No. 16 : Denpasar -> Jakarta -> Palembang

DAY 16: The Sad Journey Home

I made it through a strange night of mosquito bites on my hands and eery, dark nightmares where I was walking alone through dilapidated wooden houses in silence.  In one of the houses were tables and people of all different backgrounds sitting and eating.  There was a sumo wrestler at the head of the table and servers bustling around to bring plates to them but there was no noise.  Everything was in a super pale sepia tone.  Scary.

I woke up with a slight headache and uploaded our pictures onto Ryan's iPad.  In a matter of fifteen hours I had managed to make a mess of all my things and so decided to repack again.  Ryan seemed to be feeling better and we headed down by the pool for breakfast.  I had an omelette, toast with butter, fresh fruit, orange juice, coffee and bacon.  The sky was cloudy and overcast and I got really excited about this enormous bird hovering in the air.  I tried to take a picture of it.  Turns out it was a kite.

Oh I meant to take pictures of these earlier but here are the two Vietnamese propaganda reprints I bought in Hanoi.  Aren't they incredible?

"Processing food.  Breeding the hoggery." (Amen to that!)

"Increase the herd of milk cows."

I couldn't help buying this at Indomart.  I mean what an amazing graphic.
 I just want to find this man and say, "I've been there.  I know the pain."

We got to the airport in about thirty or forty minutes.  I stopped by the messiest ATM I'd ever seen.  

When we got to the airport, we had the best smoothies of our lives, curled up in fetal position and bawled our eyes out because the most fun adventure was over.  We said our goodbyes and Ryan handed me something I could open later.  I hurried towards the domestic terminal which was a little walk away (nothing like the ten mile death march at KL), checked in and sat down by gate 16.  I opened the small but weighty gift Ryan had handed to me and was so touched when I saw what it was.  When we were at the antique store in Singaraja I was admiring this gorgeous piece that Made said was used for makeup or paint.  I just loved it but I put it back and we left.  Ryan, you are sneaky and very thoughtful.  I love it.  Thank you so much.

My flight to Jakarta left mostly on time and I said goodbye to Bali and vacation days as the plane took off down the most beautiful runway strip.  The grown man on my row was reading Archie comics the entire time.  It was so awesome.

I slept until we touched down.  I exited the plane and walked towards the terminal.  Everything looked different.  Really unfamiliar.  I have flown through that horrible place more times than I want to remember and I suddenly thought to myself, Wow. This is it. I have finally gotten on the wrong plane and landed who knows where. You have no idea how long I have waited for this moment.  I knew it was bound to happen at some point especially somewhere like Indonesia where you basically walk out on the tarmac and choose whatever plane you feel like getting on with no one to tell you otherwise.

The terminal was clean and bright with updated graphics and spotless floors.  I imagined all the places I might be but was also starting to get a little worried.  I found an official looking man and said, "WHERE AM I?"  He said, "Jakarta."  Apparently, this was their brand new terminal which I wasn't going to get to hang out in because I needed to take the shuttle bus to my old minimal security Terminal 1b stomping grounds, where the floors are landfills and everything is a disorganized mess.

The good news is, I found a reflexology place outside B1 and got a half hour foot massage.  Had the gates been accurately marked or the monitors properly updated in real time, I would have known that my flight was delayed and booked an hour massage. I found it ironic that every "suggestion box" I saw at the airport was empty.  I saw quite a few as I went to six different broken vending machines in search of a bottle of water. I finally exited the 'security' area, bought a beverage and returned.  As there are never enough seats, I joined everyone else on the floor.  We boarded about an hour and a half late.  Then we sat in the hot un-airconditioned plane for forty five minutes.  Jakarta Airport, you continue to succeed at failing.  You're an embarrassment to Indonesia!  Get your act together!

That was quite the outburst.  I'm sorry.  It's been a Monday back at work.  I fear I have caught the barking seal syndrome.  Sleep time.