I didn’t know what to expect with Palembang as it’s not exactly a tourism hub. As I made my way to the airport train it was such a good feeling to know that I didn’t have to deal with this hassle. Walking outside of arrivals I was greeted by the usual troop of taxi touts who were trying to win my custom. These are the current cities in Southeast Asia with trains at the airport: It’s unusual to see a provincial city have any kind of rail transit in Southeast Asia, let alone one that goes to the airport. Palembang was co-host of the games with Jakarta, and the light rail connects the airport to the games site, via the city centre. I was in Palembang to see the light rail line (LRT) that was constructed for the 2018 Asian Games. Once I arrived at the airport and saw that I was back in Sumatra I was in a better mood, even with the bad air. In the end I figured I should rough it out for 2 days.
Not that that would have helped, as Kuala Lumpur was being slammed with haze even worse than Palembang. I thought about what the process is for buying a ticket on the very aircraft that is returning to your destination of origin. In the weeks following my visit the pollution levels reached record highs. It got so bad later on that flights were being delayed due to the haze. Apparently, I was arriving on a good day. Looking out of my window to the barely visible palm oil plantations below I was wondering what the hell I was doing voluntarily flying to Palembang in the midst of the great hazepocalypse of 2019.
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