New Visas
Last week I returned to Nusa Lembongan after diving in Tulamben and Amed for 8 days. I quickly decided that I wanted to stay on Lembongan for my last month of Vaca. However, when I entered Indonesia 31 days ago, I was given a tourset visa on arrival for 30 days. It is not extendable... for the most part. Well, I couldn't figure out how to extend it. So, if I wanted to stay here in Bali, I would have to make a "visa run." This entails, leaving the country and returning to buy a new visa on arrival. Or, going to a forign Indo embassy and applying for a 60 day tourist visa.... a process which takes 3 days. So, I choose to fly to Kuala Lumpur in Mylasia and take the next flight back to Bali.
I began this trip yesterday afternoon with a little bit of a hassle finind a boat to take me from Lembongan to mainland Bale. Usually, this is a simple matter of ringing the boat office and telling them you will go on the boat. But it did not work that easily yesterday, and after 30+ phone calls from the owners of my bungalows, I got a "rip off" price of $25 US... but in actuallity they charged me 250,000 rupiahs which is about $26 US. This is the going fare for a round trip fast boat to and from the mainland.
I then, spent a few hours in Bali at some dive shops looking for equipent, picking up books, and having a wetsuit custom made in a new wetsuit factory in Kuta. My driver, Wayan, whom had driven me up to Tulamben, was great at making sure I got to do all the in town errands I needed.
then I went to the airport to find that my flight was delayed. I tried to negotiate with immagration to let me enter in the arrivals section so I would not have to fly to KL, just to return 10 hours later. No good. So I flew to KL on Air Asia... which is the Southwest airlines of southeast asia at the moment. I was able to find a row with no one in it and sleep for 3 hours for the duration of the flight.
Well, much to my surprise, we did not fly into the international airport in Mylasia. In fact, we flew into the domestic/low cost airline arport which had nothing but a 24 hour McDonalds and a closed Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. I tried to sleep in the terminal, but the AC was on super full blast. I had to go outside to get warm. People were sleeping on the ground, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I had been chatting with a dutch student who had found a little seat. we sat and people wateched from 4 am until 7. Then an English couped who had been sleeping on Newsapapers on the ground next to us woke up and gave me some fruit.... I can't remember the name, but it was like plums on a stick with large prickles/hairs that needed to be peeled. Very cool.
I finally got on my pland at 10:45 am and headed back to Bali. I picked up a $13 bottle of Absolut peach at Duty Free on my way in. Wayan picked me up, I made some phone calls to check on my wet suit, my boat ride back, and my motorbike pick up in Lembongan. Walking on the beach to the boat, I almost stepped on a sea snake in the sand. The locals on the pier just laughed at me... ALLL OF THEM. it was the 2nd snake I almost stepped on in 2 days, and the 4th one I had seen. SCARRY At 4:30 I landed back on the island and took the bike back to Linda's where I am staying for the next month while I complete my Dive Master's course. It feels good to be "home."
I began this trip yesterday afternoon with a little bit of a hassle finind a boat to take me from Lembongan to mainland Bale. Usually, this is a simple matter of ringing the boat office and telling them you will go on the boat. But it did not work that easily yesterday, and after 30+ phone calls from the owners of my bungalows, I got a "rip off" price of $25 US... but in actuallity they charged me 250,000 rupiahs which is about $26 US. This is the going fare for a round trip fast boat to and from the mainland.
I then, spent a few hours in Bali at some dive shops looking for equipent, picking up books, and having a wetsuit custom made in a new wetsuit factory in Kuta. My driver, Wayan, whom had driven me up to Tulamben, was great at making sure I got to do all the in town errands I needed.
then I went to the airport to find that my flight was delayed. I tried to negotiate with immagration to let me enter in the arrivals section so I would not have to fly to KL, just to return 10 hours later. No good. So I flew to KL on Air Asia... which is the Southwest airlines of southeast asia at the moment. I was able to find a row with no one in it and sleep for 3 hours for the duration of the flight.
Well, much to my surprise, we did not fly into the international airport in Mylasia. In fact, we flew into the domestic/low cost airline arport which had nothing but a 24 hour McDonalds and a closed Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. I tried to sleep in the terminal, but the AC was on super full blast. I had to go outside to get warm. People were sleeping on the ground, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I had been chatting with a dutch student who had found a little seat. we sat and people wateched from 4 am until 7. Then an English couped who had been sleeping on Newsapapers on the ground next to us woke up and gave me some fruit.... I can't remember the name, but it was like plums on a stick with large prickles/hairs that needed to be peeled. Very cool.
I finally got on my pland at 10:45 am and headed back to Bali. I picked up a $13 bottle of Absolut peach at Duty Free on my way in. Wayan picked me up, I made some phone calls to check on my wet suit, my boat ride back, and my motorbike pick up in Lembongan. Walking on the beach to the boat, I almost stepped on a sea snake in the sand. The locals on the pier just laughed at me... ALLL OF THEM. it was the 2nd snake I almost stepped on in 2 days, and the 4th one I had seen. SCARRY At 4:30 I landed back on the island and took the bike back to Linda's where I am staying for the next month while I complete my Dive Master's course. It feels good to be "home."
posted by Kimberly Klopfer @ 4:12 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home