Selamat Datang - Welcome to Bali

So you guys must have read about my Kuala Lumpur experience in the previous blog post that was only half part of it, and now containing forward to my next destination, Bali. 

Read about Malaysia- Malaysia trip

Incident- When I got into the plane. I instantly remembered the बादल बहुत important हैं line by Zahir Khan. The same thing happened as the person behind me, insisted on taking his window seat and separating a family. Apart from this, it was a very harrowing experience for me which made me completely deaf till my return to India. I was lip reading the whole time. The incident happened with Batik Air. What more can you expect when the plane is sitting at 35° on the hot tarmac, but the pilot refuses to switch on the air conditioning in the plane. So we took off in hot blistering weather with the air conditioning having being switched on only around 10,000 feet into the air. One crazy pilot. The situation was so worse that people were actually fanning themselves inside the aeroplane, opening the air intake nozzles, calling the air hostess and complaining, but the air hostess were just serving water to make amends. The situation was so drastic that I actually saw a few foreigners take off their tops to save themselves from the blistering heat. As I had already told before in my trip to Malaysia that I was down with fever, that coupled with this sudden change and all that happening around suddenly gave my ears a sensation when I felt that somebody was picking the eardrums with hot needles. Along with the cabin pressure, the pain became so much that I actually screamed once or twice and started losing my hearing. When we landed at the Bali’s airport I had lost around 99% of my hearing. 

Contrary to what is known in India there is no Visa on arrival, instead it is Visa exempted country. Bet you didn’t know. We were all confused because of lack of info. At the immigration it was super fast as they had separate lines for senior citizens, disabled. Its a very big hall at the immigration so it doesn’t feel congested. Contrary to Malaysia the whole process of immigration and luggage is just the reverse with luggage taking on lot of time to actually arrive and immigration being super fast. While my family waited for the luggage I actually went in search of forex only to realise that there is a custom declaration form which need to be filled up before you actually exit the airport. On a few large tables there were forms kept which needed to be filled up (you need to fill up only one form if you’re travelling with the family). When I headed back to the luggage, I saw that my mother had picked up numerous travel brochures about Bali, which are free and you can take as many as you like. 

Normally I would include these points in the observation part at the very end of the blog post but due to the fact that they are really important I’m putting them in a separate section at the very start. So that you get clarity/what will happen with you so you don’t have to face any inconvenience and be prepared. Remember the golden words, “B for Bali, B for bargaining”. Now let’s come to money and taxi- 

The IDR (Indonesian Rupiah) is one of the few very cheapest currencies in the whole world, so you won’t get it anywhere except on your arrival to Indonesia. The exchange rate is phenomenal with 1 USD= 13300 IDR so if you exchange hundred USD would be basically carrying around 13 lakhs of local currency. 13 lakhs and you felt overjoyed. But thats the whole misconception because things there are equally priced accordingly. The moment you head out of the airport to you would find money exchanges. There are list of the prominent currencies, but INR is not one of them (you might get few money exchangers who might convert it to INR somewhere in the city, but when you actually compare you would be losing around 3 to 4 lakh rupees when you compare it with the exchange of USD in equivalent amount). The airport guy actually handed us currency notes in one lakh denomination. The scene out of the airport was just like any major Indian city with taxi and cab drivers hoggling you. As we were on a package we already had a local representative out there to receive us. Surprise, surprise, it was a lady, Rima. Ohhh coming back to taxis, make sure that you get into the light blue colour taxis of “Bluebird”. They have a virtual monopoly the airport, but they are the most trusted, safe taxis who ply by the meter. Other taxis might cheat because they don’t ply the meter and they would actually bargain in fares, so you might never know how expensive your trip would be. 

The traffic situation of Bali is just like India, the bigger problem are bike people who follow no rules and regulations and they can cut from any side so look before you get down from the vehicle and be prepared to be stuck in jams for hours because a simple 15 minutes trip from the port to my hotel in Kuta took us around 35 minutes. Our welcome kit contained travel plans for the next day, the local sim (with no loaded value) and a traditional dress Sarong. Rima asked us to get ready by 1.30 in the afternoon. The next day was our half day trip. 

The next day in the morning after getting ready the first thing I did was to locate a money changer. Fortunately, it was just in front of my hotel across the road. We needed small change and I explained to him that we needed small denomination notes for use in the city for making payments. The guy behind the counter understood and happily exchanged a lot of notes into’s small ones of 50,000, 10,000, 20,000 and the likes. Next we went in search of two places- a mobile shop and the Kuta beach to pass of the time. 

Kuta- It took me even more broken English than Malaysia to understand and make the girl understand at the shop that I needed to top up my sim. It cost us 80,000. We were approximately within 1 km radius of the beach and turning my Google map on again, we decided to walk. Two things I have noticed in Bali is that the people there whom I encountered were very friendly and everyone I mean everyone had a smile on their face. Like when I was crossing the road the traffic policeman actually halted all the cars from the opposite direction so that me and my mother could safely cross the road and he did the with a big smile. I would describe Kuta beach in one word- dirty. When you go to foreign beaches you expect cleanliness but this beach was a bit dirty as lot of people hard thrown away flowers and all on the sand and the waves had actually lapped them up and it looked really dirty. After killing a substantial amount of time, we decided to hail a Bluebird to the hotel as we didn’t have that around 30 minutes to the hotel. Bargaining with the cab driver cost us 50,000. We reached just to see Rima waiting. 

Boy, she had substantial amount of knowledge about the current affairs. That’s how she described India, “Pakistan enemy, Bangladesh enemy...Shah Rukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, Amir Khan, Mumbai, Delhi, Kuch Kuch hota hai , chaiyaan chaiyaan, Kashmir”. She’s actually saving money so that she can make a trip to India and specially Kashmir. Well everybody is mesmerised by the beauty of Kashmir. 

Trip- It was a half day trip, but believe me, it was very tiring as the distances were quite long between places. Our first stop was a handicraft store, nothing new for me having done the same at Kuala Lumpur. 

Next was the Taman Ayun temple, which was quite picturesque in its own sense. Plus I got to see the Barong really close. The main area of the temple is out of bounds to the foreigners so you can walk around the boundary or even take a trip deeper into the surroundings. The next was an interesting one. We stopped at the coffee and tea plantation to look at the various types of teas available and it was heaven. There were no less than a dozen type of teas available, flavours, which I never thought would be there. The tea sampling is free and if you wish to buy there is a shop too. Also got to smell the famous strong Mewak coffee. The Indian brands and nowhere close to it, nowhere. I won’t tell you how its made, because it’s more of a ewww thing. There I got to see a small girl with her own pet monkey. 

The next stop was the monkey Forest where monkeys by the hundreds were roaming around freely and a person would always guide you with a stick in the hand to ward off those primates from coming closer. After the round is complete, they would take you to their shop and ask you to buy some item. How you wriggle out of the shopping situation with exorbitant prices is purely your own skill. 

The last stop was the Tanah Lot temple, a seaside picturesque place which can make you forget you surroundings and get lost into the sands of time. The sunset there is very beautiful. 

Our day was up as getting stuck and the traffic meant that we reached late. The next day was all free and luckily this time we hadnt actually decided where to go next meant that our current tour operator could not arrange a trip and Rima advised against that, saying that the company would charge a lot. I contacted my hotel regarding the same and we got a whole tour with the car at less than one third of the price. 

Volacano- Before I had departed from India, one location was such etched into my mind- Ulluwatu Dance which had already been visited by a few of my friends. It was a dicey situation as it was only a half day tour and I wanted a full day to keep myself busy. Breaking that trend I decided to go to the Kintamani Volcano(the one which had gone active in December 2017). The next day the only fear was the growing cloud cover as according to my driver Arjun, the clouds can blanket the whole view in a matter of just seconds. 

The first stop was the Barong dance- an epic depiction of storytelling from the Balinese mythology. The best 50 minutes I had spent. We decided to skip a few stops on our way. There is a place called Ubud and its said that the weather there would give a clear indication about the weather in Kintamani. If there is cloud cover there, by the time you reach the volcano you would see nothing. 

On the way we stopped by the rice plantation fields. They can be viewed from an elevated position and for the adventurous ones you can also trek to the bottom. For the treking part you just have to contact the plantation owners and make a small donation of your own choosing, and that’s it. For the viewing, you need to purchase a ticket. 

After that the next stop was the volcano and we were very lucky as there were dark clouds, breeze and a threat of rain. We stopped at a restaurant and from the balcony of it we got a unrestricted view of the volcano and the damage it has a cause in the eruption months back. So that cloud threat came really fast and the whole view was blanketed in just a matter of seconds. Before the entrance to the place there is a ticket cost of 31,000 per person , so check the weather in Ubud and then move forward otherwise return back. 

The next stop was the Tirta Empul temple , which has a pond in which people bath and its considered to be holy. Keep in mind that you need to wrap a Sarong before you enter the temple. But don’t worry show your ticket and they’ll give you one for free to wrap. There is even a statue of Indra in the warrior like pose. The last step was a waterfall which was a 275 step down walk. On the return I tasted the durian fruit considered the smelliest in the world. A few more small stops at places for the family and we were done for the vacation. 

Here are my observations- 

1. A local guide told me that Indian tour operators don’t have any real clue about what’s happening in Bali and they usually believe the rumours, so it’s better if you contact the local tour operators and clear any confusion you may have regarding the happenings in the country. 

2. Keep loose change with you and be prepared to lose a lot of change in exchange as the person if he doesn’t have the exact change would return you the next available denomination currency. For example, if you have to get 7000 that. And if he is having 5000 note they would simply give you that. 

3. Make sure you catch the light blue bluebird taxis, they are the only ones that run on meter everybody else is again bargaining. 

4. All statues of the gods and known Hindu figures are in warrior like poses. 

5. It’s truly a honeymoon capital of the world, don’t ask me how and I won’t be able to explain. You need a lot more than just 2 to 3 days to explore Bali to the heart’s content. 

6. Beware of the traffic and don’t forget to bargain. 

7. All the schools in Bali have the same colour uniform, it’s only the drama in India that there is a separate uniform for every school. 

8. Drink only bottled water as their tap water can send you to the hospital. 

9. The mobile plans are more inclined towards data rather than calls, the call pulse rate is very high. 

10. The Uluwattu dance and Kitamani volcano are both in the north and south and you wont be able to do the same in 1 day. 

Kuala Lumpur : Truly Asia

Over the years hearing about the tagline of Malaysia, “Malaysia truly Asia” was about to come true, but not with its own set of nightmares and jetlags. My nightmare started from Lucknow itself when I took the flight to Delhi. Air India, notorious for delaying the flight. The flight got delayed 2 times before I reached the airport, sending my family into a worried frenzy as the time between the two flights was reducing by the minute. At last Air India stuck true to its name and took off... My sorrows did not end here as my flight to Kuala Lumpur in Delhi was delayed even more and took off some 3 hours late. For an approximate flight time of 5 ½ hours my back was crying discomfort as I’m not used to sleeping in long-distance flights. Thank God to English language, I would have got lost in the airport of Kuala Lumpur looking after the signs in Malay. Following the signs I reached the immigration counter and prepared for the long wait as at that time, only a few counters were working. After being in line for some 30 minutes we were through and headed out of the airport to the man who had come to pick us up. The drive from the airport to the city was 62 km, a distance, which was covered in max 1½ hours because of morning traffic and also because of six lane roads, traffic discipline and things which we don’t see in India. 

Arrival: The city was awesome, probably because I felt like playing Max Payne 1 in real life as I stepped out of the airport. That setting was so so true to the game. The drama at the hotel unfolded as we reached there at 11:30 AM (malaysian time), only to realise the checkin time was 2 PM. So you can imagine that we had to wait 2 hours in the lobby for a room to be provided to us. We waited and then gave the agent guy back in India more than any earful at not having being communicated this fiasco to us earlier. An all Indian women group from Kochin arrived and I would tell you later that what hilarity ensued. In the meantime, I went on the market hunt to procure local sims. It had took me quite a few rounds of the various shops and in broken English with shopkeepers to understand the things provided with the sim cards as well as its costs. 

In the hot and humid weather when I got back, the lobby of the hotel was a sight to behold. That women group had come back from the supermarket and all were carrying soaps which are available in India too. Then, without caring a damn about anything, all of them just opened the luggage there in the lobby and started stuffing their recent purchases without caring about how awkward it might look to others. This room situation was not just for us. It was common for every person out there and there were some heated exchanges at the reception in this regard too. By the time we got the room and had things in order it was well past 4 PM. Hungry we headed out in search of a Indian restaurant and found a bunch of them in the very next lane adjacent to our hotel. 

Shopping : My immediate need after that was a Nikon DSLR lens which I was not able to get in India, the destination – Lo Yat Plaza. It’s called the supermarket of electronics, a building 7 to 8 stories high and which could put any Indian so-called market to shame when you consider that it has almost every latest electronic gadgets which you could think of. Its all there. After paying a GST of just 6%, the lens was all mine (a wide-angle lens priced just 1k bucks more than India). From the very latest Xbox to the very latest iPhone to the yet to be unreleased Redmi note 5 in India, I was overwhelmed.

While roaming the market, we came across a large space where various food trucks were lined up neatly, all selling their wares without any shouting or dirtiness, which you don’t see in India. Truly tired from all the constant travelling we returned to the hotel after dinner for a very well-deserved sleep. 

Sights and sounds: The next day was sightseeing. After breakfast our driver cum guide took us on a city tour and I visited the king’s palace, a magnificent structure. It’s a hotspot for the various tourists and the place always beams with foreigners snapping pics of the palace, swivel 180 deg. and you would see the view of Kuala Lumpur’s skyline with Petronas and Kuala Lumpur Towers in the background. 

The next stop was the national war monument, remembered for all the fallen soldiers who had fought for the country’s freedom. I would put it as Malaysia’s India gate and Amar jawan Jyoti. A nice, quiet, serene place which pays homage to the fallen soldiers. A flight of steps takes you to the top and you can spend as much time as you like. 

Next was a handicraft store and the things there were quite beautiful and tempting to buy and I did buy. The Independence Square is a very large field in the middle of the town where elaborate functions take place on the Malaysian Independence Day, nothing much to write about it except that it gives a picturesque view of the various museums just across the road. The National Mosque and railway station are on either side of the road. There is a time and day restriction on non-Malaysians in the mosque, apart from that, you could easily roam in the courtyard and take snaps if you like. How come you come to Kuala Lumpur and not talk about chocolates?? 

One of the delicious stops, I was overwhelmed by the variety of chocolates and also where we got ripped off. A shop where variety of chocolates were made and sold. I spent a sizeable amount of time and by mistake bought 2 boxes of chocolates which had the Petronas Twin Towers engraved in them thinking them to be an assortment of various chocolates inside the box. At 38 MR it was quite steep, but thought it of as memorabilia, only to realise later on in the hotel room that it was just one type of chocolate in the box (think of Nutella in the box). The last stop was the Petronas Twin Towers... And it was huuge when you looked at it. Every type of picture and angle available and it was clicked. The whole tour got completed in just six hours . After lunch and a bit of rest, I headed out to check the monorail along with my father. Switching on the GPS and Google maps we ventured out to the nearest station approx. 2 km from our hotel. We purchased the token till the main railway station but after seeing the chaos, crowd in the coach we aborted our plan and got down 2 stations later. In an effort to get back to the initial station we decided to follow the monorail track above us but somewhere along the line we lost direction and lost our way. Not even Google map was helpful. So we decided to hail a cab and go to the hotel. 

The next day I was excited because we were going to a hill station Genting Highland, but before that it was a stop at the most anticipated though for me – Batu Caves. Even before that the surprise came to me in the form of my female driver for the day- Fifi. She was the most cheerful lady I had met during my stay. 

At Batu Caves make sure that you should have ample time to fully explore all the four caves and must also be considerable really fit to climb a step of 272 steps to the main cave. Be mindful of the monkeys. 

As the temple is under renovation tourists are encouraged to carry buckets of sand from the base of the stairs to the top spot of the stairs as part of volunteer work. We did that and due to humid weather I was experiencing difficulty in breathing. Once up the stairs there is a huge courtyard and after some 15 to 20 steps more there is the main temple with just the top of the cave letting in air, which can become a bit suffocating, which was exactly as my case. After Batu caves we headed to the main destination Genting Highland, a hill station which is quite far and picturesque as weather can change in an instance. On the way there the weather changed from humid to chilly, with the rain and it was awesome. 

There is a cable car which takes you to the top with just one stop in between, which has a temple, so you can alight if you want to otherwise go straight to the top. The top is a big mall cum theme park in itself. When we reached there, the theme park was undergoing renovation. So the only thing opened there Snow world. 

That’s a small place with artificial ice decorated with various props, the temperature there is constantly at -10. So you need to first suit up in full snow jacket and gloves. The guys there also have a look at your shoes and if they are not sport shoe grip type they also give you gumboots to wear. My father couldn’t handle that temperature and he was out in just 10 minutes. Whereas I spend the whole 40 minutes enjoying the freezing temperature courtesy of a Pakistani photographer Imran, which I met there.

After the bravado of -10, I was down with fever immediately as three drastic weather changes and my body was not ready for it. On our return back. I rested for a while at the hotel and immediately made plans for the night show at the Kuala Lumpur tower, which provides a breathtaking view of the Petronas Twin Towers at night. 

After taking the tickets and waiting in line we took a lift which stopped at various floors. We finally reached the top. There are two levels of which you can take the tickets – the observation deck or the Skyview at the very top( Skyview ticket entitles you access to observation deck too but not vice versa. The full paisa wasool is the Skyview where it’s kind of a open balcony which provides an unrestricted view of the whole city. The main attraction is the skybox glass enclosure jetting out from the balcony having a glass floor- it can freak people out. You have just three minutes to take all the pics as people wait in line for their turns. The most popular is the one which has the twin towers in the background. 

Departure: So in a short period of just 2 ½ days in Kuala Lumpur, I completed my trip and headed to my next destination – Bali. On the airport I was super excited when I saw that the Sepang F1 circuit is just 5 kms from the airport, in fact so close that you can actually see the circuit from the airport. The Kuala lumpur airport is so big that there is a train to take you from the main airport to the departure terminals. 

As always, here are my observations – 

1. You will find a number of Southeast Asians in Kuala Lumpur - Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis so language would not be a problem as you might barge into someone who speaks Hindi. 

2. Calling abroad from there is way cheaper than calling local numbers in Kuala Lumpur. 

3. To save yourself from being ripped off by taxis download the “Grab” app and use the taxi service. 

4. Don’t be surprised if you find women doing majority of work there. 

5. The cheapest water bottles are found at the vending machines at various monorail/railway stations where the 500 ML bottle is priced at 1 MR. 

6. Whether you’re travelling solo or through the various travel agents, please make sure about your hotels check in times. 

7. Exploring Batu caves individually would take you approximately better part of the whole day. So, please make sure you have ample time and are fit to climb stairs. 

8. There are sim counters just before the immigration at the airport while arriving so please make sure you have one card ready to talk or stay in touch. 

9. At the Batu caves there someone told me the true picture of India and temples. A local volunteering there said that he had gone to India, but all the priests cared about in the various temples were just money money money and nothing else. In Kuala Lumpur no one asks you for money in temples. 

10. If you purchase anything in Malaysia which totals to over 300 MR in a single bill amount, keep that bill safe and you can show that bill and the product at the airport and get the refund of the GST amount you paid. You`ll have to do a bit of extra work at the airport to get it although there are markings of “GST verification” to guide you to the offices. The concerned shop would fill out the form at the time of purchase. 

11. Don’t keep your original passport with you at all times. A Xerox copy of that should be enough. 

12. Sometimes it can get confusing even for taxi drivers to take you to the hotel so its better if you carry the address of your hotel along. 

13. The natives there don’t understand fluent English, break it up into words and small sentences and they`ll know what you need. 

14. When you arrive at Immigration at Malaysia keep in mind that immigration is damn slow there and by the time you`ll get through, your luggage would be kept among a heap of other luggages alongside the same belt it was supposed to come to. The baggage dispatch is much faster than immi. 

15. For the Indians who think reving up a discover 150 or 180 cc is showoff here, in kuala lumpur sportsbikes and BMWs are quite common. 

16. You can easily get International and Indian cuisines there although different indian eating places have various price differences for the same food items. 

17. Do not...I repeat DO NOT fold, write or dirty the MR ( Malaysian Riggit) otherwise they wont be accepted anywhere for payment. Majority of establishments make a huge deal if the notes are not clean and/or straight. Keep the Indian habit of holding notes away..