Legian 2

My last day in Bali was a bit of anti-climax. There were no tours I wanted to take, so the plan was to have a late breakfast, enjoy the hotel pool until it was time to check-out, leave my luggage with the concierge, and spend the day in a shopping centre, out of the heat, until time to go to the airport for the evening flight.

Either due to incompetence or sabotage, the first two Grab drivers couldn't find me. However the third was a good driver and even waited for me outside a hotel when I thought he would drive past on the street.

The mall was called Discovery. It was a weird kind of place. It wasn't airconditioned throughout, parts of it were exposed to warm air from the outside.

It had a couple of anchor tenants, Sogo and Parkson.

On the top floor there was a Chinese cafeteria but the prices were high. However it indicated that more tourists were coming from China now. On the way to the mall we had passed several Chinese restaurants. I suppose no different from other tourists expecting steak houses and pubs in foreign countries.

There was a smattering of smaller stalls. I had no interest in buying any of the stuff. I had a lunch here, an afternoon refreshment and by about 1630, decided to get a Grab car to return to the hotel to collect my luggage and take a taxi to the airport. By pure coincidence the driver who took my request for the return trip was the same one.

Bali's Ngurah Rai airport is a mess. You have to pass security to reach the check-in counters. I made the mistake of ordering food at a restaurant outside check-in. It was one of the most incompetent dishes I've had. Later on I found out that there were other eateries after customs. I couldn't even find the restaurant listed on Tripadvisor to post warning advice.

Epilogue: The warnings for Mount Agung were downgraded after my trip, but of course the volcano will erupt again some day, years or decades from now.