Sunday, June 07, 2009
Flying Over The Equator On Garuda Airlines
I am currently sitting on a Garuda Airlines flight to Bali, and we are just about to cross the Equator. While I am always somewhat skeptical about flying third world airlines, the plane we’re on seems reasonably new and the stewardesses are both friendly and professional. Their uniforms are surprisingly attractive, and I am glad to see that the short skirt concept is a hit in Indonesia. Alcohol is served for free, and a Japanese couple sitting nearby has already been drinking beer for several hours.
Inevitably, when boarding the plane today my thoughts went out to the passengers who died on the flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris last week. I was not the only one startled to learn that airplanes travelling across the big oceans are not tracked by radar. When watching the live news on CNN, it quickly became apparent that no one had any idea where the plane had gone down. It is still not clear whether any of the debris that has been found is actually from the plane. With no or little debris to speak of, and with the black boxes unreachable at the bottom of the ocean, it must be awful for the families of the passengers that they likely never will find out what happened. A few Norwegians were also on the flight, including a couple of prominent business owners from Bergen. My heart goes out to everyone afflicted by the disaster.
Despite the Air France crash, air travel remains the safest way to travel. The accidents that occur mainly result from pilot errors, of which Malcolm Gladwell lists a few in his recent book “Outliers”.
Our vacation in Bali will be a short one, and I expect to be doing some work while there. Only a few weeks have passed since our trip to Thailand, where we visited Krabi and Phi Phi Island. The highlight of our trip was a couple of dives we did on Phi Phi Island. Yuka fulfilled her dream of seeing several sea turtles swimming around in their natural habitat, and the ocean life was overall quite impressive. It was difficult to imagine how the islands were completely destroyed by the tsunami just a few years ago, but life is now back to normal with few signs of what happened.
Phi Phi Island is first of all a backpacker destination, and became particularly famous when Leonardo DiCaprio filmed “The Beach” there. While the backpacker hostels and bungalows are extremely cheap, we elected to stay at a resort further north on the island. Phi Phi Island Village is only accessible by boat, and the 20-30 minute trip there is actually quite costly. Since the price is set by the hotel, tourists are charged at close to European prices. Compared with the resorts we stayed at in Krabi, Phi Phi Island Village was disappointing in many ways. Its main redeeming quality is an absolutely amazing beach that stretches on for hundreds of meters, and dining on the beach is quite an unforgettable experience. Unfortunately, the bungalows are rather simple and run-down. Most staff members speak little or no English, thus it is close to impossible to get information or answers to anything. However, the biggest let-down is the exuberant internet prices, and absurdly the pricing of the internet cards vary depending on when you buy them. It would make sense if they perhaps had a variable price on usage (for example using the internet in the early morning could be cheaper than in the evening), but no. Phi Phi Island Village has a discount on internet cards bought between 8 AM and sometime in the early afternoon, and this policy simply did not make any sense to me at all.
Phi Phi Island Village is still a nice spot to stay for a few days. However, since it is easy to feel trapped because of the isolated location, do not overstay your welcome.
Inevitably, when boarding the plane today my thoughts went out to the passengers who died on the flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris last week. I was not the only one startled to learn that airplanes travelling across the big oceans are not tracked by radar. When watching the live news on CNN, it quickly became apparent that no one had any idea where the plane had gone down. It is still not clear whether any of the debris that has been found is actually from the plane. With no or little debris to speak of, and with the black boxes unreachable at the bottom of the ocean, it must be awful for the families of the passengers that they likely never will find out what happened. A few Norwegians were also on the flight, including a couple of prominent business owners from Bergen. My heart goes out to everyone afflicted by the disaster.
Despite the Air France crash, air travel remains the safest way to travel. The accidents that occur mainly result from pilot errors, of which Malcolm Gladwell lists a few in his recent book “Outliers”.
Our vacation in Bali will be a short one, and I expect to be doing some work while there. Only a few weeks have passed since our trip to Thailand, where we visited Krabi and Phi Phi Island. The highlight of our trip was a couple of dives we did on Phi Phi Island. Yuka fulfilled her dream of seeing several sea turtles swimming around in their natural habitat, and the ocean life was overall quite impressive. It was difficult to imagine how the islands were completely destroyed by the tsunami just a few years ago, but life is now back to normal with few signs of what happened.
Phi Phi Island is first of all a backpacker destination, and became particularly famous when Leonardo DiCaprio filmed “The Beach” there. While the backpacker hostels and bungalows are extremely cheap, we elected to stay at a resort further north on the island. Phi Phi Island Village is only accessible by boat, and the 20-30 minute trip there is actually quite costly. Since the price is set by the hotel, tourists are charged at close to European prices. Compared with the resorts we stayed at in Krabi, Phi Phi Island Village was disappointing in many ways. Its main redeeming quality is an absolutely amazing beach that stretches on for hundreds of meters, and dining on the beach is quite an unforgettable experience. Unfortunately, the bungalows are rather simple and run-down. Most staff members speak little or no English, thus it is close to impossible to get information or answers to anything. However, the biggest let-down is the exuberant internet prices, and absurdly the pricing of the internet cards vary depending on when you buy them. It would make sense if they perhaps had a variable price on usage (for example using the internet in the early morning could be cheaper than in the evening), but no. Phi Phi Island Village has a discount on internet cards bought between 8 AM and sometime in the early afternoon, and this policy simply did not make any sense to me at all.
Phi Phi Island Village is still a nice spot to stay for a few days. However, since it is easy to feel trapped because of the isolated location, do not overstay your welcome.
Labels: air france, garuda airlines, krabi, phi phi island
|
 |
Post a Comment