Sunday at the beach with old friends and new in Legian Bali

Sunday morning started at the end of Saturday night for me. I got to bed at around 3.30am and was woken at 9.30am by my cell phone.

My American friend Miguel was wanting to know if I would join him and his fiance for lunch and to meet her sister who he has told me about. Miguel said �Make sure you look nice, remember to shave and don’t wear that Baliblog shirt, I know you’ve got other clothes.�

Heeding his advice I showered and wore a long sleeve Nike shirt that looked clean. I knew we’d be outside sitting and chatting and long sleeves are good for sun protection. These Nike shirts by the way are feather light and let plenty of air in, just what I need.

Our lunch was at Zanzibar restaurant on Pantai Arjuna at the end of Jalan Double Six. Its located next to Benny’s for those who can’t remember and serves an array of Italian, Indonesian and western food.

I arrived first and ordered a watermelon juice and a basket of garlic bread. Miguel and Dayu hope to marry a year from now and as a friend of his I hear all every up and down they have.

At 12.30 Miguel and Dayu arrived with her son Govinda and her sister Karisma. We moved tables to a shadier spot and got acquainted. Again it was a lovely day and sitting under a shade with the palms tree on one side, the beach with waves crashing on the other I felt very lucky.

Out on the beach are chairs and shades and the scene is more expat and less tourist than in Kuta. The beach vendors here are way less aggressive. The sand isn’t too appealing being a brown color but the waves were pumping and Miguel was anxious to leave the ladies and get in there.

I ordered a Thai beef salad for 25,000rp which was okay for a quick snack but not really a meal. It was nicely flavoured with an oil and vinegar dressing and cilantro was one of the flavours I also noticed. Miguel got stuck into a giant sub sandwich which looked �the deal’.

We paid and moved down onto the beach sitting on the recliner. I didn’t really want to stay there for too long as the sun is so powerful out here and Karisma asked me to �accompany her to the bathroom’. That’s how it came out anyway. What she meant was �can we sit in a place for a drink and I’ll visit the bathroom’ ( another little cultural moment).

We sat in an adjoining restaurant and sipped a juice watching the surfers try their best to get onto the large waves that were crashing in front of us. Its amazing that most of the backpackers I see in Kuta on Poppies I & II mainly stick to the bars and restaurants in the immediate vicinity and along Jalan Legian. Out here just a mile or 2 north the atmosphere is more relaxed and there are quality places to eat.

Miguel told me that Karisma and I are well suited because she likes computers too. I asked her about this and she said she checks her e-mail and surfs the web. She is hoping to go to London to study for 6 monthes and is excited about it. I told her that I’m happy to swap London for Bali any day.

Back on the beach I snapped Ebong who was here with his surfboard, Ashley who is a famous painter and lives down the street from me and Getri who I meet months ago.

Ebong was teaching Govinda new words while Dayu was teaching me bad words. Dayu’s family are Hari Khrisnas and they somehow manage to combine this with Balinese agama hindu.

The afternoon was moving along so I thanked everybody for inviting me and rode home up Jalan Seminyak. I usually don’t go to the beach but this was the second time in 2 weekends. When Sean and Chris get out here in November we’ll all give surfing a try and who knows maybe I’ll start caring when the next swell hits.