Arcane Candy

Tuesday, September 29, 2015
Tuban, Bali, Indonesia

Ngurah Rai International Airport in Tuban, Bali, Indonesia.

On my last day in Bali, I set my alarm for 7:30 am so I could pack up my backpack and get dressed and eat breakfat, I mean breakfast in time for my 10:30 am shuttle van to the airport. I had originally planned to take everything out of my backpack and wipe it down inside and out with a damp cloth just in case if any bed bugs set up shop in there. That way, I could avoid transferring them to my bed at home, which would be an utter nightmare, because they’re really difficult to get rid of. Unfortunately, I ran out of time and had to just re-pack the backpack minus the wipe down. Let us spray, I mean pray that there are no bugs in there!

Tofu and noodles at Ngurah Rai International Airport in Tuban, Bali, Indonesia.

When all was said and done, I said goodbye to Ketut, left the Arjuna 3 Guesthouse and arrived at the travel agent’s office right at 10:30 am on the nose. Whew! I really cut it close! A minute after I took off my heavy-ass backpack, the shuttle van driver showed up, so I had to lug it awkwardly by my side a little ways down the alley. Long story short, all 11 seats got filled up with travellers in their 20s, and it took one hour and 20 minutes to whisk us sardines to Ngurah Rai International Airport, which was not too bad at all for daytime hours. I thought it might take two hours. The day before, I received an email from Travelocity saying my departure would be delayed by one hour, from 3:40 pm to 4:50 pm. When I approached the China Airlines check-in counter, I was informed that it had since been delayed another hour further because of a typhoon that was heading into Taiwan.

Ngurah Rai International Airport in Tuban, Bali, Indonesia.

For lunch, I paid a steep 80,000 rupiah ($5.50) for a plate of tofu noodles that was surprisingly yummy. The same thing would have cost half that in Ubud, but twice as much in California. For desert, I followed it up with a bag of Chitato cheese-flavored potato chips and a Snickers bar because, heck, why not? You’ve got to live a little once in a while! Proceeding through immigration and the security checkpoint was a breeze, with only an x-ray for my luggage and a metal detector for my body. None of those cancer-causing full body scans or way-too-personal pat downs like in the good ol’ USA.

China Airlines flight 772 from Denpasar, Bali to Tapei, Taiwan at Ngurah Rai International Airport in Tuban, Bali, Indonesia.

When I finally arrived at my gate, after passing through a maze of glitzy and glossy clothing, handbag and jewelry shops for well-scrubbed foreigners, I was informed that my flight was now delayed yet another hour until 7:00 pm. That meant the plane would arrive in Tapei at 11:50 pm, the same time my flight from Tapei to Los Angeles was supposed to be boarding. At least back at home I didn’t have to attend a live birth or a wedding or a funeral or start my first day at a new job. One positive thing was my backpack only weighed 17.2 kilograms, even after I added in the Bali: Sacred & Secret coffee table book. So, I was relieved I would not have to pay a bunch of extra money, which would have happened if it weighed over 20 kilograms. Also, my Bali in the 1930s book only weighed 2.3 kilograms and my messenger bag clocked in at 3.9, so I didn’t have to pay anything extra for them, either, as the two combined weighed less than the allowed 7 kilograms for carry-on. Yippee!

Words and photos ©2015 Arcane Candy.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 29th, 2015 at 5:04 pm and is filed under Tropical Storm Tour. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.