"Denpasar Trip" Denpasar by Chyan

Denpasar is the capital of Bali island. It has many commercial buildings there but there are no conventional buses, only mini-buses called bemo for travel. There are four-class and five-class hotels in Denpasar. It is the meeting point for travel to beaches in Kuta, Sanur, Ubud and Nusa Dua.

The tourist destination of Denpasar that I visited is Ngurah Rai International Airport. I was fortunate to find airlines that do not fly to Singapore, Jakarta, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong. They are domestic airlines flying to nearby resorts and islands, like Air Bali, Bali Air Charter, Germania Trisila Air (GT Air), Travira Air and PT Transnusa Air Services (Trigana Air). I took home publications of these airlines as mementoes of my Denpasar trip.

I stayed in Hotel Hapel Semer, a two-class hotel charging at a one-night accommodation of SGD25.00, 300 metres away from the last terrorist bomb attack. Complimentary breakfast includes nasi goreng, bread and butter and other normal breakfast of Indonesians. It is about 20 to 25 minutes to Kuta Beach which no longer looks attractive as it is depicted on the tourism posters of Bali.

I travelled to Kuta Beach on Hotel Hapel Semer's motorcycle sightseeing tour. Enroute, I saw the countryside of Bali. Roads with very few vehicles, few kampung-kampung and no sekolah-sekolah is the image of Kuta, just like Sungei Tengah of Singapore. Shops have typical Balinese architecture and products sold are cheap. The Kuta Beach is awashed with foams of tidal waves and the distance from the shoreline to the road is shorter than before. Only bold Indonesians and tourists dare to swim and surf on the sea.

Near Kuta beach are ATMs and 24-hour convenience shops.

• Pros:No disturbance.
• Cons:Taxi fare is high
• In a nutshell:Recall memories of countryside