Where are Ron and Ellen?

Travel Plans: October 2003 through January 2004


On Monday 29 September we fly from Richmond, Virginia, to Los Angeles (via Detroit), then at 1:40 am on Tuesday 30 September we leave Los Angeles for Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and then fly from Kuala Lumpur to Bali, arriving in Bali late afternoon on Wednesday 1 October. Actual elapsed travel time from Richmond to Bali is ~37.5 hours, but you lose a calendar day when you go west across the International Date Line.

A note about time zones: Bali remains on the same time all year, with no switch to Daylight Savings Time. During October, when the US is still on Daylight Savings Time, Bali is 12 hours ahead. Thus, when it is 5 pm in Afton VA, it is 5 am the next day in Bali. At the end of October, when the US switches back to Standard Time, Bali will be 13 hours ahead; when it is 5 pm in Afton VA, it is 6 am the next day in Bali.

We will spend 5.5 weeks exploring Bali on foot and by bike, and will probably go to the neighboring island of Lombok as well. We'll first spend several days in Sanur, on the southeast coast, then head inland (north) to Ubud, where we expect to make a base camp for at least a week. Then we'll go further north to the mountains and lakes in the Danau Bratan area. We'll loop around over the north of the island, then head southeast to the volcanic cones and the lake in the Gunung Batur area, to the Gunung Agung area (Gunung Agung is the highest of the volcanic peaks at 3142m, 10,300ft), and back down to the southeast coast. There, depending on how much time we have left after exploring the previous places, we can either get a boat to Lombok (3.5 hr trip) and spend some time there, or head back to Sanur.

On Sunday 9 November, we take the 3-hour flight back to Kuala Lumpur, and will spend Sunday through Tuesday nights there. On Wednesday afternoon 12 November, Ellen flies from Kuala Lumpur via Los Angeles and Detroit, arriving in Richmond, Virginia, on Thursday morning 13 November. Actual elapsed travel time is ~31 hours from Kuala Lumpur to Richmond; it's faster flying east with prevailing tail winds -- and you gain a calendar day when you cross the International Date Line traveling east.

Ron will stay on in Kuala Lumpur at least long enough to arrange visa, transport, etc to Burma (Myanmar). He will fly to Rangoon from Kuala Lumpur, and will spend 28 days (all the initial visa allows) exploring Burma with his bike. If he is able to get visa extensions, he will probably stay in Burma for the remainder of his time. If visa extensions are not possible, he plans to spend a month biking in Cambodia before heading back to Kuala Lumpur.

Ron flies home from Kuala Lumpur on Friday 16 January, arriving in Richmond, Virginia, mid-day on Saturday 17 January.

We'll be sending travel accounts by email from Bali. After Ellen returns, she will post those accounts to the Web page (with pictures, of course!), and will continue to post Ron's travel tales as they arrive. There is very little Internet access in Burma: there is no Web access at all for anyone, and email is available only from a few hotels, charged by the kilobyte. So reports from Burma may come via post, or may wait until after Ron leaves Burma.

Maps? Consult your own atlas or try either MapQuest, copyright 1997 by GeoSystems Global Corp and Mapping B.V., or the fine map collection at the University of Texas. Here are some nice maps of Bali, Burma, and Cambodia:


Want to know the weather in Bali? Temperatures remain about the same year round. It is a little cooler in the mountains in the center of the island. In Burma the temperatures are fairly similar throughout the country, and the same is true in Cambodia.



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Last updated: 5 September 2003