Reading a travel mag in Seminyak Bali

Its a rainy sunday morning here in Seminyak Bali.

After a quick coffee and bread breakfast at Cafe Moka on Jl. Seminyak I am back at my place listening to the stereo of my new neighbors from Australia who moved in a few days ago. I think they are short term stayers as they seem in party mood most of the time.

At Cafe Moka I picked up a copy of HelloBali magazine. This publication comes out monthly and is produced in Denpasar. Its tag line includes the words ‘travel, dining, shopping, golf, spa, villas, culture, everything’. I read through it see what news I could glean.

There were mentions of new hotels coming onto the scene including the Conrad Bali in Benoa which is near completion. The new hotel will have 313 rooms and 15 suites. Its great to see investment in the tourist industry.

What makes this hotel special is the E-shaped design that gives every room an ocean view and the size of the swimming pools…60% of the property is covered in water with 4886sq meters of pools and lagoons not counting the 300 meters of beach!

Elsewhere in the resort industry the InterContinental Resort Bali in Jimbaran is about to do a complete make over after being around for 10 years.The Sheraton Nusa Dua has become the WestinResort Nusa Dua and it too has undergone a $5M renovation, incorporating elements of Balinese style and revamping the amenities…flat screen tv and broadband in your room.

I read about a book that will be published soon called ‘Bali - Paradise Rediscovered’ which is an attempt to show people the beauty of Bali. In all 15 foreign and 17 local photographers combined to take 60,000 photos in 10 days, 300 will feature. The text will be provided by 8 noted writers. I’m excited to check this book out myself, I’m sure the photos are fantastic.

Recently looking for a place to live my friend Ebong suggested Jimbaran as a place that might be cheaper to living in Seminyak or Legian. I always thought of Jimbaran as fishing village with night time fish retaurants and a couple of big resorts. Reading HelloBali I saw an article that says Jimbaran Bay and the Bukit peninsula are the new ‘Beverly Hills of Bali’. I guess it makes sense too. In my neighborhood Seminyak I don’t have a view of the ocean and the newer villas are getting built out in Umalas in the rice paddies. Jimbaran and the Bukit (means hill in Indonesian and is the bit that sticks out at the bottom) offer great sweeping views and access to the beach. It will be interesting to see in 10 years how the area comes along. In fact it is already interesting for me to observe Bali’s development.

The Kuta area was the first to develop in any substancial way for tourists although it was always considered barren useless land by the Balinese. Kuta became the most expensive real estate on the island and the development continued to Legian, Seminyak and Kerobokan.

The Bukit is very barren limestone plateau and the farming there consists of small gardens and cattle…no rice paddies and no streams. When rain falls it is slightly acidic and limestone cannot hold this as it bores cracks and seeps away (Nusa Dua gets its water from 30 meter deep wells, in Jimbaran where the underlying rock is made of volcanic sediments fresh water can be found just 3 meters down). The Bukit does have small villages but isn’t really what you’d call a cultural center. I think for me an area like Ubud or Karangasem holds more interest, but for the expat wanting a villa with a view that’s close to the scene in Kuta the Bukit could work.

I was reading through a restaurant guide and saw a list of Mexican restaurants ( I love Mexican food). The list stated that TJ’s on Poppies Lane I serves the best margarita in Bali. Let’s get one thing clear right now, I serve the best margarita in Bali (when I have tequila) and they come in pint glasses.

I’m going to try the nasi bunkus again today to see what the daily changes are like.

Last night while walking past the Dunkin Donuts on Jl. Legian back to Poppies II I passed a group of touts, you know they hang out and offer taxis, money change etc. This one guy hollers at me “WOMAN WOMAN WOMAN.” I turn and holler “WOMAN WOMAN WOMAN.” back at him. “Yes I’ve got many.” he replied. Whatever happened to ‘pssss…you want lady?’

I couldn’t find a bunkus guy handy so went along Jl. Benesari which is partially flooded to a padang food place and got a heaping plate of rice, fish, potato and greens for 7,000rp. The sauce was tasty and not too hot and I tried a little green sambal to go along with it. Very good!

Internet access today is quite good in the Kuta area, at least in the cafe I’m using. I am riding down to Nusa Dua tonight to catch up with Bill from New York who arrived recently. Will let you know how that went soon.

Related Posts

• Paradise beaches on the Bukit Bali
• Map of Jimbaran
• Map of the Bukit Peninsula
• Map of Jungutbatu & Mushroom Bay: Nusa Lembongan
• Map of Amed & Aas

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