Ubud

First night in Ubud, starting out with a delicious meal made up of traditional dishes from Ubud. The matcha-vanilla ice-cream smoothie is my new favourite drink.
I'm glad the flights are behind me for now. Especially the first one. Sitting amidst grumpy, vigorously coughing (of course without a mask!) Germans who don't shy away from pointing out that you are just rude for reclining your seat and telling you that - even though the person in front of you had completely reclined their seat - it simply isn't their problem that you don't have space anymore and keep insisting on their righteousness after you point out the irony of the situation is why I left that country in the first place. Did you have to re-read that sentence? You and me both.
I experienced Balinese hospitality for the first time after having arrived at the airport. An employee from the airport was so happy to help me with my luggage, immigration (scan a QR-code) and finding my way out of the airport (there was only one way to go after immigration, but just to be sure) even though I had only asked him if I was right to queue where I was standing. Him being helpful lasted barely a minute before letting me know - I recall it being 5 times - that I ought to tip him. Ok, I wasn't getting out of that one. He was persistent. It's almost like he had done this before. After I had withdrawn money from the nearest ATM, he freely suggested I give him 4 or 5 of "the red ones". While still struggling with the new currency, I did check it out beforehand and decided that 30 EUR were not what I was willing to pay for not having to put a bag on a trolley and being told to scan a QR code. Frankly, it wasn't worth the 50000 IDR he got from me. But as I soon came to learn, begging for your money/intention to pay for anything is omnipresent here.Weiterlesen