Back to Bali

Leaving Singapore

I tried to spend some time with my aunt in the morning as it was a very short visit on my part.  At her age and with her special condition, she keeps to a certain routine.  It appeared she wasn’t too fussed with my presence so I didn’t push it.

Heading to the airport for my 1215 flight to Bali, my Grab driver might as well have been a robot (again).  It’s a far cry from Indonesia where every driver seems to want to engage with me.  They seem to be curious about your world and are happy to share their world too.  It makes their day more interesting I guess.  But here?

At Changi Airport’s terminal 4, I decided to reprint my boarding pass from a kiosk rather than use the mobile version.  It saves on keeping the phone out when going through security.  Anyway, the boarding pass didn’t let me through the automated passport control, displaying a Boarding Pass Error.

An immigration officer suggested that I needed a document check.  At AirAsia’s doc check counter, I was asked if I had previous travel to Mainland China in the last two weeks (due to the coronavirus situation now).  I asked if the auto gates would have worked if I had checked-in through the kiosks as it would have scanned my passport (whereas my passport details were entered via the App).

She rudely replied “As I have already asked you, have you been to mainland China in the last two weeks?”  Well, well, I told her that she wasn’t responding to the situation well and there wasn’t any need to be rude.  She said “Thank you for your feedback”.  Having worked at airlines before, I know the document check an entail passport validity, passport conditions (eg. delamination), visa, exit tickets etc.  In today’s case, it appeared they were more interested in travel history.  But there was no need to be rude.  It takes a conscious effort to be nasty rather than to answer a simple question.

Despite the document check, the auto gates presented the same Boarding Pass Error.  I gave up and headed towards a manual counter.  A helpful officer came towards me and told me to try again.  Before I could re-scan my boarding pass, the gate picked up my face (apparently not having timed-out) and let me through.  Rather temperamental today!

I spent a couple of hours in the lounge catching up with correspondences, bills and statements before boarding my flight to Bali.  We departed 5 mins late.  I had pre-ordered my all-time favourite airline meal, the Nasi Kuning Manado.  It wasn’t as good as I remember but it was still plenty tasty.

Back in Bali

We nearly more than made up for the 5 min delay as we approached into Bali.  But with air traffic holdup, we also arrived 5 mins late.  With the coronavirus situation, immigration was swift.  I’m putting up at the Zest Legian Hotel this time to try a different part of Bali.  I had transfers booked via Traveloka  for IDR200K return whereas a Grab car would have cost IDR200K oneway (and about IDR70K for the trip back to the airport).

The hotel had a rooftop pool.  I thought I’d get the make the most of its facilities today as I wouldn’t have a chance tomorrow or on my day of departure.  The pool had a nicely sized but its shallowness meant that it was too warm.  It didn’t refresh me.  In fact I felt warmer after the swim.

For my short stay in Bali, I only had this evening to explore the surroundings.  The Zest Hotel is a short to Legian beach but via a narrow alleyway.  The beach (pictured above) seems nicer than at Seminyak in terms of sand colour which is lighter and whiter here.  It’s quite similar in terms of beach umbrellas, food and the surf.  The area seems more Australian as opposed to European in Seminyak.  Overall, in terms of beach access, hotel price/value and atmosphere, I would much rather stay at the Grandmas Plus again in Seminyak.

I was getting hot and decided to redeem my free welcome drink at the hotel.  It made sense to eat at the same time.  Prices were reasonable and a 10% in-house guest discount made it even better.  Their gado-gado took a modern interpretation and was nicely presented.

Shopping

My “must do” for the evening is to go to the supermarket to buy a selection of sachet sauces to bring back to New Zealand.  While I travel without luggage, I have 23kg of luggage allowance and it would be a waste not to use it.

I took a Grab car to the Carrefour and had a super-chatty driver.  He was very interested in travel and was impressed with my geography and knowledge of Indonesia as well as my travel history in the country.

The funny part about talking to the driver (and others) in the current situation is when they talk about “Fairuz” or “Feyrouz”; I think about the Lebanese singer.  But they actually mean “virus” as the “V” is more like an “F” in Indonesia.

At Carrefour, I wanted to buy cooking and curry pastes in sachets and hot sweet soya sauce (which make a good gift for friends in New Zealand). But I got a bit carried away due to the wide range of choices.  I ended up buying around IDR85K of stuff, including containers to ensure there were no accidents with the kicap manis pedas (hot sweet soya sauce).  I later found that I had bought around 10kg of goodies.

Back at the hotel, I tried fitting my loot into the spare foldable “refugee” bag which I had brought along.  It wasn’t going to do the job.  Going downstairs, I asked at a shop if they had any “refugee” bags, showing them what I meant.  Speaking only in Indonesian, I explained that I only want to transport my shopping home.  The cheapest they had was a Nike bag for around IDR250K.  The price dropped to IDR10K when I walked away.  That was a quick solution which also turned out perfectly- sized for my needs.