My cousin got married this May, and they held their wedding in Bali. The reception was held at a villa next on top of a cliff, so the view was breathtaking. On this occasion, me and my wife Y attended the wedding, even when that meant traveling so far away from Bandung. Fortunately Y had a healthy mom, so her mom could take care of the kids while we were gone.
The journey started Friday morning, just after my class in the morning. I took a Grab Bike Plus to Bandung train station and Y came later. We took a Whoosh high-speed train and the waiting room at Bandung station has recently been nicely renovated.
The trip to Jakarta was too smooth. Everything was on schedule, and we arrived at Halim Whoosh station at exactly 10.23. We took a Blue Bird cab to Halim Airport for a price of Rp40.000. The funny thing is, that there was also a shuttle bus service for the same fee of Rp40.000 per person. Therefore if you are traveling with someone else, it’s always cheaper to just take a cab for the transfer.
We arrived very early at the airport, at around 11.45. The flight was scheduled to depart at 15.50 so we had to wait about 3 hours. The airline no longer entertained check-in at the counter. We had to either check in at a machine, or download an app to do that. The staff at the counter urged me to download the app, so I could register and enter his referral code.
There were plenty of restaurants outside, and we chose Solaria for our lunch. After checking in, we entered boarding area. While there were not many meal options inside, the boarding area was pretty clean and comfortable. Most of the shops sell coffee, books or gifts. Some other shops were seen recently closed.
We took a rest and waited at the common area, refilled our bottles, then took some drinks at Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, whose had this promotion of 50% off by paying with paylater feature of a certain bank. 30 minutes before take off, we boarded the plane.
Batik Air was supposed to be a full service airline, but in this flight the inflight entertainment systems were turned off. I assume that this is due to rising fuel cost due to American-Iran war, despite the fact that the seats were mostly occupied.
The sun was just set when we landed. We walked a few hundred meters to the bus stop, where we would take a Trans Metro Dewata bus that brought us to Kuta area. Another local tourists were seen waiting the same bus as well, but looked unsure. Scalpers saw this as an opportunity and tried to make conversation and offered their own transport services. We helped them take the right bus to Kuta, i.e. the same bus with us.
We alighted at Raya Kuta 3 bus stop, then walked about 450m towards Warung Nasi Ibu Andika. It was an old-time local restaurant, but when we had our dinner it was so-so and we were the only persons having meal there.
After meal, we took another 750m walk to the hotel, stopping by an Indomaret to buy bottled waters and vitamins. We enjoyed a good rest at the hotel and planned for the next day.
Early morning at 5.00am, I woke up, fully refreshed. I made a coffee, munched the bread from the flight the day before, then getting ready to run. It was 5.30 and my mobile says that the sun rises at 5.54, so I headed out. Just before leaving the hotel, I noticed that my mobile showed me sunrise information for Bandung, not Bali. I refreshed the app, and it showed me sunrise at 6.30. I headed back to my room and waited until 6.00.
When I got out for the second time, the timing was perfect. Light just came out and upon walking to the beach, I was greeted by this famous gate. The ugly cables reminded me that I am still in Indonesia.
I intended to run 5km on the sand, but there was something different this time. The beach line towards south has now been fortified with large stones, likely to prevent erosion (or abrasion, not sure; I have left geography lessons too long). In front of the stones there were sands dry enough to walk at.
I ran towards south on the pathway, but when heading back north I tried to run in front of the stones. It was simply wet sands at first, but it was getting deeper and the waves gradually swept in. I stumbled once because I could not see the rocks but fortunately was not hurt and my electronics were safe. Looking back at the running map overlaid on top, I was actually running on the water! Overall it was a fun run. Running on dry sands gave specific challenge that you run slower.
After running, I went back to the hotel, waiting for Y to wake up. Then we walked together along the Kuta beach. A bible verse was seen posted on electric poles, alongside with announcement of a lost dog.
We had pictures on the beach, then took a brunch at an Indomaret nearby. We then took another Blue Bird cab to The Keranjang, an oleh-oleh store. En route, we had a chat with the driver, informally asking his recommendation on a good store. He did not actually recommend The Keranjang, and recommended either Krisna or Agung instead. We did not really buy it and kept going to The Keranjang. It turned out to be a good decision. The business emphasized on experience for their guests. Upon entering the building we were greeted with visualization of Balinese philosophies and selfie spots, before getting into shopping. The souvenirs were also generally in good quality. We left the area with some t-shirts and snacks.
We then had our lunch at Rasa Dewata, just across the street. It was a nice dining experience in a cool air-conditioned building, amidst the heat from the sun. We then took a bus back to the hotel, and got ready for the reception at Villa Latitude.
Around 15.30, we called a Grab car service to drive us to Latitude. It was a lady driver but pretty rude to other users of the roads. Fortunately she was nice to us and she knew shortcuts, avoiding us from delays due to heavy traffic. We did get a wrong turn once, but finally arrived at Latitude. The location was very remote from the main road but had a very breathtaking views.
Some guests were already there and many family members that we know were there too, so we chatted with them. There was this bathtub, filled with water bottles and beers covered in ice, and guests can ask the waiter to provide one for them. I asked one Heineken and drank straight from the bottle while chatting with Y. Apparently not many people did the same and I got featured in the couple’s same day edit video. Also in this party I met @omateler77, founder of Es Teler 77 and currently an Instagram persona. We took a wefie.
The party itself started at 18.30. We were already sitting in our round tables when the enthusiastic MC asked us to get up and welcome the couple into the dining area. They were seated on a special table on the side, where they can see all the guests.
The food was abundant, and our table was closest to nasi campur stall. It was also the most interesting stall, as they showed this roasted pork in its whole form. After people started dining, the pork was seen skinned as the meat was taken away.
Pictures of the pork (click to open)
The party was filled with games, quizzes, testimonies, photo sessions, and closed with a surprise for a lady whose birthday was at the same day.
The party was filled with events and without realizing it was 22.00 already. One Hiace vehicle that drove a family back to Nusa Dua still had empty seats so I joined them. I planned to took a cab from Nusa Dua, where higher chance of cabs available, but in the end the driver just drove us back to our hotel in Kuta.
We arrived at the hotel around 23.30 and I slept not long after. The next day, we took another Grab car ride, but this time heading to Gunung Harta office. For our journey home, we took this sleeper bus that would bring us to Bandung for a price of less than half of the flight ticket, and a journey time of almost 24 hours.
The bus is scheduled to depart at 8.00, but 7.45 they have already called my number, asking where I was. I arrived less than 5 minutes later, and the bus departed soon after I was inside.
The sleeper compartment was small, but at least when the seat was reclined I could extend my legs fully (I am 179 cm tall). Each seat had its own entertainment system, and it was working! (unlike the Batik Air flight) There were games like Angry Birds and a ripoff of Fruit Ninja. There were movies and e-books as well, and surprisingly there was also a programming e-book installed there: Microsoft Windows Foundation Class documentation in Chinese.
The next 4-5 hours was road trip with occasional stops and refueling, followed by ferry trip to cross the Bali Strait. The crossing itself probably took about 1 hour, but with 2 extra hours of waiting. The downside of taking a land/sea trip is that the schedule is not as predictable as air trip, and only God and the driver/sailor knows how long a wait will be.
The ferry trip itself was not as convenient as the sleeper bus. Unlike the bus that has several seat classes, there was no class separation in the ferry; economy, premium, sleeper passengers all in one place. That also means sharing spaces with people who smoke outside the smoking area and don’t flush after using the toilet.
At about 15.00 local time, we continued our road trip, and about an hour later we arrived at our first meal stop. Our first meal stop was at a restaurant called Sumber Harta. It’s a play on words, considering that the bus brand name is Gunung Harta that means “Mountain of Wealth” and the restaurant Sumber Harta means “The Source of Wealth”. The meal was a simple buffet of rice, egg, tempe, fried chicken and vegetable soup. The second meal stop was at around 23.00 at Rumah Makan RBT, Solo-Ngawi Toll Road KM519. The food here was more varied and delicious compared to the first stop, and it helped giving us energy to withstand the coldness of air-conditioned compartment.
We finally arrived in Bandung around 7.00 in the morning, and that concluded our trip this time.