Indonesia Here We Come 1/9

To understand why I needed to go back to Bali, you need to understand my last and first ever trip to Bali.

It was August of 2012 and I had gone to Singapore to visit my relatives. Out of a whim I decided to go to Bali during 3 days when all of them had to go to work. Being 3 days, I hadn't planned too much, just a surfing class the second morning and a 4 hour massage the last day. I would be on a plane flying back to Singapore before I know it and all I really wanted was to see if Bali's everything "Eat, Pray, Love" makes it out to be.

Before I left my aunt insisted that I bring her phone with me. I was only taking a back pack and the phone seemed excessive. So, I eventually decided to not bring the phone charger as I was sure I was going to be back in a flash, but that trip turned out very differently than I thought.

I fell down the stairs in the surf school before I even got on the surf board.

This is the surf school where I fell

Yes, stairs. Not sharks, not cliff diving, and not doing anything else epic. Other than the 20 minute walk I took around my hostel the night before, I spent an entire day at the BIMC (Bali International Medical Center) taking x-rays and another day and a half in my room reading. I had sprained my left foot really bad and was put in a cast. I then got wheel chaired from Bali back to Singapore; Singapore back to Taiwan; and eventually, after an extra month of staying home as a handicap, from Taiwan back to Canada.

My view for 2 days

Spring of 2014

Keith and I had been looking for cheap tickets to Japan but hadn't come across any. During one of our searches, we saw an extremely cheap ticket to Jakarta and I persuaded him to change his destination. We would buy this ticket to Jakarta, then book domestic tickets separately. It would be a really long commute but because of this, we could stop by Borobudur, a UNESCO heritage site that looks pretty amazing.

Over the 7 months while we waited for our trip, United Airlines changed our flight at least 7 times and I learned that booking through Expedia for TD added more work and frustration for us than convenience. Regardless, early morning Oct. 31, 2014, there we were at the WestJet counter, ready to start our trip. Our final route takes us from Calgary to LA, then after a 5 hour stopover, we would fly to Tokyo for a 2 hour stopover, then fly to Jakarta. We then would have to find our way from the International terminal to the domestic terminal, and catch our next flight to Jogyakarta.

Because of the separate domestic tickets, I was worried for delays and luggage issues, and surely, at our first check in counter, the WestJet lady explained how because they weren't able to check our luggage all the way to Jakarta, our luggage would be checked to Tokyo, where we'll have to clear customs then re-check in before we can board our next flight. I knew we didn't have this kind of time in Tokyo, and though I wasn't sure if we had any other option, I pushed for them to check our bags to LA instead. Supervisors were called and details of the tickets were looked into. Finally, they agreed to let us check our bags to LA only, but they then wanted us to pay for our luggage, which I knew we didn't need to, so another 10 minutes were spent on figuring that out, All and all, the conversations were pleasant, and we were beyond relieved that we can finally make all of our flights on time.

17 hours later, we finally arrived in Jakarta.

Jakarta Airport

It was 7 in the morning, but the heat was close to unbearable for me already. I changed into shorts immediately and we looked for the free shuttle that runs between the 3 terminals. After waiting for 20 minutes and turning down 10 taxi cabs, we finally gave in. At the domestic terminal, we stopped for some ayam soto (chicken soup) and bakso (meat balls) for breakfast, then napped away until it was time for us to get up again.

We quickly learned that boarding signs not only didn't display boarding information most of the time, when they did, they were often misleading. After observing for a few hours, we suspected that it was our flight that people were starting to line up for, so we decided to quickly go to the washroom one last time before we shuffle our way through the herd.

The washroom was small to begin with, there were 3 stalls, 2 sinks, and perhaps 2 feet in between them. It sounded like a bunch of people were in them although I could only see 2 ladies bathing an entirely naked baby in the sink. I slowly approached the first unlocked door and pushed it open slightly. I immediately saw fabric moving inside and apologized embarrassingly as I moved on to the next door. However, this repeated itself and I realized all of them were full though none of them were locked. "Maybe they don't lock the doors because they always have so much clothes on and it'd be impossible to see anything anyway" I thought as I chuckled inside. After waiting patiently for a few minutes, one of the ladies came out. I pushed on that door again, but to my surprise, there were another lady in there! What I saw made my day, I was thoroughly amused, and continued to dream about the clown car bathroom situation as we took off for Jogyakarta.

To be continued...

Indonesia Trip Blog Post Links:
     Yogyakarta & Grand Aston Hotel - Indonesia 2/9
     Borobudur Sunrise - Indonesia 3/9
     Sultan Palace & Prambanan - Indonesia 4/9
     Kuta - Bali - Indonesia 5/9
     Day Trip - Bali Wonders 1 - Indonesia 6/9
     Ubud - Bali - Indonesia 7/9
     Day Trip - Bali Wonders 2 - Indonesia 8/9
     Seminyak - Bali - Indonesia 9/9