Bon Voyage - Pack up and Board the flight

Bon Voyage     - Pack up and Board the flight

 

                

                              

 

The French phrase “Bon Voyage” means “Have a nice trip”.    It is generally used to express farewell and  good wishes to a departing traveler.

I really wanted to write a travelogue about my first foreign visit, but since I already have an established medium of expression like BlogSpot finally I settled for a note in my next post.

           

I was really thrilled when my boss announced about foreign leisure holidays are in the offing and have been sanctioned by the Marketing Director.  There was excitement and jubilation amongst our team members.  For some of us including me it was a first time experience abroad.  We thanked the Delhi based travel agent who has taken care of our elaborate tour plans and arranged for visa formalities to take off to Bali, Indonesia via Singapore.

We have planned a five day foreign tour program.  All of us have purchased some Singapore dollars and Indonesian currency for the shopping and additional individual tour expenses. We being the loyal employees worked entire day on that weekend Friday and left after office hours to the Mumbai International Airport bundled in two “Innova” Toyota cars with our luggage to board the flight to Singapore.

Our group of eleven people comprised of eight men and three women, most of us were Digital Marketers, and others handled Media and Brand promotional activities such as Research and Advertising.  Our team was a blend of youth and experienced professionals.

Our team of eleven was high in energy and intellect.  It appeared that the team was a carefully hand-picked eleven.  It was like a dream team selection for the cricket World Cup.

A famous travel quote –

“Man cannot discover many oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.” Andre Gide.

The flight from Mumbai to Singapore was comfortable and the Singapore Airlines crew awesome. After reaching Singapore Airport we ran to get into the Sky Train to board the flight to Denpasar.  Denpasar is the capital city of  Bali.

 

Our tour operator’s guide “Sukarto”, the local Indonesian welcomed us at Bali with folded hands and greeting us with an Indian “NAMASTE”.   Namaste is a Hindi word for traditional greetings.  Bali is an island and Province of Indonesia.  Sukarto was our guide and constant companion for the entire Indonesian tour.  Sukarto found to be knowing many Hindi words and familiar with local dining and other important landmarks.  Throughout the tour he remained useful and guided us with his historical data as well as modern knowledge about Indonesia.

          Sukarto in his tempo traveler took us to the Ayodya Resort, Bali where we were put up for five days of our tour.  “Ayodya Resort” was a beautiful place with the buildings built in acres of land with flowers, butterflies, chirping birds and snakes in the water, a giant swimming pool and two hundred meters from there lies the ocean in its abundant splendor.

The lobby of Ayodya Resort was spacious and breezy with high ceiling and wooden carvings.  I was provided with an individual Villa with a rear opening towards a garden balcony.  The Villa had a small refrigerator, a coffee maker and a bath tub.  Just outside my Hotel room stood a statue of an eagle with 9 ft. height, broad and gigantic.   When I saw the statue of Eagle for the first time, it struck me the Hollywood motion picture title “Where Eagles Dare.” Eagle an American Army Symbol and National Bird of America.

The Hotel was full with many tourists from western countries have been put up there.

During the tour every night we used to assemble at the Hotel lobby and brain storm about how good we can excel in our portfolios and strengthen the department, really mixing business with pleasure.

Let me recall the tour program and itinerary though not in chronological order.  However, the entire tour program was discussed in Mumbai and made the deliberations and was subsequently handed out to the tour operator.  The travel agency ensured the strict compliance with our tour program.

After checking in the Hotel we all had a shower and refreshed with putting on fresh clothes and gone out in the city sight-seeing.  The town was planned in Hindu culture with many gigantic statues from the Hindu epic “Mahabharat” to be seen there.  The statues were 22’ X 16’ in size.   The township was neat and clean and we could see in the pathway many big dust bins made of wood featuring Owl, Kiwi, Squirrel, Rabbit and Monkey which was an amusing sight.  The Hindu Sanskruti was seen everywhere including in the Ayodya Resort.
 

                                             

                                      

 The next day we went to Tanjung Benoa beach and indulged in adventure water sports.  There was single Jet Ski and group Banana Boat, an unpowered inflatable recreational boat meant for towing.

(The images shown in this post are not real.  The tour photographs are withheld for the confidentiality of the members involved.)

 We traveled by boat to an adjacent stretch of land for para    sailing.  The para sailing for me was one of its first kind experience.  The 800 ft. high parasailing with strings attached to your gloved hands was a thrilling and adventurous sport for me.  All of our team members participated in the para sailing.  We almost spend the second day of our tour in the beach and beach water sports.

In the evening we have gone to Benoa Harbour for Sunset Cruise Dinner. The luxury cruise was most beautifully decked up.  Our team was in their best of motivation and inspiration to enjoy the cruise trip.  The Dinner buffet was sumptuous with continental dishes.  One of our colleague sung a Hollywood number with the cruise band.  The cruise had various entertainment programs including beauty contest and dance numbers. Some of our team mates turned out to be excellent dancers and received applause from the audience for their dancing skills.  

I personally enjoyed the star studded and moon lit night sky from the upper deck of the cruise.  I was lying down at the edge of the deck on the seat with 9” width attached to the rim of the deck and clasping on it to avoid not to fall down and looked up in the sky and enjoyed my dream come true i.e. the poet in me was admiring the ocean waves and the beautiful star studded sky.  It appeared that there were zillions of stars in the sky. When nobody was around I started singing my favorite tunes and really enjoyed the beautiful nature and sky from the upper deck of the cruise.  There was moisture in the atmosphere and cool breeze was blowing making it really exotic.   If there is a heaven on earth, it’s here, it’s here.  This was a lifetime experience one could not have afforded to miss out.

The Bali Township was Spik n Span and the natives were spotted in neat and tidy clothes.   In some respect Bali was most liberated country by virtue of the personalized body treatments.  When you think of Bali an image of Bali’s traditional “Hand-fan” comes to our mind’s screen. You can see in the street corners big roosters being kept for sale in huge baskets.

Indonesia is predominantly an agricultural country.  Many of the plants, trees, fruits and vegetation resembled India’s southernmost strip Kerala.  May be a land which is parallel in South Asia separated by the sea.  Indonesian currency is called Rupiah and INR 0.0048 can fetch an Indonesian Rupiah. US Dollar 1 = 12,873.93 Indonesian Rupiah. Balinese is a unique culture.   The Balinese are an extremely devout and spiritual mix.  Balinese culture was strongly influenced by Indian, Chinese and particularly Hindu culture beginning around the 1^st Century AD.  In Bali there are over 10,000 temples. 

 

The third day, at 2 a.m. we started from the Ayodya Resort to Batur hikes in two vehicles.  We reached the starting point of mountaineering around 4 a.m.  Many other groups including the Spanish, French and Americans joined us in the mission Batur hike.  We had put on our casual jeans, tea shirt, sports shoes and all of us carried a pen torch to grope through darkness.   The upward journey was adventurous and had difficulty in trekking mount Batur.  I was one of the first to reach the top of Batur hike with great energy and excitement.  Batur heights of about 2063 meter to scale up and experience the white rising sun in the earliest morning hours was amazing. 

To conquer the Bali heights and capture the Sun in all its majestic glory was a fantastic and thrilling experience and an amazing awesome sight.  The Sun appeared like a white round bread popularly known in Kerala as “Vatteppam”.  The Vatteppam is a round shaped big white sweet bread made out of rice flour, sugar and yeast with one inch thickness made in a round mold. You feel that a mission accomplished when you are on top of the challenging heights.  The view from there is a life time experience.  You sit on a cliff’s edge dangling your legs down and there lies the mountain valley in its horrifying vertical depth. A glance down gives a spine chilling experience for your adrenaline rush with your heart pounding in your mouth.  We had an energy drink, a thick and nutritious milk shake along with a filling banana split sandwich on top of the Batur hike.  The descending order trip was easy even though we tried not to slip and to maintain body balance. 

The afternoon we spend visiting a temple and rice terrace gardens at Jatiluwah.  The rice was cultivated in step by step terrace paddy.  It was an unforgettable experience and an eye-pleasing sight. The team members kept on clicking photos throughout our tour including the Jatiluwah panorama and we all shared the invaluable and beautiful images clicked by all when we returned to our office desk which was a prized possession.  My contribution of photos was worthwhile too.

Many of us could not adjust with the Indonesian food.  The smell of the food was tummy turning and I have ended up settling for fried rice and Egg Omelette for most of the time when we were on tour.

One day we have witnessed a beach wedding next to Ayodya Resort.  Beach wedding is a novel idea and the patrons were well dressed in suit and gowns and the wedding area in white sand and breezy open space was well decorated with plants, flowers and gigantic bouquets.

In the evening we dined in the Kemangi, an Indonesian and Italian cuisine restaurant at Bali.

Our team members posed for photographs in great inimitable style and resulted in invaluable treasure of memories. 

                 

The fourth day, we had gone for scuba diving.  The Atlantis Bali Scuba Diving Center was providing Scuba Diving service since 1996. There was a pool next to the sea where the expert scuba diving trainers given training to the team before diving in the sea.   The sea almost to the shore had under water marine life and a ship debris.  The stone studded coast itself had deep dark blue water.

After Scuba Diving we went for a candle light beach dinner.  The long beach with a stretch of 2 km had decked up row of tables with white cotton cloth and chairs.  There were singers with musical instruments including the local musical instruments performing at your table and was willing to play a Hollywood and even a Bollywood number on request.  The candles were lighted on all the tables.  The awesome sea food was served there.  Alongside the sea shore, there were many stages erected within the span of 200 yards performing local cultural programs.  The candle light beach dinner was gratifying and the visuals were amazing.

One of the Restaurant in which we have dined called Bali Nusa Dua Convention Center conducted the 63^rd edition of the Miss Word Beauty Pageant 2013 a few days after our visit to Bali. We were photographed with the Bali’s traditional Legong and Barong dancers and the orchestra team which performed in that dining joint.

During the tour when we visited the terrace rice paddy we could also visit an adjacent coffee plantation Bali Coffee processing and farming.   We could see how the coffee beans were grown and how they packed coffee powder in different measures of weight.

The fifth day we did some shopping in Bali and bought some souvenirs, Bali coffee and a diary and traditional Bali fan and boarded the flight from Denpasar Airport to Changi International Airport Singapore.  The Singapore is the cleanest city in the world.  If you litter anything on the road, you will be fined by the cops.  The Singapore Airport was a modern monument and seen quite beautiful.   We returned to Mumbai from Singapore and landed in Mumbai in the middle of the night on the last day of Ganapati idol immersion.  The Ganesh festival is a ten day long festival in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India worshipping the elephant headed god Lord Ganesha.  The festival is celebrated with great gaiety and grandeur.  In the last day of the Ganesh festival the bigger idols of Ganesha were taken for immersion in the lakes and sea water.

The tour in general was amazing and superbly satiating.  The tour was studded with some of my life’s most cherished moments.

I must congratulate all my team members for the excellent team spirit shown by them and making the tour great fun, adventurous and most memorable one.

When we departed from Bali, the tour guide Sukarto wished me goodbye with “See You, Sir”.