Marta Mari. Theatre Director. Arts Manager

  • Home
  • About me
  • Productions
  • Workshops
  • Felietony
  • Personal Diary
  • Contact

And so the journey begins...

25/9/2010

0 Comments

 
It starts well with luxury of Emirates Airlines. A six and a half hour flight over night to Dubai goes smoothly. Delicious food, good wine, comfortable seats and a good selection of films and music. Amelia sleeps through the night and I decide to watch Robin Hood (so disappointing). My ears are delighted by the sound of Arabic-the more I listen the more I start to remember and miss the language. The first blow of hot air quickly reminds us all where we’re going. The Dubai airport is overwhelming. Unimaginable money must have been spent to have it designed, built and operated. Amelia and I cool ourselves on the marble floor while my husband checks out the airport. When he comes back he announces that he’s wiling to move to Dubai and brings me paper with job ads. Tempting, I admit. Maybe one day.

Shortly before boarding I meet this Indonesian woman who turns out to be a coffee exporter to Europe and has been to Warsaw several times. When I tell her I’m going to spend a couple of days in Jakarta and then go to Bali she expresses her disappointment: “there’s nothing to see in Jakarta, really, well maybe except of Taman Mini and Monas Monument. And Bali-hmm it’s OK. But there are more interesting islands”. She then writes something in Indonesian on the back of her business card and tells me to contact her cousin Desi in Bali if I needed any help. Nice touch, I think.

During the next 8 and a half hour flight to Jakarta I drink more red wine and watch romantic Letters to Julia (do recommend, by the way). We’re arriving Jakarta late at night. Total disorientation. Limited and confusing signage, long queues, and this heat. The immigration officer seems to be surprised that we’re going to spend 2 months in Bali (our visas are valid for 2 months and then we need to renew them but we didn’t tell him that). After about 90 minutes we’re leaving the arrivals area. The first thing we see are currency exchange kiosks and people screaming the rates- aggressively promoting their services. We exchange our money from US Dollars to Indonesian Rupiahs. Immediately after that we are stopped by the taxi driver offering us transfer to the hotel. He asks for 380.000 Rupiahs (around $38). I negotiate the price to 250.000. The air feels like one of those hated humid summer days in Chicago that I was not missing at all! I miss Scottish winds already… We’re arriving to the hotel exhausted but relieved. Why on Earth they start the breakfast buffet at 5:30 am and finish at 9:30? We turn the air conditioner on and fall asleep…
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Marta Mari

    Picture

    Archives

    May 2016
    August 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    August 2014
    August 2012
    February 2012
    November 2011
    August 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010

    Categories

    All
    Animals In Bali
    Arts
    Balinese Customes
    Balinese Customs
    Children Show
    Edinburgh Fringe
    Festivals
    Living In Bali
    Living In Scotland
    New Home
    Reviews
    School In Ubud
    Theatre
    Tranquillity

    Follow this blog

    RSS Feed


    Nakarm glodne dziecko - wejdz na strone www.Pajacyk.pl

    Children Of Bali

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.