I’m back on Bali again, at the start of a long-ish business trip, with a little bit of pleasure thrown in, hopefully. I’m just stopping for one night in Kuta to take care of business before heading on to Ubud for a couple of days. This time, I’m staying in the Mercure on Legian beach, which is not bad at all.

The hotel is right on the beach, next to the Hard Rock Hotel. From my fourth floor room, a small balcony gives me a good view of the beach and the surfing action. The hotel pool is right outside my room. Yes, the pool is on the fourth floor, and has an ‘infinity’ design that allows you to sit in the pool and look right out to the ocean. The room is quite comfortable. It’s un-carpeted, which frankly makes a lot of sense for a beach hotel, especially as it’s rather hot right now. The stone tiles are nice and cool on the feet.

This is the low season for Bali, when it’s still quite hot and often rains late in the day. Still, there are more than a few tourists around. The place is hardly deserted. There’s a bit of construction going on here and there, but nothing really new.