On to Indonesia

My short flight from Siem Reap to Bangkok was delayed an hour – that was okay; I had a two-hour layover in Bangkok. There was an Artisans d’Angkor branch to browse at the airport, and there was ice cream. And then the flight was delayed for another hour – not okay. I was glad to be in a country where people spoke English as their second language, because I found someone to help me, and I’m not sure I could have done that with a language barrier. I told the airport people about my connecting flight, and when I got to Bangkok there was an agent waiting for me. They rushed me (and two other people who were going on to Chiang Mai) onto a van instead of the wait-until-it’s-filled airport bus for the ride to the terminal. I had to get my bags, because Bangkok Air didn’t have a check-through arrangement with budget airline Air Asia, and recheck them (I don’t want to dwell on the charge for overweight luggage that I paid to and from Cambodia and to Indonesia; I still had inexpensive travel, at least to this point) and run – only to find out that my flight to Jakarta was also delayed for two hours! I hadn’t spent a lot of time on scenarios that involved missing the connecting flight (though most of them involved spending the night at the airport in Bangkok), and I didn’t have to! Maybe a lesson after being in Buddhist countries (or another lesson from Peace Corps and Morocco – patience and inshallah). And maybe it was better anyway to arrive on New Year’s at 1:45 am than at 11:45 pm?

During my flight time and waiting time, I started reading about Indonesia. I read that when you enter the country you have to show your ticket out of the country, and I didn’t have one. This didn’t stop Air Asia from letting me on the plane, but when it was an issue after I landed, at least it wasn’t a surprise. A visa on demand was $25 – I didn’t have any more dollars! I had used them up in Cambodia. Luckily, I had some euros. In Cambodia, there’s an ATM before the visa-on-demand window – not so in Jakarta (in Luang Prabang I could pay in Thai baht). I also hadn’t been given an immigration card on the plane – I thought that was odd but didn’t question it. By the time I got my visa and filled out an immigration card, I was one of the last people on line.

The immigration guy asked for my ticket out of the country, and I told him I didn’t have one, but I would not stay over 60 days (or 30 – or 90 – whatever the maximum allowed was). I had read that they could make you buy your ticket out before they let you in, but it was after two o’clock in the morning (Happy New Year!) and there were no ticket agents. The immigration official told me that if I gave him $50 he would stamp my passport and let me in. I said, “fifty dollars?” wanting to make sure I heard him. He said I’m not giving him a bribe, he wouldn’t give me a hard time. Not a bribe? Happy New Year AND Welcome to Indonesia! I told him I didn’t have it; he let me go to an ATM and come back. And shortly thereafter I was in the country. I was still waiting for my luggage when he passed by, having closed up shop – he advised me to take only Blue Bird taxi; those were the most reputable. He’s telling me about reputable?

Anyway, at that hour there were no Blue Bird or other taxis. Some guy offered me a ride, and a Canadian guy who was also looking for a ride joined me in what turned out to be a taxi after all (but a private one, not a Blue Bird). The Canadian guy lives in Indonesia so he knew what a fair price would be and he negotiated for both of us. At that point I was worn out, from the hour and from the travels and from the delays and from my ordeals at getting in – and from the karma change that it all seemed to indicate - and I was happy to get to my hotel at last.

No pictures from the airports or planes, so instead, some more recent ones:

Flatiron Building


High Line


Long Island Duck


North Fork Lavender Farm