Back in mainland Bali, we found a decently priced hotel near the center of Sanur only 100 meters from the beach. the Laghawa Beach Inn Hotel was full of ancient Hindi sculptures and weird sexually designed statues. The room was of decent size, but we had major issues with the toilet (more on this later). After we checked in, we went our separate ways for a bit. Nadine strolled to the beach and had a burger, while Ben order in some random Indonesian meal from the room service menu. We spend most if all our time together, that once in a while we just need to spend an hour or two apart, alone with our thoughts :)
We reconvened at the pool and relaxed until we were hungry again. The beach was nicer than expected, so we ventured alongside the water on the boardwalk for an hour or so, admiring the restaurants and local scenery. New Year’s Eve was rapidly approaching so most places either had already, or were in the process of, decorating their establishments for the upcoming festivities.
With rumbling stomachs, we found the Pasar Sanur street market and had some surprisingly delicious food at super cheap prices. For 20 lamb sticks and a plate of noodles we paid four bucks. The sauce covered the lamb was out of this world. It must have been a mixture of peanut sauce, balsamic, and some unknown ingredient only known to the elderly Balinese woman who would never give up her secret. Forever will we remember the lamb sticks of Bali! Possible Lamb Recipe.
We capped off the night by exploring the streets of Sanur, which consisted of the typical touristy shops: massage parlors, ATMs, bars, shmata vendors, etc. Back at the hotel we discovered the literal shit hole we were staying in. Not only was the toilet broken, the maintenance man we summoned gave Ben a five minute tutorial of how to spray water from the hose into a bucket in order to refill the toilet tank. It’s one of those stories that is funny when it happens to someone else.
In the morning, the hilarity ensued with the restaurant staff. Oh, the fun we had attempting to order one extra egg for Ben’s meal. We have realized that the further east we go, the less buffets we encounter it seems. At this particular place, there are two options, either Asian or American. Naturally we chose the American style, which was described as having eggs, bacon, fruit/fruit juice, coffee, and toast. At these types of places, without having seen the food we know that they skimp out on putting sufficient amounts on the plate, so Ben ordered an extra fried egg. Just one. Not so hard. The woman spoke English, so we didn’t understand what was so difficult about placing this request. After literally ten minutes of this debacle, the waitress finally came back to us and told us it would cost 30,000 rupiah, which was more than $2! When we asked why it was so much, she quoted the cost of the egg at 15,000 rupiah and an additional 15,000 for cooking it. We knew already that a dozen eggs at the store was 30,000 at a local shop…Eventually part of the order arrived, the eggs and the fruit. Oddly enough, silverware was not delivered with the food. When we asked her for two sets, she informed us that we were expected to walk to this strangely set up buffet table that didn’t have any food on it. This was the first weird thing. So off we went to retrieve our forks and knives. The second weird thing followed shortly after, when our bacon arrived. There were only three pieces. Neither one of us are mathematicians, but if we ordered two separate breakfast, how can we only receive three pieces of bacon? Also, we were also expected to get our own coffee from this weird buffet thingy. And there was no water unless you specifically asked for it, in which case they actually serve it to you. The whole thing was uncomfortable. Obviously none of these things are BIG deals, and not really story-worthy, but this is a running blog of the details of our lives, so we write it for fun anyway. Plus it will help us to remember funny incidents later on when we look back at our year of travel. The food itself was actually pretty tasty.
Considering our toilet was out of commission, we kindly requested to switch rooms. No joke, we were told that only the suites had functioning toilets, but we took our chances on the move anyway. It was a big mistake. Although our new toilet was only slightly better, now our air conditioning ran briefly during specific hours of the day. It was then recommended that we upgrade rooms. Instead, we decided it was best if our time was spent outside of the room, mainly at the pool and the beach, where we should have been all along.
That night December 30th, we went to a local/tourist Balinese place for food, it was ok. Nothing special.
The next day was New Year’s Eve. Our flight to the Philippines was not until late night so we had all day in Bali. In the morning we had breakfast as usual, but this time we knew what we wanted and how to order properly. This time we added bacon to our order in hopes that she would not bring it on the side, but on each of our plates. The bacon came on our plates but yet again, Nadine got two pieces and Ben got one again but this time we requested for our second piece, which was reluctantly brought to us.
Since the hotel was SOOO wonderful they kindly allowed us check out a whole 30 minutes later! We mucked about at the pool nearly the entire afternoon, leaving only to get massages.
Our flight path took us from Bali, Indonesia to Puerto Princess, on the island of Palawan, via Manila in two connecting late night/early morning flights. We arrived at the airport 4 hours early to capitalize on the lounge facilities, which we did.
In the Bali airport there are two lounges that our Priority Pass allows us enter, but neither would permit us to enter. Apparently they were at full capacity, but when we had a look around, neither of them were full. They gave some excuse about potential First Class flyers who may enter, or something, but Nadine was having none of it. There was a handwritten waiting list with nearly 20 different parties on it. Leading the way, she went inside without swiping her PP card, and took a seat. It would have been impossible for them to know, but the two of us are trained in the art of Israeli sweet talk and Mexican sneakiness. To make sure they wouldn’t kick us out, Ben served himself a plate of food from the buffet. You can’t kick out people in the middle of a meal, can you?? One of the employees made another feeble attempt of requesting we wait in line, but saw the food and Nadine’s belongings spread on the table and gave up. Reluctantly she requested our Priority Pass card, passport, and ticket to process our entry. In the end, we found two reclining leather couches with individual TVs. Alls well that ends well.
Once again flew AirAsia, who has a terrible track record, with a crazy layover in Manila. The first flight was a bit over 3 hours and painless. Initially it was a full row, but we booted out girl in the aisle seat and had a row to ourselves.
Manila was straight hectic. We knew it wasn’t going to be enjoyable prior to arriving, since we were flying the domestic lounge which didn’t have a lounge.
Fortunately, or unfortunately, either or, we wouldn’t have had time to eat and relax anyway. What was supposed to be a 4 hour reprieve almost ended in disaster. The flight was scheduled to take off from Bali at 23:20, meaning we would bring in the New Year in the air. Instead the pilot though he would be clever and waited _exactly_ 40 minutes so the plane would ascend precisely at midnight. The plane sort of got into it, counting down from 15 seconds and letting off an enthusiastic “Hurray!” when the clock struck midnight. Through the window we could see fireworks from the ground. It was kind of cool.
VIDEO COMING SOON
A few years back Ben has also been in the air during midnight from back to Israel from California on FinnAir, the flagship airline of Finland. At midnight the pilot turned on the lights and wished everyone a Happy New Year as the flight attendants handed out champagne to all the passengers. AirAsia, on the other hand, intentionally delays a flight. Still though, we were destined for a 3.5 hour layover in Manila so we weren’t stressing.
Fast forwarding to the arrival in Manila, the landing was smooth and seamless. For unknown reasons, the plane sat on the tarmac for nearly an hour. Eventually we were told it was due to the lack of available arrival gates. Since the pilot took off late, the airport’s gate scheduling was off.
At this point, we were cutting it close. Now nearly two hours late, we still had to walk through the big airport, go through customs and passport control, figure out how to get from the international terminal to the domestic terminal, check in again, go through security again. We were in serious danger of not catching our flight.The flight attendant told us an AirAsia representative would be waiting for us at the baggage claim, even though we didn’t have any baggage, to help us navigate our way. No one was there. Instead we were directed by the information desk workers to go to the airport terminal shuttles. Once we arrived, we were told it wouldn’t leave for another 50 minutes! Now we were in full-blown panic mode, nearly sprinting to find means of transportation. We were told to grab a taxi, which now required cash, of which we had none, resulting in a stop at an ATM and wasting more precious time. Nadine pulled out some Philippine Peso and we found a cabbie, who agreed on 100 peso ($2) for the 10 minute ride to Terminal 4. Upon arrival, naturally the driver tried to scam us and say we had agreed to 400 pesos! Without wanting to take up too much time, Nadine gave him 200 instead and raced off to check in. We cut the lines, while apologizing profusely to those in front of us, and made it to our flight on time! It was quite the introduction to the Philippines.
Made it to the Deep Forest Hotel and have an over priced well deserved breakfast:
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