Review of China Airlines flight Denpasar → Taipei in Economy

This was my flight home, at a time when home was in Taipei, after a wonderful vacation in Indonesia :

TPE – DPS (A330-300 – China Airlines) After the typhoon
DPS – UPG (B737-800 – Garuda) Flight above a volcano
UPG - DPS (B737-800 – Garuda) I am Marathon
DPS - TPE (A330-300 – China Airlines) After another typhoon YOU ARE HERE

A foreword of warning : this FR is LONG, and this adjectives takes on a special meaning when I am the author. Better help yourself with a coffee first, preferably not a Taiwanese one.

I had the Taiwanese reflex of checking the weather before flying home. Typhoon Saola had closed TPE two days before the start of my vacation (see the introduction of the TPE-DPS flight), and three weeks later, Typhoon Tembin was threatening Taiwan. Tembin veered abruptly westward as announced on this weather map, sparing Taipei, but Taitung (TTT) took all the might of the typhoon straight on, while Typhoon Bolaven was wreaking havoc in Okinawa.



..and according to CNN images, it was going to be rough, with the usual litany of floods and landsides, which did happen, actually.



But that was two days before my flight, and the weather had become favorable again on D day.

Plane-spotting is a standard start for a flight report, and this session started quite far from the airport. I saw this Garuda Indonesia A330 from the edge of the caldera of Mt Agung, the main volcano in Bali, which now considered to be extinct.



And this Air Asia A320



These planes were both very far and very high (DPS was over 30 km away as the crow flies), and I had a second try some 8 km from DPS. These are pictures at original resolution, using the central quarter of the 4096 pixel wide pictures, with a compact camera at maximum 300 mm (24x36 equivalent) focal length, while chasing the planes’ motion. The results was well below standards in terms of sharpness: I should have used a camera costing the equivalent of a CDG-DPS round trip in F to obtain decent pictures from there.

I was sorry to have cut the nose of this A321. It was really too fast just above me.



Malaysian Airlines A330



A320 Air Asia, numerous in the Bali airspace:



Lion Air 738 (or 739?)



Garuda Indonesia B738



Garuda Indonesia A330



Merpati Airlines B737



And last, the prize of this telelens session : two Merpati Airlines Xi'an MA60, in two different liveries.



Long distance plane spotting provides shots of planes with the wheels up, but the quality of the pictures was nevertheless borderline. To improve the rating of my flight report (Note to newbies : rating FRs has never been seriously considered ;), I used the leftover hour in my schedule between the checkout limit in my hotel and the check in limit of my flight home.

I had had no motivation to reconnoiter the environment the days before, but this roundabout decorated with a statue from the Hindu mythology which is impossible to miss on the road to the airport on the north side and where parking was easy proved to be a satisfactory location. (And the wheels were already up…)



There came the first customer :



It was a Wings Air ATR72-500.



I gathered them per airline, and I start with Garuda Indonesia aircraft, with first a 738.



And another one



Green light for this A330



Now a Citylink 737 that I nearly missed because of a red and white Indonesian national flag.



Green light for one of the many Air Asia A320 that I saw that day



Red light for this Malaysian Airlines A330,



… which will nevertheless get out of the traffic…



And fly probably to KUL.



Again last in the series : at last an acceptable (to my eyes) picture of a Merpati Xi'an MA60.



After the exhaustion of my plane spotting time (but not of my wife’s patience), it was time to reach the drop-off zone of the airport where the smiling Avis agent was waiting for me. The car was still in mint condition (with lots of mud added outside, though), and the procedure took less than two minutes; he drove off as we took the path towards the terminals.



The Terminal Internasional was on the right



Since only passengers can enter the terminal, there were many shops outside, mostly utilitarian (cheap food, various souvenirs).



A very smiling staff checked my e-ticket printout and my passport to let me in the terminal.



My FB-Silver status gave me access to the Premium Economy counter (less Elite than the red carpet Sky priority further right, out of frame in the first picture, but not bad either). It was a rather slim advantage, because the line of passengers on the left was a short one.



This was the general view of CI’s check in counters, with the staff in charge of directing the passengers who were not many at ETD-120’.



The international FIDS



This luggage wrapping outlet had curiously a sign in Russian, but we were undoubtedly in Bali:



Did you notice the small cup of flower offering to the gods on the floor near the machine ?



At the Business check in counter of Garuda Indonesia,



… there was a similar one next purely decorative flowers.



It was time to go up these stairs decorated with sculpture typical of the Balinese temples and go airside.



The payment of the airport departure tax, (150,000 IDR = about 13 EUR for an international flight our of DPS - it was not included in the ticket price at that time) created a typical scene. There were at least 20 passengers waiting in each line at these counters. A uniformed staff came up to me :
- “You are alone? Where are you going to ? Come this way”.
He made me bypass everybody, going beyond the counters, asked me 150,000 IDR and went to gat this tax receipt.



And then, he made it clear that any service deserves retribution and asks for a tip. I had naively thought it had been a normal process, and fully disapprove this kind of deal that I would not have entered in if I had realized it. I curtly answered that the tax was 150,000 IDR, period.



He did not insist, but when I waited in line at the immigration, he came again to propose to have me go through in priority. This time, I knew what was going on, and categorically refused any help. That the waiting time was obviously considerably shorter than my safety margin did help deviating from my principles.

DPS is an airport where nobody scribbles or stamps on the BPs; mine received only a discreet yellow highlighting of my FB Elite status.



The duty free area was just after the immigration. Absolut vodka at 23 USD vs. 31 USD in Sydney?



I found much cheaper shops while touring in Bali, like here where the Absolut was at 5,000 IDR, or roughly 0,40 USD per liter.



It also had a much higher octane rating than the original



Teetotallers were not forgotten. You know that you are in an oil producing country when the unleaded gasoline is cheaper than mineral water, which was never below 6,500 IDR per bottle (admittedly completely full ones).



At that time, the international terminal in DPS (which was to become later the domestic terminal after renovation, once the new international terminal was been completed) was not very spotter friendly , because most of the airside area was lined with shops without windows, and the quarantine areas were separated from the tarmac by deplaning corridors.



The toilets were clean and decorated.



With a cup of bougainvillea bracts between the sinks.



This sign top left informed me that Ketut Putra himself was making sure that the place remained clean.



For amateurs of this kind of medical services, the aquarium in front of a bench is used for a type of pedicure that I have seen in other South East Asian countries : these small fish feed dead skin that they remove from the patients’ feet.



But between Gates 6 and 7, there was a corridor with a window providing a view on the tarmac. The angle of view was narrow, so I had to respect the First Commandment of the Plane Spotter (“Thou shalt not optimize the framing when thou hast a split second for taking a picture”).



The passengers deplaning via a bus were going through this bulky portico similar to the gates at the entrance of Bali’s Hindu temples.



… followed by their crew (Virgin Australia, according to their uniforms).



It was sometimes crowded in the view that I had, with here a mobile stair truck passing in front of an Air Asia A320 parked in front of a Garuda Indonesia 738 on the tarmac.



This was this Air Asia 320, the only aircraft parked next to the terminal which I could see reasonably well:



Pushback



… while another one is landing (sorry for the incomplete tail).



Arrival of yet another Air Asia A320, with a different livery:



Virgin Australia 738



ATR72-500 Wings, quite blurry, but I leave this picture to show that there was one.



Next, a Garuda Indonesia, with a 744



And a 738



The traffic was getting closer to home with this CX 744:



All these aircraft had deplaoyed thrust reversers because the incoming ones were a lot slower than the departing ones, seen from where I was.

The one I was waiting for was obviously Flight CI771 from Taipei, operated with this A333.



Focus on the plane’s number while it was taxiing



And final stop, with a very Balinese foreground



The configuration of the boarding room, with a staff collecting the immigration forms at the entrance, was not unattractive for a Flight Reporter, due to the presence of corridor for deplaning passengers.



The self-serve computers in the back were out of order, and the wifi signal level was nil, which meant no internet access here.



From the equipment of DPS at that time, Bali seemed to be a destination for senior citizens only, with automated external defibrillators here and there, whereas there was nothing for children. No babycare room, no smaller / lower toilets and sinks, no play area, no internet access : this was a desert for the younger generation.



The real luxury was in the presence of free toilets (there was often a 1,000 IRD charge in the tourist areas).



You could even admire the fish in this fish tank while being in the toilets : had you identified them in the toilets of the shopping area? It was clean there too, with some water on the floor near the sinks which should have been wiped.



中華 航空公司七七二航班 … Zhōnghuá hángkōng gōngsī qīqī'èr hángbān … : I could not avoid a warm feeling at the announcement of boarding of China Airlines Flight 772, because it was the first time I was hearing Mandarin (admittedly with a super-thick Indonesian accent). I had heard many familiar languages during this trip (shuddering sometimes at the lack of culture of some of my compatriots), but curiously no Chinese language.

Thanks to my FB Elite status, I could be among the first to board (after families with babies and passengers requiring assistance) and have the illusion of flying business by turning left.



But I took time in the air bridge to take a picture of this TG 772



Arrival of a high wing twin prop aircraft. Maybe interesting?



Indeed : this was a Merpati Xi'an MA60 which I managed to capture at landing.



I was among the first to board and could take this picture of a nearly empty cabin, but the load ratio was going to be around 90%.



This was going to be my universe during that five hour flight : despite the high load ration, I was lucky to not have a neighbor. I do not think there was a relationship with my FB status, but rather with DPS being a “vacation destination”. Since I had reserved a window seat (on the right, for better lighting conditions) months before the flight, nobody was interested in Seat 31J : who flies alone to/from DPS?



The seat pitch was not gigantic, but well enough for my short built.



An glimpse at the uniforms of the FAs. Too bad I must mask their charming faces.



The resolution of the IFE screen was good, but there was not much audio and video choice. There was nevertheless a movie that I would have selected if I had wanted to watch one. But as usual, I simply tuned on an audio channel while preparing the FR of this flight on my laptop.



An unusual program on the IFE : the passenger in the previous row tried if it was more comfortable to have her hair behind the headrest. The test was - fortunately for me – unsuccessful.



The safety card was made of a somewhat warped plastic



The plane at next gate was a CX 744



A close up for amateurs of Rolls-Royces (the engines, not the cars)



It seemed to have two small booster reactors



See them here:



This 744 was apparently very hot



These additional reactors of course belonged to another 744, from GA, which had completed her pushback here.



End of pushback too for this Lion Air 738



A crowd of mostly Garuda Indonesia tails during our pushback.



The TG 772, without the jetbridge’s reflections.



The ground staff waves at our plane : everything is ready for departure.



And what is at the far end of the terminal ?



One of Eva Air ‘s Hello Kitty A330, that I had seen landing through my window!



Now I know why this flight was already booked full three months ahead of time (its schedule would have been slightly better for me)!

Anyway, now we take off: this was the narrow isthmus linking the Bukit peninsula to the rest of Bali island.



The must in a FR is having an air-to-air picture of another aircraft, and therefore this is one :



"Thou shalt not zoom in when you only have a split second before the plane is hidden": in application of a variant of the already mentioned First Commandment of the Plane Spotter, I chose to take this picture rather than zooming in and find out that the plane was already behind a cloud. The resolution of the picture is what it is, and I can only identify this as a Lion Air 737.



The coast of Bali, in the vicinity of Sanur



But there was very quickly clouds above Bali. My seat was so much in the front that I could see very little of the reactor.



A passenger seated a few rows behind me went to the toilets and I used this opportunity to take this picture, with an unfortunately slanted horizon.



I took a winglet shot too



The same, from a window even further back



With the wing



I of course took advantage of not having a neighbor to visit the plane, which had an interesting layout. This was the first cabin:



It had an unusual partition creating a corridor at the level of the second pair of doors.



The Y+ cabin, with a 2-3-2 layout, was curiously located in the center of the aircraft. CI did not have Y+ fares, and I could have chosen a seat there, but since they were overwing, I was not interested, due to the resulting limited view through the windows.



And a long Y cabin behind. The reason for this layout (and for this type of seats) was that this was one of three A333 belonging to Virgin Atlantic (out of a total of 10), which were leased to China Airlines until Virgin Atlantic had finished retiring their A340s. China Airlines had replaced the J seats with Y seating in front, but left the Y+ cabin in the center.



The mood lighting in the Y+ cabin later, when it was becoming darker outside



The lighting of the rear Y cabin (and of mine in the front) did not dim much.



First pass of the FAs for drinks.



I chose coffee, which was obviously Taiwanese catering, because it was awful (like on all but one of the many Taiwanese flights that I recorded). It was a real shame when taking off from Inodnesia which produces excellent coffee..



Dinner came much later, with a choice between sweet and sour fish or curry chicken. I chose chicken this time: this hot meal was very good. Note the Anchor butter serving: this brand seems to have a monopoly on Taiwanese airline catering. On the right, this was spicy sauce for the starters, and my readers know that “spicy” takes on a formidable meaning when used in China and Taiwan..



Even later came another drink offering : I chose orange juice, which I found very low quality. CI lost an opportunity to improve its catering grade.

There was a cloud cover on the islands on the way, except on the jungle of Borneo. In short, the view through the window was uninteresting. Night had fallen when we flew alongside the West coast of Taiwan. I believe this was Zhubei, with reservations.



First class kiss landing, eight minutes late, which was negligible for a flight lasting more than five hours, especially since there was very little taxiing.

我們的飛機降落在台北桃園國際機場了. Wǒmen de fēijī jiàngluò zài táiběi táoyuán guójì jīchǎngle … (Our plane has landed in Taipei Taoyuan International Airport) : the trilingual announcement (Mandarin – English – Taiwanese) made it clear that we were inded in Taiwan. I was among the first deplaning passengers; the beautiful legs of this young lady were only 240 meters away from immigration.



There was a crowd of journalists with bulky photo/video equipment at the next gate, but I did not waste time there. Non-connecting passengers go up alongside duty-free shops :



… and reach a section which was (then) new to me, because Terminal 1 was undergoing an overall rehabilitation : each departure and each arrival was an opportunity to discover freshly renovated areas.



The immigration counters on the arrival side follow this sober aesthetics line.



There was a single counter but no waiting for foreign residents, and I was through in no time. But bad luck, it was manned by a non-smiling middle aged policeman; I wish I had been processed by his female colleague at the next position. You do not win each time at the Taiwanese Smiling Immigration Officer Lottery. ^^

The luggage delivery information display at the arrival :



This part of the terminal had been renovated too, but there was still office furniture which was very out-fashioned (but nevertheless in good condition) for various staff (customs, luggage issues, etc.), like if they had been short of a few hundred thousand TWD at the last moment to replace them too.



I only had time to briefly go to the toilets, and my luggage was delivered. It was among the first ones : the priorities had been respected.



There was a compact crowd waiting landside



They shouted with overexcited teenager cries when the star that they had been expected emerged, escorted with CI crew.



I had never expected to join the rather exclusive club of celebrity chasing Flight Reporters, !



Of course, you would have recognized Jeremy Lin, an NBA star born in the US of Taiwanese parents, for whom the media coined the word « Linsanity » !



Nobody was waiting for me, and I anonymously reached the lower level via these (also new) travelators.



The counters of the bus station (ranging from urban to long distance services) had been radically transformed. It looked somewhat like a Mainland Chinese bus station before, and now it had a stark subdued modern look, so subdued that I initially found the signage insufficient.



No problem for me : the line numbers had not changed, and I was used to Kuokuang’s Line 1819 to Taipei’s main station (there are several competing bus companies):

一位到台北車站 Yī wèi dào Táiběi chēzhàn (one person to Taipei station) : the clerk announced the standard 125 TWD fare, and told me that the bus (as usual) was at parking position #5. There it was : there was a bus ready for departure.



I arrived just in time to have the luggage hold reopened for me



And 31 minutes after the fianl stop of the plane, my bus was departing to the main station. You are welcome to compare with the time it usually takes in you favorite airport: some do better, most do much worse.



This is nearly the end of this FR, and you can go directly to the conclusion if tourist bonuses are not your piece of cake.

How could I summarize Bali in a dozen (or even two dozen) pictures, after finding these two weeks too short? Should I remember this traditional Balinese dance show for tourists ?



Or rather these dances in a ceremony at night in this temple off the beaten track, to which we have been invited because we had been there in daytime?



Or this temple in the middle of nowhere on the slopes of Mt Batur, where we stopped at noon because we detected some unusual activity, and that we left only at dusk, having been the only foreigners in this unforgettable odalan (a celebration held every 210 days)?



The men prepared food for hours, starting by bleeding this pork, without a single stain of blood on their clothes or their hands :



Bamboo is used for all kinds of uses : as a gutter to recover the blood of the pork above, as skewers and skewers holders to cook them below



Meanwhile, women kept streaming in with trays of food offering with highly decorative architectures, which would be later brought home after being blessed by the prayers of all present, like in the Taoist temples in Taiwan. The man on the left was a priest, identified by his white cap covering completely his head.



The prayer was held at the end of the day, first the young girls



Then young men join them



And after the sacred dances



… all prayed together



The woman placed in their hair the flowers which had been between their joined hands during the prayer.



Ulun Danu Bratan Temple, on Lake Bratan, provided me an opportunity to revert to aviation.



That was where I took a picture of the eagle Garuda carrying Vishnu, but I had ample choice, because he appears systematically in the statuary of Balinese temples. I even considered using such a picture as a title picture for one of the Garuda Airlines flights in that trip, but I was afraid not all readers would understand the hint.



Although these activities are seldom compatible, Temple Dalem Jagaraga provided an opportunity for mixing sacred building visiting and plane spotting (of a sort).



I did not identify this WWI aircraft, but they were obviously single pilot ones. On the right, there was a greasy pole similar to the ones I saw in the Toraja country (see the bonus of my UPG-DPS flight)



Bali is 95% Hindu and is studedd with temples, each with its own calendar of religious festivals according to their creation date. To be welcome there, you only need to wear a sarong – worn by men and women alike, but tied differently – and be discreet; most tourist aren’t, but they fortuantely seldom venture off the beaten track.

These are the standard recommendations ; it was obvious that the painter who copied the Japanese version didn’t have the slightest notion of this language.



You can find all kinds of sarongs in the shops, for all tastes including the worst ones, and you won’t escape a Hello Kitty product in one of my Taiwanese FR. (I have no particular taste for this mascot, it is just everywhere in Taiwan).



I could also have told you about the cremation of d' Anak Agung Niang Ketut, who had died on 15 August that year at the respectable age of 97, attended by four generations of her descendants, but a tourist bonus should be kept short and I spent the whole day there, at the invitation of her family.



I could have written dozens of pages on the temples of Bali (or of Taiwan and many other countries). On the other hand, some Bali old hands claim there are beaches there, but no matter where I went on the seaside, I saw none. I have a hard time staying on the beaten tracks.



Luhur Uluwatu Temple, at the southern edge of Bali



Water Palace of Ujung, on the north-east coast of Bali