Indonesia, Malaysia & Singapore, November 2022 - Part 1

While we were stationed in Malaysia for 3 years, it would seem obvious to travel to Bali, Indonesia. We however, always found a better place to visit, with less tourists and more authentic, in our view. At the end, more than 5 years after leaving Malaysia and South East Asia, we finally decided, that it was time to do something about that.

So finally, we booked a roundtrip to Indonesia, to two locations in Bali, and then to Lombok, which 5 years ago people told us, was more like Bali 20 years ago. We further decided to extend it with a trip back to our favorite Malaysian Resort, Sea Gypsy, a quick stopover in Puteri Harbour to see old colleagues and friends, before returning to Singapore to catch the flight back to Europe.

The initial plan called for November 2 departure, change of planes in Frankfurt same evening, and then another plane change the following evening in Singapore. This would make us arrive in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia, on the 3rd in the evening. However, Singapore Airlines decided to cancel our flight and just move us to the next available departure, the morning of the 4th, so now with a layover in Singapore of 15 hours. This also required a change in hotel bookings, which proved to be no problem at all. The travel agent was fine changing the dates around for the hotels, but we now had one day less in Indonesia.

The final plan for Indonesia ended up being:

- Ubud, Bali, 5 nights, https://goo.gl/maps/AzaFsxztHEJaoRfz9

- Gili Lombok, Lombok, 5 nights, https://goo.gl/maps/BtTPmd5r7fiJygDK7

- Denpasar, Bali, https://g.page/hyattregencybali?share

November 2, 2022 we headed for the airport with all preparations completed, some only just. Dive computers had to have batteries changed, diving equipment serviced, and I had to get myself a new BCD, as the old was too old for me to get hold of the spares. Something as simple as a dump valve. Having learnt our lesson from our Mexican adventure, from which we arrived home with a broken 2nd stage regulator and octopus, two broken BCD’s, and a smashed underwater flash, I got hold of the Big Hard Case suitcase, and filled it with all the gear, 32kg to be exact, and that without lead. The other two suitcases were not so bad and well within our weight limitations.

All went well, and the wait in Frankfurt was not too bad as the lounge even had chaise-longs where we could spend the time resting while waiting. The flight was also quite comfortable, so we arrived in Singapore on schedule Thursday evening, well prepared for our long layover, or at least we thought so. But 15 hours is a very long time when you have no purpose, other than waiting, especially when it is overnight. But when the lounge finally cleared out around 01:00, we could get to a couch and lie down for a few hours, before heading for the last flight.

So after a nothing less than excellent sleep, basically passing out when hitting the pillow, and to the sounds of heavy rain and thunder, we woke quite refreshed. I wrote a bit, and Jannie was off to her daily yoga. Once back we both went for a hearty breakfast in the hotel bistro. We decided to have a look around town, and as the "Monkey Forrest" was very close by https://monkeyforestubud.com/, we decided to head there. I guess that we were sort of expecting something of a tourist trap, but must admit that we were mistaken. It was quite an oasis in the middle of town, and believe that the pictures speak for themselves.