Arriving at Bali Ubud

Our flight was in the evening so I took just a half day leave and left for the airport directly from office after lunch.  As usual, I parked my scooter at Changi Airport T3, sheltered Carpark 3B before transferring to the skytrain to T1.

There are a few budget airlines flying from Singapore to Bali (Denpasar) but we opted for KLM (Royal Dutch Airlines) as their prices were competitive.  It’s always nice to have meals on board and movies to watch during the flight.  I didn’t know Meg Ryan was so pretty until I watched When Harry Met Sally.  Youth is indeed fleeting.

Even though the plane was almost packed, YC and me had an empty seat between us.  I selected seat 33A and YC, surmising it unlikely that someone would pick the middle seat, selected seat 33C.  In the case that someone did turn up, we would just request to switch seats.  His strategy worked and we had some additional space.

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Bali, tourist mecca of the world, is a popular Indonesian island among holiday goers.  The small island is located between Java and Lombok and its people largely follows Balinese Hinduism, which sets it apart from predominately Islamic Indonesia.  Even without knowing that before coming to Bali, it would become evident soon after you had the chance to see the local traditions and taste the local delicacies.  People and culture aside, Bali is also famed for its breathtaking scenery and myriad of water and hiking activities.  Wikitravel gave Bali the following apt introduction:

Bali, the famed Island of the Gods, with its varied landscape of hills and mountains, rugged coastlines and sandy beaches, lush rice terraces and barren volcanic hillsides all providing a picturesque backdrop to its colourful, deeply spiritual and unique culture, stakes a serious claim to be paradise on earth.

With world-class surfing and diving, a large number of cultural, historical and archaeological attractions, and an enormous range of accommodations, this is one of the world’s most popular island destinations and one which consistently wins travel awards. Bali has something to offer a very broad market of visitors from young back-packers right through to the super-rich.

Bali is just a 2-3 hour flight from Singapore but somehow, I had never visited the island.  So with some annual leave to clear and some good people (R, T and YC) joining for the trip, I made my maiden trip to Bali.

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