Boarding our flight at Bandung Airport
I had a memorable trip to Bali thanks to my Indonesian student turned godson, Win. He came to Singapore for my summer course 15 years ago and we have kept in touch since then. He is doing his Masters in Criminal Law and graduating next year. I'm so proud of him.
Our flight to Bali was at 3.45pm on a Saturday. We left Win's apartment at 2.15pm. It is only a ten minutes drive to the airport but we were horrified to find ourselves stuck in a traffic jam. Bandung was holding an air show that day. -_-
There was no way out of the traffic jam and we couldn't turn back because the narrow roads were jammed with vehicles and crowds. Desperate, Win tried to call his friends who work in the airport and airlines but with no success. We inched our way to the airport. If we had got down and walked, we could have caught our flight.
Imagine the look on our faces when the dejected lot reached the airport at 5 pm and was told the plane was waiting for us!! Incredible! Amazing! Happily we board the flight.
Tonton's GPS
The moment we arrived in Bali, Win's phone started ringing. A plane crashed while performing a low-altitude stunt at the air show. Callers wanted to know if we were safe. Whew! Thank God.
Sadly the pilot died a few days later.
When news of Win bringing us on a Bali trip reached my other Indonesian students, they came forward with lots of help. Tonton, who spent two weeks in Bali on his honeymoon earlier this year, lent us his GPS. It contained lots of info during his trip to Bali. It made lots of mistakes but without it we would be completely lost in Bali. What an amazing invention! :)
We arrived late at Bali airport and had to hire a car and book a room. Remember to book your room on the internet and before you arrive in Bali. We were charged an exorbitant price for a night's stay in a hotel when we book at the tour counter at the airport.
Win paid for our air tickets, hiring of the car, petrol and the first night's accommodation. We were very grateful for his generosity but we couldn't possibly let him pay for everything. So we paid for the rest of the trip.
First Commenter -
Did you enjoy yourself in Bali?
ReplyDeletestanley,
ReplyDeleteYes, very much. You will hear more about my trip the next few days. :)
How to survive? Pray hard lor. :D
ReplyDeleteGlad you're okay! :)
ReplyDeleteLina,
ReplyDeleteYes... lots of thrills and fun. :D
Tekkaus,
ReplyDeleteBesides praying, what can we do? God has His own plans. :)
Jocelyn,
ReplyDeleteYes, I'm back in one piece. :)
What an adventure! Glad you're alright.
ReplyDeleteThank you for visiting my Alphabe-Thursday-C-post about the cactus garden. I wish you luck with your garden. One commenter said that planting cacti can be painful! Be careful!
Thank you for booking a spot on my cat Sara's EC-widget. She sends purrs.
Best wishes,
Anna
Anna's Blue Monday\Mellow-Yellow-Monday\Ruby Tuesday
For the benefit of other readers:
Anna's Alphabe-Th-C
glad u enjoyed the trip! such a blessing to have a godson like that. haha..
ReplyDeleteWow, I am so happy you did not miss your plae. What an exciting trip.
ReplyDeleteAnna,
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome.
I'm starting with a tiny cactus garden first. Yes, it hurts when pricked by the thorns and spikey leaves.
Hi Gabriel,
ReplyDeleteI'm truly blessed with such good young people around me. Win is a filial young man and he's respectful to the elders.
sorry to hear about the pilot's demise but glad you're back in one piece dear.
ReplyDeleteeileninmd,
ReplyDeleteSo lucky we could still be on that flight. We thought we would have to buy new tickets to Bali.
Life Ramblings,
ReplyDeleteWe were sorry to hear about the pilot's passing away when we were in Bali.
We had quite an adventurous trip and we're just glad to be home.
It's always cheaper to book a hotel through the net than booking at the airport. Walk in guests are quoted published rate, which are always more than discounted rate through agents/ online.
ReplyDeleteJama,
ReplyDeleteWe paid almost double the rate which was quoted on internet.
It wasn't peak season and we thought it would be easy to book a room, not realising that we had to pay a penalty.
What a stressful day ! I couldn't live without GPS anymore, I have no sense of orientation and since I have one I feel like a blind who has got a dog to lead him !
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you made it through the trip safely.
ReplyDeleteWhat a story, ecl! And you tell it so well... :)
ReplyDeleteOh! So you went to Bali!! I don't mind going there again!
ReplyDelete