Bali - It's one big tower defence

I recently visited Bali for my honeymoon. During a visit to one of the temples, my guide directed me to the "exit" while he exited in another direction. My wife and I headed out the exit but was greeted with rows and rows of stalls, everytime we turned a corner we were greeted by more rows of shops, it was like a maze. A maze designed to maximise our exposure to stalls in the available area. I mentioned to my wife, this is like "Tower Defence". All the tourists are the "creeps" being funnelled around a maze and our wallets represent our Hp. I then realised that the whole island was one big tower defence game where the game was to drain as much "HP/$$" possible from tourists.



Critical Strike 17% chance of double damage

Beware of traders trying to maximise their profit on "noob" tourists. Unfortunately I was also a victim on my first day when I bought an overpriced painting. After I bought my beautiful exotic painting I saw multiple similar paintings everywhere else. I think they all come from the same factory down town. Thankfully the price was still acceptable after currrency conversion.

Area damage towers



Everywhere you go in Bali requires some kind of entrance fee. Sometimes there are just posts set up by the roadside requiring payment to enter an area ( sometimes this is literally in the middle of the road). All there small fees add up.

Amplify Damage 16-21%

Most restaurants will amplify the damage they do to your wallet by 16-21% . This is on top of the already amplified tourist price. This is the GST/Amplify damage tax- oddly the amount varies from restaurant to restaurant.

Heat Towers

Bali is hot most of the time, the heat will require you to buy water/ice-cream or whatever you need to cool down. Thankfully stalls are aplenty at all tourist sites

Water Towers



It rains a lot in Bali, but don't worry umbrellas are always available for rent, for a small fee.

Chain Towers



As I was entering a temple, I had to put on a sarong as required by the temple. The lady who gave me the sarong also passed me a bunch of bananas and said "for the monkey".  I was a bit confused, was she giving them to me? Then she requested 20,000 IDR, this is on top of the 30,000 IDR entrance fee. At some temples, the monkeys sometimes aggressively rob the visitor belonging or glasses. They would cheekily exchange your belonging with you for a banana. Lucky for the visitors there's always a vendor nearby who will happily sell you some bananas.




Tracking/Heat seeking Towers


One time I had a persistent vendor following me around the car park trying to sell me some wooden carvings. I politely declined but she just followed me all the way from the exit to the door of my van.


Tower defence is Fun!

Having said all that, Bali is a beautiful place and the people are generally down to earth and hospitable. I did enjoy my trip, after all, I love playing tower defence!

Tale of 3 Budget Airlines : Jetstar Vs Tiger Airways Vs Air Asia Review

So, this time I went back to Malaysia via Singapore I took 3 budget airlines.

Auckland <----> Singapore             Jetstar



Singapore <----> Kuching    Tiger Airways



Kuching <-----> Sibu            Air Asia


All in all the return trip added up to 6 flights altogether.
I'll give a quick review for those who might be interested in travelling with these airlines in the future.
This just based on my experience from  this trip.
I will rank them in categories

Online Booking

1. Jetstar wins this one- you can choose your seats from the remaining ones for free ( when you check-in online)
2. Tiger - Okay
3. AirAsia- More tedious than the rest. Although all budget airlines have hidden costs, AirAsia tries to milk you for as much as they can. I particularly hate the "opting out" for travel insurance. They add in the cost of insurance automatically and you have to opt-out by clicking a difficult to find "cancel" button.
After you click cancel, a pop-up will ask you
" Are you sure you want to cancel?"
and you will be given 2 options"
"Continue" or   "Cancel"
Guess which one you need to click to cancel your insurance?

AirAsia was recently fined by Australian courts for false advertising and multiple hidden costs.

Checking In

1. AirAsia - AirAsia wins this one as you have online check-in and you can print out your boarding pass online. This means if you have carrying-on baggage only, you can go to the airport and board the plane without going to a counter. They also have kiosks for checking in at some airports.
2. Jetstar- You can check-in online but you can't print a boarding pass. Checking in online does speed things up as the baggage drop line is usually faster.
3. Tiger Airways- Online check-in for limited flights and only available to Singapore citizens.

Punctuality

1. AirAsia and Tiger Airways - both were punctual, taking off on time. Tiger Airways arrived in Kuching a bit earlier than scheduled.

2. Jetstar - Take-off was delayed for 40 minutes on my return journey to Auckland and we arrived 1 hour late!

The Flight/Aircraft

Difficult to compare as obviously different crafts were used for different journeys.

1. Jetstar seats were reasonably comfortable and you get to choose seats from leftovers. They also had shared monitors where random in-flight entertainment were screened.
Tip: Bring a personal earphone, you can listen to music and watch TV without having to buy one.

2 +3 . AirAsia and Tiger tie for providing me with cramped seats for one leg of the journey each.
 ( one flight was okay and one was cramped). This things depend on your luck I think.

All 3 airlines use Airbuses rather than Boeings but that doesn't mean much.

Food:

I didn't try the food on any of the airlines this time although I have tried AirAsia food before ( it's okay).
Food is generally overpriced and not as good as what you can get at your destination. Get it if you need to for sustenance. I bought drinks to keep hydrated.

Service:

Draw
I did not have any trouble with service at the counter or in the air.

You do need to pack your luggage properly because the ground crew love throwing your luggage around with gay abandon. I'm not sure if this is airline specific, it's probably more likely to be airport specific. Cookies can become crumbs. Either mark your luggage as fragile or hand-carry delicate stuff.

Good lookingness of air crew

AirAsia wins this one, if it matters to you.





In summary, I have to give Jetstar a thumbs down for this trip as a delayed flight is the bane of any traveler.
The excuse we were given this time was "ground crew is still loading your luggage"

Happy Travelling