A collection of travel memories pre COVID-19 - Chapter 2

That first rainy night in Bali

I distinctively remember that night when I landed in Ngurah Rai Airport around 8 pm local time. It had started to rain and I frantically just wanted to reach my hotel in Ubud. After bargaining with a cabbie, I finally set off for my hotel. The entire cab journey reminded me of my own country; the roads, the shops - everything was similar. It brought me a sense of peace, not for a long time though.

We were just a few kilometers away from my hotel and I was asked by the driver to give the direction using my Google Maps. There was this shortcut being shown which would lead straight to my hotel and I asked him to go through that route.

By this time, it had started pouring in heavily. The supposed short-cut road was a very narrow one, barely able to move forward after halfway through it. it was so narrow that, by sitting inside the car you could see through the entrance of houses on your left and right. The sheds of their houses were barely missing the cab's hood.

The driver was pissed off and I was scared that he would ask me to get out of the cab at this moment.

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Further to my horror, I realized that the shortcut was meant for walking and not for driving. Yes, it was my misjudgment for not realizing that earlier. After quite a bit of struggle, he managed to pull us out of the road in reverse and take the long cut to the hotel. I paid him more than what was bargained for not throwing me out.

It was nearly 10 PM by this time and I was starving. After quickly checking into my hotel, I came out and started searching for any decent restaurant which would be open at this hour. A simple pizza restaurant #pizzaburgerliquor was about to be closed and I asked them if they could accommodate one more customer.

I was thrilled when they accepted me and I blissfully waited for the prawns & zucchini pizza which was so good that even after a year later I am unable to forget the taste.

The only thing I could feel was gratefulness towards the cabbie and the restaurant servers. Thank you both!

This story is part of travel memories collection. Read the first chapter here -