It's normally always very sad to say goodbye to Hong Kong but this time round I am happy that I am leaving with my bag, wallet, phone, camera and most importantly my passport. It has been a great week with Belle and her family and some of the locals and expats I have met along the way. It was definitely way too much drinking and my body is calling for a detox. Today I am flying into Bali where I will finally start my volunteering teaching and experiencing the life of a balinese. I'm really looking forward to this volunteering experience and I honestly don't know what lies ahead of me until I actually get there. I have no clue where I'll be staying, who I'll be staying with, what I'll be eating - nothing. But I guess this is all part of this exciting journey that I signed up for. The flight is 4.5 hours and I'm flying with Garuda Indonesia today. I have the whole row of seats to myself - yay.
Goodbye Hong Kong, I will see you again in August.
Hello Bali. Gosh, I felt the gush of warmth smeared my face and body. It was really really humid stepping out of the plane. I arrived at the airport and got a visa on arrival for USD$25, phew luckily I had american dollars on me. I shortly made my way to immigration, little did I know we had to fill out an arrival card. The flight attendants didn't give it to me so when it was my turn speaking to the immigration officer he said I had to give him my camera and go fill out a form and come back for it, otherwise I will not be able to get let into Bali. By this time I was freaking out. I didn't know what to do so I gave him my camera anyway. I went and got an arrival card and filled it in whilst walking and went back over to the officer. He was being such a smartass with me I felt so intimidated and scared. He asked me so many questions that I couldn't really even answer - I just told him I am here in Bali to do volunteer teaching and that I will be staying in Bondalem but I didn't have an address for. He eventually let me through and demanded that I delete the photos I took of the airport and he gave me back my camera. Phew. What an experience. There is always some sort of problem with me and immigration. Anyways, leaving the airport I walked out and saw no sign with "Sandi Giang" written on it. I started panicking as I have no clue who is picking me up, who to call and where I am staying. I waited for 20 minutes in hope that someone will appear. Eventually, I walked back into airport and as I was doing that, I saw three girls holding up a sign with "Travel to Teach, Sandy" written on it. I ran up to them and greeted them and told them how relieved I was to see them. Julia, Christina are also volunteers. Sandra is the co-ordinator - all three ladies are german. Julia and Christina filled me in with so much information about their time in Bali. Julia has been in Bali for the last month and Christina joined 2 weeks ago. It felt good knowing that I will not be in Bali alone.
After a 4.5 hour flight, the girls informed me that it will be a dreadful 3 hours back to our accommodation. OMG. I couldn't believe that I was going to be sitting in a car for another 3 hours. Gosh, at this point I thought to myself - I am definitely going to a very very very remote area !!!!!!!! Yikesssss. So driving through the streets of Bali felt really weird. I had landed at 9pm so it was already dark. I never really imagined Bali to look like this, but it is definitely really different to Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia - really different. So after a dreadful crazy bumpy ride to our accommodation, we arrived. We arrived at 1am so the neighbourhood was fast asleep. As we were walking down the dark alleyway, we were stopped by a balinese topless guy on his bike - Potok. He is our neighbour and had offered to lug my luggage (because it was so heavy) on the back of his bike so we won't have to struggle through the rocky path. It was very nice of him. Finally, we arrived at our accommodation, it seemed very cosy. We have a courtyard, a kitchen, two bedrooms and a bathroom. I was pretty shocked to see what I will be showering in for the next month. Out of a hose - yes! The toilet gushes out water when flushed - great, and we have no air con - OMG. Is this really what I signed up for? I was pretty shocked and needed time to absorb all this in. But anyway, after such a long day, I had to take a shower and freshen up and TRY to settle in. I am sharing a room with Christina for the next month. We will be finishing the project the same time and she will be moving to Hoi An for her next project whilst I go to Nepal. Julia has extended her stay in Bali for another 2 months, hence she gets her own room. In my room, we have two single beds with mosquito nets and only one power point. Its been a long day for me, so I am going to call it a night. I am looking forward to exploring and seeing Bali in broad daylight tomorrow. It's going to be interesting and I know its going to be a massive culture shock. I can feel it already.
Good night world.
XOXO
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