Secrets of My Wonderful Travels & Leisure Trips: Exotic Bali - Ngurah Rai Bali Airport and Malioboro Ayam Tulang Lunak Restaurant (Day 1, 26 Aug 2013)

It is a busy season for me recently especially coming these few weeks because I need time to study for my professional certification exam... After the exam, plenty of stuff is waiting for me to be completed too... Therefore, I will slow down on updating this Bali trip travelogue...

This destination was not in my travel plan initially, because I thought Bali is a place which is only suitable for couples' honeymoon trip... But, I was wrong... Haha... It is totally suitable for family trips too! Since last year I managed to grab cheap tickets from Air Asia, therefore this ad hoc trip was added to our travel list for this year!

August is one of the peak seasons for travelling in Bali. During our visit, most of the days were bright and sunny, except for the last 2 days of the trip. When it was raining, we were sitting comfortably in the car and lucky enough to avoid the rain. The timing was perfect!! Haha... And our driver - Mr Komang Sunaya told us that we were lucky because we followed a lucky star, which was him!! Hehe :P Our driver is a funny and cheerful guy though!

We woke up early and reached the airport around 6:30 am in order to catch our flight at 7:50 am. After 3 hours, we finally reached Ngurah Rai Bali Airport at Denpasar although we got some delays at LCCT airport (about 15 minutes). When we reached Bali airport, we spent some time searching for the arrival card. I wondered why some tourists paid for the arrival fees at the counters, so I asked the airport staff, luckily for APAC countries, arrival fees are exempted.

After a long queue at the custom, we finally met our driver! I booked the driver's services 4 months ahead of the trip. Initially, I booked with Mr Kadek Adipa and I got his contact from a forum. However, when we reached the airport, another driver picked us up. Mr Komang told us that he is a cousin of Mr Adipa, and Mr Adipa was not free due to his prayer ceremony. So he sent Mr Komang to serve us during the whole trip. Mr Komang reached the airport very early around 1:30 pm, but our flight was delayed and due to the long queue at customs, we were only able to get to the entrance around 2:30 pm. That means he waited for us for about 1 hour!! So I apologized to him as we were too late!!

Waiting for the gate to be opened at LCCT airport

Nice volcano view from the aeroplane window

Beautiful paddy field view from the aeroplane window

Breathtaking beach view from the aeroplane window

Landed safely at Ngurah Rai Bali Airport

Our flight

On the way to collect our baggage and custom

Balinese decorations in Ngurah Rai Bali airport

The Balinese entrance door of Ngurah Rai Bali airport

After spending a long time at the airport, we were hungry and wanted to have our late lunch. So our driver suggested we have lunch at Malioboro Ayam Tulang Lunak restaurant. This was not in my plan for lunch (as I planned to try out this restaurant on the last day of the trip), but since the restaurant is just 10 minute drive from the airport, so we accepted the suggestion by our driver. During our lunch, Mr Adipa called Mr Komang's handphone and he apologized to me due to last-minute changes to the driver arrangement.

We ordered the famous signature dishes - Ayam Presto Goreng Crispy (Pressurized Fried Crispy Chicken) and Ayam Presto Telur Asin (Pressurized Fried Chicken with Salted Egg). This restaurant is so famous because it is very special and the pressurized chicken bones can be eaten too! I personally preferred the Ayam Presto Telur Asin because the taste was better :)