Superbowl Monday at Double D in Legian Bali

Monday February 7th meant an early appointment for me at a downtown café called Double D located on Jl. Legian next to Star Surf, across Simpang Cafe and down from Ryoshi. The reason was a game of American football called the Superbowl that is an annual event in the US.

The game is the culmination of their professional season and Superbowl parties are the common way to celebrate with bbq, pizza, buffet and other goodies set up in advance for the 3 and a half hour long sporting event. For those who have seen the game live in the US the halftime show and commercials are part of the show too, with advertisers trying to out do each other in creativity. This years game was between the New England Patriots and the Philadelphia Eagles.

Double D is a small café / bar / restaurant that is street-side and is open 24 / 7 . I arrived at around 7am and the game had not yet started. I was sporting my USC coaches hat in celebration of their college football win last month and sat at the bar next to a fellow from southern Cal named John who is over here exporting furniture and other decorative items. John and I discussed exporting and life in Bali and he told me something very interesting. Since 9/11 Americans have become more insular and tend to travel overseas less. Vacationing inside the US is more common and consequently people are missing the tropical feel of places visited previously. Now there is a tremendous interest in all things tropical with people buying thatched shelters for their gardens and all kinds of bamboo furniture. He pointed to a clothing label called Tommy Bahama which I had never heard of that is also hot stuff right now (there are a lot of terms I am not up to speed with. Do you know what a Metrosexual is?).

I said people must by crazy considering some of the bamboo stuff I see in bars here in Bali looks so cheap and tacky, but John said over in the US its in vogue right. He pointed across the street to Simpang Café where a girl was arranging a huge vase of colored bamboo sticks and some flowers. According to him that kind of decoration is very much in demand.

John told me he and his business partner have a small factory here and have been exporting for 2 years. The biggest problem for him so far is that US Customs go over his containers with a fine tooth comb as they do not trust shipments from Indonesia.

Great to see someone who is doing it his way.

I ordered the American breakfast which was okay and included scrambled eggs, tomato, toast, bacon ( do not tell the imam!) and a pot of coffee for 24,000rp.

Most of the people numbering about 12 stayed downstairs. I spent the 4th quarter upstairs as the screen was so much better. The game was close with the New England Patriots winning 24-21.