The last couple of days have been super busy for me with having people over and running around all over the island.
The first installment of this is Friday night.
Friday night at my house was a process of getting people to find the house one by one before deciding what we were going to do.
First to call was Charlie who was recently arrived from the Gili islands. He was in Kuta and I told him to take a taxi to A Bar on Jl. Dhyana Pura in Seminyak. My alley (gang) leads out to right in front of A bar and it is easy for me to meet people there. Charlie showed up after a while and we walked the couple minutes to my house. After cracking open a cold beer we sat and chatted for about 10 minutes, Charlie telling me about his good time in the Gili’s.
My phone rang and it was my friend Veronica who was coming from Ubud. I told her to meet us at Bintang supermarket and so had to ride down the street on my motorbike to get her to my place. We have a couple of tight 90 degree turns in my alley and I was wondering how she would get out later.
We got her SUV down there without any mishaps and right after I fixed her up with a Fanta my phone rang again, it was my friend Chimene from California. Chimene had just returned from Sumatra where she was visiting her friends in Bukit Luwang. That village barely exists now after a killer flash flood wiped away most of it 3 months go.
Once again I rode down to Bintang supermarket where Chimene was waiting on her motorbike. It took us 2 minutes to get to the house. After a quick drink and introduction we all walked to Jl. Dhyana Pura to the Gateway Of India restaurant. Chimene was super hungry and went about ordering dishes and Charlie was all eager to say ‘4 garlic naan’, to our waitress. Gateway Of India is located next to Circle K on Jl. Dhyana Pura and serves a great selection of Indian food. Their menu has lamb, fish, chicken and vegetable sections and there are almost 200 items to choose from.
Everybody got their fill and we had food to spare, something that doesn’t usually happen when I eat alone. The way they serve the food here is deceptive, you get a plate and the dishes arrive in little Indian pots. These little pots hold a great deal more than you first think. They asked if we wanted ‘bunkus’ ( take away) but I declined�I didn’t fancy finding that stuff in my fridge week from now.
Veronica is familiar with Indonesian food and had eaten Indian before. She seemed to get into it but not with the vigor of the 3 hungry ‘bules’ who accompanied her.
Our bill including several drinks was 250,000rp.
Moving on to Liquid Bar we enjoyed the early evening elbow room at the bar. Liquid had recently expanded and the strong Euro/Asian scene persists. The familiar blue neon bar is part of the furniture also remains.
Spy Bar was next and we sat outside in one of their 4 chair blocks, Chimene enjoyed watching the Friday night scene develop. We talked again about Bukit Luwang and Chimene told me that the cause of the flood were 2 landslides that had created a blockage at the bottom of a valley. That became a lake and when it burst all its force came down on the first obstacle which was Bukit Luwang.
Chimene reports that the town has started to rebuild up the side of the hill from the river in case of future floods, but is still looking like a really mess with wood everywhere and no one having an income.
Chimene will continue her importing of Balinese clothing using her local connection over here and will be heading back to San Francisco in 2 days. Charlie too is at the point where he’s about to leave Bali. A career change is likely after spending time in China managing a manufacturing process for a big company. He said he will give us some articles about his time in Lombok and the Gili’s. Those will be great and I hope he does it.
All the flashy bars including Spy Bar, Liquid, Space etc. have cocktail menus that are way overpriced. I notice they don’t like to serve Bintang but go for Carlsberg or Heineken. They also don’t serve arak, the local liquor, its all top shelf stuff with a price to match.
I was sipping my beer and drinking water to stay hydrated.
Outside of Q Bar was a bit of a scene with the gay crowd getting ready for a fun night. I spotted a couple of scary looking tranvestites strolling along and saw Chimene’s eyes bulge.
Across the street from Santa Fe is Space, a lounge bar with a nightclub thing going on after 11pm. I have never been here before and decided to check it out with the crew. The hostess was sporting a head dress like something out of the Rio Carnival. Sitting at the bar it wasn’t long before the MC announced that the ‘Space Dancers’ would be performing. A 12 person male/female group also dressed like Carnival participants danced around the bar, on the bar, on the stair and on the dance floor. I won’t say it was good or bad, but Chimene did enjoy it and commented that we arrived at just the right time.
Space looks like it could be a fun place with a group of people.
Wanting to keep moving we jumped into a taxi and zoomed over to De Ja Vu on Jl. Arjuna ( at the end of Jl. Double Six, turn left). This place is modeled on Spy Bar with a red/ black color scheme and sharp design. The staff at Spy Bar have it going on in the glamour department though and the De Ja Vu staff seem more like regular folks. I guess when you work in fancy place you are part of the attraction too.
De Ja Vu sits across the street from the beach and it is very pleasant to sit with your 50,000rp cocktail watching the waves break.
Around 2am we grabbed a cab and went home. Charlie was heading back down to Kuta, Chimene was staying with me and Veronica was heading back to Ubud. We had fun and games getting her SUV out of my alley in the dark!
Tonight I had different people experiencing the night scene here in Seminyak. Chemine and Charlie both commented on how good the places looked and that even though this scene doesn’t represent Bali, its nice to come down here when you want to. Veronica didn’t seem super keen on it but not everyone is a partier.
This late night lead into a Saturday road trip.
Subscribe
|
Print
|
Share             
|
