Monday Sept 8th in Kuta Bali

My Monday in Bali went something like this. After hitting Café Moka in the morning for a bread basket and Bali coffee I rode down Jalan Legian from Seminyak to Internet Outpost on Poppies Lane II to see the staff and take care of online work.

Endah is 5 months pregnant and Mellie and Lai were also working. Lai is from Medan Sumatra and told me he likes to sing in his church choir, he misses his family back home and goes maybe once a year.

I wanted to get out and about and visit the guest houses in the Kuta area that carry my business cards. I bumped into many people who wanted t-shirts and I promised to try to remember them on the next batch. Its funny because I gave out plastic card holders as well as a stack of my cards to many places. Coming back I saw that some of them have put their own cards in my holder. My first reaction is to sling theirs in the street, but I want to keep things friendly, I simply move theirs to the side and fill mine up again.

On the street that leads from Poppies II to Poppies I close to Ronta Bungalows is a new place called Warung Indonesia. Its not actually new, but is the result of 2 places joining together and changing name. They’ve created a nice little place with Javanese type food. This place is wide open to the street and does quite a decent business. I stopped in for a plate of rice, fish and vegetables which was very affordable.

The deal is you get a plate of rice ( nasi ) and point to the items point to the items you want which range from fish, eggs, beans as well as curried items. If you are in a hurry and want to fill up on some hearty stuff this is a good place. Warung Indonesia is aimed at westerners and doesn’t have the piles of stuff that Warung Nikmat has or the extra quality of Warung Gossip. Still I can recommend it without hesitation.

On the corner of that side street and Poppies II I saw a familiar face but couldn’t remember who it was. After a few seconds I remembered it was Josh Grillo’s friend Marcelina from Jakarta who is on vacation. She has one of her friends out here and will be going back on Wednesday.

I walked down to the beach and had a look at the tourist scene down there. The skies were a bit cloudy and I can feel the rainy season coming back. Still there were new arrivals on the beach although not on the large numbers that I saw a few weeks ago. I am familiar enough to some of the vendors that they now realize it a fruitless exercise trying to sell me anything.

I visited a couple of travel agents to talk business. Okie House on Poppies II is a handy place and the staff member Kadek makes a lot of effort to shop around when you want something. Lady’s Travel which has 3 outlets in the Kuta area is undergoing refurbishment on Poppies II which will definitely enhance traffic. Their current office looks like crap with bare walls and nothing much going on. Travelers want a sense that the person selling their ticket has their act together.

After another session online the time was getting close to 6pm and I decided to take a ride out to Benny’s on Legian Beach to see if any of the familiar faces were there. Cruising past I spotted Tony, the guy who is staying at Mick’s palace ( Mick was in town for 4 hours the other and flew back to Hong Kong….they still have never met ) and Chris, a veteran of previous road-trip. Mick named Chris ‘Christina’ after his last minute cancellation on climbing Gunung Agung. He was here with his girlfriend Wiwit from Java and I told him how Mick and I woke up at 2am that day and agree that Chris was a lucky devil to be at home with Wiwit while we were about to walk up a mountain.

We were joined by a small group that included people from Germany, Scotland, Romania and Java. Two of the ladies were diving instructors and used to work with Tony here in Bali on a boat. The diving lifestyle seems attractive and they told stories of fabulous coral reefs, large fish, manta rays and good times. Tony told me that the down side of the diving industry is that the overheads are high, so the wages are not that great with many operators totally tied up in their investment. For instructors the work can be monotonous, teaching beginners how to clean their mask and a endless cycle of diving and partying, which can take a toll.

Another guest was Dave from Ireland who has been out here for a year and wants to move to Thailand. He’s also an instructor and was accompanied by Margherita from Java. Dave told me that the best diving he’s has in Indonesia is in Komodo, where the 2 European ladies work on a boat. He said some of the sites in Bali have been damaged by fishing practices although if you know where to go you can still find good places. He told me about Permuteran on the NW coast. Years ago it was the main diving spot in Bali and the reef got quite damaged. There’s a large project underway right now to stimulate coral regeneration using electric currents, a strategy that Dave said is very successful. Divers actually now go to Permuteran just to dive around this project and the growth of coral and the accompanying sea-life is very noticeable.

For people considering going to the Gili islands (Lombok ) for diving Dave said they are shocking as far as the destruction and lack of coral. He said the best thing about the Gili’s is the backpacker scene.

Chris and Wiwit were heading home and the rest of us rode over to Made’s Warung in Seminyak for a late evening dinner. I ordered my usual nasi campur ( mixed rice ) that includes chicken, pork, fish, tofu, tempeh, greens, sambal and other items for 15,000rp ( $1.80) . The other people had a varied selection of food with the Euro’s going for a soup and salad. Margherita got herself a plate of sushi which looked average compared to what you can get at Ryoshi.

One of my rules when travelling is to talk to people if you need something (‘ask and you shall receive’) and one of the things I’ve been meaning to do is get a new cell phone after losing mine a few weeks ago. “I lost my phone and need to buy a new one, anyone know of a second hand one for sale?” I said. “I’ve got a one I want to get rid of, you can pick it up tomorrow” said Dave sitting across from me. I’ll have to contact Margherita and meet for the exchange then I’ll be able to keep in touch locally again.

The lady from Scotland was flying out to Sulawesi the next moring on the first flight to join a boat full of American tourists. Interesting lifestyle and one that could be fun for a short time. The rest of the crew was heading to Santa Fe bar. I decided to go to Global Xtreme internet café for a large coffee and to sort out stuff online before going home to bed.

Great day here and I met an assortment of interesting people.