A trip to the Kantor Pos

Today's challenge was to post a birthday present to my friend Helen in England. After negotiating the busy traffic in the administrative centre of Denpasar on my bike (and meeting the little chap in the photo in a street on the way), I arrived at the post office, took a queue ticket and sat down to wait. For about an hour.

Fortunately it was air conditioned, and even more fortunately a very kind staff member came over to me and gave me the correct form to fill in while I waited. I'm slightly surprised that the form didn't ask for the names of both parents and my religion (most other forms seem to) – but perhaps the post office is trying to cut down on bureaucracy.

After a bit of confusion (and laughter) over their few words of English and my even fewer words of Bahasa Indonesia, it's in the post and I've been charged what I think is the official price. Result – I now have that sense of achievement that can only be gained through a successful trip to the post office. I might buy some commemorative stamps and a dog licence next time.

[Opinions expressed in this post may be subject to change if the package doesn't arrive].
[Update - the package has arrived!]

I've also found my favourite Warung so far – can't remember its name, if it has a name – that serves the best Mie Goreng (fried noodles) and ice tea I've had in Indonesia. All for about 70p. It also had the Indonesian version of “Who wants to be a millionaire?” on the TV – great for learning a few more words. I can't help feeling that this show is a bit of a con – 1m Rupiah is about 80 quid - perhaps we shouldn't take the name of the show literally.