East Timor trip

23 January 2006

Manila to Bali via Singapore

Our flight from Manila to Singapore was uneventful. Nothing creepy happened. As usual, Singapore Airlines lived up to its reputation as one of the world’s best airlines. The flight service was excellent although the crew was too cheerful. Their smiles were so sunshiny I almost got blinded. I even tried to restrain myself from touching their faces so I could find out if they were real!

The inflight food was average. You have a choice of honey-glazed chicken with mashed potatoes and fruit salad or Escabeche! Yes, the pinoy escabeche. I tried the chicken and washed it down with three glasses of red wine. Midway to our flight I was pretty smashed! It is a good thing to get drunk when you’re flying especially if the one sitting next to you smells like a dead rat!

We have a two-hour layover at the Changi Airport. Now, this is some airport! It’s like a mall, a ritzy big freaking mall. There are shops and restaurants everywhere. You can get anything you want here if you have tons of money. Last year I bought my copy of Nobody Knows and The Kite Runner in TimeLinks Asia.

In our connecting flight to Bali, I was mistaken for an Indonesian. The guy next to me kept on yakking in Bahasa until I said shove it! He looked at me, blinked and then he shut his trap. Hehehe. We arrived in Bali at around 10 pm. From the airport it was 30 minutes to All Seasons Hotel, our home for the night. The next day we would fly to the newest democracy in the planet, East Timor. I threw my things on the floor and jumped into bed. Sixty seconds later I lost consciousness.

24 January 2006

Bali to Dili in East Timor

I woke up in this paradise island called Bali at around 6:30 in the morning. My room is about 60 dollars a night with free breakfast. Not bad considering the hotel room rates in the Bali guidebook that Singapore Airlines gave to us starts from 120 dollars. I had a view of the pool and a veranda plus a king-sized bed. The only thing that worries me is that my hotel is located in the area favored by bomb-throwing loonies. In October last year scores of people were killed in a terror attack here. That was the second bombing in just three years. Bali, though, is still a westerners’ playground. I haven’t seen so much white people in my entire life! They’re everywhere, parang kabute!