Left my Bangkok apartment at 10:00pm, safely made it to the Lumpini MRT and departed at Chatachik Park, I was fuzzy on which side of the street I had to catch the A1 bus, first I waited on the crowded side, and watched two A2 buses drive by, wondering if I should get on because the sign on the bus said Don Muang. I then decided to switch street sides, which entailed crossing on the SkyTrain overpass, not an easy thing to do when I am carrying 30 pounds on my back. I saw the A1 coming but it was in the far lane and did not stop, so I decided to go back to the other side of the street, and when I was coming down the steps I saw the A1 had stopped, I did not think I would have time to catch it but it waited for at least 60 seconds and I was now on my way to Don Muang, and I arrived at 11:30pm, with my flight to leave at 6:00am.
The first thing I saw at Don Muang was a very long line, and I thought perhaps this was a security check, I asked the information desk where international departures was and she said I was in the right place, so I sighed to myself and was not looking forward to standing in such a long line. I am not sure why I decided to walk in the opposite direction but when I reached the far end of the terminal I saw the Air Asia counter and check in kiosks, so I decided why stand in line when I could check myself in, I would worry about security later. I was able to print my boarding pass and when I returned to the long line I saw that it was not for security, but it was an airline which had no kiosks and people were waiting to check in, and many of them had large parcels and trunks to check in, reminding me of Day 1 of my journey where I stood in line for 90 minutes watching 90% of the passengers ahead of me checking baggage. I turned in the opposite direction and saw the security check point and it was empty and without incident my passport was stamped out of Thailand and I walked to Terminal 1 and slept and read and paced for the next 5 hours.
Flight to Bali was harmless, and I once again had a chance to watch from a front row seat the toxic filler in the skies, which is higher than water vapor clouds. Landing at Ngurah Rai I walked a long ways to immigration and without hassle or too long of a wait was stamped in with the free visa. I stopped at an ATM and I could not withdraw money, the first 2 ATM's gave a message of "timing out", and the third spit my card out. I could not see any other machines to try but there was a couple of currency exchanges and I was happy that I had brought $200 in USA dollars, and I decided to exchange $140 at an unfavorable rate (13600 instead of 14100).
As I walked through the exit I saw a mass of taxi drivers, many holding signs with names, I was not expecting to see my name so I walked along the taxi gauntlet and toward the end of one of the lines I caught the eye of an intelligent looking young man, he asked if I needed a taxi, and knowing I did not want to pay more than 200,000ir, I asked how much to Sanur and he quoted a high price of 400,000 and I countered with 150,000 and he said final price 200,000, I thought why not, so we walked to his car which was not an official taxi, and I began to wonder at my choice to accept an offer from a random stranger. I imagined that once in his car he could drive me to a secluded spot and rob me, but now it was too late to fret about it, I made my choice and I got into his car and he drove me to Sanur and we had a nice conversation, and when we arrived at my destination I decided to give him 250,000ir ($18.30) because it appeared from the stories he told me that I could very well be the only ride he would make money from on this day (he told me he had been waiting 3 hours at the airport trying to find a passenger).
I found the Airbnb studio without much trouble, but the electrical box where the key was supposed to be was empty. I sat on the steps of the apartment and took out my laptop and was able to get a wifi connection and I messaged the owner and 15 minutes later she let me in, and I was quite disappointed in the place due to its lack of attention to details, which means poor quality - old furniture and appliances, a strong odor of gas in the kitchen, a clogged bathroom sink, and an air conditioner which appeared to be working with much effort and little result.
I settled in and decided I should try to get out of the contract and get a refund, but Eka, the owner, said at best she could only give me 50%, and I countered that I would stay 1 week and take the 50% refund and find another place to stay. A few hours later I decided that it would be best to try and stay 2 weeks without a refund, and perhaps by then I would be used to the place and end up staying the full 4 weeks, thus saving a considerable amount of money.
