Sunday in Sanur and Serangan Bali

Sunday Ika and I couldn’t decide what we wanted to do so after a moment of deliberation we jumped on my motorbike and rode off to Sanur.

From Kuta it takes about 25 minutes to get to Sanur depending on what part you are heading to. Looking at a map of Bali you will see Sanur on the coast, SE of Denpasar, but actually many of the places in the area (Sindhu, Bebet, Batujimbar, Semawang, Blanjong) also sometimes get referred to as Sanur.

As I was driving and Ika wasn’t particularly bothered where we went I did the obvious thing and headed for the Cat & Fiddle Pub which is now located on Jl. Cemara (used to be Jl. Mertasari ). Arriving I immediately saw British Honorary Consul Mark Wilson and said hello. The Cat & Fiddle serves Sunday lunch of roast pork, roast potatoes and vegetables. We weren’t super hungry so Ika got an orange juice and myself and Guinness. My dad would be proud of me.

We were feeling like a snack afterwards and talking about food Ika said she had never tried sushi. The Ryoshi chain has several outlets in Bali including Kuta, Legian, Seminyak, Ubud, Tirtagangga, Gili Trawangan and Sanur. The restaurant is located on Jl. Danau Tamblingan closer towards Sanur and when we got there we saw only 3 other customers. I ordered a small tray of mixed sushi, with vegetarian rolls, an egg sushi piece, a cooked shrimp and a few sashimi pieces. Once I showed Ika how to mix the wasabi with the soy sauce she got into it. I was waiting for the reaction to that first whiff of wasabi and she responded…”I don’t like.” I myself do like and cleaned up the rest with my raw fish. Indonesians are always interesting to people to dine with and bring a certain down to Earth quality. Raw fish isn’t a part of their diet and usually food is strong tasting with spicy sambal and other sauces. Small delicate pieces of sushi seem very strange to them and Ika didn’t even want to touch the fish. Also the cost of sushi must be a mystery considering you can get a plate of nasi campur with chicken, fish and beef for 6,000rp. Our plate cost 40,000rp but I always thank myself for eating sushi and green tea as I tell myself its good for the heart and helps to balance out the pollution around here.

Riding back to Kuta along Bypass Ngurah Rai, Ika wanted to look at Serangan, the island also known as ‘Turtle Island’. We pulled straight off the Bypass and hung a left down the causeway out to the island stopping at the checkpoint to pay 500rp entrance fee. Serangan is a pretty barren place but does have a few warungs and a beach. There is a dirt track running around the edge which is driveable. We followed this for most of the way and stopped off to watch a group of men racing their pigeons. Ika told me racing pigeons is very popular in Java and that the men were talking Javanese. While I walked off to the bathroom ( actually the rocks on the beach) they started asking her questions and if her ‘boyfriend’ wanted to buy a pigeon. She told them I was her husband and one of the guys told the rest of them to shut up because I might get mad. Quite funny how news travels out here, you arrive in a new place and 5 minutes later everybody knows where you are from and what you’re doing.

I’m not exactly sure how they arrange the race but Ika told me each man has a pair of pigeons, one male and one female. Some distance away a signal is given and the male is released flying straight to the handler holding the female. They looked like little cruise missiles flying across the sand and some arrived a minute after the others.

Serangan is a famous surfing location and we saw some decent waves but no one surfing. In the wet season Serangan gets more popular because the swell changes and the water on the east side of the island is cleaner.

For Balinese people there are 2 temples (pura’s ) on Serangam, Pura Sakenan and Pura Susunan Wadonan. Pura Sakenan is very important for the Kuningan ceremony and the island is suddenly flooded with people for that day.

Further along the shore we saw locals enjoying the safe swimming conditions of a sheltered bay with their families, but no foreigners.

The ride back from Serangan to Kuta took about 15 minutes.