My Villa at Joglo Plawang
The Villa at Joglo Plawang was a great success and I was sorry to leave. The area around Yogyakarta seems less spoiled by tourism than I expected. I don't mean that there aren't hundreds of hawkers trying to sell you souvenirs when you're somewhere like Borobudur or Paramban but that the place doesn't seem as corroded by attempts to cater for foreigners. I never saw another resident at Joglo Plawang but there were always plenty of friendly staff on hand anxious to be of service. This meant that the pool outside my villa became my own private pool.
On Saturday, I enjoyed an excellent breakfast in the main building then at 10:30 I was picked up to go to Yogyakarta Airport. On my arrival a couple of days before, I'd seen that the airport approach was via a level crossing adjacent to a railway station, so we detoured to the station so that I could have a look around.
Maguwo is a modern station, very clean, and you'd be hard-pressed to find anything as smart in the UK. I think trains are operated by private companies, as in the U.K. and some of the rolling stock I saw wasn't up to the standard of the infrastructure. The signal box was on the one platform and I was invited in to have a look around. Everything was shining and clean and the signalman was very friendly. Pictures of Maguwo Station. I stayed to watch one train and then we completed our journey to the airport where I said goodbye to my guide and driver.
The airport at Yogyakarta is smallish and it was a bit of a scrum inside the departure hall, which always produces a brief terror in me that I won't be able to find my way through check-in and security. However, all was well. Check-in for the Denpasar flight was simple, security was friendly, then I discovered I had to pay a departure tax. I hadn't got Rupiah (the local currency) but the girl accepted U.S. Dollars and beamed when I apologised for not having the proper money. I found the Garuda Executive Lounge (as they call it). A little basic but perfectly adequate so I was able to relax a little before the flight. There are a few pictures of the airport here.
We boarded at about 13:10 by walking a few yards across the apron to the waiting Boeing 737-400. The flight was just over an hour, giving them time to serve a nicely-presented snack before we made a straight-in approach to Denpasar Airport.
The airport at Bali is much larger than Yogyakarta and we were taxiing for some time until we reached our stand. It took some time for them to connect up the airbridge before we could disembark and I was amused that, as soon as we'd passed through the airbridge, we were diverted through a door and down steep steps to the tarmac. It was much hotter in Bali than Java. We joined a transfer bus and after a short drive entered the terminal and the baggage reclaim. My bag was one of the first out, so I was soon in the Arrivals Hall and immediately found the guide displaying my name. He introduced himself as Kana and we walked to the car park where our transport and the driver, Wirka, were waiting. There are a few pictures of the airport here.
Denpasar is the capital of the island of Bali. Bali is part of Indonesia but is very protective of its uniqueness. Indonesia is proud of its religious tolerance and you can find Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist and Christian adherents. Whereas the island of Java which I'd just left is predominantly Muslim, 95% of the population of Bali is Hindu.
We left the airport and headed out to Sanur about thirty minutes drive away. Kana explained that traffic was particularly heavy because of the approaching Hindu New Year. Many people were heading for special local ceremonies to take place in the evening. At one major junction, we were held up for a few minutes by a long procession, all dressed in white, making their way to one of these ceremonies.
A Hindu procession passing through Sanur, Bali
Bali was 'discovered' as a paradise for Europeans quite some time ago and I'm afraid it shows. Bali appears to cater for foreign tourists in an enthusiastic manner. Sanur is regarded as one of the more staid areas (it's sometimes called 'Snore' by way of criticism). If the rows of restaurants and shops we passed in Sanur are 'staid', I wouldn't want to visit the more 'with-it' areas. Near to our destination, we passed another procession heading for the shore. There are various pictures of the 'Nyepi' processions and ceremonies here.
The Bali Pavilions Resort is a series of villas in 'Designer Balinese' architectural style - see my Resort pictures. I'd been upgraded to a 2-bedroom villa (with one bedroom locked off). The villa was set in its own brick-walled courtyard and comprised one thatched building with the bedroom/shower/wc/bath and an adjacent thatched building which was open-sided forming the living room with its own fully-equipped kitchen. Just outside the bedrooms there's a private pool.
After a brief dip, I made the ten-minute walk to the beach, running the gauntlet of innumerable restaurants and souvenir shops. The sandy beach was quite busy and there were lots of foreign tourists like me. With a volcano visible in the distance, it reminded me of Waikiki in Hawaii. One of the Hindu Blessing Ceremonies was in progress a few hundred yards away, so I went to look at this before returning to the calm of the Bali Pavilions. Although I'd not done much during the day, I found I was absolutely exhausted so I was happy to enjoy the peaceful oasis within my courtyard before retiring.
