Its BBQ time in Seminyak Bali

Thursday was a scorcher and I am very glad of my Santa Barbara hat which keeps my ears protected.

I see many new arrivals walking around without headgear which is amazing.

I rode over to Legian Arcade to visit the folks at Magic Wave but Ebong was away and Tim was busy. Legian Arcade is a funny place, wonderful location between Jl. Legian and Jl. Benesari and with plenty of free shop space. In fact the place is mostly deserted. I wonder what this place was like in its heyday, I see shops and bars that still have tables and chairs but seem as though the staff just walked away.

For a new business that doesn’t require a fancy shop space but does like a good location this place could work. The only negative I could see was the roof acted lile a bit if a greenhouse.

A friend of mine Miguel told me last year the thing he misses about Bali 10 years ago is the house parties that expats used to throw. Now with so many people living here people are just not so inclined to throw an open house, so the only parties that go on are the commercial ‘parties’ that places like Spy Bar throw, which really aren’t parties as you are paying for drinks.

I’m not much of a nightclubber but I do love BBQ’s and for my immediate group of friends I want to start doing them at my house. Not having any equipment I contacted my friend Palu (yes Angie he’s moved to friend status) about getting hold of a BBQ set. I had checked out ACE Hardware at Kuta Galeria several days before and figured out that not only is their stuff expensive but that I need a lot of it. In my house I have 2 cups ( Bintang beer mugs), 2 plates, 2 knives and 2 forks. That’s just not going to cut it ( in more ways than one ) with 20 people waiting for their red meat.

Palu has been a regular shopper at ACE in the last few monthes and has a membership. He offered to accompany me and try to save a few rupiah. We arrived at around 8pm and after choosing my BBQ (Weber, large, charcoal, black) I went about grabbing accessories… tongs. spatula, charcoal, some kind of rack thing and a handy little Balinese contraption called a ‘coconut fire starter’. Over here BBQ’s are done with coconut husks and wanting to ‘go native’ I bought a charcoal grill as opposed to a gas burner. This coconut starter is a foot high metal tube on legs with an 8 inch diameter. You plonk the coconut in and light it with paper. The kid who suggested it swears by it. As John Madden says “ACE is the place.” I just want to know where he gets those 8 leg turkeys from.

My plan is to gradually assemble the necessary parts to the puzzle ( plates, cups, candles ) and after a test run invite people over. Mosquitoes watch out, there’s about to be a hell of a lot of smoke coming from my house.

The cost of my new grill was a whooping 1.4m rupiah, that was before Palu stepped up and complained the 5% members discount just wasn’t good enough. “Get me the manager in charge!!!” he said to the staff, “me and him are as close a couple of benchongs.” The manager came out and Palu said “Look mate this 5% discount just isn’t good enough, I want 20%.” The manager agreed on 10% so I got my gear a little cheaper which was great.

After getting the stuff home I rode my bike up Jl. Seminyak to the night market that I have been hitting recently. My regular thing is to get a bowl of soto ayam ( chicken soup ) with tomato, cabbage, hard boiled egg etc. and then hit the ayam goreng ( fried chicken) stall . The soup goes for tiga ribu rupiah (3,000rp) and the ayam goreng for tuju ribu rupiah (7,000rp).

The lady who does the chicken asks me how I am, I say fine and ask her how she’s doing. The chicken is precooked but gets a 2 minute submersion in boiling oil. A plate of steamed rice and a selection of mint leaves, cucumber, cabbage and sambal ( hot sauce ) accompany. Balinese chickens pale in significance when compared to a Madden turkey but that’s okay, they’re natural and tasty.

Night markets are a fixture in Indonesia and while most tourists won’t visit one they have some okay things. One favourite is ( pisang goreng), fried bananas. I always make sure I keep well away from the wok as it has a burner underneath it like a Scud missile. Don’t want that thing tipping over on my leg. A bag of 4 bananas costs 1,000rp.

If you are staying in a hotel and want to act like Daddy Warbucks just run out to the night market and buy the staff a few bags of pisang goreng, they’ll think you’re wonderful and it will cost you about 50 cents.

Here at Internet Outpost in Kuta its just after 11pm and the place has 4 customers. Service is much improved with none of the black outs and long wait periods of recent months.

I just showed a Dutch tourist how to download photos from a digital camera, zip them and attach them to a email. He said all the way through Australia, NZ and Indonesia he and his friends were unable to figure this out and the staff were no help. If you’re not a tech geek get someone who is to give you a lesson before you leave for your trip, otherwise you’ll be like this guy with all kinds of memory sticks and nothing to show anyone.

• Friday's adventures
• In search of a house
• Small waves on sunny Kuta Beach Bali on April 5th 2004
• Walking through Kuta Square Bali
• Bali Coconut Hotel - Legian, Bali, Indonesia

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