Travel, Travel, Travel, Bank...

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Geo: -8.68964, 115.253

We left Cambodia at the ungodly hour of 8am, so had to be at the airport by 6am. Not happy times! I was sad to leave this strangely altered half-being of my past, but glad to be moving on the the restful holiday part of our month away. I'm not quite sure how restful 2 hours at an airport, 2 hours on a plane, 4 hours at another airport and 3 hours on another plane really is, but hey ho!

When we arrived in Bali, I expected the kind of reception we received in Fiji - garlands, acoustic-guitars being gently strummed by smiling locals, the scent of tropical flowers. Hmmm.... perhaps not! We paid our "visa on arrival fee" at one window, then moved swiftly to the queue where we assumed our visas would be ceremoniously stuck into our passports. Having only 3 blank pages, I was ready to dedicate a whole page to the nation of Indonesia. Eventually, a poe-faced official roughly snatched my passport from me, and after stamping it several times and doing the usual typing thing (what do they do then?! They scan the passport and then type all of your details in anyway? Isn't that the point of a bar-code? It already has the information pre-loaded?) When he handed it back to me, it had my visa in it. A stamp. A normal, everyday entry stamp. And where had Mr Smiley chosen to put it? Out of all of the pages with one stamp carelessly dabbed on in a random corner, or brazenly hogging the centre of the page? Where do you think Mr Bureaucrat had stamped my passport? ON ONE OF THE PRECIOUS 3 BLANK PAGES I HAVE LEFT!!!!!!! Thank you so much. I look forward to passing my 75 pound bill onto you when I undoubtedly need a new passport. Fan - bloomin - tastic!!!

Taxi to Sanur. I thought I was in Bali. It turns out, I was in Blackpool. At best, it was an Eastern version of Costa-del-Tourist. At worst? Bognor. We nearly had a heart attack at the price-list on the menu, having drawn out 2 million Rupiah (currency number 4 to get our heads round) for the entire trip, we watched it slowly dribble away on a mediocre meal and a large beer. Back to the cashpoint we went, where Stacey realised she could not withdraw any money. I'm guessing her bank got a little suspicious when she withdrew money in Cambodia (US$), then 4 hours later in Malaysia (Ringt) and then attempted to draw our 2 lots of 1 million Rupiah in Bali. Funnily enough, they had stopped her card. My bank were not quite so vigilant (and I don't know if that's a good thing!) So, off to bed we went, exhausted and ready for some R and R on the beautiful Bounty islands of the Gilis!

xxx

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