Rainy Season

Today has been kind of stressful, but, other than that, we don’t have much to report. We woke up early but skipped breakfast because we were still pretty full from our amazing poolside dinner last night. We had surf and turf for two and it was probably the best meal we’ve ever had.

That was pretty much the last awesome thing to happen over the last 24 hours. Rainy season for this area started in Nov. and we’ve experienced the ongoing rain all day. Yesterday we got stuck in a torrential downpour and had to duck into a crowded bar that was hot and full of stray dogs (they are everywhere, almost as bad a the stray cats in Istanbul). Today we got stuck in a bad, but not nearly as bad a yesterday, rain storm while walking along the boardwalk. We had an early lunch in a place I probably would have otherwise ignored because it was hot and there were dogs everywhere – but the rain forced our hand.

It rained on and off all day with varying degrees of seriousness. We did get to visit the pool for a while during the light drizzle we had after lunch. But for the most part we’ve not done very much.

We did take the hotel shuttle to a Hardys (its like an Indonesian version of Walmart, I suppose). They have groceries, wine, clothes, shoes, trinkets, dishes etc. . . The hotel shuttles there 3 times per day and comes back after 30 minutes. We took the shuttle this morning but got stuck being haggled by the Indonesian version of a timeshare salesperson who purported to be a store employee. It sounds dumb, but it was all very confusing and we really didnt understand until he tried to get us to leave and go with him. It took several more minutes to successfully get away still. Then we basically had 15 minutes to visit the nearby atm and get back to our shuttle.

So, when there was a break in the rain, while we were out on the main street near our hotel, we decided to hail a taxi (not an uber in this crowded place) to go back to Hardys for snacks and a sarong. The taxi cost $10,000.00 Rupiah (the local currency). The taxis here don’t have meters and there is really no way to know the cost until you arrive at your destination. It’s really awful, but the option to use something like Uber or Lyft which tell you the fare up front is limited because the taxi mafia all over the city.

We shopped and when we were finished we hailed another taxi to take us back the 6 or 7 minute drive to the hotel. Before we got in we told him our hotel name and he said he knew  where it was. However, the driver started out in the wrong direction and we immediately told him it was the wrong way and Josh gave him the correct address. He still didn’t turn around for sometime despite us repeating  the hotel name and address several times.

All in all the whole trip took around 15 minutes. He was mumbling under his breath when we went through our hotel security (they stop every car, run a mirror around it and check the trunk – which is a bit unsettling to be honest).

When he pulled up to the hotel, Josh asked how much and he said $100,000.00 rupiah. I just assumed the langauge barrier had him off a couple zeros and josh attempted to hand him $10,000.00 rupiah like we paid on the way there. He started yelling at us “No, no no! Not enough. NO! YOU CANT LEAVE TILL YOU PAY 100,000.00.” Josh pulled out another $10,000.00 (double what we paid on the taxi ride there) and said he wasnt paying $100,000.00 – $20,000.00 was all. He guy screaming/laughing/ shaking his head. The door attendants from our hotel come over due to the commotion. He rolls the window down (still wont unlock our doors) and yells at the hotel employee.

The hotel employee stayed very calm and whatever he said made the guy unlock Joshs door. The hotel guy opened Joshs door and said, “he said you need to pay him more, sir. How much do you have here?” Josh showed him the money (all the cash we had on us was $30,000.00 – way more than enough for the short ride. The hotel guy and the taxi driver talked again he then the hotel guy said, “he says that is not enough. He says you owe $50,000.00 for the ride.” Funny how the price suddenly went down. . .still way too much though.

Josh started fussing that he wasnt paying more. The taxi driver was yelling. The hotel guy was trying to calm everyone down. I was honestly freaking out a little and my door was still locked. I told the hotel guy to tell the driver we would go get the rest of the money from our room. Josh got out to go get it. The taxi driver wanted me stay in the car as collateral, I suppose. But the hotel guy insisted he let me out of the car and motioned for me to crawl across the seat and exit outside of Josh’s unlocked door where he was standing.

I walked away from the car and the hotel guy asked where we had come from. I told him where we were picked up and how much we paid to get there. He agreed the fare was too high. He said $30,000 is the maximum it should be. He said he would talk to the driver. Which he did and he came back and said the driver told him that yes he picked us up at Hardys but we had called the taxi and then didn’t come out so he had to wait on us. I told him that wasnt true, but that we would pay the fare to be done with this. He agreed that was best.

I could tell Josh wanted a last word with the driver when he came back with the rest of the money, but luckily the hotel guy intercepted and took care of the exchange. He found us at the elevator and asked if we were ok – which I thought was very nice.

We weren’t even back at the hotel for two hours when a siren goes off in our room. Now, its important to understand that the first thing I did upon arrival was to read the hotel safety plan on earthquakes and Tsunamis (to be fair I was looking for the room service menu – but i read it nonetheless. So,I knew that the hotel notifies the guests of a tsunami via emergency siren.

I scream OMG its a tsunami. Josh busts out laughing. And the alarm stops. Josh is like, we would have felt an earthquake. I’m like look the safety manual says what it says. We need to evacuate!

About that time, an announcement comes on saying “Attention: This is a Tsunami Warning. Move . . .” And it cuts off. Im in full emergency evacuation mode.

I’m grabbing our passports and getting shoes on. Yelling at Josh to hurry. He’s laughing at me (for the record, Josh literally never takes warnings or alarms seriously and it drives me nuts. Once we were in a hotel in D.C. and the fire alarm went off at 2 am and he all but refused to get out of bed then judged me like I responded inappropriately when it turned out to be burned popcorn or something stupid like that).

Anyway, back to the emergency at hand. So, Josh is out on the balcony looking for the tsunami saying it’s just a test we don’t need to go anywhere. I’m yelling at him with my go-bag from the door way, “If it was a test they would have said this is a test. You dont just sound an alarm without telling people it’s not real!”

Well, as it turns out when I got the lobby 2 whole staircases ahead of slow-poke Josh. The staff looked at me like I was the one behaving inappropriately when I asked, “umm, is there like a tsunami or something?”

Oh no, they assured me that was a test. Nothing to worry about. Josh arrived just in time to say I told you so and my heart rate was back to normal when we got in the elevator to go back to our room.

Well, until the guy who told me everything was fine comes rushing after us. “Mam, mam I was wrong! I gave you wrong information”

Say, what? Im back in emergency evacuation mode. “So there is a tsunami???”

He says “That was not a test!” I’m seriously about to pass out at this point. Even Josh looked worried. The guy (takes forever to) explain(s) that the alarm was not a test. They were preparing to do a test with the appropriate “this is a test” introduction but someone hit the wrong button and they will actually be doing the real test soon.

We just left the hotel. My anxiety levels couldn’t take another test.

So, we had dinner in one of the hotel restaurants and planned to take a swim when we finished because the rain finally stopped. Literally, the second we signed the check at dinner the lightning started. So, like I said – kind of stressful day, not much to report.