Bali Trip Day 5

I could not really concentrate in the morning since all I thought about was getting a swab first which would determine whether I could fly back. Although I was feeling alright, I could not help to worry if I had the virus and only happened to be asymptomatic. We had breakfast at the hotel restaurant before we left Ubud. As usual, I ordered set containing food which I do not encounter normally: turmeric herb juice and bubur injin. I never heard bubur injin before and it seems more like a dessert based on the description (black rice pudding with coconut milk and dice jack fruits). Yep, I was right. It was like a hot dessert to me, not a breakfast. I had sugar overdose since the set still came with a dessert which was caramelised banana crepe.

I left it to the driver to decide the best place for me to get the swab and that was the first we did when we reached Kuta region. I found it very amusing seeing how widely available and cheap COVID swab test has become: any random person in any random building or even tent could just set up a COVID test center.

After the swab, we went souvenir shopping at Krisna. I only started to get into the shopping mood after I received the notification that my COVID test was negative. This Krisna shop really blew my mind away. I have never been to any tourist souvenir shop more impressive than this. Not only the size is huge, the range of items includes every souvenir ideas that people can think about. Most importantly, this is not a typical souvenir shop intended to scalp tourists. This shop is intended for tourists to really buy loads of souvenirs and the prices are normal.

The first floor has mostly food. Not only the food choices are crazy (from peanuts, dried fruit chips, various traditional chips/crackers, dodol, chocolates, cookies, etc), the range of flavours include those not commonly found in supermarkets. For example, there are fruit chips made of papaya and mango as well as peanut flavours such cheese, barbeque and even seafood. I only bought those I never tried before. At the end, I think all the dried fruit chips taster similar regardless of what fruit they come from. However, papaya chips still stink like the fruit. There is also section for souvenir apparels on the first floor. However, they are more branded and expensive than the apparels at the higher floors.

The non-edible souvenirs are on the higher floors. There are clothes, jewellery, handicrafts, as well as the typical souvenirs you can think of: keychains, soaps, scented candles, etc. The range of clothes are amazing. My advice when planning a trip to Bali is not to think about clothes and just come to Krisna. There are beach wears, casual wears and even sleep wears. They are also not priced as typical souvenirs and are even cheaper than the two beach shirts I bought in Jakarta.

We went to Hog Wild for lunch since pork ribs is another Balinese specialty. Normally I would not eat ribs because I was too lazy with the bones but I let my sister chose since this trip was paid by her lol. I would usually get the steak but I ordered grilled chicken instead because I did not feel like eating too full. The weather was hot and the restaurant was stingy with the aircon. To minimise COVID risk, I chose the section where there was nobody dining and the restaurant did not switch on the aircon for that section. Even the toilet was cooler than where we had our lunch.

After lunch, we still had some time before our flight but we had no idea how to kill time anymore. Since my sister had no idea from her influencers and the driver had no cafe recommendations, I suggested to go to any shopping mall. We went to Mal Bali Galeria which has a huge open area in the middle of the mall. I suggested to sit at a cafe and that cafe was also hot. Basically I could not cool myself down and was annoyed throughout. I ended up buying two berms at Uniqlo because they were on sale. Hahaha.. So ironic to buy berms at the end of the trip. I regretted going to this mall instead of going to the airport directly because it was much more cooling inside the airport. Hahaha... I would not mind waiting there longer and forgoing the berms.

That wraps up the trip. I think Bali is a fantastic place to visit. I count myself really lucky to be able to experience Bali minus the crowd. Under normal circumstances, I do not think I would enjoy Bali with the crowd, traffic jam and the expensive hotel rates. My regret is that I could only do this one trip. If only I stay in Indonesia throughout COVID, I would have been there more than once.

Bali Trip Day 4: Ubud (mostly staying in the resort)

Before describing what I did today, let me describe about this resort first. This Sankara Resort is few levels above the previous resort I stayed in Bintan few years ago or in Kuta few days ago. I would say this was my first time experiencing a true resort atmosphere. From the location, the front desk, as well as the environment and decoration from the reception until the room, everything just screams Ubud. There is even paddy field between the rooms in the front side of the resort and the rooms at the back. It is just not for show since there are farmers working on the field. It really felt like being away from the modern world and reality.

We stayed in Deluxe Pool Villa so that we had a private pool. They are not playing with the word 'villa' because the unit feels like a villa within the resort. It is not a room but is more of a house. The entrance even feels like gate minus the actual gate. Unfortunately, the private pool is in the front instead of the back side of the room which means that passersby as well as guests at opposite rooms can see. As if people wanted to see but I could not help to feel self-conscious considering I am fat and I cannot swim.

The room and the toilet are very spacious. The crazy thing, however, is that there is no freaking door to the toilet. The bathtub and the shower are actually visible from the room itself, lets say when someone is on the bed or from the mirror at the table. The bathtub is just next to this gigantic window panel with some view of the greeneries. Although it is a nice atmosphere, this is facing the outside so it is crazy to soak with the window blind up and risking people seeing from outside. Thank goodness the toilet bowl is further in and is next to cupboard. Leaving the cupboard door open gives a bit more privacy.

Further inside just next to the toilet bowl and separated by a glass wall and door is the outdoor shower area which I would say is badly designed. I expect people will usually use the outdoor shower after they swim. If we are going to that here, we will already wet the bathtub, dressing area and the toilet bowl just to reach the outdoor shower. Worse, there is nowhere to put clothes or soap in the outdoor shower area. Anyway I showered here the day before, not because I wanted to experience outdoor showering, but because I did not want my sister to be uncomfortable if I was using the shower inside. I showered before her and when she was soaking in the bathtub, I hid myself under the blanket like a fool.

Okay enough about the room. Ultimately the main reason that my sister chose this place was because of the free floating breakfast. After experiencing it, I think it is something nice only for photo op because the eating part is very troublesome: gotta make sure the floater does not sink, gotta make sure not dropping things and dirty the pool. The swimming pool is deeper than at the Kuta resort. Although I still could reach the bottom by tiptoe-ing, I could not breathe normally. Surprisingly I found myself able to swim better. Not sure because I was forced to swim since my feet could not touch the bottom or because my practice in the past 2 days paid off. Lol. There are 2 wall water fountains which were not switched on. I thought we got a room with spoilt fountains. I asked the staff who packed up the breakfast about it and it seemed that they were deliberately switched off because of our floating breakfast. Otherwise, everything would just be wet.

My sister booked a Grab to visit one of her Instagram cafe at Ubud Center and we had our lunch there. After that we returned to the resort since she wanted to do spa while I just spent the rest of the day sleeping. I was too tired the day before to take night photos at the swimming pool. I was unlucky because when I wanted to do that in the evening, it rained heavily. Sigh.. Oh well, we just left for dinner at the hotel restaurant which was our plan all along. My unlucky strike continued since the satay set which I was aiming for since morning was not available. Huhuhu... The rain did not stop even after dinner which meant it was really a goodbye to night photo at this swimming pool.

Bali Trip Day 3: Kintamani, Ubud

Today's plan was drastically changed due to the driver's availability. Since we were okay with the driver yesterday, we decided to continue booking him. Initially, we just wanted to travel to the resort in Ubud and spend the rest of the day relaxing. Only on the second day in Ubud then we wanted to travel around. Unfortunately, the driver was only available today and not on the following day so we just had to switch the schedule. The hotel remembered to prepare the breakfast today and we departed after that.

The journey to Ubud reminds me of the journey from Jakarta to Puncak since Ubud is also in a mountainous region. The lack of tourist was a blessing since there was no traffic jam and we did not waste time on the road. We went to Kintamani which is the current 'in' thing with a street lined with instagrammable cafes. I knew this from a friend who recently visited Bali and posted some photos. I would be happy just to visit El Lago, which is the cafe that my friend visited. Too bad my sister trusted random recommendations online and decided to go to Akasa first.

It was a regret not because Akasa is bad but because El Lago is better. It was still rather quiet when we reached but by the time we went to El Lago after Akasa, it was already too crowded to take nice photos. Sian.. Anyway the mountain views from the various cafes are actually comparable since they are all lined along the same road. The main differentiation is the interior design from each cafe. Unfortunately, there is one thing that instagram pictures cannot tell: some views may be obstructed by other buildings. Basically with all the cafes are competing to provide unobstructed view, the newer buildings will be jutting out more and more from the slope. The views from other cafes may be blocked by these buildings. Ultimately, that is my main gripe with Akasa since the view on its left and right are obstructed by the nearby buildings. Another thing to take note is to pray hard for foggy weather to get nice photos. Otherwise, it is just boring like any other mountain :( Our plan to cafe-hop also failed because we were already full after 2 cafes although we only ordered the bare minimum so that it was not too obvious that we were visiting just for the views lol.

Another must-see destination in Ubud is the Tegalalang rice terrace. I learnt that there are more than one places where we can see the rice terrace. Similarly with the Bali Swing which I thought there was only one. Although there is only one place which is called Bali Swing, a swing over rice terrace is actually available in several places. The driver brought us to Uma Ceking Resto and Swing for our lunch and our rice terrace experience.

I was not enjoying myself initially because it was kinda late for lunch. I was feeling sleepy, the weather was sunny and my special Balinese fried rice was unexpectedly spicy. I was not looking forward to getting on the swings but my mood changed after the short rest while eating lunch. Hahaha... The lovely thing here is that there are several swings, not just the one most commonly found online when googling Bali Swing. This place is definitely meant more for couples as the other swings are heart-shaped, bed, ship, etc. Anyway since it is outdoor and there was no other tourist group, it was nice to be mask-less while getting on the swings. The staff helped with the photos and videos as well. Another thing to be grateful for since I doubt we would get that kind of attention and help under non-COVID situation.

The rice terrace was rather dry and not as pretty green as the google photos

We still had plan to go for ATV adventure which the driver recommended to us. Last registration was supposed to be 430pm and we were late. Thus we checked in to Sankara Resort by Pramana first while the driver called the place if we still could go. Luckily he knew the owner and we still could play. Yay.. I knew about ATV from one Thai variety show which I watched last year. I find it really exciting since I cannot drive normal car hehe.. Usually I would stay away from anything that would get me dirty, I did not mind this time since I would throw away the pants with the holey pocket which caused my phone to drop at Tanah Lot the day before.

Driving ATV is easier than expected. I thought there would be some pedal control and coordination like driving a car but it actually only has start, speed and brake switches controlled by the fingers. So it is very easy. The downside is that body strength is required with the turning and the manouvering of the terrain, so it is not like just controlling the car steering wheel. At the end of the day, I felt very tired and my back aching.

I enjoyed that we had to drive through town area before reaching the ATV track. It gave a nice feel of driving a car. Haha.. I also enjoyed the touch with nature as we passed through rice fields. The ATV track itself was alright but was too mild for my expectations. Haha.. The thing that ruined the whole experience was that we caught up with a group of tourist ahead of us who sucked at controlling the ATV. They kept getting stuck and jammed and we wasted more time waiting for them instead of actually driving. Sigh.. It was a blessings that we went late and the sun was not as scorching anymore. Otherwise I definitely would feel more irritated. Anyway since overall the track was not that extreme, I did not get dirty as expected. There was no visible dirt on my clothes and I just had to rinse my leg. I paid around $30 but I saw on the paper at the counter that the usual price is $120+. Not sure if that is truthful or it is just a marketing ploy since $120+ for that experience is definitely not worth it.

I did not know that they would take photos along the way. If I knew, I would choose a top which at least looks better in photos. Anyway I always look ugly with a helmet on so it does not really matter. I did not think twice about paying $15 for the full set of the photos since I was too lazy to choose on the spot. After all $15 will only get me ONE piece of photo in Disneyland so $15 for a full set is a no brainer.

Since we planned to just rest in the hotel on the following day, I asked to stop at a mini mart to get bread for dinner and water. Since this is already a looong post, I will write about the hotel itself in the next post.

Bali Trip Day 2: Tanah Lot, Garuda Wisnu Kencana, Uluwatu, Pantai Melasti

I started the day by playing in the swimming pool again. After all, that was the main purpose of having a private pool mah. Having eaten anything, my tummy was more flat than the day before but that still does not change the fact that I am fat. Bleah. The hotel somehow did not send the breakfast but lucky I bought some bread to standby from the supermarket the previous day.

We rented a car today since we would be travelling to Tanah Lot, Uluwatu and Nusa Dua Beach. There is no nice way to plan the journey since all three are basically away from one another. If Kuta is considered at the "center", Tanah Lot is at the north west, Uluwatu is at the south west and Nusa Dua is at the south east. Each is around 1 to 2 hours journey from the "center".  We discussed with the driver and it was possible to cover all three within a day since there was hardly traffic jam due to COVID. Under normal condition and usual traffic jam, it would not be possible.

We went to Tanah Lot first since that is the furthest one by distance. Thanks to COVID, I was able take photos without other photobombers. That is something unthinkable under normal circumstances at such an iconic tourist destination. There were very few tourists and I felt quite poor thing with all the souvenir stalls which remained open. My sister felt quite poor thing to the people offering photo service and decided to support one.

We asked the driver for recommendation to eat Babi Guling which is one of the popular food in Bali which I have been very curious about. Unfortunately since I am not a foodie, it did not blow my mind and it is just like any other pork haha.. The driver offered if we would like to visit Garuda Wisnu Kencana (GWK) since it is along the way that we have to pass by when we go towards Uluwatu. My sister and I are not the arty-farty type so we never considered going there. We took up the suggestion since it did not cause any detour to our journey. Anyway, GWK is one of the most recent tourist destination in Bali so it would be nice to take some photos without other tourists while we had the opportunity.

We had to pass by Udayana University which reminded me of NUS but in a much grander scale in terms of the hilliness of the terrain as well as the size. Unlike in NUS, it is not practical to walk from one faculty to the next one. Since it is not in the city, each faculty has its own plot of land: with its own gate, signage and security just to enter. The distance from the entrance to the building is also not near. Anyway I find it interesting since I never experience university life in Indonesia.

It was really a hot day and I did not really enjoy the GWK trip. Luckily we were in a free and easy travel and we decided to pay for the coach to bring us from the ticket lockets to the statue. Otherwise, it was a torture to walk and climb to the statue on such a hot day. The statue is indeed gargantuan, so gargantuan that it was impossible to take a nice picture when you are physically there. The human will look so tiny in the picture if you want to capture the whole statue. Otherwise, we are too small to take photo of the statue to look like those google images taken with a drone. While I am not a cultured person to appreciate statues, I have to admit that the size and details are really majestic and is not a marketing hype. It is possible to pay and go up to the top of the statue to appreciate sky view of Bali but we did not do that.

Not only the statue is already gigantic, it is mounted on top of  a building

Since GWK is a culture park, there are still other attractions which are part of the journey on the way to exit the park. There is a festival park which had several ogoh-ogoh on display when we were there. There are plazas housing statues of Garuda and Wisnu, separately. There is an amphitheatre which holds some performance. There is a museum where people can don on traditional Balinese wear and take photos as if they time travelled to various Indonesian traditional houses. While I find the museum to have its charm, its position is quite bad. Visitors will already feel so hot, tired and sweaty by the time they reach the museum. I do not think many will still have the mood to get changed and take photos anymore.

Plaza Wisnu

Next we went to Uluwatu which I thought was very stressful trip. There are wild monkeys there so instead of enjoyment, I felt more stress since the monkeys could even snatch spectacles. With that, I did not even want to risk my phone to take photos. The good thing was that we could rent a guide who would help to look out and chase away the monkeys as well as bringing us around so that we did not have to fiddle with maps to find where to go. I still prefer Tanah Lot, which also looks nicer to take photos. The view in Uluwatu can only be appreciated with eyes when we are there but difficult to capture its beauty in photos since it is a cliffy area. But seriously, the monkeys are the main deal breakers.

With that, we were already too tired and decided to cancel the plan to Nusa Dua. The guide was very nice and offer us an alternative: Pantai Melasti, which would not really cause a detour for our journey back to Kuta. It is considered one of the newer developed beach and hence is still more popular for the locals than for tourists. It is also a popular spot for prewedding photos. The beach is surrounded by cliffs so it gives a different view from the stretch of Jimbaran - Kuta - Seminyak beaches.

We went to Kuta Beach Walk for dinner at Johnny Rockets. We basically just needed a place to sit down to discuss the plan for the next day. Yeah, thanks to my sister's planning, she had not decided on  whether we should just book another car or we should inform our current driver that we wanted to continue with him. Either way, we also had to decide the actual plan in Ubud. We did not go to Kuta Beach since it was already almost sunset and we heard that there were more peddlers there than lets say Seminyak Beach which we visited the day before. Although I was already very tired, I still played in the pool in the evening just to maximise our stay with a private pool. Hehe.. After all, I could not do that on the following morning since I did not want to carry wet swimming trunks.

And that was my modest and kind of pathetic birthday. I thought I could have a nice fancy meal in Bali but who would knew that many places were not open because of lack of tourist. My back up plan was to have a relaxing meal in the hotel restaurant but this current resort is just not giving that vibe. Ultimately, my whole birthday mood was ruined by my dropped phone. I suppose my birthday gift was the opportunity to take photos at popular tourist places without strangers on the background, which definitely is a once-in-a-lifetime.

Bali Trip Preparations and Day 1: Seminyak

One good thing of living in a big country is that COVID does not stop domestic travelling. In fact, it much better to travel during this period due to the lack of tourists and everything is on mega sale. Too bad I was not in the my usual mindset and was not keen on travelling when I was home. My younger sister had been itching on travelling and tempted herself looking at those influencers on Instagram. I told her from the start, I would only travel if she paid for me, not by budget airlines, and preferably during Good Friday week which happened to be my birthday week too. So thick skin of me but it was a good call.

She kept on nagging and I remained firm with my stand. In the end, she relented. The reason why it was a good call for me to insist on not paying was that how annoying my sister is with travel planning. She is so lazy to do research and planning (hello.. I am also working okay!) yet expect things to be good and cheap. Anyway since she decided to deal at the very last minute, the initial resort that tempted us (Amarterra) was already not available. So we had to find alternatives. I did my best to give suggestions and she was annoying with hers. She just threw me names and many were private-owned holiday villas, rather than those villa-type rooms in hotels or resorts.

Because I did not mind just enjoying luxurious resorts, the whole trip was free and easy for me. Both words could not be more literal haha.. I hope my sister learnt a hard lesson of trivialising any trip planning. I told her that according to my friend who just went to Bali, the places were quite far from one another. She still chose to plan nothing so everything was only decided on the day before. She did not even plan for the transport so it was for her to settle as well.

We went to Decathlon to get swimming gears. I have 2 swimming trunks in Singapore which I did not bring since I did not expect to go for any holiday.  That was another reason why I was not to keen on going to Bali since I had to buy swimming gears again. Those thigh length ones are too expensive since it would be just for this one trip and I already have one in Singapore. The only reasonably priced one was the Speedo brief type which I personally dislike since it is just like wearing underwear. Thank goodness we specifically looked at resorts with private pools so as not to embarrass ourselves with our fat bodies.

Since I had not had booster vaccine, I had to produce pre-departure COVID test and I was pleasantly surprised that there was a test using saliva. Wow.. it was definitely an easier and less annoying procedure.

Day 1
The departure flight booking came with a free lounge entry. The lounge was kinda pathetic since the only edible food were Indomie and porridge. Because it was an early flight, the fried snacks looked cold and were left overnight. Eew... I was tempted to drink the jamu but decided not to risk if my stomach acted up.

I am impressed with Ngurah Rai airport and I think it is even better than Soekarno Hatta Terminal 3 which is considerably new. The design is unlike usual airports whereby everything is in one building and the airport 'ends' at the taxi stand or the carpark. After collecting the luggage and exited the terminal building, the shopping and eating areas are in several buildings outside. Only after passing those then we are at the taxi stand and the carpark. For me, it feels very touristy as the shopping and eating areas feel like in shopping malls and not in an airport anymore.

Well done to my sister who assumed the airport arrangement would be similar to other airport. The taxi stands were not obvious and we were swarmed with people offering transport. It felt iffy as we could not tell who were real or who were scammed. We walked until the carpark (for what?) and in the end returned to the Grab booth.

We stayed at Rama Beach Resort and Villa Kuta for two days. I selected this because it has rooms with private swimming pools, is located not to far from the airport (15-20 mins by taxi), and is within walking distance from beach and shopping malls. The online photos of the resorts are definitely misleading. While the resort itself is okay for me, it actually seems rather run down. Old and traditional style is okay for me but the actual rooms and environment are not as bright as the online photos. The resort area is big but during my stay, there were very few people staying. Because of that, we got to check in upon arrival.

Since we did not have any plans, we just enjoyed messing around with the private pool. The pool was not deep and my head could remain above water while standing up. I really forgot how to swim and it was like playing with water. Too bad we got the outdoor pool area which was narrow and long, rather than broad like those in the online photos. The narrow and long layout made it impossible to take photos on the sunlounger with the pool also in the frame. Sigh.. Anyway, I am damn fucking disgusting fat in the photos. That is why I hate like swimming having to look at my own flab. 

Being used to the size of Japanese hotels, I had no complaint with the room size. The toilet is even bigger than the room. Haha.. There are several cubicles for the shower room, toilet bowl and the bathtub. The beauty area (sink and mirror) in the middle is also huge. Unfortunately the weighing machine did not work so I was not able to objectively check how fat I was.

The adrenaline of playing in private pool made us not feeling hungry yet so we went for a late lunch. We booked Grab to have lunch at Souphoria. My sister selected the place based on her influencers' recommendation. Anyway I was not so picky about food as long as there was no bones so anything was alright for me. The journey was eye opener on how COVID brutally battered tourism industry. There was no traffic jam at all, even at the popular tourist places (Kuta, Legian, Seminyak). Suprisingly, the restaurant was still crowded even though it was past lunch time. It was not as bad as having to queue outside but we still had to wait for available table. Either the place is super popular or there were not many choices since many businesses did not open because of COVID.

After lunch, we went to Seminyak since it was on our way back to the hotel too. We dropped off at Seminyak Square which was open but had hardly any visitors. It was so quiet that I felt too paiseh to even check out any of the stores since the shopkeepers would definitely attend to us but most likely we were only window shopping. We walked to Seminyak Flea Market and it was pretty much the same: the stalls were open but only very few tourists. The stall owners even thought we were international tourists since they were getting our attention by speaking English as we passed by.

From there, we continued on foot to Seminyak Beach. Wow wow wow! I can understand why this is a popular beach. The sandy areas are so wide and that is not including the beach front which is washed by the waves. It was shocking to see the whole areas empty and to compare that with google photos when the beach is usually super packed with people. Perhaps it was my first time seeing "rolling waves" and I understand why it is a popular surfing location too. Unfortunately my photos were not that great because the sun was already rather low in the late afternoon. There were only few peddlers offering coconut or sunloungers so we were not really bothered by them when we walked further towards the beach front.

The last stop before ending the day was Lippo Mall which was somewhere 'behind' our hotel. It was another shocking experience since in the whole mall, only the cinema, supermarket, few stores and the eateries facing the main road were open. Even the shop specialised only selling souvenir in the mall was not open! Anyway our main purpose was to get bottled waters and bread for my dinner so all was good with the supermarket open. I regretted buying beach-themed shirt because I saw more colourful ones at lower prices than what I bought in Jakarta. Sigh...

We walked back to the hotel which took us around 10-15 minutes. We also checked out German Beach which is only 5 minutes walk from the hotel. The intention was to see the sunset but that did not happen. This beach seems to be more for the local with many fishing boats floating and food stalls for the locals. Definitely not a tourist place. Disappointing because one of the reason I chose the hotel was the expectation that this beach is something similar to Kuta, Seminyak, etc. Well the good news was that there was no need to wake up early to see sunrise on the following day since the beach is not that pretty.

Although I was quite tired, I decided to still play in the pool in the evening. After all, we still had to take turns for the bathroom so I let my sister to bathe first while I played in the pool. At the end of the day, I was tired but not the knocked out kind. Going free and easy while travelling is really relaxing and therapeutic. Usually I would be overthink about plan, where to go, what to where, photos etc. I also did not have to carry bag with passport, camera etc like when I go overseas. Hmm.. or perhaps I was just too excited since the following day was my birthday.

Gosh.. I realise that I do have any photos to accompany this post. So yeah, definitely free and easy, not in my usual touristy travelling style.

First Class Flight Experience

After collecting miles since 2015, I finally achieved my dream to experience First Class flight. If I have the option, I will not choose such a short Jakarta - Singapore flight. Initially my plan was to redeem for Business Class since all I needed was more space to put my laptop bag, hand carry bag and my backpack. I was left with the normal redemption (35000 miles) for the dates I was aiming at first. Thus 27500 miles for saver First Class on a later date was considered a 'bargain', although on this date there were still saver Business Class for 19000 miles. Lol.

I learnt a little bit more about how the waitlisting works. There are only 4 First Class seats and I redeemed the first one since all 4 seats were available for me to choose. Immediately after I booked, I only saw waitlist for that flight. It seems that after one Saver First Class is redeemed, the remaining seats would become waitlist at normal rates.

Honestly redeeming for First Class in Jakarta is wasteful. The quality of the airport and airport service is nowhere comparable to Singapore. There is no dedicated First Class check in area, no First Class lounge, and no quicker security check. Bleah... There is no signage that I even had to ask if there was a separate check in counters for Business or First Class. When I reached the counters, the supposedly First Class counter was not even manned. The boarding experience was bad too. Instead of separate group callings, everyone was standing to queue. Of course the Business and First Class queue was one. It was only when the person saw my First Class, he tried to expedite. Since it was not boarding time yet, I went to sit in a nearby waiting areas. The person came to approach me when boarding was allowed for me to board first.

The in-flight experience was also underwhelming. I did not expect a VIP treatment but to me, it seemed that people on duty were more interested in introducing themselves "I am so and so. You can call me if you need anything" instead of attending to me. When I went for Business Class previously, the first thing the stewardess did was to orientate me to the buttons and functions on the seat. I had none of that sort and I had to find things and open the compartments myself. I did not even know how to recline the seats. Bleah.. The worst part was that I did not even ask them to take a photo :( One good surprise was that this was a new First Class seat. When I saw I could only book the flight with Boeing 777-300ER, I was expecting the old seat since this airplane type is gradually upgraded to the new First Class seat.

At least it fulfilled my purpose of comfortable storage space for all the stuff I brought to cabin

Since it was still COVID, there was no Book the Cook service. I opted for Dim Sum breakfast set which I expected to be meh. Thank goodness it exceeded my expectations because the dim sum pieces were the biggest pieces I ever experienced in my life. The taste and quality were definitely better than restaurant dim sum so at least I felt that meal was not that bad. For the meal, I asked the stewardess to help me take a photo. I also tried the toilet which was just slightly bigger than the Economy Class toilet. At least I did not bump into the four walls when I was inside.

Bleah.. blur photo. Taken before the bread basket was served

The flight was too short to experience the luxury of First Class. After taking off, it was immediately meal time and then it was time for descend. Bleah.. I did not even get to experience the headset. Anyway I only watched Rurouni Kenshin: The Beginning so the subtitles were good enough for me. Of course the flight ended before the movie ended. Too bad Shang-Chi was no longer available so I could not finish what I watched at my flight to Jakarta in January. Perhaps the only good thing in First Class for this flight is the much reduced noise. The whole journey is smooth unlike in Economy Class in which the take-off preparation, take off, flight and descend stages are so obvious.

So yeah, that is my rather underwhelming First Class experience with SQ 953 on 20 June. One thing for sure, I will not take Business or First Class for short flights anymore. Hehe.. of course unless situation makes it a must.

6 months recap

Yoohoo! 6 months have passed without me posting anything after I reached home. I did not want people to know that I was back home and I decided to not even post anything on my facebook for 6 months. I even asked my mum and sisters to just lie to other relatives if they asked my whereabouts. I am back in Singapore since Monday and that is why I am writing something now. Hehe.. This is going to be a lengthy post since I will try to document all my thoughts from the past 6 months. Before I start, let me just post one final photo of my last quarantine meal just to complete the quarantine meal series.

Day 7 Breakfast

Family and Home

Family and home did not feel the same anymore after two years being away and the absence of my dad. I was alright with my sisters but it was initially awkward with my mum whom I blocked in Whatsapp. Well she clearly did not have her priorities right. Just imagine that the first thing she said when seeing me home was about settling the bank stuff instead of asking how I had been.

Now I sort of understand what is happening between my mum and my sisters. The root cause is simply because each of them is selfish and does not care about one another. It is ironic that each of them is guilty of  the things they complain about one another: messiness, laziness, food -just to name a few. They do not want to do certain things but expect others to do those things they dislike doing. Bleah. Everyday they are just taking turns to fight over the same issues. I failed to make things better as everyone is just too stubborn. There were many times I felt that I would rather be back in my loneliness in Singapore instead of listening to their repeated petty conflicts. However, at the end of the day, having family and home issues are still better than being homeless.

I was very annoyed with their cannot be bothered attitude about housekeeping. I spent my first Saturday home building a new laundry hanging rack. The old one was literally collapsing so I insisted on buying a new one. Noone cared about that since it is only my elder sister who is doing laundry. But there is no excuse for the rest of the living areas: leaking ceiling, cracking wall paint, unscrubbed bathtub and toilet bowl, unswept and unmopped floor, food debris on the dining table. Haiz. I was literally being the maid but I did not mind cleaning the areas which I used since I wanted to be clean. There were even lizards climbing to the dining table. Yucks. I bought lizard glue traps and there were close to 10 lizards being caught. Luckily my mum dared to throw away the glue traps with the trapped lizard. I did not even dare since the lizards could still wiggle around.

Still, I gave up in my last month home. I decided to just work in my room instead of the dining table. The last straw was it was barely a day after I cleaned the table and mopped the floor that my sister dropped food on the table and floor without cleaning. I never made noise asking people to clean but it pissed me off that when someone (i.e. myself) already cleaned, she could not even try to not make things dirty. Bloody hell. Since that episode until today, I refused to talk to her anymore.

Who would not get a shock seeing this living room?

I managed to keep it quiet and no other relatives knew I was home for those 6 months. Even when my uncle came to get my signature to settle my grandma's house in Pontianak, I just told my mum to say that she would DHL me the documents to sign.

Food

I did not have to go out at all to get lunch since it was cheaper to order food delivery with all the discount codes from the food delivery apps. I ordered lunch with my elder sister so there was no need to over-order for myself just to go over the minimum spending. Hehe.. I am not so picky about food (except that bone is an ultimate no no) and I only chose from the top promo or discount list. Luckily my elder sister was quite chill. She compromised with my no bone requirement while I compromised with her spicy preference. She also likes to try new restaurants so we could just go down the list to find something we never ordered previously. There were so many choices that after 6 months, I could count the number of restaurants which I had to repeat.

I still ate banana for dinner for most of the days. I did not have to buy since my younger sister got bananas from her office almost daily and she did not eat that. Still, overall I definitely ate more than what I regularly eat in Singapore since there was a tendency to try new things. In the end, I did not dare to weigh myself to see how much I gained after 6 months. Haha...

I was able to cut down my junk food significantly. Since I was working, I only had my Mie Jumbo on the weekends or holidays. Previously I would eat it daily when I was home but usually I was home for only 2 weeks at most. I cannot imagine what would happen to my health if I eat instant noodle daily for 6 months haha.. I also got bored of the potato chips rather quickly since there are only few brands and flavours which I enjoy (Chitato, Potabee, Kusuka, Qtela). After repeating those I liked once, I did not really have the urge to keep on buying.

My biggest surprise was finding Mix snack from Thailand and it is the Korean Spicy Chicken flavour which I knew from advertisement in Thai dramas which I watched last year during the COVID. It was not difficult deciding to buy since with the price tag of Rp 9000, it is comparable to the local potato chips I mentioned above. Sadly, the snack packaging is not the resealable type so I had to finish it at one go. I find it too spicy but the overall flavour is still good that I actually bought 3 times. Hehe.. Subsequently I found the other flavours (hot chili, chicky stick) from other supermarket but I did not like those because the fish sauce taste and smell were too overpowering. Next time I would be more careful with Thai snack and watch out those with fish sauce ingredients.

I only found the 'pack' version, not the container. This picture is chosen just because it has the actor promoting it.

Instead of potato chips, my 'addiction' changed to those cafe coffee/tea/milk drinks. Due to COVID, there were 1L options which were around $10.  I used 'addiction' because there were few which I order repeatedly. The rest was mainly trying new places with my sister. On average, we would order at least once a week and each 1L bottle was sometimes good for 3 days. I do not even buy bubble tea weekly here and I have stayed so long from Starbucks or Coffee Beans. I will be even more reluctant to buy them now. $10 for 1L bottle in Indonesia vs 1 large cup of Starbucks or Coffee Beans here. Haha...

Work

Thank God working from Jakarta was smooth. My home internet is fast enough and in 6 months, I only had to take leave for half day due to internet problem. I still followed Singapore working hours although it meant working from 7am to 4pm in Jakarta time.  My initial plan to exercise using my gym app after work, similarly to what I did during Circuit Breaker, totally did not happen. I always slept after work and woke up past 6pm. Obviously, this sedentary lifestyle made me even fatter.

I am really thankful for my boss and my boss' boss for not chasing me to return ASAP. Haha.. Anyway I still fulfilled my initial promise that it would be in Jakarta for 6 months at most. Although I did not want, I decided to get my Sinopharm booster in case of future vaccination discrimation again. To delay as long as possible, I only had it on last Friday of May thinking that getting a plane ticket back to Singapore should be similar to January when I also bought the ticket quite last minute. Well, COVID seemed to be over this time. The price for one-way ticket was $600-$700. Since I would be carrying 2 laptops and another hand carry with cookies, I was planning to do redemption for Business Class and it was all waitlist. That was a blessing in disguise since it meant I got to return 1 week later than initial plan when the ticket price started to become 'reasonable' around $200-$300. In the end, I redeemed First Class Saver for 27500 miles which was cheaper than 35000 miles for Business Class waitlist. Actually there were Business Class Saver (19000 miles) available but since initially I was already prepared to spend 35000 miles just for Business Class, 27500 miles for First Class seemed like a bargain. My First Class experience will of course be in another post.

Comics

121. That was the total number of comics which I had not read since the last time I went home 2 years ago. I only started reading them in the last 2 months when I sort of firmed up my plan to return to Singapore. Reading comics is still my favourite past time and the reason for the 'last minute' read was I completely ran out of storage space. Started reading them meant I had to keep them after reading. My cupboard is already full, my additional plastic drawers are full and the space underneath my bed is also full with those additional plastic drawers. Because of that, I restrained myself from getting new titles despite my initial interest of adding Demon Slayer to my collection.

I have a mixed feeling about the improved quality of Indonesian comics. The comics are now in bigger dimensions and printed with better quality paper which mean they are taking larger storage space now. With better quality, price increase is also unavoidable. At Rp 40000+ each, I do not think they can be considered cheap anymore. I honestly think the previous format was alright, except that in the past few years, they tried to cut cost by using ridiculously thin paper.

I finished reading all 121 plus the new releases when I was home. One thing that irritates me is by the time I have to leave, I only need 1 final volume of Attack on Titan. Grr...

Leisure

I actually had less leisure time as I spent more time to sleep. Perhaps calling it oversleeping is also not wrong. As mentioned, I only started chionging my comics in the last two months. I also watched less Youtube and I did not even follow Thai series that closely anymore. I also hardly went out unless necessary because I was too lazy to iron additional clothes I wore to go out. I was actually not that concerned about COVID when going to shopping malls. Even when the shopping malls were crowded, there was still plenty of space between people and it was never as packed as in the MRT or bus. I went to Bali during my birthday week but that will be for another post.

I also went to cinema for the first time in more than 2 years. I watched Fantastic Beasts: The Secret of Dumbledore in the Gold Class kind of cinema. I deliberately chose timing when people would be breaking fast to reduce COVID risk. There were only 4 people for the whole studio. Hehe.. The seats and studio were good, too bad there were no proper meals to order like in the Gold Class. Anyway so that I had an excuse to remove mask throughout the movie, I ordered the tidbits: dumpling and hotdog. The hotdog sauce made my fingers sticky which irritated me throughout haha.. Usually I would write a post after watching a movie but the movie is not memorable. It is almost 3 months now and nothing sticks to my mind about that movie. Lol. Fantastic Beasts franchise is just getting worse.

Prayer life

Previously I always stopped being a Catholic when I was home. It was different this time. It was a miracle that I was able to continue with daily rosary, weekly Novena and weekly Mass without fail. The weekly Novena was the most challenging for me since I ended up following them on the following week. However, I  did not do any of the Novena organised by the Rosary Confraternity. So overall I prayed less than if I were to be in Singapore but that is expected.

I am glad that I was able to somehow still participate with Landings. I made a good call to decline as a participant. Otherwise, I would not be able to join the gathering and the physical Mass since the COVID restriction was already loosened. I helped out with host/co-host Zoom duties. It was only stressful in the first two weeks but it got better subsequently after getting more familiar with the names. Hosting was definitely a chill job hehe.. The actual work was only during the first half an hour and the remaining time was just chit chatting with the other co-hosts until the sessions ended. Most importantly, I learnt new Zoom skills although most likely I forgot about them now. Haha..

I hate to complain about my bulletin duty but I am damn annoyed with some people for the past two editions. One made it difficult just for a freaking photo while another was super irresponsible by saying unable to do past her deadline. For goodness sake, why can't they just consider this as doing God's work instead of making things difficult. Yeah I am annoyed and am complaining now. The only thing stopping me from exploding or even stepping down from this role is just by seeing this as doing God's work.

Phone

I was planning to get a new phone: Samsung A22. I even prepared by getting screen protector and casing in advance. However, I decided to buy only the last week before I was about to fly. Sadly, the "COVID promotion" was already over by then. It was at the lower range of $200 when I decided to get it at the start of the year but it was near $300 when I checked at the stores last week. Bleah.. I cannot remember if the previous price was for the 4G model while now only 5G model is available. Since 5G is not widely available yet, then there is no point getting a 5G model. At the same time, 5G is just around the corner so it is not really making sense not to get 5G. In the end, since my current phone is still working well, there is no urgency to buy a new phone yet. Plus I recently bought a personalised casing for my current phone. Hehe...

Lousy quality but at least I have a Gundam Wing phone case :D

I suppose that is all for this 6 months recap. I think God really works in mysterious ways. I am very happy with the past 6 months home which would not happen if I did not change job 4 years ago. My dad's passing became the main excuse for me though I prefer to still have my dad :( I will write about Bali and my First Class flight experience soon. First Class story should be first since it is definitely shorter than Bali experience.