Nightlife with Andrea in Seminyak Bali

Humid weather persists here in Bali and twice now Andrea and I have been caught in downpours.

Sitting here on my porch typing it’s a sweaty one and I think before the day is out I will see at least 3 showers.

One thing about the location of my house is that when I have guests I don’t have to walk far to show them a good time. Last night at around 7pm we walked down Gang Bima ( it has a couple of entrances ) to Jl. Dhyana Pura to a warung for a light meal, Andrea going for Gado Gado ( steamed veg with peanut sauce and rice), myself going for the oxtail soup. My soup was 20,000rp and was very good. Jasmine started me off on this a couple of weeks ago.

Andrea I used to live in Santa Barbara California, which has a strong Mexican influence and is also on the coast, meaning surfing too. Dhyana Pura has a bar
that reminds me of SB called Mixwell. We sat at the bar sipping arak madu’s and trying not to eat all the peanuts. I was stealing glances at the Bayern Munich vs. Real Madrid game on tv, trying to stay in the conversation. The bar staff (about 7 of them ) were all chatting and trying to occupy themselves. The nightlife starts late here and before 10pm the bar staff don’t have much to do. Andrea commented that people working in shops and restaurants over here always seem to live in the moment and enjoy themselves. I have noticed this too, even in very busy restaurants. Andrea said this contrasted strongly with
Germany where everyone is so serious and stern looking. I said one of the factors is the lack of management here. In Europe and the US you always have
a manager on hand who clearly stands out and is usually motivated to get things done. This isn’t as obvious over here. In the west there seems to be more
of a ‘command and control’ mentality with a lot of assholes in charge. I know that some of the people I’ve worked for I didn’t even want to be around.

The guys behind the bar were experimenting with their arak madu ( local liquor, honey and lemon) recipe and gave us 2 different samples. Andrea’s was sweeter with less arak. I said I like the stronger drink. Our tab was 50,000rp for 2 drinks.

Moving down the street we went to Tu Bar, a newer 2 storey place with a Fuzball table downstairs, a pooltable upstairs�it’s a cool looking place. I
immediately made a move to the pool table and did my best to set Andrea up with as many easy shots aspossible. Andrea has the worst strategy of anyone I’ve ever played and seemed to choose the most difficult angle/length of shot every time. I started slyly moving her balls closer to the pockets when she was
shooting another ball.

We were joined by a couple of expats who took great delight in beating us at doubles and left after a total of about 40 minutes. At Tu Bar you have to pay
to play pool. 30,000rp per hour.

A short cab ride over to Woodstock bar on Jl. Oberoi took a few minutes and cost 7,500rp. We bumped into familiar faces. Ebong and Maurice from Germany and Bali were in fine form, a kind of Abbott and Costello pairing. Bartender Eric from Holland came over and joined us out back overlooking the rice paddies and told me about his plans for the future. “How’s business?” I asked him. “To tell you the truth I don’t give a flying fuck about business.” He replied. “I want to make a difference and give people a place they can think of as their ‘local’ where they can speak their mind, a place where there’s no bullshit and no one trying to act like they’re something special.” Eric told me the problem with the bar scene in Bali is that everything goes on so late, starting at 11pm and finishing late. He wants to build a beach club out back and serve food, drinks and have music. Work has already started and its an ambitious project. I will document the progress when it starts taking shape.

People move to Bali for a variety of reasons, to get away, to learn, to make their fortune or just to enjoy life and it is interesting to hear other points of
view.

Marcel told the story that you may of heard before about the Mexican fisherman: A Mexican fisherman lived in a beautiful coastal village and had a small boat and would go fishing everyday. A financier approached him and said “You should get a bigger net, then you could catch more fish.” Why would I do this?” the fisherman asked. “If you had a bigger net you could catch more fish and make more money,” financier replied. “Why would I want to make more money?” said the fisherman. “If you made more money you could buy
another boat and employee other people,” said the financier. “Why would I need all those boats and all that money?” said the fisherman. “You could start a
company and become wealthy and by the time you are 60 years old you could retire rich.” said the financier. “Why would I want to retire rich?” said the
fisherman.” “So you could live on the coast, buy yourself a little boat and go fishing everyday,” “said the financier.

There’s a lesson in there somewhere.

We left a closing time around 2am after many good conversations. It is interesting when you really talk to people and see what motivates them.

The funny thing about having Andrea around is the staff at my local places think she’s my girlfriend (she actually has a boyfriend in Germany called Bernd
who I call ‘burnt toast). Andrea and I will take a trip to Karangasem on Saturday.

• Checking out the nightlife with Chris in Kuta Bali-part I
• Balinese Fishermen in Jimbaran Bali
• Kuta nightlife with Andrea in Bali
• First timer’s experiences in Bali
• Mr Tokek in Seminyak Bali

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