After Midnight on Bali...Card Rejected
Back at the LCCT Kuala Lumpur airport with a couple of hours before the final leg to Bali. 5.45pm and the food court next to Tune hotel beckons and so what is now a well rehearsed routine it's a stomp up to a nice big nosh up. Splurge this time, 2 pieces of fried chicken, plenty of rice, some kind of vegetable, the whole lot smothered in a medium curry sauce, all for 2 quid - beats that pricey airport stuff hands down. For those full to bursting and not wanting to walk back, there is a bus stop just steps along the road, and a free shuttle heads down to LCCT.
A nice sunset across the airport, then nothing but hang around for the AirAsia flight to Denpasar. 2 1/2 hours to Denpasar airport, enough time for some tea and a nap!
Bali, on time at 11.30pm, 28 degrees c and patchy drizzle at Denpasar airport as the plane creeps forward to the stand. For once, anticipated filling out immigration forms before arrival, so all I need to do now is grab some local cash from the ATM to pay for the visa. A very short queue here, simply hand over the cash and away we go, tramping off to see the passport officer, who may or may not allow entry into Bali, but I have paid already! A problem arises, the ATM rejects my debit card, so for the first time this trip I'm resorting to my stash of emergency money. Thankfully they take a host of currencies including the British pound, and so with a sigh of relief I take my visa and join what has become a very large queue as even more passengers descend on Bali around midnight, mostly Aussies on the Air Asia Perth flight, and looks like a flight from China too. No option but to shuffle with the crowds, edging towards the men in uniform who control the immediate destiny of a few hundred visitors.
A fast track has opened, the officials in the Indonesian passport lane are twiddling their thumbs, until now that is as there is an uncontrollable surge forward to make the fast track lane - yes, I'm in, but only just as the guard pulls across a barrier. it's easy, just hand in the documents, smile and welcome to Bali. No interrogation amidst the sinister signs of a grim outcome for those caught with drugs - druggies really should steer clear of Bali.
Another queue, this time at the taxi counter. No buses at 12.20am and anticipating a taxi ride as rather necessary, I found lodgings close to the Airport - CT1 about 1 1/2 miles towards Kuta. 40,000 rupiah, that's about ￡3 for the short ride - short in distance but lengthy in time as there is an extraordinary amount of traffic all trying to leave at once, 12.30am, Denpasar airport.
CT1, they can't find my Internet reservation, and that's just as well because the walk in price is much cheaper! We agree to forget about booking.com and I'm on my way to what I hope is a comfortable bed for 175,000 rupiah, about ￡11. Comfortable enough for 11 quid, with TV and shower, and by 2am, well I don't remember anything after that, Zzzzzzz
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