My last day in Ubud, one moment that stands out was when I made several wrong turns looking for Yeh Pelu. I had just stopped and asked for directions before riding on and spotting a small road that went straight where the road curved. I took the curve and stopped about 200 meters later feeling I was off track. Assured I had missed it, I turned and headed back.
As I approached the curve from the other side, a stranger I had never seen before was sitting on his motor bike pointing the direction of Yeh Pulu for me. I took the turn thanking him. Another side road appeared on my left. The sound of a motor bike approached behind my right shoulder as I glanced at the new road. A voice appeared with the motor bike saying “Yeh Pulu” and as I glanced up, he pointed straight ahead.
One more occurrence happened as I approached the final turn. None of these people had been spoken to by me. The seemingly intuited where I was going and offered confirmation. This was the temple where they pulled out a sarong for me to wear when I told them I had my own and it was the relief where the old lady grabbed my hand and pulled me to the statue of Ganesha for blessing.
Last night, I woke a little concerned. Before leaving Ubud, I did more shopping including some weighty things to cook with. My pack had only been 19 kilo’s when I’d weighed it and I’d added significantly to that volume. In Ubud, I took some things out, gave some things away, traded away several books and hoped my pack was light enough. At one point, I had tried to purchase more weight before my flight which is supposed to be much cheaper. I couldn’t get it to work. During the night, I woke several times thinking about that as well as not wanting to oversleep.
By 5:30 am, I was feeling fully awake but laid there meditating for a little while. I was up before 6:00, had a cold shower, and took my pack down stairs. I asked if they could call Blue Bird and order a taxi for me. For some reason, that was complicated. They did hand me an umbrella and point to the street not far away. I walked there and the street was empty.
I headed to the main road knowing it was busier. As I reached there, I heard a man call “Taxi”? He quoted me a ridiculous price. We finally settled on a reasonable price and I got in out of the rain. Turns out my driver Putu is from the area around Ubud, went home for NYEPI and we talked about that on the way back to the Kuta Inn. I played in the pool there three times the day before because they had cleaned it….YEA!
Getting my pack and loading my gear into the taxi, we were off. As we reached the main road, my wake up alarm went off. Once at the airport, I walked up to one of the longest lines I have ever waited for. Past experience made me feel nervous but, we weren’t in America anymore, not working with US airlines and the line really moved quickly.
I found a taxi in 5 minutes and was at the airport before I had expected to get a taxi. The line moved promptly and I met a family from Perth while waiting. My bag weighed in at 24 kilo’s which was perfect. Air Asia allows one carry on bag, I had two and they didn’t seem bothered by it. The flight was scheduled to leave at 9:10. At 8:57 we were on the runway! That’s the flow of the day so far.
In Singapore, I debated taking the extra time to talk to Singapore Airlines or simply booking it to my hotel. I felt it was important to talk to them which turns out to have been the most complicated part of my day. Carrying my backpack, day pack and shoulder bag, I wandered up the stairs where I was told I was in the wrong terminal. I lugged my things to the train and changed terminals. Walking through the entire length of the terminal to the departures gate, I was told to turn around and pointed in the right direction.
The ladies at the counter were great! I’m allowed to check two bags weighing no more than 23 kilo’s each so will be shopping for a new bag to carry some of my things home. I can go to the airport tomorrow and check in early to try to get an emergency row seat. And, they were curious about what kind of cooking I enjoy and how I got started. Refreshed knowing what I needed to do to get a good seat and pack properly, I went back down to the train where I learned I had to go back to the other terminal to get a ticket for one day rather than the individual ride ticket. I found a push cart and was pushing my things along by now.
Ticket in hand, I got on the MRT train and headed into Singapore. At the Lavender station, I tried following directions to the hostel but wound up on the wrong side of the street. There is a fine of $5 for having food or drink on the MRT and I’ve heard jaywalking and spitting are punishable offenses in Singapore. Remembering that, my mouth watered with an nearly irresistible desire to spit. I suppressed it, found my hostel and got checked in. The dorm room here consists of only 4 beds, very cozy!
I cleaned up and decided to head out to add two more days to my ticket and thus began my adventure in Singapore. A sweet old man on the street told me how to get to the Bugis station because the Lavender station doesn’t sell day tickets. It was a longer walk than I had intended and after being directed to the ticket window, I learned I couldn’t renew it since I had already used it so I’ll need to walk back tomorrow before going to the airport.
Before leaving, I walked to the Passenger Assistance office and asked how to get to Little India from here. They gave me simple directions. I remembered there was an electronics mall close to here so asked where I could find it? The manager got excited and told me not to go to the mall but to the Hi Tech Fair. He came out of the office and gave me specific directions on how to get there and made sure I knew to look for the “Specials This Hour” at the different booths for great deals. The electronics market is normal prices while the Hi Tech Fair is special prices.
Getting off at the next station, City Hall, and walking, walking, walking, all of it underground, I found the show. It was easy once I realized the crowd was going in that direction! It was amazingly crowded! It took forever to get up the escalators and I finally found a booth for the Sennheiser people. The one thing I wanted to get here was a set of ear buds to replace the ones that aren’t working so well anymore. I also wanted to get an adapter for the airplane so I can use my own buds. I found both at one booth with a really helpful man.
Off to Little India, I wandered the street, found three different varieties of Masala Tea mix to bring home and stopped in a great restaurant for dinner. I was joined at my table by a woman, four little boys, and her sister. It was so nice to have Indian food again!!!!
After deciding not to walk back, I found the MRT station again, looked at the map, plotted a new course home and headed off. Thank goodness I bought the all day pass as I saved a lot of money by getting on and off all day!
Back at the hostel, I really wanted to get a beer so dropped my things and wandered out. The street around here wasn’t really very interesting so I walked 50 meters to the next corner. Lighted signs across the street caught my attention so I headed that way and was shocked, really, SHOCKED! There is so much happening there, an all night shopping mall, tons of Indian Restaurants, massage clinics, pharmacies, a Chinese medical clinic, more restaurants and this is all within minutes of where I am staying.
Perhaps I’ll stay here tomorrow after going to the airport and simply graze my way through the local restaurants! It feels like such a full day and now at 11:30, I’m starting to feel tired and will head to bed soon. The Tiger beer I had tasted great and I realized it costs more here than in the states. It had so much more flavor than the Bintang I have been drinking. Either that or I was really hot, tired and primed tonight when I had my first sip. Tomorrow, I’ll go shopping for a colder version! I saw some served in a bucket of ice and that’s a rarity.
Ciao for now…..