The amazing thing is all flights were on time – the flight from Bangkok actually arrived in Denpasar a wee bit early. Made it through visa and immigration without terribly long line-ups. Finding my luggage was a bit of a challenge – the baggage carousels aren’t well marked. But eventually I did find my large bag. Got a taxi without any fuss and arrived at the Patra Jasa Bali Resort which is about an eight minute drive from the airport.

The resort has been around a while, but it’s still reasonably elegant. My room is pleasant but with some serious hums – it took some playing with light switches to finally be able to turn off the loud rattling fan in the bathroom and still keep the wall sockets active so I can charge my iPhone and iPad.

Not long after I arrived I was able to track down the other four gals who were arriving yesterday. After unpacking and a quick shower, we had a golf cart come pick us up (the grounds are huge – have no idea where our rooms are in relation to the lobby – you call for a cart to come pick you up – today, I expect we’ll actually walk at least once) take us to the Italian restaurant that was actually opening that evening.

There were lots of tasty Italian hor d’oevures to snack on and some very attractive desserts. None of us was terribly hungry so we made our meal nibbling as guests of the hotel. The photo, above, was the food sculpture in the middle of the dessert table. Chatted with staff attending the party. While they “speak” English, there’s lots of miscommunication happening. I asked for some “bottled” water, but instead got a large wine glass filled with hot water. (Since you don’t drink the water, I waited until I got back to my room to have a glass of bottled water.)

Then I simply crashed! I just wanted to put my head on the table and pass out. We were all tired so we rather quickly got a golf cart to take us back to our rooms which are adjacent one another. I brushed my teeth and climbed into bed.

It’s now nearly 1:00 am and I’m wide awake, so I’ll take some melatonin and try to fall back to sleep.

I didn’t think much about taking pictures of the crowds at the various airports but I will be more conscientious today – the resort grounds are lovely, right on Kuta Beach. And we’re scheduled to spend the afternoon visiting a large shopping market in Denpasar in the afternoon.

‘Till later today.