We set the alarm so we would make sure to get an early start on the day. We weren’t sure if we wanted to go to the pool again, or go to the airport early, as the airport is consistently rated #1 in the world. Sal didn’t care which we did, so I decided we should go to the airport early. Mostly I didn’t want to deal with wet bathing suits. I’m glad we chose the airport, because it took us quite a while to get packed up and make sure everything fit in our suitcases and carry on bags. It wasn’t a problem with the checked in luggage as it was quite underweight, but the hand luggage and personal items were a different story. Air Asia has a weight limit of 7 KG, which is a little more than 15 pounds. This is supposed to be the combined weight of your personal item (purse/laptop bag) and the carry on item. One of us (the cute, usually smarter one) before the trip was against larger luggage and thus we have two pieces of luggage with wheels that are pretty much carry on size even though we check them in. The other one of us (the realistic one who wants to do some shopping and wanted easier packing) wanted to have a regular sized checked suitcase and a carryon sized suitcase, so we have room for gifts. We have only gotten a few very small things so far, and let me tell you our bags are stuffed to the max and each time we pack it’s a right pain in the butt to fit everything in the bags. We have at least 8 more times we need to pack, too. Last night Sal suggested we buy a big suitcase at the Mall. I love Sal dearly. I love Sal dearly. I love Sal dearly.
The Day Sal Tried To Bump Me Off (a.k.a. Singapore Day Four)
The day started with me not feeling well. I’m the only one I know who goes to a foreign country and gets sick from the Western food. While I was trying to rest up and let the medicine take effect, Sal had to go back to the FS to get his stomach medicine. We laid low once he got back, until I seemed better and it was time to put something back into my stomach. TMI. Sorry.
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Flowers & Pools (Singpore Day Three)
We woke up to rain. We had planned to go to the Orchid gardens, so decided to wait it out a bit to see if the weather would change. We went down for breakfast, which was tasty as usual, then headed back to the room. Still raining. Decided to pack a bit, and wait to see if it would stop. It eventually did, so we headed out. We stopped by the concierge desk on the way to see if any part of the gardens was indoors. Nope, just the gift shop. The good news was that they had free tickets through the hotel Orchid gardens. Anything free in this country is greatly appreciated, because it’s New York expensive. When you go from spending under $10 for a lunch, then go back to western food and prices and it’s 10 times that much, saving any dollars feels like a minor victory. I think I mentioned it, but in case I didn’t, we used the Klook app a few times to save on admission tickets. It was very easy to use and I highly recommend it.
Food & Fun (Singapore Day Two)
Today we went to the only thing I’d planned in advance for our Singapore portion of the trip: Sunday Champagne Brunch at the Pan Pacific Hotel. Priorities.
This exceeded expectations.
Tea Appreciation Class and Merlion Madness (Singapore Day One)
We had a lovely sleep in this morning – over 9 hours! Clearly we were needed it.
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Jogja -> Singapore Transfer Day
4:15 a.m. is incredibly early to get up for a flight, unless you went to bed at 8. Then it’s not so bad.
This travel day was so much better than the last time we had to fly. But I’m getting ahead of myself a bit. We didn’t sleep through any alarms and were up and moving on schedule. Our checkout was painless, as I called down beforehand asking for the bill to be ready. Trying to explain what ‘bill’ meant was interesting, but he eventually got it. Our taksi to the airport was ½ the price the hotel charged us on the transfer from the airport, so that was a happy surprise, and we arrived at the airport in record time, thanks to very little traffic so early.
We were on a plane with probably over 100 people, and they were all wearing the same fabric pattern. Sal thinks they were part of a religious group, which would make sense because when we were getting ready to land someone said what I believe was a prayer over the PA system. The flight was about 25 minutes late, but this is Air Asia we’re talking about and that’s practically on time. So no complaints and a basically easy transfer. Huzzah!
Before we knew it, we were descending into Singapore. Now I had heard about how great the singapore airport is supposed to be. I’m not sure what I expected. There’s still a lot we haven’t seen, though, and we’ll spend more time there before our outbound flight. There were only two things I noticed that stood out to me: 1) free foot massage chairs, 2) at immigration they had little candies next to the agents booths. It was very quiet at baggage claim (sorta like Zurich), and you had to have your bags scanned again before exiting completely.
We got some cash from the ATM (there seems to always be a little section at these Asian airports with several different ATM brands), and got a cab without waiting in any line. It was around lunchtime, so apparently that’s a good time to arrive and miss long queues. The cab to the hotel was about $17 USD for about a 25 minute ride.
We got a good deal at the Four Seasons and decided to start the trip in the Orchard Road section of Singapore, which is basically the mall/shopping section, it seems. They let us check in a few hours early, which was great.
It’s a bit strange going from Indonesia to Singapore. Things are extremely clean here and modern looking. I almost feel like I’m back home, except it’s more clean than back home. It’s also hotter. Holy crap when they talk about the humidity here they aren’t kidding. No wonder there are so many malls – people can’t stand being outside too long! Food courts are a big deal here because of the quality of food and the prices. We went to one in the Ion Mall, which is just a couple blocks from Four Seasons. It was crowded and a we felt like we were running into everyone. We got some dim sum and some sweet snacks. In my opinion it was slightly overwhelming, but I think the next time will be easier as we’ll know what to expect. There were tons of different food options and most of them looked quite yummy. We are researching the best food courts in the city, and will check a few more out before the end of the trip.
This is the only pic I took at one of the bread shops.
We wandered around the mall a bit, trying to decide what to do. I have to say, the hot weather is a real issue here. Most of our sightseeing will probably be in the mornings. Anyway, we got some refreshments and sat in the shade for a bit. We then decided to go get an early dinner, as we hadn’t really had all that much for lunch. The original food court place we were looking for ended up being closed for renovations, so we decided to go back to Ion, but to a restaurant we saw on the top floor that was a chain restaurant with a michelin star, Putien. We got there right when they opened. They immediately sat us down and gave us three different menus, with pictures that included English. They also gave us a little ziploc bag to put our phones in so that the soup wouldn’t spill on them. No joke.
It was hard to decide what to try. We asked the waiter to tell us if we ordered too much, as we weren’t sure what the portion size would be. He reviewed our order and said it seemed like enough for two people. Try more like four people, fella!
Notice the gloves by the bun – you put them on to put the pork on the bun and eat it. The other odd thing was that when you ask for water it comes hot. Oddly, it’s not unpleasant to drink hot water.
The excitement of the day happened about ½ way through the meal, when Sal was trying my berry tea drink:
I heard a crash and looked over, and Sal was still holding the glass, while the bottom and all of the red liquid was on the table and Sal himself. It was a clean break, with no glass shards. Sal, “I didn’t do anything!”. We laughed a bit. Sal’s pants proved that they were, indeed, water resistant; it beaded right off. Nice. There was a lot that spilled on his shirt, but that ended up washing out nicely once we got back to the hotel. As soon as it happened there were about 5 people at the table cleaning it and giving him napkins to clean himself. They gave me a new tea. I had to wonder, in America if that had happened would they have offered to at least to clean the shirt? Hard telling, I guess. Oh, well. Made for some excitement, if nothing else! We did really enjoy the food. There was just too much of it!
We walked back to the FS and had a night cocktail and retired to this room view. Not bad.
Borobudur! (Jogja Day Three)
Today was the second half of the reason we wanted to come to Java: Borobudur. I saw a picture of it online and said, ‘I want to go there.’™ Liz Lemon (30 Rock).
Half Day Tour Bird Market (Jogja Day Two)
Although we had originally thought we’d like to do two full day tours and take one day off, we decided at the last minute to add another ½ day tour with Ibot. Our first stop was a bakery-type place where we got some good pastries – some savory, some sweet – for breakfast. It was 1/10 the price of the hotel breakfast the day before and equally tasty.
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First Full Day Tour (Jogja Day One)
The locals call it Jogja, not Yogyakarta, so I will as well.
We had planned a tour that wasn’t going to start until 2:30 p.m. and that was a wise move. We were tired from the travel day before and it was nice to relax and catch up with some people, get laundry sorted, etc. We needed a bit of a rest. Or at least I did.
Wakatobi -> Yogyakarta Transfer Day
I’m writing this post two weeks into the trip, and just thinking about this transfer day makes me twitch a bit. It started out fine, at 9:30 a.m., sadly leaving Wakatobi after hugging some of our favorites. Then we had a short boat ride, then car ride, to where the Wakatobi Air Strip is located. The flight back to Bali was no problem. We had scheduled our flight to Yogyakarta at 7:30 p.m., so we had a very long wait between the flights. There is a food court across the street from the airport, so we went there to hang at Starbucks. You can’t check your luggage in until two hours before the flight. We finally checked in, then I did a little shopping and we went to find some dinner. I basically had their version of a grilled cheese. Oh, and we bought some cream puffs for later on the plane, and they were delish.
Back to the flight. So we got off relatively on time, but once we got to our destination we were not allowed to land. So, yeah. We flew around and around for an extra hour and 50 minutes. Normally, no biggie. The problem was the miserable baby who quite literally cried 95% of the flight. He was so tired and unhappy. After listening to it for a few hours I almost joined him with the water works. It was headache-inducing. We finally landed, hurrah! But we were stuck on the runway for another 30 minutes or so. Boo! Please – just get me off the plane with the crying baby! We were just so exhausted. The funny thing about the crying baby was that when we got in the aisle to deplane we saw there were actually two criers, and we only discovered that because they were crying a duet. They were both from the same family.
Once we finally had a parking spot for the plane and could disembark, it was time to wait for the luggage. Every minute felt like an hour, thanks to the general exhaustion. Eventually the luggage carousel started and then we pretty quickly found our luggage. We also quickly found the driver to take us to the hotel; a very happy smiling gentleman, who told us there was an air show for the army (?) the next day and they were practicing that day/night and thus the delay. Ah ha! No wonder!
We made it to the hotel in about 25 minutes, which not bad. We were welcomed and checked in pretty quickly. They offered us local snacks and some tea. It was then Sal noticed his phone was missing. Oh boy. We searched his bag once, twice, three times to no avail. We looked on maps at the phone location and it was near the hotel. One of the bellboys went to the taxi and found it and returned it. Hallelujah. We were exhausted and just wanted to go to the room to sleep.
The Phoenix Hotel looks like something you might find in the south in America. It’s older, built in 1918, but it has charm. And the toilet is even separated from the shower!
This is where they keep the complimentary snacks. How cool is that?
And in the bathroom there were these busts that you open up and have all of the complimentary items you could possibly need during a stay. Unusual; I like it!
We are in a city that is filled with Mosques, and the hotel is near one. They provide earplugs to help with the call to prayers that happen five times per day. The first night I barely heard anything. Here is some info on Salah.
And that’s all she wrote for the travel day. It was long. But definitely worth it, as you’ll see in the next post.
Neeners Travels 