June 11th, 2016

Day 72: Journey to Java

Today was a pure travel day – we had to get to the Gilimanuk Ferry at the Western-most tip of Bali by evening, at which point our next hotel would send a shuttle to pick us up in Banyuwangi. Our taxi driver quoted us 700K IDR for the trip, but we decided we were not in a hurry and we’d try taking the public bus instead. The Pan Pacific offers a free shuttle bus to the mall in Kuta, but unfortunately guests are not allowed to use it the day they check out (I guess they want to prevent people from using it as a cheap ride to the airport – like us!), so we got a metered taxi to take us to the Ubung Bus Terminal, just outside Kuta.

Once the taxi dropped us off, we realized we needed to find an ATM, as we needed cash to pay for the next hotel and an excursion planned for the next day. Of course, the one time we need an ATM, is the one time there is no ATM in sight! We used Igor’s cell to try and locate a bank, and ended up wandering around the Ubung area in the mid-day heat with all our bags, without success – each ATM we found was either out of order, or just spit out our debit card without explanation.

On top of that, we were once again surrounded by dozens of taxi drivers, all hanging around the bus terminal to hustle for fares. Every single step we took, someone was in our face asking, “Where are you going?” “Mister, where are you going?” “Miss, where are you going?” Igor was trying too hard to be polite, and kept responding, “No thank you, we don’t need a taxi,” while Lindsay kept telling him to channel his Inner New Yorker and just ignore them. She finally got so frustrated, she shook her fists and yelled, “I’M GOING ACROSS THE STREET!” to a hapless taxi driver. Whatever – they backed off after that.

We got on the bus to Gilimanuk (100K IDR) for our 4-hour drive up the Bali coast. The ride was very similar to our experience in Flores – a bus attendant hanging out the open door throughout the trip, calling out, “Gilimanuk!” Every now and then a local would hop on or off, squeezing into the seats between Lindsay & Igor – it got a little cozy at times, but Igor was having a blast, hanging out the back door and snapping photos of the rice fields we passed along the way. We were the only tourists on the bus, and all the local seemed to find us strange – laughing when we kept taking pictures of the scenery.

Taking the public bus from Ubung to Gilimanuk

Lindsay kept falling asleep during the 4-hour ride

Igor enjoying his open-door access

“Gilimanuk! Gilimanuk!”

Water-filled rice fields along the road to Gilimanuk

Not sure why these rice fields are wet when Tegalalong & Jatiluwih fields are dry – but they sure are pretty!

We arrived at the ferry just in time for sunset. We bought our tickets (6K IDR), walked on board, and enjoyed the hour-long ride from the top deck of the boat. While the crossing only took about 15min, for some reason there was a traffic jam of other ferries from Gilimanuk all trying to dock at the same time. We couldn’t figure out the sequence of which ferry was next in line – organized chaos at work once again. When we got out of the ferry terminal in Banyuwangi, we quickly found our driver…and an ATM! Flush with cash, we headed to our hotel – the Bangsring Breeze. Just when we thought we had left the nicest hotel of our trip, the bar just got raised a LOT higher. Instead of being just another guest in a massive cruise ship-sized resort, we were one of three at a really high-end boutique hotel (maximum occupancy is five rooms). Our palatial room felt like a honeymoon suite!