On the Road West of Kuta
JANUARY 2015: ACCOMMODATION: You can use online booking applications to find and book accommodation if you want but you will be paying a premium for the convenience. A premium of up to 100% (even for heavily discounted hotels). Avoid Indah Hotel – it is terrible. The standard rooms are grotty, rumour is that dogs wash in the pool at night, and it is all very run down; which makes it overpriced for what you get. You can get a Homestay ‘off the street’ for about 100k-150k per night depending on the quality of theI booked in at a Homestay down […]

Kuta Lombok – Indonesia – Information

FEBRUARY 2015: OVERVIEW: I flew directly to Langkawi via Kuala Lumpur and flew out of Langkawi to Krabi (Thailand) via Kuala Lumpur. CROSS REFERENCES: For more information, read my post on Langkawi. Click here to read about Retirement Locations in this country. Click here for detailed Travel Information and more Travel Budgets in this country. Read About – GRANDPAcking Costs if you don’t know how to interpret my figures. SPREADSHEET SUMMARY: ACTUAL COSTS: Accommodation: Typical accommodation was a Chalet 200-300m from the beach with aircon, front deck, hammock, and COLD WATER shower. Food: Typical food for the day would be about MYR33.50 Breakfast: Fried eggs on toast (MYR6), […]

Langkawi – Malaysia – GRANDPAcking Costs

FEBRUARY 2015: ARRIVAL AT RANONG: The bus ride from Krabi to Ranong was scheduled to take 6 hours. It took 7 hours. By the time that I got there I had a sore bum (the seats were not the most comfortable that I have ever sat on). We were at the Ranong Bus Station by 3:30pm. If I went again (depending on where I was coming from), I would seriously consider taking the flight to Ranong from Bangkok. If I had known this at the time, I would have changed: From: Langkawi – air – Kuala Lumpur –air – Krabi […]

Ko Phayam – Thailand – Arrival

FEBRUARY 2015: ARRIVAL: I used TIKET.COM to book a flight from Langkawi to Krabi. The Immigration process was a bit slow because only 3 or 4 counters were open and the process now requires everyone to be photographed. People from most countries are photographed digitally in front of the immigration counter. People from some countries need to provide actual photos for their visa. There are desks before Immigration where you can get these photos done for a price. People from Europe, the USA, Australia, NZ, etc are fine and get the digital scan. As you exit into the arrival hall it […]

Krabi – Thailand – Information

JANUARY 2015: OVERVIEW: I landed in Kuta, Bali with the intention of only spending a couple of days there. I was only there to organise how I was going to get to Gili Air in Lombok. Gili Air was the main focus of my trip. However, when it was time to leave Gili Air, I decided to take the opportunity to spend a few days in Kuta Town, Lombok. I left from Lombok airport to Malaysia – so did not require a return Fast Boat to Bali. CROSS REFERENCES: For more information, read my post on Gili Air. Click here to read about Retirement […]

Gili Air – Indonesia – GRANDPAcking Costs

JANUARY 2015: MEET THE EXPATS: From left to right: Carol Danny Suzanne Marg William Max Carol: Carol was born in Norway and has been living on Langkawi for 25 years. Carol runs a suite of 10 rental Chalets in the back lanes of Cenang Beach. Danny: Danny and his wife (who did not join us) are ex Australian Navy and are retired: both on a Navy pension. Danny and his wife classify as “rich” GRANDPAckers as their Navy Pension is higher than the normal State Pension. They rent a 3 bedroom House from Carol at RM3000 per month inclusive of all […]

Langkawi – Malaysia – Meet The Expats

JANUARY 2015: BACKGROUND: Trevor & Ellie are from the UK. Trevor retired 12 years ago. He sold his UK home and moved to Malta. Ellie sold up in the UK 8 years ago. Ellie met Trevor in Malta. Trevor & Ellie are now a retired couple living together and sharing costs. MALTA: Twelve years ago, Trevor bought a new home in the south of Malta for £50,000. The south of Malta is quieter and cheaper than the touristy north. House prices and the cost of living in Malta have increased significantly over the past 12 years. A good meal, now, in a good restaurant […]

Langkawi – Malaysia – Trevor and Ellie

JANUARY 2015: SUMMARY: Don’t buy one. If you are a ‘light’ user, why not get a proper tablet like a Galaxy Note or iPad. If you are a ‘serious’ user, get something else. I replaced mine with an ACER SWITCH 10E. SPECIFICATIONS: For detailed specifications, follow this link: http://www.engadget.com/products/asus/transformer/book/t100/specs/ In summary, it is a convertible tablet / laptop with: Wiindows 8.1 64GB of MMC Storage 10.1 inch screen Quad Core Baytrail processor 2GB of RAM Microsoft Office 2013 A long battery life (upto about 11 hours) If you check out the internet, it gets excellent reviews from all of the usual information sources. […]

ASUS Transformer Book T100 Review

JANUARY 2015: Click here to read our Retirement Review. Click here to read about Arriving in Langkawi. WHERE TO STAY: Cenang Beach is the main strip on Langkawi for budget and midrange accommodation, restaurants, bars and shopping. It’s naturally the liveliest place on the island. Most backpacker / budget guesthouses are on the street that runs away from the beach, opposite Orkid Ria restaurant (near the north end of the main drag). Budget rooms can be had for RM50 (NZ$20): for this you get one room with a double bed, a fan, bed sheets, clean towels, toilet paper, and attached ensuite […]

Langkawi – Malaysia – Information

JANUARY 2015: Click here to read our Retirement Review. IMMIGRATION: I used TIKET.COM to book a flight from Kuta Lombok via Kuala Lumpur to Langkawi. When you land in Malaysia you land back into an organised, civilised world where things happen the way that you are used to. You join the ‘Foreign Passport Holders’ queue and get your 90 day Tourist Visa stamp. There is no ‘Arrival Card’ to fill in. But, they do scan both of your index fingers at the Immigration Desk. AIRPORT ATM: With the Lessons Learnt from arriving in Denpasar, I did my sums in advance. […]

Langkawi – Malaysia – Arrival

JANUARY 2015: Click here to read our Retirement Review. THE FAST BOAT(s) TO BALI: For detailed Information about Gili Air click here. The day before I was due to leave Gili Air, we heard that the Fast Boats to / from Bali had been cancelled due to poor sea conditions. This was the 4th of January. The cancellations were to extend to (at least) the 9th of January. This forced many people to re-think their itineraries; many looked at catching the ‘official’ slow ferry from Lembar, Lombok back to Bali; the Ferry trip, alone, takes about 6-8 hours. It takes you 3-4 […]

Gili Air – Indonesia – Departure

DECEMBER 2014: Click here to read our Retirement Review. CROSS REFERENCES: Click here to read about my arrival in Gili Air and to get more information. TRANSPORT: There are no motorised vehicles allowed on the island. You have 3 basic options: walk, bicycle, or catch a horse-drawn taxicab. There are lots of bicycles and rentals are easy to find and fairly reasonably priced at about 35k per day. The island chiefs and ‘entrepreneurs’ are comparatively well off now and you are starting to see electric scooters on the island. These can be ridden by kids as young as 8 and can […]

Gili Air – Indonesia – Information