mad_atta

Thanks for the Penang update! Looks like a nice place to while away a few days - we're only there for 3 nights. Looks like the street food and street art will be highlights! Thanks for the tip about heading for the hills, too.

palmanfr

I went back to the first lounge at 6:30 the next morning for breakfast, with my usual cereals and waffles. Call me a frugal traveller :-)


Good morning !




Cereal and waffles for breakfast


Breakfast with a view...

I then finished my night with a short nap in the nap section of the First lounge for another 30 minutes before heading to gate C14 in the satellite terminal where the flight to Denpasar was leaving from.


Nap area MH First lounge KUL


A nice place to finish my night...


The usual crowd before the gate security...




9M-MTU to DPS

There was a bit of a queue to clear security and the priority boarding began shortly after I cleared it.



Malaysia Airlines MH715 - December 16th 2018
Kuala Lumpur KUL - 09:00
Bali Denpasar DPS - 12:05
Airbus A330-200 - 9M-MTU - Seat 15K, Window seat, Economy class.

This seat was in the first few rows of the economy class, which Malaysia Airlines markets as an economy plus; with some extra legroom compared to the later rows. I was happy to find that I will have two seats for me on this flight and moved to the window seat. Although I am quite tall, (1m88) the legroom was sufficient.


The first few rows are considered as a kind of economy plus...


Seat 15K for me


One seat is ok...


But I was lucky to score both seats for me !


No business class for me this time !


Push back

We taxied for a few minutes and took off around 0930. The service was quite uneventful, if not rude and the meal selection consisted in a rice curry with chicken or beef, with the classical peanuts, a cookie and a cup of water. This was eventually followed by some coffee or tea.


An early lunch...


...but with a view !

The flight conditions were smooth and the approch towards DPS airport featured very nice views.








Nice views, unfortunately I will not be going to that island this time !




Final approach into DPS


Total route KUL-DPS




Parked next to a SQ Boeing 777-200

We landed at 12:20 local time and taxied for a few minutes before reaching our gate, located next to a Singapore Airlines Boeing 777-200

Immigration took no time and I waited about 20 more minutes to get my luggage, and had then to queue a good 10 minutes to clear customs as I was selected for secondary screening with the X-ray (about half of the passengers were).


DPS immigration. I heard some good and bad about it. All I can say is that while we waited a bit to get our baggage, the immigration part was very smooth.





I visited many airports in my life and in different countries. And in some of those countries, some pretended (read fake) taxis drivers offer their services straight out of the arrivals area, with more or less insistance… But this arrival in Bali airport was really the most annoying experience I had, with some fake taxi drivers trying to catch up passengers even within the customs area ! As I was waiting for some friends to pick me up at the departures level (they were actually leaving Bali later that day and had hired a very good driver and guide), at least 2 or 3 drivers were following me insisting they could « bring me up wherever I wanted in Bali for a good price ». Quite annoying… especially for a first visit on this island. However, my next 3 days were just fantastic and Made, the driver my friends hired and whom I kept during my visit of the island made my stay very enjoyable…

IAD_flyer

I am looking forward to hearing more about Bali.

BR787

Great trip report. Looking forward to more.

That's actually SQ's new 787-10 Dreamliner! Lucky spotting.

palmanfr

Ohhhhh.... Indeed... On this angle, it looked like a 777-200 ! Thanks for correcting !

palmanfr

Thanks, I will make a short Bali report next then !

palmanfr

I was able to meet in Bali some of the friends I made in Bangkok a month earlier. Unfortunately, they were leaving the island the same day I arrived so we were just able to catch up for lunch. Fortunately for me, they arranged a local driver / guide for that day, and since Made (The name of this guide) was very good, I decided to hire him for the remaining of my stay so I could explore the island with a local.
I am not a beach guy per se, and I had zero interest in spending time in the big resort areas of Seminyak, Legian, Kuta etc... I therefore decided to spend most of my stay inland, in the charming city of Ubud, at the very good Elements hotel Ubud and only spent the last evening at the Fairfield in Legian just to be closer to the airport for my early morning flight.


Elements hotel Ubud







I went to the pool every evening and was basically alone in there!

The weather was not as bas as it seems ! :-D


3 days there flew fast, but thanks to Made, I was able to see some temples, historical sites, some beautiful rice fields and did some short hikes in the nature. I managed to use my drone also which I was quite happy to... (more on that later)






Terrace rice fields...

Panorama on the rice fields, although it is one of the touristic attractions, it was not very crowded...


Rice farmers, big respect for them... I cannot imagine having such a posture the entire day !


Tirta Empul temple








Another very popular temple is the "Mother temple of Besakih"


Mother temple of Besakih










Once you get up there, it gets less busy...




Mount Batur - Did not hike it !




Lunch with a view !




That little guy was here to welcome guests of the restaurant !

Food is as you can imagine, very tasty and affordable. Lots of vegetarian options available.
I also visited a coffee plantation and did some tasting, including the famous Luwak coffee...








Cannot recall which one was the Luwak...


Where there is coffee plant, there is also cocoa nearby..


Cocoa


Penglipuran historical village, in Bangli




If you ask nicely (and buy something at the family souvenir stand), you can visit one of these traditional houses...








Looks like was a local curiosity for some teens from Java who were on a school trip !...


Start with a selfie with one, then a second... and you end up like this !




A nice walk in the bamboo forest... Almost got lost though !


End of the day on the rice fields...





My third day started with a short hike to the Nungnung water falls, where I was basically the only one there ! So I decided to use the drone and capture some shots... I was still a drone newbie at that time and used it only a few times in Namibia, South Africa; Taiwan and Vietnam before. Unfortunately, I forgot the obvious fact that waterfalls generate a very high and localized wind current, and although my drone was always in line of sight, I lost control of it and it crashed in the jungle... while I was watching live on my phone the terrific outcome of this little adventure...


Nungnung waterfall






Crashed my drone... but fortunately, I was able to locate it quickly enough after the crash...

Fortunately for me, I could spot a couple flashing red lights on the drone and after a few meters walking in the jungle, I managed to retrieve it. I was very lucky as the drone cascaded 20 meters down after the crash to an accessible spot...
As I was walking across the bushes to get my DJI Spark back, I discovered, hidden under some leaves ... his big brother ! A DJI Mavic was there, but nature took its rights back for some time it seemed...


I almost walked on it !


This place is like the bermuda triangle of the drones ! I tried to do a drone CPR on site... but unsuccessfully.

I did not manage to ressucitate the drone onsite, so I carried it back to the car and after deep cleaning it in the hotel room in the evening, I noticed that it belonged to someone living in Berlin, Germany. After a quick search online, I contacted it's German owner who indicated me that he indeed crashed his drone during some vacation with his girlfriend last september, so 3 months before ! I was able to send it back to him a few weeks later, after coming back home for the Christmas holidays... Not sure its owner managed to repair it, but at least, he was able to get his holiday pictures back !

After this refreshing escape, we went to Jatiluwih, a popular terrace rice growing area for some walk and lunch...


Another walk in the rice fields...











My tour with Made finished at the Taman Ayun temple, on my way to spend my last night in Legian...


Taman Ayun temple






The dress in mandatory to wear if you dare to ask :-)





My few days in Bali were very enjoyable. I hope those several pictures showed you a different side of this beautiful island. I had a lot more from Ubud but the quality was not so good as there were night pics. I spent my last evening in Legian - and while the Fairfield hotel was nice, cheap and comfortable, this area of Bali is definitely not my type of vacation, at least when being alone... As Made told me : The place is full of drunk Australians, drug dealers and useless noise ! Kinda agree... ;-)

Should you want more details about some places I visited, please let me know...

To finish this little Bali aparté on this trip report, here are a few pictures taken with the drone of the "Bali from above"...








Well... that's more me from above, before the crash !


Jatiluwih rice fields...

palmanfr

My next flight was booked just to be able to reach Jakarta, as I took advantage of the Sri Lankan airlines nice business class promotion between Jakarta and Dubai, via Colombo. This combination of flights fitted very well my plans and for multiple reasons : I decided to come back home for Christmas and had a return ticket to Amsterdam on KLM from Dubai (this was the return flight of the Riga-Dubai trip flown earlier in October). Another reason was that I could take advantage of the Visa-free procedure for passengers in transit (and by transit they mean 48 hours max, which did fit my schedule), and finally, both CGK-CMB and CMB-DXB flights are very slightly over 2000 miles, which means that I could accumulate 280 Tier Points on British Airways, Sri Lankan airlines being a OneWorld member airline. Both flights were operated on recent aircrafts, an Airbus 321 for the first leg and an Airbus 330-300 for the second leg, with their new flat bed, herringbone seat in business class (even if initially the first flight was supposed to be operated by an Airbus 330-200, with an older business class seat).

But first things first… I had to get to CGK, and I was in Bali. And since the national airline, Garuda Indonesia is also a member of Sky Team, I could bag an Economy ticket with luggage included for only 10500 Flying Blue miles + 9 Euros of taxes. I am aware that I can fly for very cheap between Bali and Jakarta on Lion Air or Air Asia, but since Indonesia has unfortunately a poor safety record when it comes to aviation, I preferred to stick to the National, and biggest airline of the country for this domestic flight.

Checking in DPS domestic terminal was quite fast, although all passengers have to clear a first security screening when entering the terminal (Remember that Bali airport had some terrorist attacks several years ago). I checked-in at the sky priority counter and it took only a couple minutes. I later noticed that there was also a « fancier », premium check-in desk right behind me, but I am not sure what are the requirements to use it.
Security was fast to clear and I was airside in no-time.


First security screening to enter the terminal




Sky Prioirity check-in DPS domestic


Was not sure about the eligibility criteria for this VIP check in area




DPS Domestic terminal




Plane spotting in DPS

On the way to the airport, I looked at the lounge finder on the skyteam website, and figured out that no lounges were advertised in Denpasar airport. Therefore, I went to the priority pass lounge, named Concordia lounge and spent about 20 minutes in there. Half of the lounge guests at that time were CityLink crew members (CityLink is a subsidiary of Garuda Indonesia). I was not very hungry at that time and did not try any of the buffet items but some hot and cold options were available.



Concordia lounge entrance DPS domestic













At 9 O’clock I left the lounge and went towards the gate, to see on the way that Garuda Indonesia had a frequent flyer lounge right next to the gate, although I am not sure I would have been eligible for access as I was travelling on a domestic flight (skyteam is really a terrible alliance in that regard, the worst of all 3 alliances).


DPS Domestic Garuda Indonesia lounge - Did not try



I reached the gate 1C right at the time of boarding. I am not sure Sky Priority boarding had been announced though.








My first time on Garuda...

Garuda Indonesia GA403 - December 19th 2018
Bali Denpasar DPS - 09:25
Jakarta Intl CGK - 10:30
Boeing 737-900 - PK-GNT - Seat 31C, Aisle seat, Economy class.


Garuda Boeing 737-900 PK-GNT




2-2 config Business class


Followed by a more classical economy configuration

Although I am skyteam elite plus, and having booked this flight many months in advance, I was only able to select my seat during online check-in and was happy to be able to select an emergency exit row seat (Not that many seats were available as far as I can recall).


Pretty good legroom...


Welcome aboard !



Funny enough the regular seat 29D was kept neutralized during the flight as it became a crew seat during take off and landing, I never saw this on this type of aircraft !


"Crew seat" at the emergency exit

Being an emergency exit row, the legroom was pretty good and each seat was equipped with an IFE screen. I cannot comment much about the IFE selection (although the controls were responsive) as I mostly used my laptop during this flight though. I also took a look during take off at their inflight magazine and was surprised to find an article about Valkenburg… a town 10 min by car away from where I live !




I live 10 min away from this place !

We took off ontime and the service started shortly afterwards with a choice of beef noodles or rice chicken and a selection of beverages. An unknown dessert, a sort of jelly, was also available on the meal tray.
The meal was ok. One thing I noticed with the crew though is that they barely spoke english and all the announcements were barely understandable. The service was not very friendly either which is in net contradiction with the Balinese experience I had…


Warm chicken brekfast...


Not sure what it is exactly...


Total route DPS-CGK


Airlines love to display their fake SkyTrax rating...

We landed shortly ahead of schedule and parked at the new terminal of CGK (Terminal 3) which is used by Garuda and most of the skyteam partners. I have to say the place was pleasant. But unfortunately, my next flight was leaving from the old terminal 2…


CGK Terminal 3 arrivals


It's very odd to me to celebrate Christmas wearing shorts and a T-shirt !



Luggage arrived quite swiftly at the belt 12, which is the one used for sky priority passengers (good point for Garuda !) and arrived way before the « regular baggage » on belt 7.




Nice attention : A Sky Priority belt - Learn from that KLM and Schiphol airport !


Outside the modern Terminal 3

I was soon afterwards on my way to terminal 2, using the skytrain.


Getting the skytrain




Manual controls...


That was Terminal 3...


... And this is the less-fancy Terminal 2 !

This skytrain service seems to be quite recent, and is manually operated. I recall having waited almost 10 minutes and the train ended up quite full as quite a few passengers were coming back from one of the two muslim pilgrimages in Saudi Arabia, with their luggage loaded with gifts… and the security guard had to help a entire group to load their belongings inside the train so we could depart on time !

nequine

You definitely showed a different side to Bali than most of the other pictures i have seen. Nice pics from your drone too before it had a wee accident and well done on retrieving/contacting the person who lost their drone.

palmanfr

Thanks ! For the Bali side, I guess it really depends what type of traveller you are. Being a solo traveller on this trip, I wanted to experience the nature. If you like to party and travel with friends or if you are on a family vacation, some would prefer to stay in Legian or Kuta (Which is what most of the people do as I understand)

palmanfr

Anybody else seeing issues posting ? I have been struggling for the last two hours trying to finish my (long) post and everytime I add some pictures and text, it deletes what I added first. Is there now a limit of the post size ?

palmanfr

Although the new terminal looks very nice, the old terminal 2 is quite the opposite, the escalators were not working, and the signage was pretty poor… As usual in Indonesian airports, a passenger screening was in place before entering the check-in area, except that this time, the screening also required to empty all pockets, jackets and belts (not always the case for primary screening).


Not fun when you have to carry a heavy piece of luggage !


I found CGK Terminal 2 a bit complicated to navigate

The check-in area for SriLankan was not yet open when I arrived at 11:15, so I had to wait something like 15 minutes before an agent staffed the business class counter. Surprisingly, the economy class desks opened almost when I arrived, but several passengers were already queuing there.


UL check-in desks CGK


Desperately waiting for someone :-)

Emigration area was empty and the exit procedure took no time.


Emigration CGK T2


Indonesia : You need to buy some ink !

Right after a long alley of shops and restaurants was present and eventually the lounges and the security screening area were at the end of the building (the security clearance is right before the boarding gate)




CGK T2



Sri Lankan uses the Pura Indah business lounge in CGK, which is, like the premier lounge next to it, also a Priority Pass lounge.


Lounges of CGK T2



I was only able to access the Business class section of the Pura Indah lounge, it is clearly not the fanciest ever, but it did the job during the hour of wait or so. The buffet was a bit cheap and it would not be a luxury to do a few renovations in there. Restrooms were located within the lounge (lots of renovation to do in there too. I loved the plastic bucket under the sink to collect water from the leaking evacuation pipe). There was one shower available, and the shower room was actually the only with a working toilet…






Pura Indah lounge CGK T2




Sweets selection


Cold bites


Hot buffet




Small lunch


This lounge needs some renovation...


... And certainly some maintenance too !





I stayed there about an hour, working on my computer as the wifi was working ok.

I then decided to visit the other lounge, the Premium lounge, using my Priority Pass card.

Although I stayed less time in this lounge than the previous one, I found it a more pleasant place to wait. The buffet was better catered, although I did not try much of it. The place also seemed lighter and larger.


Premium lounge CGK T2








I've found the buffet in that lounge better catered than the previous one




Staffed bar

A bar was also available.

Since security is cleared at the gate in CGK T2, I went there about 50 minute the scheduled departure time and queued about 5 minutes before clearing it. A priority lane was available for families, elderly and persons with disability but not for frequent flyers or premium passengers


I hate having to clear security at the gate !

It appeared that a test was ongoing at the security gate when I cleared it as a « fake passenger » (an undercover security employee I believe) attempted to bring something suspicious in his luggage, and the employee in charge of screening should select the baggage for secondary inspection. I think that test somehow failed as I was overhearing the senior employee explaining to the tested employee what happened and what she should have noticed on the screen. (they were talking in English surprisingly).

Although one jet bridge only was in operation, the boarding gate was splitted into two different areas, with business class waiting zone and economy rows until 20 on the left side and the rest of the economy class on the right side. About 10 minutes later, the boarding started…




Choose your side !


Waiting area for the front side of the plane


CX Boeing 777-300


Loading frozen goods ?


First time on UL !

SriLankan Airlines UL365 - December 19th 2018
Jakarta Intl CGK - 14:25
Colombo Intl CMB - 17:30
Airbus A321neo - 4R-ANE - Seat 01A, Window seat, Bulkhead, Business class.

Although I was disappointed that Sri Lankan decided to swap the aircraft a few months before departure from a wide body Airbus 330-200 to this single aisle A321, I was happy to see that it was a very recent aircraft, in the neo version. The business class seat was a classic, but comfortable recliner and made of blue-colored leather with sides colored in brown. Each seat featured its own IFE screen with a USB port on it and a 220V power socket below the arm rest console.


UL Airbus 321neo row 1


Legroom seat 1A




Seat and remote controls


Piper Heidseck to start !


Cheers !




Welcome aboard

A pair of socks and an eye shades was available in the seat pocket, together with the menu for today’s lunch. The purser, a pretty big man in his late 40s offered everyone a beverage before departure and I opted for the bubbly option.
Very soon afterwards, a crew member came to take the lunch order, as 4 different options were offered, and I opted for the seafood noodles.










Menu Sri Lankan Business class CGK-CMB


Garuda Airbus 330


China Airlines Airbus 350-900


Nicely waiting in line...

After quite a long taxi of 15 min or so, with some nice plane spotting during that time. This flight was quite full in both cabins and I started to socialize a bit with my seat mate, an Indian business man working as a director for a local pharmaceutical company and who was heading back home.
We finally took off at 15.15.


View over Java


Cashews and white Bordeaux

Soon after take off, another drink was poured and I opted for a glass of white Bordeaux, which came with some cashews. I have to say that the crew on that flight was not cheap with the drinks and the glasses of the entire cabin were rarely empty…

The lunch was served soon afterwards and was quite tasty and not too spicy.


Seafood noodles


Followed by some coffee...

This aircraft was equipped with Wifi, and it was quite pricey : 4 USD for 20 minutes, 8 USD for one hour and 15 USD for 3 hours. I did not try to use it.

During this sabbatical leave, I appreciated spending my time onboard working a bit on my laptop, writing for the website or this FT trip report and sort out pictures, especially on day flights. This time was no different and I decided to transfer some pictures after lunch. During a meal onboard, I usually enjoy watching a movie or an episode of some series.
My IFE was quite responsive although the one of my seat mate was having constant issues, crashing randomly. We initially thought that it was due to a bad connection in the remote controller and as I was trying to help him removing the controller from its holder, I accidentally dumped some white wine on my macbook ! Although I was pretty quick to sponge most of the liquid out, I noticed a few minutes later as I was slowly running out of battery that the only USB-C port on the upper left side of the computer was no longer working, making any recharge or document transfer impossible ! Fortunately for me, I have insurances and extra warranty for those types of accidents and I managed to get a new laptop the following week when I was back in France. I just made sure to transfer by email and into my NAS at home all the important documents I had and did not saved during the last backup a couple days before as soon as I reached my hotel in Colombo…

Which means that I was able to browse the IFE on this flight… and after a short power nap, we were soon to arrive in Sri Lanka.


I was intrigued by this and sent an email to enquire about prices and availability... But looks like this was very popular as my email got bounced back !


So IFE it is !


Traveller beware...

I also discussed a bit with the two crew members serving the business cabin in the galley during my flight and they were quite friendly. I asked them if they had any recommendations on what to visit during a 2 day stay in Colombo, as it was my first time in the country. They basically were not able to reply, stating that there was pretty much nothing to do in Colombo… Not really the best ambassadors of their country to say the least !

As we were approaching Colombo, the immigration cards were distributed.




I love those fluffy clouds !








Approaching CMB





We landed shortly ahead of schedule and taxied to an apron position where we disembarked by bus.


Welcome in CMB




Bus disembarking

The terminal was pretty chaotic with ver big lines for immigration and basically no organization at all. No staff was present to direct arriving passengers. There was some sort of waiting queue for immigration and also a queue for the visa office. I was not sure where to begin so I queued towards the immigration counters and the exit.

At the time of my visit, back last December, Sri Lanka was requiring most visitors, including European tourists like me, to apply and pay for an Electronic Travel Authorization. I remember this was quite pricey and I was not so keen in paying 40 or 50 dollars for 2 day stopover. Fortunately, it was also possible to get a transit ETA online, and free of charge. The eligibility criteria was quite strict though, as you had to be in international transit for 48 hours maximum and both segments had to be on the same ticket. This was my case and I therefore applied for this transit ETA a month before this trip.
Nowadays, and in view of developing the tourism following the terrible terrorist attacks of last April, I read that Sri Lanka will soon ease their immigration procedures for tourists and most of the western passports would no longer require to apply (and pay) for an ETA in advance.

After one hour wait, I finally reached a friendly immigration officer, and after presenting a copy from my expedia reservation showing two UL segments two days from each other, he nicely issued a nice stamp and a transit sticker, allowing me to enter Sri Lanka for 48 hours exactly…


Where does the queue starts ??


I guess here...




At least the stamp was well done !

Colombo airport is an interesting place when it comes to duty free shopping. While some airports have arrival duty free with the usual perfumes, cosmetics, chocolates and booze, in CMB, you can buy a flat screen TV, a fridge and a washing machine. I’ve found this interesting enough to ask some Sri Lankan people I met during my stopover why was that and they told me that basically, if a Sri Lankan national works abroad for long enough, the person coming back home could buy home appliances exempted to importation and sales taxes, hence the shopping mall right after the immigration counters !




Interesting duty free shopping !





By the time I reached the luggage carousel; my bag was already there and I proceeded immediately towards the exit where I changed a bit of money and waited for my uber ride.
I arrived at my hotel, the Fairway Colombo located in the financial district of Colombo after a 30 min ride. Always interesting to me to see some Christmas decorations while it’s 35 degC outside !


Arrivals in CMB, i recommend to use the post office as a pickup point for your Uber ride


Colombo by night !


Colombo Christmas market...

nequine

Oopsies about your laptop but good thinking having the insurance so you can get a new one!

at the duty free stores! I don't think I have ever heard of that before.

Nomad98

I have been dreaming for years for a RTW like yours. Great report. Thank you!

Wonder how long it took you ( or others) to plan your itinerary? What was the budget approx.?

hugolover

I think it's fair to say that when crew are not topping up glasses very often its not because they're trying to save money for the company but because they're lazy.