I said goodbye to Bali today. I woke up early at 5:30 am with the temptation of going to Crate cafe one last time for their avocado toast. After some serious consideration, my rational side convinced my fatty side to not do it. I packed up and I had a driver pick me up at 6:20 am and we were on the road. It took about 40 minutes to get to the airport without any issue. We did hit a strong patch of rain but other than that it was smooth.
I got to the airport really early considering my flight was at 11:55 am but I’m glad I got there early so I was able to relax. I didn’t get much sleep so I was tired. I went through the airport smoothly and went to a cafe after doing a quick walkthrough of the airport. This is when the day starting getting a little more challenging but I wasn’t phased, surprising myself. I ate at a restaurant where the food turned out to be terrible. On top of that, I found a caterpillar in my food when I finished about half of it. They comped my food and gave me some french fries but I was pretty grossed out by that point.
While waiting, I found a really awesome Autocad app. It’s such an incredible app and I was able to do some prototyping with it for Stationgeek. I’m pretty excited about it and really love using the app. It’s super intuitive and really simple to use but you can create some very complex designs. It’s really fun to use as well.
I eventually boarded and got the middle seat…always a bummer. They also didn’t serve free food on the flight or drinks. I guess that’s how AirAsia operates as a low-cost leader. I was starving at this point and tried ordering food but they only took cash. I was tired, hungry, and stuck in the middle seat. Thankfully, the flight was only 4 hours and I had my iPad pro with me. I learned how to use the AutoCAD app and designed a test prototype with it. It helped the time fly much faster than if I didn’t have the AutoCAD too.
I got to the airport and got another SIM card for my phone. I hailed a Grab ride and this is where it gets more frustrating. I’m already tired and hungry. My Grab driver apparently doesn’t know how to use the navigation system and gets us lost. It normally takes 1 hour to get to my location but he ends up taking 2.5 hours and he doesn’t even drop me off at my spot. The entire time he was getting lost, he seemed to be angrily cussing and bemoaning the fact that he couldn’t, for the life of him, find my destination (it wasn’t very hard to find).
I eventually just tell him to drop of me off 2km away from my place. I tried getting another Grab driver but there is massive traffic because of the river celebration (at least that’s what my Airbnb host told me). I had to cancel the Grab ride and instead, my Airbnb host picked me up. While I waited for my ride I grabbed some Mcdonalds, which I normally wouldn’t do, but I was starving. It was delicious. I just considered it my Thanksgiving meal.
I finally got my place. First thing I did was check out the pool and gym area. It’s beautiful and probably the best thing about this location. I did a quick chest work out and walked around the condo to get a feel for the area. The area isn’t very good and there aren’t many places for food. It looks pretty ghetto the good thing is it’s right next to a BTS station.
That’s why I only book a week at a given location before I commit longer. I learned that it’s hard to find a good spot even though they have a ton of reviews. I was hungry but there wasn’t any place open that looked clean so I just got a protein shake and water. I showered up and calling it a night. I’m exhausted and barely had the energy to write this journal post.
I am thankful that the internet is fast and I can get around without a scooter. I miss Bangkok and it’s still my one favorite places in SEA. I’ll explore tomorrow to see what’s around but I plan to get into work mode these next two weeks.