After 3 days of road trip which covers Surabaya city, Mount Bromo & Kawah Ijen, we are ready for our next destination, Bali!. About an hour after leaving Ijen, we reached the Ketapang port in the town of Banyuwangi. This is the port where locals would cross through the Bali straits (which seperates Java & Bali island) to get to Gilimanuk. Boarding the ferry which carries vehicles and passengers on it wasn’t a new experience for me as the Penang ferry was similar to it. Actually this route was tried by a friend of mine, Farah during her last year trip which inspired me to travel through the same route.

Boarding the ferry. Photo by Padil

Anang and the driver dropped us at a bus ticket agency where we intend to get a bus ticket to get us straight to Kuta, Bali from there. Since that the guy couldn’t give us the exact time when the bus will arrived, we took our chances by taking the ferry as a passenger instead while hoping that there will be a bus in Gilimanuk that could take us to Kuta area. Kuta area was about 130km away from the port.

The cars area. Photo by Padil

Ferry tickets were priced at 6,000 rupiah. The passenger seats are situated upstairs while the vehicles are placed below. There’s a small canteen selling snacks & drinks at the passenger area. Local kids were seen enjoying playing around the ferry and just after the ferry honks for its signal to leave, they ran back to the jetty and some did jump into the water.

the terminal view from the ferry

seatings area

We were glad to learn that we are not the only foreigners on board the ferry. There are lots of westerners on board as well. We also met 3 Malaysian girls on the ferry whom happen to be traveling the same route as us. I did chitty chat with one of them and we exchanged travel stories during the 1 hour ferry ride.

The outdoor area at the rooftop. Photo by Padil

the barge which transport buses & lorries

When we reached Gilimanuk, we headed to the bus station to find a bus to Kuta. As it was already quite late, there are no more local bus that leaves for Denpasar. We had to charter one mini bus to take us there which cost us 600,000 rupiah. Most of the foreigners on the ferry already have a transport booked to take them there. Luckily there was this one Dutch couple who are also going to Denpasar and they agree to share the mini bus with us.

After more than 3 hours on the bus, we finally reached Kuta beach area.