Friday morning came early for me, around 4.15am to be precise.

My flight out of Bali (Denpasar) was at 6.30am so by leaving the house at 4.45am I had plenty of time to ride my motorbike down the Bypass and park before checking in. I had no luggage so it didn’t take long getting checked in. I said I took off from Denpasar airport which can be confusing. The airport is nowhere near Denpasar, its in Tuban, just south of Kuta. The reason its referred to as Denpasar it that all International airports must have a city name to identify them as well as a code.

The first part of my adventure was dealing with the Indonesian immigration. I had a departure tag in my passport which was lost by the people who do my extensions. I knew the officer would point out my ‘problem’ and ask for a ‘little something’. Wishing to speed up the process I slipped 20,000rp in the passport and handed it over. He didn’t even mention the missing tag and filled out a new one for me himself.

The route I was taking by flying Garuda Indonesia was Bali-Jakarta-Singapore-Bali all in the same day. This time I didn’t have to file paperwork as my multiple business visa is still good so it was a less stressful ride.

Garuda like most Asian airlines provide foods and drinks even on flights under 2 hours. During the first leg I received a bread roll, fruit juice, coffee, sliced fruit. The leg to Singapore I got the scrambled eggs (no bacon and NO I didn’t ask for it), yoghurt, croissant.

The plane I rode on was a Boeing 737 which seemed decent as far as its age. The cabin crew were entirely female (damn!) and were distinctly Javanese. They could all speak English.

The descent into Jakarta took us through its smog-bank that reminded me of Los Angeles. An hour on the ground in the transit area and I was on the next light to Singapore. Jakarta is 1 hour behind Bali and Singapore is the same time as Bali. I brought my phone to make sure I kept an eye on the time. The flight out of Singapore was scheduled for 6.25pm so landing at 11am gave me an hour to get downtown, 4 hours to do things and once the clock hit 4pm I had to start heading back to the airport.

Singapore immigration is a breeze. I get through in about 5 minutes every time. They don’t ask questions and don’t ask for money. Canggi airport in SE Singapore is modern and getting away from the airport you have a selection of options including, local bus, shuttle bus, taxi, subway, car hire. I elected to take the bus so I could see more and the public bus garage is located in the basement. For $1.90 (about US $1.20) I bought a ticket heading downtown. The plan was to pick up some small electronic items and a lady I spoke to advised me head to a place called Sim Lim Tower in Little India. Singapore buses are equipped with flat screen TV’s and they were showing the Olympics, that’s the most I’ve seen since its been going on!

From a visitor’s point of view Singapore is an interesting place ethnically. Looking around on the streets there were Chinese people, Indians and Malays. These groups were initially brought together by the British, who are now departed. There is no garbage on the street in Singapore, in fact there are tough local laws on everything from spitting, to crossing the road to right of assembly. For instance loud speakers are banned and the police have to approve any attempt to speak in a public place. I noticed on my arrival card there was a little message at the bottom in thick red ink ‘DEATH TO DRUG TRAFFICERS UNDER SINGAPORE LAW’. I think I understand.

Temperatures were boiling and the equatorial sun felt like a blowtorch. Construction is everywhere downtown and people walk in a very orderly fashion close to the boarded up sites hoping for some relief to the searing light. My Santa Barbara hat came in handy once again.

Sim Lim Tower is basically 4 floors of consumer goods and the top 2 floors carry more, commercial type components. This place is a hive of activity and with all the development here you know they do a trade. Coming from slow paced smiley Bali, Singapore can be a shock to the system. People are very logical and cut to the chase very quickly…’you want to buy something? Let’s do business or piss off’.

I had to get something to eat and went across the street to a Chinese food court. For a few dollars I picked out a selection of chicken, rice and vegetable and a large Tiger beer.

Back in Sim Lim my list of items (a handheld tape recorder, rechargeable batteries and a tiny camera tripod) were all acquired quickly and for okay prices. I picked up 8 rechargeable batteries for a total of $32 Singapore (about US$25 ). You can get them also at the airport (S$20 for 4).

Along with the selection of cameras and DVD players the latest thing they are trying to push is extension-lenses for small digital cameras. Many of the shop touts point you straight to these. For people thinking of buying these remember anything you put in front of your film / recording system will limit the amount of light getting through. Adding one of these lenses gives you more range / wider view but you need to allow much more light to come in to get a decent shot. I was quoted S$85 for one and S$120 for another so you’ll have to check it out for yourself.

Walking around I was trying to define how Singapore feels to me and it has some of the same stuff going on as Hong Kong where I used to live (former British colony, safe, compact, large population living in high rises, big Chinese influence, business in king). To me Singapore feels like a large shopping mall spread out in a tropical location with a cross-cultural array of people. It’s safe and clean, but not very exciting. I remember in Hong Kong most people work 6 days and have Sunday off, which is spent cruising the mall with a partner. I think the ‘mall culture’ is a big part of what people do here to and for me it’s rather empty.

A Chinese specialty food store caught my eye. Next to the street was a lady selling slices of pork bbq’d with honey and also with kim chi. I tried it and it was delicious! If I lived here I’d be buying this to take home.

I think for an expat with a family however it provides a good place to be. The lady who helped me on the bus told me that she works as check-in staff at Canggi and if there is any suggestion of corruption there will be an investigation. If proven the person will be fired and jailed. Quite a different environment from Indonesia, where officials openly suggest that people give them money.

I sat in a fancy bar/ restaurant and drank 2 beers. My bill was S$18….ouch!

Taking the MRT subway back to Canggi was very easy. They have automated ticket machines and the whole thing is like ‘Minority Report’ but without the ‘talking advertisements’.

Getting from downtown to Canggi cost and couple of dollars depending on where you are so it’s affordable and fairly quick. Do budget an hour though to be safe.

Back at the airport I picked up an oleh oleh (gift) for a friend and one for myself.

Indonesia allows visitors to bring in no more than $250 (or $1,000 per family) of ‘goods’, 200 cigarettes or 50 cigars or 200gm tobacco or 1 liter of liquor. In practice the customs staff in Bali will help themselves to your stuff if you are over (alcohol and tobacco) or ask for a bribe if it’s some other type of ‘goods’ they can’t easily sell.

While waiting for the plane I did a very lengthy survey with one of Canggi airport’s sales staff. I told him I liked the well-stocked liquor store and the quality of goods. He asked for my suggestions in detail and I said “Look buddy when I’m racing through here I don’t have 3 hours to shop around. I want liquor that’s a good deal, a decent gift for a friend and I want to be able to find these fast. That’s it in a nutshell.” I got a silver Canggi airport bookmark for being a good sport.

The flight to Bali was about 2 and a half hours but felt much longer, probably because of the early morning, the heat and the waiting around. We were served a very nice fish dinner and I had a glass of their free red wine.

The plane was about 90% full and arriving in Bali myself and about 40 other people skipped the VOA (Visa On Arrival ) counters and headed straight for ‘immigration’. Previously I had just presented my passport and had encountered some resistance because I have many Indonesian stamps and also didn’t have an onward ticket. ‘Let’s do it the easy way this time’ I said to myself. Approaching the counter I slipped 100,000rp into the passport and handed it to him. Result: No questions, no hiccups, stamp, stamp, smile, “Thank you Pak” see you later.

Outside in the parking area I realized I lost my parking stub. It only cost 1,000rp but I knew they’d jump all over me. Arriving and the gate on my bike I told them I didn’t have the ticket. ‘Whoopie do!!!’ I could hear them thinking, ‘we’ve got one’. “Okay you get off motorbike and you will have to pay. I will check your license and registration.” said a man in uniform. “How about I give you oleh oleh?” I said. “What oleh oleh?” he said. “The one right here in my pocket” I said as I pointed to my breast pocket containing 5,000rp. “Show me” he said. Quickly without dismounting I plonked the bill on his stand and said “Okay?” as I hit the gas. Got to love Bali, I was only on the island for 30 minutes and already bribed 2 government employees.

Back in Seminyak I dropped off my stuff, changed my shirt and went down the street for a drink. An arak madu at Santa Fe and another at Mixwell was just the ticket for me to unwind and I headed off to bed happy that things had gone well and one more visa run was history.