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Bali, Indonesia
Bali, 4th - 6th of April
Our journey started in Shenyang at 8 in the morning when we got in a taxi heading for the airport. Our flight would go through Seoul in South Korea where we had 4 hours to spend in the wast airport before our journey continued towards Bali Indonesia.
After a surprisingly pleasant flight from Seoul South Korea to Bali, in business class seats after a lucky upgrade, we arrived at 10 pm in a dark but hot and still busy Indonesia. The way through customs was quick thanks to our upgrade which let us get of the plane quickly and resulted in us being two of the first people at the visa on arrival counter. Our pick up was waiting for us just on the other side of customs and an air conditioned van took us to our home for the next two nights, Intercontinental Resort in Bali.
When arriving at the resort and making it through the security check at the gate we were welcomed with a drink and a cold towel while checking in.
We splurged a little for the room for our first nights and had a two story bedroom reserved at the hotel. The room was even better then expected and thanks to Bens ambassador status at intercontinental we had fruits and chocolate waiting in the room on arrival. As it was after midnight before we had finished exploring our temporary home we went to bed eager to hit the beach the next day.
The next morning we went to breakfast at 8 in the morning, enjoying the international buffet breakfast that our hotel offered at a table outside in the 30 degrees and sunny weather of Bali. The resort is without a doubt the prettiest I have ever stayed at, with fresh flowers decorating the many stone figurines around the resort.
We spent the day in a sun bed at the edge of the resort just by the beach and enjoyed the very big and beautiful pool area. There was a pool bar in the middle where we had a drink before the sun retired for the day, I had the best strawberry daiquiri I have ever tasted while Ben tried an Intercontinental signature nonalcoholic drink, which I must admit was even tastier then my daiquiri. The perfect weather and beutiful surroundings made for a perfect start of our vacation.
In the late afternoon we went searching for an ATM and some flip-flops for me, as sneakers is not preferable in Indonesia. We were successful on one account, we found an ATM just outside of our hotel and we took out the cash we needed for the next part of our trip, the small Gili islands.
We had learned from our mistake in south-east Asia and checked the exchange rate for Indonesian rupiah before exchanging any money. Even so, the many zeroes on the notes were confusing. Luckily an honest store keeper corrected me when handing her two fifty thousand bills instead of five thousands bills, but I fear that others before her had not been so honest. Yet another lesson learned for our travels... The mistake was however manageable as 100000 Indonesian rupiah is approximately 8 EUR or 67 SEK.
The following day we continue our journey to the Gilis by boat. The boat company picked us up at the hotel and took us to the harbor were our search for more appropriate footwear continued. Sadly still without result, the sneakers had to due for yet another day.
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