Yep, we had a lovely time, thank you. The beds were comfortable, the sound of waves is still lulling and the beer was great. But you know me. If I can find something to grumble about, I will. Now where to start?
The taxi to Jakarta's airport will do. The driver wanted to go the long way round the city instead of straight through it. Then he went way too fast, enough to make Our Kid and I cower in our back seat. And the driver had the effrontery to bitch at me when I told him to slow down and stop weaving between traffic lanes. At the airport I paid him the exact fare on the meter: Rp.68,500 rather than rounding it up as per usual. That'll learn him.
Then to the Air Asia checkin where I asked for a window seat but the lass behind the desk didn't tell me that there were no seat allocations. Ok, fares do. So we waited in the lounge fifteen minutes beyond the scheduled boarding time until the time came to stand up, queue up and then wait at the exit gate, which as Our Kid pointed out is really a door.
And we waited and waited. Why? Because Air Asia which prides itself on its low cost (= cheapskate) fares had only rented one bus. A bus? To the plane in Air Asia livery parked in front of our waiting area? Nope ~ a bus to the plane parked a good five minutes away by bus at the furthest limits of the airport. Out of sight, out of mind? Well so it seemed as we were dropped off at a door into another terminal area with no access to anywhere, let alone our plane. There were 50 of us milling around behind locked doors, with no staff able to give directions.
Oh, how we laughed, before we wended our way through the maze of corridors and onto our Boeing 737 and into our extremely cramped seats at the rear. It now being lunchtime we looked forward to our hard boiled egg and chocolate bread, only to discover that these were non-existent. As in a restaurant, you are not allowed to consume your own food on an Air Asia plane. On our flight, the ubiquitous nasi goreng (fried rice) was habis (finished), which was strange because we were amongst the first to be (non) served. Ho hum.
When we arrived, we were met; our driver and escort were exceedingly warm and friendly and we drove at a pace to take in the fact that there wasn't any pollution, that the rainy season is needed there as well, that there is a spiritual dimension to Bali sorely lacking here in Jakarta and that this was to be a real break from the forces seemingly arraigned against us back in the Big Durian.
Yes, since you ask, a two-nighter in Bali is truly wonderful, especially as we had the run of the hotel to ourselves on the first night. It is the off season to be sure, but to be in a resort, Candidasa, with no tourists that we could perceive is somewhat sad. And this particular resort, albeit with the east coast road running through the middle, has restaurants overlooking the sea.
So Our Kid can now hold his breath underwater, Son No.1 deserves to be successful and I now know where to get some truly outstanding Real Ale.
When will there an outlet or ten in Jakarta?
