Day 2 - Oct 11, 2007
Day 2 - Oct 11, 2007
I stayed on the plane in Hong Kong – a familiar place for me – both the city/airport and now the plane - and the flight resumed in 90 minutes to Singapore. For me, this was my first time into Singapore, so here on out, uncharted waters lie ahead. This flight was much less crowded, and I switched seats to a window with nobody next to me, tried the GPS part of my phone in-flight but was unsuccessful. I landed Singapore 3 hours later, and pleasantly found my wife on Skype; I called her on my cell phone, and arranged a meeting time and place at the airport. I then called Par, confirmed the meeting time/location.
At approximately 2:30 pm, the whole group less Kaori met for the first time; Alan and Tanya from Reno, Nevada; Par and Elizabeth from Singapore; Mathew and Kimiko from Santa Cruz, CA. We all shared in a coffee and bought a couple more wine bottles. Upon leaving Singapore, I spotted a few others who came over from San Francisco. One woman was headed for Bali, and started out in Detroit earlier. We assisted her with the paperwork as she seemed very inexperienced at travel and was frightened. I noted on the customs declaration form for Indonesia that drugs results in ‘Death’. Interestingly, it didn’t say death from the hands of the State or the effect of drugs itself. I carefully checked the box saying I wasn’t carrying any illegal drugs, as I packed a very extensive medical kit copied over from the Lonely Planet guidebook– I found it to be the most paranoid travel guide.
Flying over the Indonesian archipelago at sunset, we saw our first “I’ve never seen that before” – a volcano in the distance with the steam/smoke plumes like a mushroom silhouetted against the red post-sunset sky. I later learned this was Mt. Kelud on the island of Java, it was showing signs of am imminent eruption and the government ordered evacuations.
With my new GPS gadget attachment to my phone, I was able to track the planes location, and as we approached Bali, the city lights showed the destination against the dark ocean below. It was dimly lit, almost a calm appearance in this remote part of the world, with no signs of brightly lit shopping centers, auto malls, or commercial centers. If they had Starbucks, it would be by candlelight.
We were greeted by a gentleman who expected our arrival; he took our passports with some cash and disappeared while we got our luggage. He returned with our passports with a full page taken up with a visa. We’ve noticed the poorer the country, the larger their visa, perhaps an expression of self-importance. The same gentleman arranged customs for our imported liquor; we never found out if the tariff paid actually went to the government, or was simply a bribe to the agents. Considering the manner they behaved, it most likely was the later.
Exchanging currency, I cashed in $750 US for over 6 million rupiahs. The smallest bills were 100,000 rupiahs worth roughly $10 each, so I received a rather large stack of bills, approximately 2 inches high which I quickly buried in my travel pouch.
Two pre-arranged drivers transported us to Hotel Indigo – a charming boutique hotel, and were greeted with a refreshing cold drinks, like a fruit tea. Kaori was supposed to arrive several hours later on the late flight from Singapore, but the hotel desk informed us he got a call from her 10 minutes earlier, and it seems she missed her flight. She would leave the next day and be 24 hours behind us. This created a small problem for our travel guide, Phil, who was in charge of getting us all to the dive center on Gili Trawangan. Since Ramadan was coming to and end, the last 2 days of Ramadan don’t have any local services – it’s like Chistmas and New Years together. This meant there would be no boats to the islands tomorrow – Kaori would be stuck in Bali. Phil confidently said he’d find a way to get her out there one way or the other.
We were all tired and hungry, so we walked 10 minutes along a dimly lit road where we found an outdoor café, the kind near a crossroads with motor scooters going by constantly like pesky flies. The proprietor turned out to be a proud Italian woman from Naples, so Indonesian food would have to wait. I ordered Spaghetti Pomodoro – the pasta tasted quite nice. We enjoyed clams for an appetizer – this would be the first of many meals shared together. The motor scooters along with the loud western music from the restaurant loudspeakers seemed to help kept my jetlag at bay.
I stayed on the plane in Hong Kong – a familiar place for me – both the city/airport and now the plane - and the flight resumed in 90 minutes to Singapore. For me, this was my first time into Singapore, so here on out, uncharted waters lie ahead. This flight was much less crowded, and I switched seats to a window with nobody next to me, tried the GPS part of my phone in-flight but was unsuccessful. I landed Singapore 3 hours later, and pleasantly found my wife on Skype; I called her on my cell phone, and arranged a meeting time and place at the airport. I then called Par, confirmed the meeting time/location.
At approximately 2:30 pm, the whole group less Kaori met for the first time; Alan and Tanya from Reno, Nevada; Par and Elizabeth from Singapore; Mathew and Kimiko from Santa Cruz, CA. We all shared in a coffee and bought a couple more wine bottles. Upon leaving Singapore, I spotted a few others who came over from San Francisco. One woman was headed for Bali, and started out in Detroit earlier. We assisted her with the paperwork as she seemed very inexperienced at travel and was frightened. I noted on the customs declaration form for Indonesia that drugs results in ‘Death’. Interestingly, it didn’t say death from the hands of the State or the effect of drugs itself. I carefully checked the box saying I wasn’t carrying any illegal drugs, as I packed a very extensive medical kit copied over from the Lonely Planet guidebook– I found it to be the most paranoid travel guide.
Flying over the Indonesian archipelago at sunset, we saw our first “I’ve never seen that before” – a volcano in the distance with the steam/smoke plumes like a mushroom silhouetted against the red post-sunset sky. I later learned this was Mt. Kelud on the island of Java, it was showing signs of am imminent eruption and the government ordered evacuations.
With my new GPS gadget attachment to my phone, I was able to track the planes location, and as we approached Bali, the city lights showed the destination against the dark ocean below. It was dimly lit, almost a calm appearance in this remote part of the world, with no signs of brightly lit shopping centers, auto malls, or commercial centers. If they had Starbucks, it would be by candlelight.
We were greeted by a gentleman who expected our arrival; he took our passports with some cash and disappeared while we got our luggage. He returned with our passports with a full page taken up with a visa. We’ve noticed the poorer the country, the larger their visa, perhaps an expression of self-importance. The same gentleman arranged customs for our imported liquor; we never found out if the tariff paid actually went to the government, or was simply a bribe to the agents. Considering the manner they behaved, it most likely was the later.
Exchanging currency, I cashed in $750 US for over 6 million rupiahs. The smallest bills were 100,000 rupiahs worth roughly $10 each, so I received a rather large stack of bills, approximately 2 inches high which I quickly buried in my travel pouch.
Two pre-arranged drivers transported us to Hotel Indigo – a charming boutique hotel, and were greeted with a refreshing cold drinks, like a fruit tea. Kaori was supposed to arrive several hours later on the late flight from Singapore, but the hotel desk informed us he got a call from her 10 minutes earlier, and it seems she missed her flight. She would leave the next day and be 24 hours behind us. This created a small problem for our travel guide, Phil, who was in charge of getting us all to the dive center on Gili Trawangan. Since Ramadan was coming to and end, the last 2 days of Ramadan don’t have any local services – it’s like Chistmas and New Years together. This meant there would be no boats to the islands tomorrow – Kaori would be stuck in Bali. Phil confidently said he’d find a way to get her out there one way or the other.
We were all tired and hungry, so we walked 10 minutes along a dimly lit road where we found an outdoor café, the kind near a crossroads with motor scooters going by constantly like pesky flies. The proprietor turned out to be a proud Italian woman from Naples, so Indonesian food would have to wait. I ordered Spaghetti Pomodoro – the pasta tasted quite nice. We enjoyed clams for an appetizer – this would be the first of many meals shared together. The motor scooters along with the loud western music from the restaurant loudspeakers seemed to help kept my jetlag at bay.
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