Beach time!
Day 5
We've survived our early start. Someone thinks it's very early but I'm used to it. On the plus side the roads are very quiet and the city feels very deserted compared to the previous night.
The Medan Kuala Namu airport is new and modern. Terry tells me it's only a few years old. Which might explain why the tourism isn't as big in the north. The town had a fair amount of tourists but nothing huge. But you know that you are a bit off the beaten trail when the tour guide tells you it's an honor you've travelled so far to visit. Never had that comment before. As well the kids were all really eager to wave and shout hello to us which makes us feel like a bit more of a novelty.
We are flying south to Denpasar, Bali via Palemback in southern Sumatra. It's a another new airline for me to fly internally to Denpasar. We went with Garuda Indonesia. The Indonesian airlines can be a bit dodgy and many are are banned from flying in international airspace.
The feeling I get from many of the guides is that the new president who was elected 3 years ago has fixed up so many issues with corruption and is really giving back to the citizens. They have universal health care which seems invaluable to such a low income country. One big change seems to be heightened rules for the airlines and some have been cleared again to travel internationally.
It was a two part flight where we remained on the plane and unloaded and reloaded other passengers in Palemback. I was highly surprised by the service on board. It was 2 short flights but we received a hot meal for both along with drink service. It was a lot of food we didn't really anticipate. The Asian airlines also have zero problems with giving us peanuts as a snack. I suppose when peanut sauce is a major part of your diet you can't eliminate the food easily. Nor do you really need to.
It's also a bit of a novelty with getting on and off the plane on the tarmac. This is a real rarity for us at home. I suppose the weather has much to do with that. But most of our flights were us taking a bus to the actual plane and climbing on.
The flights all went well and we arrived in Denpasar. This is a very busy airport. With a very short runway to land on. You come in over the water for a really long time before you see land. It felt like there was a constant stream of people and planes coming and going. And once we saw the planes coming and going from lunch on the beach the one day I was right with it being a busy airport. And with Australia being a quick 5 or 6 hour flight there are many flights coming and going from there.
One thing I did notice upon leaving the airport was the smell in the air. Denpasar smells a bit like burning garbage. You stop noticing it quickly but I did see that this was a common way for people to dispose of their household garbage.
Sanur is our home for the next 2 nights. It seems to be the destination for the retired generation so our group fit in for the most part. I think that the newer places have drawn more of the younger crowd but I am very okay with a nice quiet beach. It does have a bit of a surf town feeling. The winds around Bali do make for good surfing conditions, although I'm not sure where the better beaches are as we didn't see anyone out there.
The beach is a quick 5 minute walk from the hotel, a very nice perk for me. There are a lot of dogs on the beach surprisingly. And hoards of cats at the hotel. We must have counted at least 10. And they all seemed to converge around our room. They really liked the wall beside us and there was a spa and lounge beside us so I think the potential of food attracted the cats. We stayed in these lovely fourplex bungalows. There were 3 pools of varying sizes and plenty of landscaping that it felt like an oasis in the middle of the city.
Bali is a big difference from Sumatra. Sumatra was a majority Muslim and Bali is Hindu. The architecture is the biggest clue to the Hindu beliefs as so many of the buildings had uniquely Hindu touches to them. Many statues have black and white checkered cloth on them to indicate that they are especially holy. There are also offerings everywhere in the city. We did see the offerings for sale at a few markets so they are easy to find. But they place them in front of stores on the sidewalks and streets and in vehicles to thank the gods and to ask for good things. I must say the street ones looked quite trampled by the end of the day.
The beach was lovely. And not very touristy. It seems that we are here for the shoulder season so the sellers and restaurants are a bit desperate for customers. We had a few ladies follow us on the beach asking how our honeymoon was going. They kept saying come to stall 20 and check out my items for sale. Stall 20!! I've also noticed with all my traveling that a man and woman together will get far more attention from the shopkeepers than any other combination. When I 'm alone I don't get as much attention and even with other ladies it isn't that much either.
We did cave and visit the McDonald's while we were here. I must admit it's a nice cheap and familiar meal. And despite the fact that I rarely order anything new and crazy it is fun to see what sort of regional items they have. And in Bali it was a lot of extra fish dishes.
We ended our day with dinner on the beach with the group. While we were eating we saw another tradition the kids have. They parade up and down the street in a dragon costume with a whole band following to play the music to dance to. And of course one wanders around with a donation bucket. We did see a few groups doing this during our stay.
Dinner was the first chance to really interact with our new guide Wira. It's a new company doing this tour for Exodus so it was his first time doing this tour. I also got the impression he was a bit new to the extended group tours. Or else Indonesia is just a bit more relaxed. He didn't really tell us much what we were doing in the future and didn't remind us constantly about when to have luggage out. But I will admit that within minutes of ever putting out luggage it was gone.
Tomorrow is a free day so Terry and I have opted to do a half day temple tour of Bali to entertain us.
We've survived our early start. Someone thinks it's very early but I'm used to it. On the plus side the roads are very quiet and the city feels very deserted compared to the previous night.
The Medan Kuala Namu airport is new and modern. Terry tells me it's only a few years old. Which might explain why the tourism isn't as big in the north. The town had a fair amount of tourists but nothing huge. But you know that you are a bit off the beaten trail when the tour guide tells you it's an honor you've travelled so far to visit. Never had that comment before. As well the kids were all really eager to wave and shout hello to us which makes us feel like a bit more of a novelty.
We are flying south to Denpasar, Bali via Palemback in southern Sumatra. It's a another new airline for me to fly internally to Denpasar. We went with Garuda Indonesia. The Indonesian airlines can be a bit dodgy and many are are banned from flying in international airspace.
The feeling I get from many of the guides is that the new president who was elected 3 years ago has fixed up so many issues with corruption and is really giving back to the citizens. They have universal health care which seems invaluable to such a low income country. One big change seems to be heightened rules for the airlines and some have been cleared again to travel internationally.
It was a two part flight where we remained on the plane and unloaded and reloaded other passengers in Palemback. I was highly surprised by the service on board. It was 2 short flights but we received a hot meal for both along with drink service. It was a lot of food we didn't really anticipate. The Asian airlines also have zero problems with giving us peanuts as a snack. I suppose when peanut sauce is a major part of your diet you can't eliminate the food easily. Nor do you really need to.
It's also a bit of a novelty with getting on and off the plane on the tarmac. This is a real rarity for us at home. I suppose the weather has much to do with that. But most of our flights were us taking a bus to the actual plane and climbing on.
The flights all went well and we arrived in Denpasar. This is a very busy airport. With a very short runway to land on. You come in over the water for a really long time before you see land. It felt like there was a constant stream of people and planes coming and going. And once we saw the planes coming and going from lunch on the beach the one day I was right with it being a busy airport. And with Australia being a quick 5 or 6 hour flight there are many flights coming and going from there. One thing I did notice upon leaving the airport was the smell in the air. Denpasar smells a bit like burning garbage. You stop noticing it quickly but I did see that this was a common way for people to dispose of their household garbage.
Sanur is our home for the next 2 nights. It seems to be the destination for the retired generation so our group fit in for the most part. I think that the newer places have drawn more of the younger crowd but I am very okay with a nice quiet beach. It does have a bit of a surf town feeling. The winds around Bali do make for good surfing conditions, although I'm not sure where the better beaches are as we didn't see anyone out there. The beach is a quick 5 minute walk from the hotel, a very nice perk for me. There are a lot of dogs on the beach surprisingly. And hoards of cats at the hotel. We must have counted at least 10. And they all seemed to converge around our room. They really liked the wall beside us and there was a spa and lounge beside us so I think the potential of food attracted the cats. We stayed in these lovely fourplex bungalows. There were 3 pools of varying sizes and plenty of landscaping that it felt like an oasis in the middle of the city.
Bali is a big difference from Sumatra. Sumatra was a majority Muslim and Bali is Hindu. The architecture is the biggest clue to the Hindu beliefs as so many of the buildings had uniquely Hindu touches to them. Many statues have black and white checkered cloth on them to indicate that they are especially holy. There are also offerings everywhere in the city. We did see the offerings for sale at a few markets so they are easy to find. But they place them in front of stores on the sidewalks and streets and in vehicles to thank the gods and to ask for good things. I must say the street ones looked quite trampled by the end of the day.
The beach was lovely. And not very touristy. It seems that we are here for the shoulder season so the sellers and restaurants are a bit desperate for customers. We had a few ladies follow us on the beach asking how our honeymoon was going. They kept saying come to stall 20 and check out my items for sale. Stall 20!! I've also noticed with all my traveling that a man and woman together will get far more attention from the shopkeepers than any other combination. When I 'm alone I don't get as much attention and even with other ladies it isn't that much either. We did cave and visit the McDonald's while we were here. I must admit it's a nice cheap and familiar meal. And despite the fact that I rarely order anything new and crazy it is fun to see what sort of regional items they have. And in Bali it was a lot of extra fish dishes.
We ended our day with dinner on the beach with the group. While we were eating we saw another tradition the kids have. They parade up and down the street in a dragon costume with a whole band following to play the music to dance to. And of course one wanders around with a donation bucket. We did see a few groups doing this during our stay. Dinner was the first chance to really interact with our new guide Wira. It's a new company doing this tour for Exodus so it was his first time doing this tour. I also got the impression he was a bit new to the extended group tours. Or else Indonesia is just a bit more relaxed. He didn't really tell us much what we were doing in the future and didn't remind us constantly about when to have luggage out. But I will admit that within minutes of ever putting out luggage it was gone.
Tomorrow is a free day so Terry and I have opted to do a half day temple tour of Bali to entertain us.
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