The closer we got to Bali's airport, the more police checkpoints became. We also encountered several heavily guarded convoys consisting of 10 to 15 vehicles. We had already learned from the news of the past few days that the ASEAN Summit conference was currently taking place in Bali.
Returning the rental car
We had to return our rental car to the airport at 8 p.m. The rental company handled the handover fairly quickly and without much inspection. What further damage could we possibly cause to the car?
AirAsia flight to Jakarta
We quickly picked up our ticket for our AirAsia flight to Jakarta (scheduled departure at 10:30 p.m.) and then headed to the departure area. Shortly before the security check, the airport charged a service fee of 40,000 rupees (approx. €3.40). Unfortunately, no one could tell us why, and more importantly, what this fee was used for. I've only ever seen such fees included in the flight price. A taste of what was to come awaited us at the departure board. It was already 8:15 p.m., and there were still flights on the board with an actual departure time between 3 and 4 p.m. Accordingly, the terminal was packed with people. It took a long time to find a seat.
Luckily, the SEA Games soccer semifinal between Indonesia and Vietnam was on TV. This somewhat distracted the crowd from the long wait, and the atmosphere was as vibrant as in a stadium. Incidentally, the TV reception was provided by a pair of long, pointed scissors stuck in the antenna connection. Security is a top priority here! The Indonesian national team won the match 2-0.
Delay due to the US President
After the victory cheers had died down, the flights still hadn't been processed. So far, no information has been provided by either the airline or the airport. Passengers who had been waiting for over seven hours were growing angry and trying to finally get their departure time from the gate attendants. The resentment of the crowd slowly escalated to the point that the apron doors were forced open. Within minutes, the military, police, and security forces arrived and tried to get the situation under control. To calm the crowds, some airlines distributed food packages to their passengers. However, the distribution followed the principle of "the weaker loses." As if distributing water in a desert, young and old, women and men, pounced on the pallet of food boxes.
At our scheduled departure time, an announcement from the airport finally came, which was the reason for the chaos. Civil air traffic was temporarily halted completely to fly out VIPs, including the American, Chinese, and Korean presidents and their delegations. Because Bali's relatively small airport could only handle a limited number of planes, the delays occurred. Our flight was scheduled for 2:30 a.m. and arrived on time. Around 1 a.m., we were offered something to eat and drink. There was a McDonald's bag with a chicken burger and cold fries and a small bottle of water.
Arrival in Jakarta
We arrived at Jakarta International Airport at 3:00 a.m. (local time). We negotiated a fixed price of 120,000 rupiah with a taxi driver for the ride to the hotel. As we approached downtown Jakarta, we realized the driver had no idea where he was supposed to go. He repeatedly called his dispatch center and asked people on the street if they knew where our hotel was. After about an hour of driving, we arrived at Rasuna Icon Residence to.
Taman Mini Indonesia Park
After three hours of sleep, breakfast was delivered to our room.
Afterwards we relaxed for a few hours before heading to Taman Mini Indonesia Park (tamanmini.com/). This theme park is like a kind of expo, where each state of Indonesia presents itself. In the center of the park is a lake with many small islands, representing a miniature version of Indonesia. Overall, the idea of the park is very good, but in our opinion, the implementation could still be improved a little.
We took the public bus back to the hotelThe bus is the fastest means of transport in Jakarta. During the day, there's only one condition on the streets: traffic jams. But the city has made excellent provisions for this and has created a dedicated bus lane for buses. At transfer points, the bus stops are connected by bridges. However, you shouldn't have any problems with crowds or other people. There's only a one-time fare of 3,500 rupiah (0.40 euros), and you can travel and change buses as often as you like. In the evening, we relaxed in the lounge on the roof terrace of our hotel.
Since Jakarta doesn't have many tourist highlights to offer, we used the last day to run a few errands. It was time for our laundry again, and a visit to the hairdresser was also in order. In the afternoon, we took the airport shuttle (Damir) from Block M back to the airport. From there, we flew with AirAsia to Kuala Lumpur that evening.
