Our flight to Bali leaves at 4 pm Singapore time. However, we went to Singapore Changi Airport very early and reached there at about 1 pm. We had thought of going there with ample time to shop around and laze. Seems like my friend and I had underestimated our time. We shopped from Terminal 1 (where we checked in) to Terminal 2 and ended up in Terminal 3. As we were buying Godiva Chocolates, we heard our names being announced over the PA system in the airport terminal. We found out that we were one of the last few passengers to board on the flight to Bali.

Immigration was a breeze, despite the numerous visitors visiting the Island of Gods, we cleared immigration fairly fast. I read from the Lonely Planet guidebook, that there will be a lot of touts outside the airport paddling their business to earn more from uninformed tourists, however, there is a taxi counter where the prices are fixed and are a lot cheaper than the touts waiting outside the airport terminal. We approached the taxi counter, however, they quoted us a price that is higher then that was being written on the board. We left the counter without booking a cab and check if there is another counter on the other side of the terminal building. As my friend and I was walking, a few touts approached us and asked if we wanted a taxi. All of them quoted a price that is significantly higher than that from the counter. We couldn’t find another counter and went back to get a taxi from the taxi counter.

Sheraton Resort isn’t that far from the airport. It took us about 45 mins to reach Sheraton. Sheraton is right next to the Hard Rock Hotel, and there is plenty of shopping around the area. It is right in the middle of Kuta area. Beneath the hotel is a shopping mall. We checked into our hotel and left our luggage there before heading out to explore Kuta area a bit. Kuta is famous for its beach and a mega shopping area. The amount of tourists flocking to this area explains why the beach is exceptionally crowded and the numerous surf shops in the area, not forgetting the number of touts, ranging from small shop keepers trying to get tourists into their shop to buy souvenirs to the honking by the cabbies hoping to get passengers into their cab. Speaking of cabs, it is important to ensure that one asks for the meter to be turned on prior to boarding the cab. I read on Lonely planet that one of the scams tourists will often face is ripping off from cabbies, Indeed throughout our stay in Bali, we have witnessed a few incidents whereby tourists and cabbies argued and some of them even got into a fight!! Kuta is the place where one can find more international cuisines then Balinese or Indonesia food.