New road construction and the Hard Rock in Bali Indonesia

Monday is a great day, it’s the start of the week and anther whole set of possibilities.

I like my job so I don’t need a reason to get excited. Living here on the edge of Seminyak I have the double advantage of being in the expat scene and hearing about what goes on and am just 15 minutes from Kuta and all the tourists. I live on a small street called Jalan Drupadi ( named after a Hindu goddess ) which is between the main party street, Jalan Dhyana Pura and the up and coming restaurant strip, Jalan Oberoi.

Close as I am the thing I like about Jalan Drupadi is that it’s relatively quiet. Recently I’ve noticed an endless stream of yellow dump trucks heading down my street kicking up huge clouds of dust. The reason for all the traffic is a new road that is being built. The people in charge of urban planning have in their wisdom decided to make the entrance to Jalan Dhyana Pura one way and funnel the traffic back to Jalan Seminyak via Jalan Drupadi. This has meant building a new road through a paddy field and knocking down some buildings along the way.

On Friday and Saturday nights Jalan Dhyana Pura is a madhouse of activity. The party scene here starts late ( after 11pm ) and goes till dawn in some places. All this traffic (cars, SUV’s, taxis, motorbikes, plus partiers ) is going to be funneled through Jalan Drupadi all night. I don’t thing most of the locals really understand the implications of what is going to happen as they don’t go down there after dark.

I wanted to see how construction is going so I parked my motorbike at the house where I get my laundry done. The finished road ends quickly and work is being done on the drainage channels at the side of the road. I stopped and said ‘terima kasih’ to the girls building the wall. They looked quite young but were getting the job done. It was hotter than hell out there so I swung by a shop and bought them an ice tea each. Their male friends were taking it easy inside.

There’s a lot of work still to be done and I hope the weather stays good for them. When it rains over here it really rains and trying work in the mud would be hard.

At the bottom of the road there’s a sharp right turn which heads in the direction of the beach. Mechanical diggers were busy shoveling dirt and workers followed quickly behind.

I walked back to my bike and was thinking how strange life can be. Just over a year ago most of the party scene was down in Kuta at Paddy’s, Sari Club etc. Jalan Drupadi was a street most people had never heard of. The bombing sent a lot of the people up to Seminyak and now they are going to be heading through Drupadi, whether they realize it or not.

I paid a visit to BIMC medical clinic to meet with one of their maangers and while I was talking saw a familiar face from Internet Outpost. One of the permanent fixtures, a guy from California who’s been here for months came in as he wasn’t feeling well. I think dehydration played a big part in his case but he spent over 4 million rp on his 4 hours of treatment.

I ate lunch at Warung Nikmat on Jalan Bakung Sari. For 5,000rp I got a plate of rice, a chunk of fish in sauce, green beans and an egg plant dish. Travellers, go to this place, you’ll love it!

Back on Poppies tourism is down for sure but still ticking over. I do see some shop owners wondering when the next busy time will be. There is a lot of development here though with new nightclubs and places to eat. I think when tourism really kicks in again people will be good position to take advantage.

I visited the Hard Rock Hotel on Pantai Kuta this afternoon to talk to the sales manager. This hotel looks like a fun place to stay with the great location right there across from the beach, live music at Centerstage and a ton of music industry memorabilia. The manager told me it costs them a lot to rent the gold discs and instruments. For me it was very cool to wander round and see guitars that were played by famous musicians and the names of bands.

The HRH also has an in house shop selling its famous t-shirts as well as a great pool that you can use for a fee.