Arriving in Bali
Stepping off the plane I thought we will follow the crowd since most of the people on the plane seems to be Bali regulars (You can hear them sharing tips when in the airport) but there isn't much people in front to follow. After walking for 5mins you will see many counters with "Visa On Arrival" signs. This is where you pay your USD 25 per person visa fee. Another benefit of being a Singaporean (added to my list) is that there is no visa required for entering into Bali. After receiving your visa ticket, you head straight to the customs counter and you will see the baggage area past the customs. When you approach the baggage area, there are at least 6 ATMs on the right hand side(3 local ones, Citibank, ANZ and CommonWealth, ANZ just increase their interest fee for no good reasons so stuff them). NOW- here is Jo's TIP #1. Do not speak to anyone wearing a shirt that says "porter" or hand them your luggage because this is what will happen. They will asked for your Customs paper(blue form you fill up on the plane) and you show them, they hold on to it and said they will take you through security checks. Once you got your bags they offer to carry it for you and you go "wow this is delightful", once you pass security checks they will never give you back your bags unless you pay them.How do I know? Well, I witness it all happen to the family that sat in front of me in the plane. And I told the porter off when he tried to take the Customs paper off Craig. Then I told Craig off (think he got swamped by the Bali heat too much to think straight). I think they are meant to take your bags and bring you to their "preferred taxis".
Next as you walk to exit immigrations, you will see money changes on both left and right of you waving their rates sheets at you. We just put cash into our credit card and took cash out instead of changing money. I've heard too many stories about money changers scam to even bother with it.
Exiting from the airport you can feel the sharp stinking hot weather of Bali, we are back in Asia again indeed. I saw more taxi drivers and some kind of drivers more than any other professionals. You just have to squeeze past them. Turn right and you will find the prepaid taxi counter, since it's our 1st time and I can't be bother figuring my way out, I just head straight to the taxi counter and get one to Intercontinental at Jimbaran Bay. 60, 000IDR or RP which is about $6 (which is going to be my rough exchange rate for the whole trip)
Arriving at Intercontinental Hotel, Jimbaran Bay
The taxi pulled up at the guard post of the hotel and open his boot. A security guard walks around with a extended mirror and scan the sides of the taxi. (wow i'm impressed). We were greeted by at least 5 porters when we got out of the taxi all eager to help us but we only have one luggage we decided there's no need to engage them. Then one of the porter gong the drum indicating to reception someone has arrived for check in. Again what a great idea!! Hmm I wonder if there's 5 taxis rocking up will there be 5 gongs :) The young lady who greeted us seated us at the lobby and she was walking back and forth the check in counter to service us. I wonder why they don't seat us at the check in area instead. No wonder she's so slim. The welcome COLD towel and drinks was a bliss after being smashed by the Bali humid weather coming out of the airport. Check in process was slow but attentive. It must be a way of life here to take things slowly.
We had a kinda odd booking where i can only get the 1st 2 nights as twin beds and the rest of the 3 nights as king size bed. Initially they said all king size beds are taken and they are going to push 2 twin beds together to combine them but after I've explained to them i actually did have a king size bed booking, they magically found a king size bed for the entire stay. I don't really care the initial reason/intention they have but they gave me a solution i want to hear which is awesome! Check in ticked!
Block 2 Level 4. The resort is so big it has 4 blocks of rooms. Block 2 is the furthest away from the main building on the right hand side(looking from the beach). I do like this block as it's quiet and you can hear the sounds of birds and DUCKS!! yes, there's 9 Peking(I think they are) ducks swimming and walking around. Let's hope these ducks are not breed for eating.
Big room, Balinese setup (a lot of wood and Balinese ornaments), balcony (that's where we spotted the ducks), in room safe, big LCD TV with LOTS of channels, desk, sofa with table, walk through wardrobe(this is cool but not for my partner because he's too tall to go through HA), rain shower, bath, toilet. Great design i like it. The only negative comment is where is the clock?? there's no way of telling time without checking my watch.And the power socket is UK not EU.
I had a massage arranged at Cozy Spa at 4pm so we didn't hang around the hotel too longer. Taxi ride from hotel using meter (Blue Bird) is 45,000RP. Got dropped off at Cozy Spa 1(that's the foot one) and had to walk about another 15mins to Cozy Spa 2(that's the body one). We saw OpenPau along the way and had lunch there.
I didn't really like my massage but I was short changed. I've booked for 1.5hrs and only got 1hr 10mins. The young girl didn't have much technique and I feel sorry for her she has to use so much strength (but i'm only small.........). Craig also seems to have better luck, he said his was great and got the full 1.5hrs. She showed him the time before and after. Mine didn't.
Next and final stop Carrefour. This is heaven for me since i'm a supermarket junkie. We spent 2hrs in here (i probably could go on longer!!). I had a pretty good day and 1st day in Bali went well. Other than the airport we haven't had to dealt with haggling yet.
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