This Atomic Essay is a continuation of my previous blog post!
As you can tell from my previous post, decompression was hellish to go through: I left the plane in a condition where I couldn't work properly, as if I was drinking heavy alcohol in when I was in the plane. I have no idea how to convince you─dear reader─that the the suffocation I was experiencing is really that bad and not in a hyperbole way.
As the decompression continues, we had to board a bus reserved for the passengers of the plane which drove us to the gate that leads outside, which of course we did after we retrieved our luggage back. I personally have no idea that once we're out of the gate, we can't go back, and when I realised that─it was already too late.
So the first thing we did was exploring the area and deciding where to sleep for the night. We found a safe-keeping service for plane luggage but we were too late about 10 minutes after it closed, so we moved on. Not far from there, we found these benches which were really close with each one of them, and we decided to sleep there; there could not have been a better area for us to sleep in. Although, we found a few problems we had to deal with: First and foremost, the price for literally everything at the airport is BONKERS─a mere mineral water costs 15~20k, which is astonishingly outrageous, but we had no other choice, so we ended up buying a one and a half liter of water and a bread which is enough for five of us.
The airport area is actually pretty large, but most of it is just empty-long hallways with a bunch of benches at the side of it. The most interesting thing I found from the airport was this ceiling that imitates the sky and has many giant butterfly statues hung right underneath the ceiling; I found it at the commercial area where we were trying to find an Alfamart or Indomart. We didn't do much for a while other than playing games on our phone before continuing our search for a charging terminal; we brought one terminal fortunately enough, but we still haven't found the stop-contact for it.
We searched pretty much the whole airport complex but it resulted in none, mostly. When we found the single existing stop-contact, we were pretty hesitant if we're even allowed to use it because it was in a ATM station, so we asked the security beforehand. The security was kind enough to let us charge inside the ATM station, which led to us having two resting points. Well, the ATM station wasn't exactly a resting point, because it has no bench in it for us to sleep on, so we couldn't find any use to stay there other than to look at our low-battery phone or to play some mobile games.
The night did feel to be quite long, I was desperately trying to find any kind of activity to do other than scrolling social media apps. I did end up drawing, but one thing which I regretted the most was not talking to anybody that was staying at the benches near us. I was planning to do so because I want this journey to be utmost productive, and getting data and new perspective about such journey is invaluable to the narrative we're trying to build. Speaking of plan, I wasn't planning to sleep the whole night, but ended up doing so. It wasn't long, but long enough for me to feel well-rested.
There wasn't much we do afterwards because not long after I woke up, we were allowed to start entering the main gate and wait in the waiting area. One thing which caught me very off-guard was when our bags that we're going to take to the plane were being checked, the guard questioned me about a metal thing inside the bag. I forgot what kind of metal thing I brought, so it was a complete mystery for me also. I was sweating and terrified like I'm actually a criminal and not just a student who's trying to go on his way without harming anybody. I was panicking too even though I didn't think I showed much of it; I thought to myself that I should compose myself as best I could or otherwise I'd look very suspicious. When we found the metal thing inside my bag, it turns out it's the Fox glue I brought in my bag, for emergency situations. We were allowed to proceed with the glue being confiscated.
At the waiting area, me and Kak Gina took a tour around the hallways because it was really huge and fancy compared to the one in Jakarta surprisingly enough. We were searching for a coffee shop but there wasn't anything stood out other than Starbucks: Kak Gina has a discount voucher for Starbucks so we saved up quite a lot of money, but it didn't give us coffee, instead just a sugary-sweet chocolate beverages. I was still unsatisfied, and I felt really hungry; I thought to myself, "If this is the last time I could eat fancy food, then I must." So I went to Yoshinoya and ordered a bowl of yakiniku, it was a meal I cherished.
When we boarding the plane, I forgot that I haven't bought a chewing gum; my friend advised me, "You should bring a chewing gum next time! It should help with the decompression." But there wasn't much time for me to go back and buy a chewing gum. I was afraid naturally, but I comforted myself into focusing with the fact that this is the last flight we're going to take before using a boat for us to return from Sumba.
At the plane, I requested to switch seats with Kak Gina so I can see and documented the view above the cloud; suffice to say, it wasn't disappointing at all. It also helped with me coping with the decompression effect, so that's good I suppose.
