As I mentioned in my last post, we had to make a change to our original Balinese itinerary due to a visa issue. Instead of being able to renew our Visa online (as we had 30 more days planned), we had to go in-person, to the immigration office in Denpasar, the capital of Bali.
After Phil tried tirelessly to submit everything online, we ended up having to employ the services of one of the many, many, many private, visa service offices. Phil and I think that perhaps the website is intentionally (basically) impossible to use so that foreigners will use the local services. Fair enough, I suppose. After wasting countless hours trying to do it ourselves (well, Phil’s self), we were more than happy to pay the visa service to help us.
When we had our meeting with the visa service company, they explained that it usually takes a couple of days for the immigration office to schedule an in-person meeting. That, plus the fact that there was a two-day state holiday at the end of that week, meant that they could only give us a guess as to when our appointment might be. They said they would let us know for sure the beginning of the following week.
We decided that we would extend our accommodations at the home stay in Ubud in the hopes that our immigration appointment would be on Monday and we could still make to our original destination, Lovina, for a shortened stay. It was a good thing we booked the extra time, because Phil got a pretty bad case of food poisoning.
It was easy to identify the culprit as Phil and I usually share our food, or at least portions, of it when we eat. This particular day, for whatever reason, I was not feeling Indonesian food, so did not sample his Nasi Goreng when he ordered it for dinner from the hotel next door to our home-stay. We were feeling quite tired and didn’t want to walk far for dinner and while the Google rating and reviews were good, we broke our rule of not sitting down to eat in an empty restaurant. The rice in the Nasi Goreng got him.
It was not until right before we left for our trip that I became aware that cooked rice (and pasta or any starchy food) can grow some really bad bacteria called bacillus cereus. I’d heard a story about someone getting a really bad case from pasta and dying from it. That really stuck in the ol’ memory because, well, that is terrifying and because I legit had no idea that was a way one could get food poisoning. One should not leave rice or pasta at room temp for more than an hour or two.
Anyway, once it became obvious that Phil had more than just an upset stomach, I knew it was the rice. I was also pretty scared. Phil was running a fairly high temperature and while alternating Tylenol and ibuprofen was keeping it at bay, it wasn’t going away. I recalled my own nasty case of food poisoning (pretty sure it was salmonella) when we were in Albania a few years ago. It was the sickest I have been in my life. It was scary and Phil’s being sick scared me too. Add being in a foreign country to the equation, and it ups the anxiety a bit.
Phil does not like being a patient, though he did begrudgingly let me keep pumping him full of electrolytes and fever reducers. He was feeling a tad bit better on Monday when we needed to relocate (though we still hadn’t heard back from the visa service about our appointment). We’d decided to find a hotel in Sanur, which is next to Denpasar and happens to be on the water.
Luckily, we heard from the visa services company later that evening and were told we had an appointment at the immigration office at 9 a.m. Tuesday morning. Even though we had an “appointment” we were told that it is a first come, first serve basis (take a number) situation at the immigration office, so we wanted to be there as near to 8 a.m. (when they actually open) as possible to try to get a good spot in line.
We woke early and got a car to the immigration office. Phil still wasn’t feeling 100% and still had a temp, but ya gotta do what your gotta do. We arrived a few minutes after 8 and there were a ton of people already waiting. We navigated our way through the crowded office and checked in, each receiving a number…on a yellow post-it note (we were in the 40’s). The chairs in the waiting room were filling up fairly quickly. I had spotted two in the front row, so as soon as we had our numbers, the official post-its held tightly in my fist, I made a beeline for the chairs.
Just as I thought, within a few minutes, all of the seats were full and people were sitting ankles to elbows everywhere, many on the floor. While the AC was trying it’s best, with so many bodies crammed in and the automatic doors at the front of the building opening and closing constantly, it was quite uncomfortable, especially for poor Phil. It was also pretty stinky from all the sweating and loud and, well I hated every other person there, except Phil. To make matters worse, they made the announcement, several times, that because their computer system was down. As such, they could not start seeing anyone until it was fixed, and that they did not know when that would be.
Finally, after about an hour and a half, the computer system was back up and running and they started seeing people. Numbers would appear on the screen and one would go to the corresponding room number. Once things got going, they luckily went fairly quickly.
We finally had our appointments, which consisted of just having our photos taken, and left the office around 11:30.
We ended up changing plans and decided to stay in Sanur instead of trying to get to our original destination. Unfortunately, the hotel we were staying at was booked up for the rest of the week. I was pretty bummed. Not because the hotel was so fabulous. It was good, but the Mexican place near by was pretty great. Kind of like an upscale chipotle, but it really scratched my itch for Mexican. I brought Phil chicken tortas (made super bland for his stomach) and I enjoyed the nachos once, tacos another, their burritos were super good too. In the two days we stayed at the hotel, I went there three times.
We did some searching and Phil found a highly rated hotel near the beach for a reasonable price, with breakfast included (a must for us). So the next morning, we packed up again and headed to the Prime Plaza Resort.
The Prime Plaza was HUGE. It is a resort hotel that feels like a cruise ship with long hallways and multiple pools and restaurants. It was very nice, though not typically our speed. The Barringtons love a boutique hotel, something quaint and cute without a ton of other people. That being said, when in Rome, do as the Romans do. So while Phil continued to rest (his fever had broken, thank goodness), I did a little exploring and enjoyed some pooling.
After a few days, Phil was feeling back to normal, so we headed out to do some exploring. We visited the Bajra Sandhi Monument in Denpasar. Built in 1981, it is a monument to the struggles of the Balinese people throughout history.
Initially, we thought it might be closed because the gate was locked. We realized it had one gate on each of it’s four sides, so we’d try each. The 4th one was open and we paid a modest entrance fee and headed in.
The grounds were lovely with bonsai trees and flowering plants. The grounds offered little shade on the hot day, however, so we did not linger.
As we entered, in the center of the building we saw a grand, cylindrical opening with a gurgling Koi pound at its base and large columns extending upward and a spiral staircase in the center. We took the spiral staircase up, and up, and up, to the top of the central tower. It was SO hot up there, but we found one of the open windows providing a merciful breeze and took full advantage of it, as we looked out, over the park and monument grounds.
After we made our way back down, we went to check out the impressive dioramas depicting the history of Bali. There are over 40 dioramas and they tell the tale of Balinese history including its colonizers and fight for freedom from their oppressors. Phil write’s more about it in his post here.
After leaving the monument, we stopped by the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit, a Balinese Catholic church that is one of the most unique Catholic churches I’ve ever seen. The architecture, statues, and stained glass seemed to beautifully weave together Catholic dogma and Balinese culture.
After our stop at the church, I needed an iced coffee, so we stopped at Loh coffee where I had a spectacular coconut coffee. Phil had a strawberry smoothie that came with a scoop of strawberry ice cream on top, and we shared the carrot cake.
After our coffee, we called a Grab and headed back to the hotel for a little pool time and dinner. We ended up really enjoying our time on the cruise ship that was Prime Plaza. I guess that’s the dangerous part of resort hotels. As much as it is a huge convenience, if your hotel grounds have everything you need, you don’t need to leave.
We, however, eventually did have to leave. Our next stop would be our final stop in Bali. Stay tuned for my Bali wrap up!
Jess Barrington Travels 