Flying back to Bali

Back in Seminyak Bali with Jevon and Ika I am partially in zombie mode. Managing 3 hours sleep after I arrived home at 3.30am, the return to Bali has been great so far.

Seattle WA (that’s Washington, not Western Australia) was my point of exit from the US. The airports over there are of course on tight security and when boarding a plane one has to remove shoes, belts, wallets and place laptops in open containers outside the bag. Added to this is a new feature for foreigners, fingerprinting. The US already uses bio meterics on arrival (fingerprint and retina scan) and on leaving I had to use an ATM like machine for both forefingers. The whole thing is for my own safety in the big picture I guess.

Travelling the world is a passion for me. Customs and immigration are pain and probably will something I have to deal with for the rest of my life. I hate the whole ’specimen on a dish’ feeling and the knuckleheads who deliver the questions. I got a grilling coming in with an officer asking me all about Baliblog. On leaving the Korean Airlines people wanted their pound of flesh. “Why are you going to Indonesia?” they said. “I live there.” I said. “Oh you live there, what do you do?” “Do you have a green card?” they asked. “No” I said, “I have a business visa, check my passport.” “Our machine doesn’t compute Great Britain, we will have to call a supervisor.” I told them the whole thing was a waste of time and that people from Britain can get a VOA, without any prior planning. “But you said you live there.” they countered. Strange world when any android feels like they can hold you up, and poke around willy nilly through your private life. Bullshit in my view.

Seattle-Seoul lasted 11.5 hours and after a 2 hour layover I was on another Korean Airline plane to Denpasar, 6.5 hours away. The Bali plane was two thirds full. I like Korean Airlines and will recommend them to anyone. Good planes, good service, nice airport.

Related Posts

• Arriving in Portland Oregon USA
• Flying Korean Airlines from Jakarta to Seattle
• Mandala air crash in Medan Indonesia
• Plane is on time
• Adam Air crash in Sulawesi Indonesia

Subscribe Bali RSS Feed

Print

Share

Flying back to Bali

Flying back to Bali from Brunei was no real stress.

My 6.30am phone call from reception came after I had showered and a 20 minute taxi ride got me to the airport way in advance of my flight at 8.50am.

The airport at Bandar Seri Begawan is small so finding my way around was simple. The airport wasn’t too busy and the Indonesian and Filipino expats were the largest group of travelers I saw, all heading to KL, Jakarta and other places in the region. For over an hour I sat amongst a group of them and watched National Geographic ‘watch animals tear each other to bits’ show or whatever they call it.

The Airbus we flew was on its maiden voyage to Bali and was comfortable. It had adjustable headrests and little monitors that came down from the ceiling automatically.

Food on Brunei Airlines is a little different. The choices for breakfast were scrambled eggs and hash browns, or spicy chicken and rice.

I managed to snap a couple of shots of oil rich Brunei as we took off and a few more including the south coast of Borneo, another island directly north on Bali, looking over the wing at the north coast of Bali and Gunung Agung, sweeping around the west of the island for a view of Lake Batur in the highlands and finally what all visitors to Bali dream of, flying low over the waves in front of Kuta Beach on my decent back into Bali.

Once on the ground I was slightly nervous about how much the immigration guy was going to take off of me for not having an outward ticket. Getting ready to line up for immigration there were 3 lines and I was playing the ‘who looks the friendliest’ game trying to check out my chances by how long the man took with other passengers. Some of the lines were moving faster than others and I got herded into a line I didn’t want, drat!

The officer said “Show me your outward ticket.” I said “Here’s my inbound ticket, I don’t know yet if I will be heading to Bangkok or Singapore.” He said “You must have an outgoing ticket, do you understand?” I said “Yes I will next time.” He asked me if I would purchase one on the spot. I said I would if that was what he demanded. “Buying a ticket here is very expensive, but I can help you if you give me a little something.” he said. I nodded and took the 100,000rp note from my wallet ( my next largest note was $100 and I certainly did not want to hand that over ). “Its enough” he said “but please put it inside the passport.” “You guys should have envelopes ready, I’m not that familiar with the system yet.” I said.

I caught a taxi to my friend Mick’s house in Kerobokan. He has my house keys and I waited at the front door for Wayan the housekeeper to answer. Mick is in Hong Kong and had a house guest staying with him who is a friend of a friend. He’s never met the guy but being super hospitable let him use the house. Wayan asked me if I wanted a drink “Sure” I said. “Beer?” she said.

Its good to be back in Bali!

By Nick | Permalink | 5 comments | September 8th, 2003 | Trackback

Related Posts

• Surfing in Uluwatu Bali on Sept. 3rd 2004
• Friday's adventures
• In search of a house
• More photos from Ubud
• Great waves on Sept 1st in Bali

Subscribe Bali RSS Feed

Print

Share