We left for Bali as millionaires. This is nearly 6 million Indonesian Rupiah (5,886,094IDR, 600SGD, $441USD -- our dollar is very nice in Indonesia!). As you will see later, you do not have to be a millionaire to eat and drink well in Bali... we still came home with cash in hand (flight and hotels not included).
We had our traditional (apparently this is something we do) Nando's lunch before heading out for our flight. We actually got to the airport with about two hours to spare. This is a rarity for us, I always feel like we're rushing when we get to the airport. But Changi is such a breeze and we've very rarely encountered even a short wait for anything. We leisurely walked toward our gate, had a drink and a snack at Starbucks and took a photo where we were both smiling actual smiles (we were laughing because we had to take about 15 to agree on one). Then we enjoyed these nice, relaxing (but creepy - who else is laying on these things, and how often are they cleaned..?? And sleeping in public..? yikes.) lounge chairs just outside security for our gate.
There was nothing eventful to report from the flight, other than TigerAir is a major step down from our last flight into Singapore (and especially from our upcoming flight to Australia on SingaporeAir), and the guy who had the aisle seat next to us was the actual worst. He originally sat across the aisle from us in an "empty" section of three. I say "empty" because there were still a ton of people boarding. He unloaded a stack of books, tablets, phones and pens from his bag, shoved them into the pocket in front of him, and removed his shoes! A group of three people approached him and he said "oh, you can sit there!" (pointing next to us) and they said "no... we're all together." So he had to gather up his stack of belongings, and his shoes, and disruptively move across the aisle to his appropriate seat. Once the plane was in motion he got up and took his suitcase from the overhead bin and walked it to the front of the plane. He proceeded to rummage through his suitcase and walk back and forth from his case to his seat over the course of maybe 20 or more minutes. In all of my flights, of all the disruptive passengers (loud talkers, non-earphone video watchers, babies, snifflers) he had to be the most obliviously rude passenger I've seen yet. And as Jess just pointed out, he did *nothing* with his stack of belongings for the entire flight.
There were some amazing views flying over the islands, and once we got to the big islands we saw mountains and volcanos. Unfortunately TigerAir was too cramped for me to comfortably get my camera from my backpack under the seat to take any photos. So have these phone pictures!
Once we got to Bali, customs and immigrations was quick, I honestly don't even remember it at this point. I am very glad though that we had arranged pick up with our hotel, because the amount of cab drivers trying to get your attention was overwhelming. We found our driver quickly and he led us to the exit, where he promptly left us to go get his van. As you'd expect, we had more drivers trying to pick us up here. We waited for maybe 5 minutes, but the heat was so oppressive it felt like a lot longer.
Our driver from the airport was probably the best driver we had the whole time (I felt like we were going to die less times with him than the others), and he spoke English relatively well for someone who only started learning a few months prior. He taught us "terima kasih" (thank you) and "sama sama" (you're welcome). We learned nothing else of the language the rest of the time. He was very giggly and chatty, as Jess pointed out probably because his English wasn't perfect and he didn't understand everything we were saying. And he was intuitive enough to ask if I needed him to pull over when I started breathing loudly (I had no idea) about ten minutes outside of our destination. Even with nausea meds, the roads and driving in Bali made me feel extremely ill.
We arrived at our resort in time for dinner. Despite having only outdoor seating, we were happy to sit down at the resort restaurant and take a look at the menu. For once I made the perfect decisions; my food was amazing and I think Jess was less than thrilled with his choice (we don't even have pictures of it). Don't worry, I could never eat all of mine so we shared. I'm typically the one to make the wrong menu choices though, so I was very pleased with myself. I had a Thai salad with prawns (heads and everything! - I didn't eat the heads), and a big tuna steak. I don't usually like my tuna cooked all the way through, but it was done perfectly. I could go for that entire meal again right now. The drinks weren't great, but we kept ordering them because they were significantly cheaper than Singapore.
Once we got back to our room we had the most refreshing showers of our lives thus far (the trip gets hotter and more humid). However, our hotel did not provide wash cloths, so we washed ourselves with hand towels. We later learned that that's something they don't provide in Bali, like anywhere. So if you're planning a trip, take a wash cloth and/or bath sponge.
After showers we laid in bed, scrolling through Facebook and Imgur on our phones, and talking about turning on the tv until we eventually fell asleep.
Thankfully it was a fairly early night, and we were up somewhat early the next day for our "half day tour" that came with our reservation package. The resort also provided daily breakfast, and we took full advantage of it. I had the best french toast ever... it doesn't look like much, but it was perfect, crispy and fluffy.
Next up: the longest, hottest, most exhausting day of my life.
*We stayed at the Anulekha Resort. I would definitely recommend this place if you're looking for a nicer, lower priced resort in the Ubud area. There are plenty of nice resorts (including the Hanging Gardens, where Jess wanted to stay), but Anulekha was about half the price and had great package options.
