We left Perth and flew to Bali, arriving at Denpasar around midnight.
I was feeling very nervous having a two-kilo block of white powder packed carefully
in my checked-in baggage and I was expecting to have to do some convincing explaining
to the authorities in some dingy, hot back room.
The substance in question was sodium metabisulphite, a
chemical I use as a pickling solution in my reverse osmosis water maker, and I
can just imagine the look on the officer’s face if he puts a finger covered of
this shit into his mouth to test for drugs.
After clearing immigration, we collected our checked-in
baggage and were swept along with hundreds of other travellers towards the x-ray
machines. There were hundreds of bags and suit cases being pushed in one end
and quickly being removed on the other side and I was thinking how difficult it
would be to spot any contraband at the rapid pace things were moving.
I collected my bags from the output side of the x-ray
machine and after loading up my trolly, headed for the exit gate when suddenly
one of the airport officials approached me and directed me to the area up the
back for a baggage search.
On the outside I was calm and cool, but inside I was
shitting bricks. I was asked to open the bag containing the two-kilo block of
white powder and immediately I knew they were onto me. I fumbled with the
combination lock the pulled back the zipper exposing the two-kilo block of
white powder for all to see.
The officer’s eyes lit up and several other officers came
over to take a look at the rare find. I was asked if I packed my own bags and
if I knew what this substance was and I said “yeah mate, it’s sodium
metabisulphite, a chemical I use as a pickling solution in my reverse osmosis
water maker on my boat that’s in a marina over on Lombok”.
He just looked at me with a dumb look on his face and I
asked Putu to explain to him in Indonesian what we use it for. He picked up the
heavy bag of white powder and looked it over. Inside was a small piece of paper
with the company’s name, contact details and details of the chemical name and
use.
After reading the details, the officer shrugged and grunted
something and then said “no problem’ and carefully placed the package back into
my bag and we were free to go. By now, I hadn’t breathed for about four minutes
and was probably turning blue, but it looked like the ordeal was over.
Out in the car park we were met by Putu’s father and uncle
who took us back to Klungkung and I couldn’t get out of the airport fast enough.
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