Day 2 - Singapore to Bali

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Well I struggled to sleep through the night, and woke up early around 5am I think. I could not resist the temptation to check out the golf progress. No TV coverage but iPad had live scoring so into the toilet I go to check out the progress. Great news Jason Day birdies 3 holes on the back 9 to take the lead, but then gives two of them back. Adam Scott birdies the 18^th to take the lead with one group to play. Bugger, Angel Cabrera birdies 18 and we have a play off.



Common sense kicks in and I return to bed. Upon awakening Luke says “Dad did you hear about the golf? “ I played it down and asked what happened and he said Adam Scott has won in a playoff. You beauty an Aussie had finally won the US Masters ! OK I promise to make that the last golfing story in this holiday blog.



We had a buffet breakfast on Level 3 of our hotel. Lots to choose from but I went for my regular two fried eggs on toast with hash browns. I normally have the baked beans as well but did not see them (the were hiding there however). The hash browns were about the size of a chicken nugget and stacked on a tray in a circular pattern so neatly it was almost too hard to take one (almost !). It is funny how the food can be decorated in ways that catches your eye.



Our airport shuttle took us back to airport but to Terminal 1 this time for our Air Asia flight to Bali. Again we admired how clean and green the route was as we ventured off. We will be coming bck here next week and have more time to explore Singapore. As we approached the airport I saw this amazing hotel being the Crowne Plaza Singapore Airport. It was like the Birdsnest that they used for the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.



Check in was pretty easy as we had already got our boarding passes online. Started off towards the security screening and saw this amazing piece of art sculpture in the lobby area of the airport. It was some display of kinetic raindrops all moving in various patterns all 1,216 of them if my counting was accurate (yes we stayed there for a while in awe). Check out Youtube to see what this looks like.



Right next to this I saw something quite unique. A set of escalators only used for moving the empty suitcase trolleys between the departure & arrivals levels of the airport. Yep, no people allowed only trolleys, and they had 3-4 guys would load the on and off. I wonder whether these guys did their apprenticeship driving around the Shopping Centre Car parks picking up Coles & Woollies shopping trollies ? Anyway quite a good idea as people arrive on top floor and need to take luggage to check in, but the people arriving from customs downstairs the need them so up & down they go continuously. What a great idea ! I can see why Singapore is rated on the best airport in the world.



We all bought Subway to take on the fight which was due to leave at 12.15PM. It’s a 2.5 hour flight so I’m hoping to watch the latest James Bond thriller Skyfall on my fully supercharged Acer Notebook. Whilst I was waiting for them to be made I saw a child play area to get the kids energy levels spent before they boarded the plane. Another great idea.



We get to departure gate and they had another screening area. You guessed right no drinks through so there goes a few wasted dollars. Subway snuck through OK in backpacks but I started wondering how long it would take for my Tuna to start getting a bit soggy.



We had Row 1 seats which was great but one problem. Backpack had to stay in overhead compartment until seat belt lights went off. This created two problems, First I could not quite get to the end of the movie before we landed in Bali and second, lunch was very very soggy.



Well we landed safely which after having heard about the Lion Air flight landing the water the day before after overshooting the runway was a nice feeling.



Bali Airport is really old. We paid for our Visas in US$ cash and our luggage was first out of carousel again !!. We then went to exit and everyone had sign with your name from the drivers picking up guests but where was ours from our driver? Looked for a few minutes and this little guy was standing straight in front of us !.



He walked us to his little van which was really too small for the 4 of us plus luggage but I would soon realise in Bali the roads are narrow and crowded so big vans are not common.



It took about 1.5 hours to get to Ubud – Sri Bungalows. We arrived about 5PM and it was about 1000% humidity. At check in they gave us a fruit drink and they took our luggage to the room past some rice fields to a little 2 story villa about 500 metres from the road and very quiet.



Later walked down Monkey Forest Road for dinner and it was only $35- in total but my meal not the best. The others said they were Ok but not a lot of atmosphere so we will look elsewhere tomorrow. Went passed a tour booth and booked a adventure experience tomorrow for Luke and I to try something different.



Our room is pretty neat. Big balcony out the front elevated view over rice fields Inside main king bedroom, with bathroom and a separate balcony looking over more rice fields and a stream behind us. Upstairs is 2 queen beds for the kids.

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