Bali's capital, Denpasar- sprawling, traffic-chocked, mess of people- we had to enter this chaotic maze yesterday because we were on a mission- well two missions: A. get Brian a Indonesian driver's license and B. extend our Indonesian visas. Ever since we failed at getting the much-prized 60 day Indonesian visa while in Kuala Lumpur, we have been plotting a way to stay in Indonesia. We settled on trying for an extension on our 30 day tourist visa, but we knew it probably wouldn't be easy. So, we took off for Denpasar (on a moto- sorry mom!) and tried to navigate through a city where we didn't know where we were going, and had no map- not the most brilliant of plans. After asking ten odd people, and getting ten very different responses (and going on a two-hour long goose hunt), we left our bike outside of a mini-mart and got in a cab. Our cab driver turned out to be completely over-bearing, and saw massive $$$$ when he picked up two sweaty American's (he thought he got to take us back to Ubud). Anyways, we headed to the immigration department and learned that everyone was out for lunch, so we headed to the police center across town. Our taxi driver took Brian in the station and stuck by his side, being translator, while Brian was issued a genuine 3 week Indonesian license. It was then back across town to Kantor Imigrasi, where we happily left our driver (he was not so happy) and headed in check our visa situation. We went back and forth for a while until we realized that we needed an Indonesian "sponsor." So it was back to our bike, although we couldn't find it! Brian got his workout in by running down two streets until, thank God, we found the damn thing. So it was back to Ubud.
Side note- every time we talk to Indonesians, they say "America, yah, good country, Barack Obama, he went to Indonesia, he is a good man." This is something quite startling. We are used to traveling under the Bush regime, where you had to pretend to be Canadian, but now America is definitely entering a popularity shift, thanks to Mr. President.
America's new found popularity is also due to the fact that Obama grew up in Indonesia (his mom remarried an Indonesian)- who knew!?.
Sounds like a Bali kinda day! Thankfully you could go back to calm Ubud after all the rigamaroll. So glad to hear Brian got his license - let the adventure begin!
ReplyDelete