Returning to Bali
Who had this amazing idea that I visit an island, that can be reached only by boat? Fastboat, right? Max 2 hours. Okay.
Yesterday I found out, that no place is left for me on the boat in the morning, I can only leave at midday. Never mind, spending some more hours on this beautiful island, sitting in a café on the beach cannot hurt. But then the boat was nowhere at 1 pm. It could’ve been suspicious. We left a bit before 2 pm, and spent more than 4 hours on the waves. I’ve spent this time with heaving, sniffling and crying, and getting exhausted by these, with a bit of sleeping. I’m sure the windy weather did not help much, but some of the engines broke down and this simply killed the trip. We spent the four hours breathing pure gas.
In Padangbai I could observe a new trick of the local taxis. My boat ticket also covered my transfer to any place in Bali. So when I got off the boat, I expected the driver to find me. A guy came, saying the name of the boat company, checking my destination and also my ticket. He told me, that the transfer will take 3 hours as the bus first has to go to Sanur and only after to Ubud. But for a little bit of extra money he can arrange a direct transfer as well. Great. But then I thought it’s fine, I have time, I don’t mind three hours, the day is anyway gone. He told me to grab my bag and head to the exit. There another guy was coordinating the people and asking them to wait in different corners, based on their destination. He told me 2 hours. Even better. While I was waiting for the bus I observed what is happening in the harbour, and just realized, that the first guy was an independent taxi driver and just wanted an extra client. Every second passenger leaving the boat was approached by someone with this story pretending to be a representative of the boat company. The rest was attacked by the taxi drivers without this sophisticated method.
It is 5:30 pm when we finally leave the harbour, so I won’t get to Ubud before 7:30 pm. Now I’m glad that I booked a place to stay while I was on the beach in the morning, so I don’t need to search for accomodation in the dark.
Ps: I got here in one hour!