BALI REVISITED

By a stroke of good luck, I manage to create this blog. True to Che Tar's words, it's so easy.... So here's my new attempt to publish a blog after 1 year's hiatus.

Hmm. The subject that had been on my mind these past two weeks is my recent trip to Bali. But the memories are fading slowly by the day, so I feel it is right that I record my impressions of the trip here.

Che Tar and I flew into the island on 10th April from the new LCCT , and by the time we landed at Ngurah Rai International Airport it was a little after 8 pm. I was counting on Pak Giri, the guide from my last trip to wait for us there. But he was not there!I rang him up, and he apologised saying that he did wait for me, but thought I could not make the trip. True or not, who's to know? The plane was actually an hour late.

It was dark, and raining, and the town that we wanted to go to is about 45 minutes away. According to Rough Guide (last printing Dec 2005), the airport taxis are reliable and safe, and they charge Rp115,000 for a ride to Ubud. I enquired, but the fare is now Rp175,000. Must be the reaction to the various oil price hikes this year.

At the same time, a Mat Salleh guy was also asking for a Ubud-bound taxi. Light bulb!! "Do you want to share a taxi?", I asked. Despite the taxi supervisor's refusal to let us share a taxi, we went ahead and crammed the guy's and his girlfriend's giant backpacks and our two bags into the bonnet. Ngam-ngam muat.Wah! I felt like we were in some reality show. Applause, people. We overcame our first crisis and extra points please, for saving some money.

The couple, Bob and Kath are from England. They are on a round the world tour since September 2005. They quit their jobs, and do not have a clue what they will do when they return home in August. They told us about 1-world ticket for which they paid 3,000 pound to British Airways for the air tickets for their entire journey. Good value scheme, I'd say. And the couple, bold and reckless, I feel. But they are young, in late twenties, so I figure they can afford the risks.

We reached Ubud at around 9 pm, the journey was made slow by the wet roads. The area on Jalan Hanoman was quite, I guess most people, including the tourists were already indoors. We dropped the couple first so they can look for a room. A few steps away, the taxi driver dropped us at a spot where, he said, our pre-booked hotel is.