PRE BALI’S EXPERIENCE
I love traveling. Especially if it’s a grant, meaning it’s free. One of the most meaningful foreign trips I have had was in Bali, Denpasar Indonesia.
That was just a week ago. Although my experience from pre-departure up to my destination including my return to Philippines… well not that really great.
But my almost a week of stay in Indonesia was really meaningful.
First, pre-departure preparation is quite exasperating. The conveners both the Indonesian and Norwegian governments informed the participants from Asia of not needing a visa. I have my passport so that was it, supposedly. However three days for departure, the Indonesian Embassy in Manila informed me that I must secure a visa. A fellow participant Joe Torres was also informed but need not secure one. Since I am based in Zamboanga City, I have to secure it from Davao City where they have their Consulate office. Grrr!!!!
The conveners also informed the Asian participants that we are entitled of 1650 USD travel grant. Torres secured his own plane ticket including other expenses, well he can afford it.
On my part, the Consulate in Davao secured and prepared everything for me from domestic to foreign flights. Soehardi, a staff of one of the Consuls handed me a cash of 330 USD and totaling everything including my domestic trip its about 1,050 USD. I was hoping the remaining 600 USD could be released upon our arrival in Indonesia.
I don’t have enough cash in my pocket, probably enough to secure travel taxes but to think of sipping coffee while in transit, forget it.
Upon arrival in Bali, the conveners informed me everything has already been released to me by their consulate personnel. Where’s the remaining 600 USD? Well only the conveners and the Consulate office could explain. Sob…
Anyway along my journey, so many great and not so great experiences encountered. Its my first time to set foot in Indonesia, although I have had some research thru internet, but its different when you experienced it directly.
I also traveled light, a tote bag and a small HP notebook pouch and have my backpack checked-in. From Manila, we had almost about five hours flight to Singapore, a brief stop of 45 minutes to pick more passengers then bound for Jakarta for about 2 hours. It’s a smooth trip until I reached Jakarta airport for a domestic trip to Denpasar. 
Whew! My horror begins. I have to retrieve my backpack and I was unaware that a domestic airport is quite far from Sukarno’s International Airport. Along the way I was dragging my backpack for reasons I realized its kind of getting heavy.
I talked to several airport personnel how to reach the domestic airport but all of them were speaking to me in Bahasa until I got pique off and told them “pardon me sir, I don’t understand anything you said because I am a Filipina.” “Oh Sorry madame, we thought you are Indonesian,” until they escorted me outside and instructed me to take a shuttle bus, a yellow one.
If a passenger is in transit, shuttle services are for free even if its takes more than a kilometer. Just like Rhai Domestic Airport which is about 2 kilometers away from international airport. But bus drivers will never lift a finger if a passenger is bringing in heavy luggage.
On the way, since I was sweating all over, the driver spoke to me again in Bahasa, and I was stunned looking at him trying to comprehend what he said. I just smiled, but he kept talking until some of the passengers were staring at me as if I have committed something bad. I asked a lady in red what the driver was saying and she said, “Oh we thought you are like us, the driver was asking how’s your trip abroad, what was your work and later he said, why most Indonesians when they already worked abroad already forgot own language, we are so sorry Babu.”
The lady in red explained to the driver, and there I saw him smiled at me and spoke in English, “you Filipina, sorry, sorry, your money is pesos, many many pesos bringing for Indonesians?” I told him I am a journalist in Philippines and that their government sponsored my trip to attend the Global Inter-Media Dialogue in Bali. While on the way, everything runs smoothly with the cordial and smiling faces of everyone realizing that I am not an Indonesian after all.
I THOUGHT I WAS IN MARKET
We reached the domestic airport and I realized as per information from the red lady who happens to be an employee of the Air Asia that they have almost 24 hours flights. My God! I thought I was at the market place seeing the bustling domestic airport.
People from all walks of life with the trolleys swarming the huge airport, some are already using the cold tiled floors as bedrooms probably their flights were delayed. Others are moving around selling the wares and my God its so noisy, I need to shout with a woman attending passengers for Lion Air.
My first time to see a domestic airport with people from all walks of life and people with different colors. Really there’s something beautiful in Bali. I have to fall in line like others to secure a ticket and for check-in procedures and those in charge of travel taxes and insurance are everywhere running after passengers. The whole stretch of the airport is housing all sorts of local airlines offering promos and it’s really a big competition. Finally when I was able to secure my ticket and proceeded to the departure terminal, that’s where I saw so many aircrafts. In Zamboanga City, you’ll get to see a handful of aircrafts for domestic flights.
Mind you, Zamboanga airport is international in service category for Sandakan flights. In Rhai Airport, you’ll have choices of time because every hour they offer flights. Finally we flew to Denpasar and its about an hour and a half flight.
I need to go to an exchange booth to secure Rupiah since I have about a hundred dollars. Just imagine if you have about 300 USD, you are already a millionaire in Indonesia. Per dollar rate to Rupiah is 9,000 so I was able to secure 90,000 rupiah. Its good that when I was in Singapore airport, I managed to exchange my P5,000 to a stewardess so at least I still have more than a hundred dollars. In the end, I realized that I was a millionaire here in Bali.
