INDONESIA: ON THE WAY TO BALI AND A FEW OBSERVATIONS

 July 10, 2023

We originally had a non-stop flight from Sulawesi to Bali, but because we had to eliminate our Sulawesi portion of the trip at the last minute, thereby changing our departure city, we had to now go through Jakarta, and then to Bali, a much longer process with an afternoon arrival rather than a morning one.

We got to the airport early, and after checking in, we realized they had only given us one boarding pass, but we had two flights. We waited in the check-in line again. The counter guy had to call someone about it, and then told us we had to go to the Super Air Jet airline desk in Jakarta to get the next boarding pass. Bob tried to argue, but it didn't help. When we got to our gate, we asked the attendant there. He also had to call someone and got the same answer. I asked if that meant we had to go out of the passenger area and find the main desk, then go through security again, and he said yes. If everything was on time, we only had a 1 hour 20 minute layover.  It didn't seem possible that it could work.

There didn't seem to be much that we could do, so we settled in to wait for our flight.  I passed up the dried fish . . . 

. . . in favor of a chocolate cream puff at Beard Papa's. I know that is surprising.

It wasn't as good as other cream puffs I have had at Beard Papa's, but it was better than nothing for breakfast, which is what Bob had.

I was impressed that this Muslim employee wore her head scarf under her chef hat.

Of course our flight was late, arriving 30 minutes after then scheduled time, and then of course it was one of those gates where we had to take a bus. Then we walked and walked and walked with all the other passengers down a separate corridor outside the main airport. When it finally emptied into the airport proper, we saw a desk with a sign that said "TRANSFERS" (luckily in English as well as Indonesian). There was just one person in line. Could that be the place where we could get our next boarding pass?  It was!

However, we still got funneled through all the security checks, scans, etc. along with the brand new passengers  We were not traveling to a new country--just a different island in Indonesia. It made no sense. And why didn't the people at the airline desk in Surabaya know this? It all seemed so inefficient, especially for the largest airport in Indonesia. On the other hand, maybe this is the way ALL transfers are handled in Indonesia. I think it was the only time we had a two-segment flight within the country.

Luckily, we made it to our new gate barely on time, but then that flight was delayed 30 minutes as well, so we had time to grab something else to eat. The only food available, however, was at a counter with a hot case displaying food that looked like it had been shipped here from a US gas station. That's what it tasted like, too, except maybe that it had been shipped several months ago. I took one bite of the mystery meat I had purchased and tossed the remainder into the garbage.

We FINALLY made it to Denpasar, the capital and largest city in Bali, around 3:00, more than five hours later than our original plan due to our unplanned extended stay in Surabaya. Oh well, better late than never. Bali was one of the places I was most looking forward to. I knew people who had actually been there, unlike our other stops on this trip, and who raved about their experience.

The airport definitely felt different than other airports we'd walked through in Indonesia--much more of a Hindu influence.

I think this was actually a huge photo in the airport, but we saw a lot of gates in this style.

Flowers beautified the bathroom.

Huge paper birds and butterflies were suspended from the ceiling.

Bali is the only province in Indonesia with a Hindu majority (87%), which accounts for the differences we were noting in design and décor. 

Bali is also Indonesia's main tourist destination, and tourism accounts for 80% of its economy. Pre-Covid, most of the tourists came from Australia and China, with India in third place, the UK in fourth, and the US in fifth. Compared to Australia's 1.2 million tourists, the US only had 273,000. I'm guessing the numbers are still similar.

I think all the tourists from all the countries were in southern Bali with us the day we got there. It was incredibly crowded, traffic was intense, and yet again we were glad we didn't have to drive ourselves.

We were met at the airport by our first female guide, a cute, energetic young woman named Ayu who was dressed in a beautiful traditional long burgundy skirt and white blouse. 

We told Ayu that we hadn't really eaten, so she told us we would stop for a late lunch on our way to our single destination of the day, Uluwatu Temple. It was obvious that this part of Indonesia was more wealthy than any part we had been in so far. There was a constant flow of architecture like this:

It is a distance of about 13.5 miles from the airport to Uluwatu Temple, but as I noted, traffic was awful.

After almost an hour of driving, we stopped at a restaurant tucked back from the road. It had a stunning view of the jungle and shoreline.

We were the only guests when we arrived and had our pick of seating. Bob was doing remarkably well considering what he had been through the three previous days.

Ayu took a selfie while we were waiting:

Bob and I both ordered mie goreng, or fried noodles. I had chicken with mine, and Bob had shrimp. I had a mixed fruit juice concoction that was outstanding, and Bob had tonic water. (The drinks were relatively expensive, costing almost half of what the main dish cost.)

Daytime was waning, and we needed to move on to our main destination of the day: Uluwatu Temple. 

Before moving on, here are a few random observations that may be interesting to other tourists:

1) We have seen only four US fast food chains in Indonesia: McDonald's, Pizza Hut, and KFC (the usual foreign triumvirate), and A & W, which we have never seen outside the US. There may be others, but we didn't see them.

2) Many passengers (maybe half?) checked cardboard boxes instead of (or in addition to?) suitcases at the Surabaya airport. I'm not sure if it is because people don't own luggage or for some other reason. 

3) The food is so spicy! Even Bob was overwhelmed by the heat.

4) None of our guides was very fluent in English and they often misinterpreted our questions. They seem to think that speaking fast means they are fluent, but it makes them that much harder to understand.

5) In Sumatra, the maximum ATM withdrawal was 250,000 RP ($16 USD). In Java it was 500,000 RP ($32). In Bali it was 1,000,000 RP ($64). That says something about the relative wealth of each area. (NOTE: Of course, we could make four consecutive withdrawals, a tricky way for the banks to collect fees.)