The closer we got to Bali's airport, the more the density of police checks increased. We also encountered some heavily guarded convoys, consisting of 10 to 15 vehicles. From the news of the last few days we had already learned that the "Asean Summit" conference is currently taking place in Bali.
Return of the rental car
At 8 p.m. we had to return our rental car at the airport. The rental company carried out the handover quite quickly and without much control. What else should we break on the cart?
AirAsia flight to Jakarta
We quickly picked up the plane ticket for our AirAsia flight to Jakarta (scheduled departure 10:30 p.m.) and then headed to the departure area. Shortly before the security check, the airport charges a service fee of 40,000 rupees (approx. 3.40 EUR). Unfortunately, no one could tell us why and much more importantly what it is used for. I actually only know such fees included in the airfare. At the departure board, a foretaste of what was to come today awaited us. It was already 8:15 p.m. and there were still flights with an actual departure time between 3 and 4 p.m. on the board. Accordingly, the terminal was also filled with people. Only after a long search could we find a seat for ourselves.
Fortunately, the semi-final (SEA Games) in football between Indonesia and Viet Nam was shown on the TV. This distracted the masses a little from the long waiting time and the atmosphere raged as if in a stadium. By the way, the reception for the TV came via a long pointed scissors, which were inserted into the antenna connection. Great importance is attached to safety here! The Indonesian national team won the match 2-0.
Delay due to the US President
After the victory celebrations had faded away, the flights were still not handled. So far, there has been no information from the airline or the airport. Passengers, who had been waiting for over seven hours, slowly became angry and finally tried to find out their departure time from the staff at the gate. The resentment of the crowd slowly escalated to the point that the doors to the apron were already opened by force. Within a few minutes, the military, police and security service arrived and tried to get the situation under control. To calm the masses, some airlines handed out food parcels to their passengers. However, the distribution was based on the principle: "The weaker one loses". As if distributing water in the desert, young and old, women and men pounced on the pallet with the food boxes.
At our actual departure time, there was finally an announcement from the airport, which was the reason for the chaos. Civil air traffic was temporarily stopped completely in order to fly VIPs, including the American, Chinese and Korean presidents and their delegations. Because Bali's rather small airport could only handle a limited number of aircraft, the delays occurred. Our flight was announced for 02:30 and was kept. Around 1 a.m. we were offered something to eat and drink. There was a McDonald's bag with chicken burgers and cold fries and a small bottle of water.
Arrival in Jakarta
We reached the international airport of Jakarta at 3 a.m. (local time). We negotiated a fixed price of 120,000 rupees with a taxi driver for the ride to the hotel. As we approached downtown Jakarta, we realized that the driver had no idea where he was supposed to go. He often phoned his head office and asked people on the street if they knew where our hotel was. After about an hour's odyssey, we arrived at theRasuna Icon Residence an.
Taman Mini Indonesia Park
After three hours of sleep, we got breakfast delivered to our room.
Afterwards we relaxed for a few hours before we went to the Taman Mini Indonesia Park (tamanmini.com/). This theme park is like a kind of expo where every state of Indonesia presents itself. In the middle of the park is a lake with many small islands, which was a miniature version of Indonesia. Overall, the idea of the park is very good, but in our opinion there could be a little more work done on the implementation.
With the public bus we drove back to the Hotel. The public bus is the fastest means of transport in Jakarta. There is only one condition on the roads during the day: traffic jams. But the city has taken very good precautions for this and has set up a bus lane especially for the buses. At transfer points, the bus stops are connected by bridges. However, you shouldn't have a problem with Enge and other people. There is only one fare of 3500 rupees (0.40 EUR) to pay and you can travel and change trains for as long as you like. In the evening we relaxed in the lounge on the roof terrace of our hotel.
Since Jakarta doesn't have too much to offer in terms of tourist highlights, we use the last day to run a few errands. It was time for our laundry again and a visit to the hairdresser had to be done again. In the afternoon we took the Airport Shuttle (Damir) from the stop Block M back to the airport. From there we flew with AirAsia to Kuala Lumpur in the evening.
- overall rating
