National Adamantium, Avis Executive Proactanium
Re: MP and Co's Trip Around the World in Thirteen Days
« Reply #74 on: August 02, 2015, 11:57:30 AM »
I definitely do enjoy writing this up at the end of each day. I'm not taking away from doing anything else, rather writing as I enjoy a lounge or a nice sunset.
Then more power to you. I just don't see how it doesn't take away from family time.

I enjoy it either way!
2015: 116K bkd | 1.6M brnd | F: OZ,NH,AA,EK | J: UA,CA,TK,DL,TN,AF,VA | LIH,NRT,ROR,PEK,CNS,BOB,MEL,TLV & Pacific Hopper

Offline chuchem

  • Dansdeals Lifetime Platinum Elite
  • *******
  • Join Date: Jun 2009
  • Posts: 2323
  • Total likes: 30
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 1
    • View Profile
Re: MP and Co's Trip Around the World in Thirteen Days
« Reply #75 on: August 02, 2015, 03:55:14 PM »
Thanks for everyone's nice message

As this board is used by a mostly 'halacha keeping, keeping crowd I was wondering about a valid point. How would people like it when a guy wrote in his trip report that he went to a brothel every night?!
People take notes and plan their trip according to other trip reports and this could be a major 'chet' that people don't realize. This is not cholov stam or cholov yisroel issue.

The op can respond if he chooses to or ignore it. If you dont like the question to bad!




Offline ChAiM'l

  • Dansdeals Lifetime Platinum Elite
  • *******
  • Join Date: Jan 2010
  • Posts: 1823
  • Total likes: 51
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 4
  • Gender: Male
    • View Profile
Re: MP and Co's Trip Around the World in Thirteen Days
« Reply #76 on: August 02, 2015, 04:18:06 PM »
Thanks for everyone's nice message

As this board is used by a mostly 'halacha keeping, keeping crowd I was wondering about a valid point. How would people like it when a guy wrote in his trip report that he went to a brothel every night?!
People take notes and plan their trip according to other trip reports and this could be a major 'chet' that people don't realize. This is not cholov stam or cholov yisroel issue.

The op can respond if he chooses to or ignore it. If you dont like the question to bad!
+1

TRs are a great resource for people who are planning trips. People assume that most TRs are written by frum jews and therefore wouldn't think that certain sights/attractions may be halachically problematic.

If the OP's Rabbi was ok with him visiting, he should - as most people do- make it clear this is something to AYLOR. There is nothing wrong in discussing it, it is discussed plenty in the Rome thread for example.

Having said that, the tone of the original questioner was definitely disrespectful.

Offline Marco Polo

  • Dansdeals Lifetime 10K Presidential Platinum Elite
  • *******
  • Join Date: Jul 2012
  • Posts: 13121
  • Total likes: 49
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 104
  • Gender: Male
    • View Profile
Re: MP and Co's Trip Around the World in Thirteen Days
« Reply #77 on: August 02, 2015, 05:20:22 PM »
I do agree it is a AYLOR situation, but do people really follow blindly what others have done. I always use TR's as a guide and build off of that.
Quaerite et Invenietis.

Offline Marco Polo

  • Dansdeals Lifetime 10K Presidential Platinum Elite
  • *******
  • Join Date: Jul 2012
  • Posts: 13121
  • Total likes: 49
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 104
  • Gender: Male
    • View Profile
Re: MP and Co's Trip Around the World in Thirteen Days
« Reply #78 on: August 02, 2015, 05:25:10 PM »
As a side note, for anyone interested in going to Bali, or a place like Thailand, there are temples everywhere and can cannot be avoided. Almost every store has some kind of item for sale that also has what to do with this. I guess for someone who is worried, best to stay away from these countries.

I want to mention that I am not "going after" anyone about this, and everyone is entitled to their opinions. I do think it is a good idea to put all the cards on the table do people can make informed decisions. Though maybe this is not the best thread for it.
Quaerite et Invenietis.

Offline ual902

  • Dansdeals Lifetime Platinum Elite
  • *******
  • Join Date: Apr 2013
  • Posts: 1843
  • Total likes: 52
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 0
    • View Profile
Re: MP and Co's Trip Around the World in Thirteen Days
« Reply #79 on: August 02, 2015, 05:28:15 PM »
As a side note, for anyone interested in going to Bali, or a place like Thailand, there are temples everywhere and can cannot be avoided. Almost every store has some kind of item for sale that also has what to do with this. I guess for someone who is worried, best to stay away from these countries.

I want to mention that I am not "going after" anyone about this, and everyone is entitled to their opinions. I do think it is a good idea to put all the cards on the table do people can make informed decisions. Though maybe this is not the best thread for it.

We Love your Trip Report and we love the Temples.