Leaving Bali

Remember what we wrote about the 4th and 5th of mars on the last post?? That they party and make so much noise on the 4 that the evil spirits leave and that the 5th its a silent day and that nothing is working what so ever..... Well, turns out that they turn off the banking system for the ATM's across the hole country as well as everything else. :) Go figure...

So this is where our trouble started. First of all for Sarah, the girl from somewhere in England that we met.

Non of us knew that the ATM would not work, so we didn't care to lift money since we where to be inside all day and where leaving the country in the morning. We woke up around 06:45 and had breakfast together when we realized that the ATM's weren't open yet. Shit Shit Shit I recon Sarah's thoughts where... :) What shall I do? Cause Sarah had like 30 000 Rp (around 2 euros) and the hotel room where about 400 000 (28 euro). A small different isn't??? So we asked several times when the ATM would open again and they all said 08:00 pm, and our flight where scheduled to leave for Singapore 09:10. Meaning that 08:00 is the latest we need to leave to the airport. Well, we had to leave earlier since we also needed cash and we thought that it where a better chance that the ATM would work at the airport. It has to, right?? So around 07:10 we left Sarah at the hotel agreed that we should do whatever we can to make them wait a little bit at the gate and at the airport for her. :)We even paid the asshole taxi driver a little bit more so that he would go back to the hotel and wait for her so that he could drive her directly to the airport. But guess what??? He just simply lied and took the extra money and took off. So no taxi was waiting for her.... Just sums up how much u can trust some people here........ :(

At the airport the trouble started for us :( When we came to the airport we started to think about the airport tax fee that we need to pay. 150 000 pr head and we had about 100 000 all together so we where in deep shit as well. And the ATM's still weren't working. So I (Julian) went inside to see if there where any place where we could get some money but nope, no help from nobody. :( So we found some money from Cambodia & Thailand that we could change but still it weren't enough for the both of us to travel. This is wen the funny part started, a security guard that saw our problem came and said that he would give us the money if we had something of interest for him.
We started thinking about what we could sell to him. I (Julian) offered him my electronic razor and my fake watch witch instantly fell in his attention. And Betty offered him a fake purse but he didn't pay attention to that. It where the watch he wanted.... :)

hehehehe so he asked how much and I told him the money so that we could leave the country. He thought long and hard and asked me all these questions of if the watch where water proof and how much I paid for it. :) Of cause I couldn't lie to him so I told him that it where a fake that I bought in Kuta and he called over several of his friends to get some opinion on the case. :) Betty where little bit afraid but they where friendly and not dangerous so it where fine. In the end this other guy told me to come with him and that he knew a place where I could get money. hmmm, little bit sketchy but I went along with him. Well inside the airport there where this guy how sold newspapers and some other souvenir stuff that told me that I could pay with card and get some money out. Awesome I thought.. :) Off cause I had to buy something and he also took 20 % for himself. Expensive but I mean what could we do........ So we got the money and where on our way to check in for the flight. We explained the situation to the guy at the counter for check in but he didn't seem to care that much but he would stay for 10 more minute... We started to get worried for Sarah cause she didn't answer her cell and no word at all from her at all. :(

Alright stay with me on this one. Back to 07:45 and to the hotel where we left Sarah. She where anxious and the clock seemed to go so slow. Like one minute where one hour, and by the time the clock got to 08:00 (witch where the time they said that the ATM would open) Sarah just told them that she needed to leave right away and that one of them simply had to come with her cause she is leaving. So one of the receptionist said that he would drive her to an ATM. So they went searching for a ATM and around 08:15 they found one. With the money on her she paid the guy and even got him to drive her to the airport. He did a Michael Shcumacher on her, the normal 15 min drive into a 7 minute drive so she actually made it just on time for the flight. :) Awesome felling and we where so happy the tree of us that we all made it :)

Well arrived in Singapore we had to go to customs. :) Random check up, witch where fine for us since we didn't have anything illegal with us, at least that's what we thought...... :( Cause what I (Julian) totally had forgotten about was the sling knife that I bought in Cambodia. So I was asked to open my backpack and show them the content of my backpack. Then the knife came to sight. :( Custom police told me to pick it up, lay it on the table and to keep my hands so that they could see them. After looking for 1 sec on the knife she told me to take my bag and follow her. :( Not so nice feeling when u hear them calling a 9-5 and asking for the police to join them.... Seriously I really believed I was headed for jail for a sec there and both Betty and Sarah looked surprised and a little bit worried as I where guided into the interviewing chamber. Bye Bye Betty, see u in a couple of years........

So there I was sitting in their office being interviewed 4 times by different police officers witch all asked the same question in a different way. They where really interested in where I bought it and for witch purpose. So in the end after explaining them how and where I bought the knife they let me go with only a warning. :) :) :) :) Managed to talk my way out of getting a 500 dollar fine. Hell yeah, but if that happens again they will bring me to court in Singapore and give me 130 community service hours and maybe some time to kill in the jail. :( So next time I travel in Singapore I will for sure check my backpack.....

Well here we are in Singapore at least and in a couple of days Betty will write a post about the city and our activities for u to read. But have to run... Our bus is arriving soon so take care and see you soon.
Cheers