Day 249: Bali! Kicking Off 30+ Days in Indonesia

Today after breakfast, we set out for Bali, a 2.5-hour flight from Singapore. We landed in Denpasar, got picked up and were driven another three hours to the east of the island. I didn’t even know Bali was that big. We got there in time for some dinner and bed.

We’ll be in Indonesia for over a month, and in this hotel for 7 nights. We have our own yard, pool and kitchen. Very excited to do…..NOTHING besides relax, school, take stock. Actually, have creative plans, and can’t wait to dive in.

Big list of random musings from the day:

1. Why is flying on Sept 11 so common? It’s not like we fly *that much* in a normal year, yet every year I feel like I’m saying to myself: “Wow. So weird to be flying on September 11.” And here we are again.
2. The last three flights have had us going through totally barren airports, thanks to the post-back-to-school timing. We went from 200+ people, shoulder to shoulder lines for everything from bag check to immigration to security to boarding……to…no one. Just…no one. First and only ones in every line. It’s surreal.
3. After that scarring flight from Vietnam to Cambodia, I’m officially traumatized and now every bump has me shaking and sweating. My friend Khalid, who travels a lot internationally for work, put it well: “The more I fly, the more afraid of it I become and it’s supposed to be the opposite.” Yes yes yes. I had a beer mid-flight and it helped.
4. I also finished “Dead to Me” Season 1 on the flight. Enjoyed it. Realized it’s basically the only show I’ve watched all year except the latest seasons of Queer Eye and Game of Thrones. 
5. We are so desensitized to landing in a foreign, faraway place. We’re like: bing bong, new language, new currency, chickens running in road, almost died on the drive to the hotel, smell of burning trash, did you get the wifi to work, etc. 
6. We keep saying this, but on that note, we’re so glad we saved Asia for the second half. No question, the places we went in South America and Africa were easier and less culture-shocky than this. If we’d started in Mongolia or China, it wouldn’t have been so smooth a kickoff. 
7. Strange to say, but of allll the things to be scared of this year, the only really irrational fear I’ve had is about tsunamis in Indonesia. Our current place is on a super tall hilltop. When the driver said we were “almost there” and starting driving uphill, I was like, “That’s it, keep heading for high ground.” I’m downloading the official tsunami alert app.
8. It’s the start of the summer holiday in the southern hemisphere, so all the Aussies are heading to Bali. We’re staying in far-flung parts away from the fray, but interesting to note that it’s the high season here after we were so excited about the post-summer airport calm.
9. I’m reading “Billion Dollar Whale” about a Malaysian fraudster who duped all these major US banks and Hollywood stars and led an “unhinged” spending lifestyle. It’s my Singapore book (need an Indonesia book if anyone’s got one). A wild story. And there’s lots of Leonardo DiCaprio in it!