Travelfish correspondent Stuart McDonald

Stuart previously lived in Thailand and Cambodia for around eight years between them, where he worked as an under-paid, under-skilled language teacher, an embassy staffer, a newspaper web-site developer and various other stuff. Before all those non-travel jobs he authored two travel guides, one to Vietnam and one to Thailand. He still spends a lot of time travelling and can sleep anywhere, anytime - even on the road to Bokor. His favourite read is The Art of Travel by Alain de Botton. He spends most of his time in Bali, Indonesia.
Website: http://www.travelfish.org

Posts by Stuart McDonald:

• Bali’s best beaches on the Bukit

  First published: 02 Jun 2011
  

  It’s a common complaint from first-time visitors to Bali (we were guilty of this ourselves) that Balinese beaches are just ordinary. I remember the first time I stepped onto a Balinese Beach — staying at Villa Kresna in Seminyak, I strolled down to check out the surf I’d heard so much about and found a … read the full post

• Bali iPhone app: Now Available!

  First published: 25 May 2011
  

  July 23, 2011: UPDATED! The Bali iPhone app has been approved and is now available in the AppStore. You can read more about the Bali iPhone App right here. Just a quick note to let you know that our long-awaited iPhone app for Bali is in the final stages of compilation and testing. It’s been … read the full post

• Good books about Bali

  First published: 24 May 2011
  

  We had the good fortune to hear Bill Dalton speak in Ubud last week. Bill is the founder of Moon Publications and the author of what started as the first proper guidebook to Indonesia, eventually becoming the Indonesia Handbook. For years it was the guidebook to the archipelago. During the talk, the question was asked … read the full post

• Taman Festival: Bali’s ghost town

  First published: 22 May 2011
  

  Taman Festival is a vast yet never completed entertainment complex a 20-minute bicycle ride north from Sanur beach. While the park had a soft opening in 1997, it closed its doors in 2000 and has been abandoned ever since. According to Bali news site BaliDiscovery, the park was a joint venture between the local government … read the full post

• Seminyak and Legian beach bars

  First published: 15 May 2011
  

  Open any inflight mag and the Bali beach bars that get name-dropped are inevitably the glossies like KuDeTa, Cocoon, Rock Bar, Potato Head, Tao Rooftop Bar and so on, but there’s one problem, none of these are actually on the beach. Sure you can see the beach from any of these joints, but you’re certainly … read the full post

• Driving around Bali: Lovina to Pemuteran

  First published: 28 Apr 2011
  

  From Lovina it’s an easy ride along the northwest coast of Bali to reach the diving and snorkelling beachside hideaway of Pemuteran. The road skirts the coastline for much of the way and aside from the rising hills to the south it’s really a bit of an uneventful ride, with junction town Seririt being the … read the full post

• Life in Amed: A family holiday in Bali

  First published: 19 Apr 2011
  

  So what do you do when you’ve got two friends and their two under-threes visiting Bali for a couple of weeks? Well, one option is to put your own two under-fives in the car and meet up with them to share a beachfront house for a few days. And so that’s how we found ourselves … read the full post

• Just another Amed sunrise

  First published: 17 Apr 2011
  

  We’re up in Amed for a long weekend with some friends who are visiting from Bangkok. We’ve rented a beachfront shack between the four of us (before you get jealous, that’s four adults plus four kids under five!) for a few days. If there is one definite upside to being in the possession of young … read the full post

• Driving around Bali: Amed to Lovina

  First published: 12 Apr 2011
  

  You must have been thinking we were never going to get out of Amed, huh?! Compared to the windy coastal route from Candi Dasa to Amed the road onwards to Lovina is a breeze. It’s a long drive, but plain sailing with barely a hill along the way. That’s not to say it isn’t scenic, … read the full post

• What is a good place to stay in Amed?

  First published: 02 Apr 2011
  

  The area commonly referred to as Amed is actually a series of villages and bays running along the northeast coast of Bali. Known for black sand beaches, calm waters, fine snorkelling and impressive scenery, Amed forms a low-key counterpoint to the bustling yellow sand surf beaches of southern Bali. With over a half dozen beaches … read the full post