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Taking Andrea to Tirtagangga Bali

Saturday morning Andrea and I got to Cafe Moka by 8am and I was out on Jl. Legian looking for a car to rent soon after.

I don’t use Made from Bali Land and Houses anymore because he wouldn’t give me a break on the petrol I left in the car one time and started using another rental place on Jl. Legian just down from Jl. Dhyana Pura.

Saturday morning they had no car on hand and one staff who wanted to play ‘20 questions’. I said “Look buddy if you have a car I’ll rent it, otherwise I’m out of here.” He didn’t have car so we rode half a kilometer further down Jl. Legian to a shop with a car rental sign. One of the staff drove me over to another shop on Jl. Padma where it took about 10 minutes to organize the car. I got a Suzuki for 80,000rp per day and could get it back on Monday morning sometime. The staff member and I did a quick spot check before I left, him marking down all the dents on a sheet. “You’ve got to be kidding.” I said. “There’s dents all over this thing.” As usual the gas gauge was on ‘empty’ so our first pit stop was the petrol station on Jl. Raya Kerobokan. The car was making a real whining sound and I was thinking ‘this is going to make our trip a bit less enjoyable’. After filling up at the station the whining sound dissappeared, “It was just thirsty,” said Andrea.

Vincent and Akari had invited us to stay and we were planning to meet them at their house at 6pm which meant we had plenty of time to explore. The coastal highway from Sanur to Lebih was pleasant and got us to Gianyar within 45 minutes of leaving Sanur.

I told Andrea that the driving goes from pleasant to frustrating as soon as we changed to the older local roads. A sharp right turn where the Lebih road enters Gianyar pointed us to Klungkung about 10km away to the east. The road then swings towards the coast once more and another 10km to Padangbai, the small fishing village with the Lombok ferry terminal. I suggested we eat lunch there and Andrea siad she wanted to check out the place also. Padangbai sits at the end of a a road that deadends at the beach and the surrounding area is quite nicely forested compared to the coastal land on the road to Lebih.

Getting from the main road to Padangbai takes 10 minutes or so.

Driving down to the loading area for the ferry I doubled back and circled behind a sesction of small shops and along the main fishing beach. As soon as we showed up vendors flocked like mosquitoes. Padangbai was a triving backpacker / tourist place 10 years ago when I visited and actually has more development now…it just doesn’t have the visitors. Interestingly Andrea and I observed some new multi level brick construction and the far end of the beach, this is an indicators that people with money are optimistic about the future.

Sitting in a beachside warung e both ordered a fish dish, mine tuna, hers barracuda. I think Andrea was little annoyed with me when I couldn’t fully describe the differenes between the taste of shark, barracuda and tuna. I’ve eaten them all but as far as flavor they are similar, at least shark and tuna. “Oh just give me something with fish.” she said.

While waiting for our food an assortment of vendors came over, all very friendly and using a variety of strategies. One lady walked past, pointed at me and gave me a knowing glance ‘I met you before,’ she seemed to say. At first it was a bit annoying but after a while they drift away and you can actually play a game with them by bargaining. I offered a lady 10,000rp for a nice sarong, she wanted 50,000rp. School kids came over selling model boats and tried their best at the pity routine, ‘yes, you buy just one boat, for me, to help my economy…why you make me bankrupt?’ Its all in good fun, they pout and look hurt, all the while knowing its a game.

The food came and it was good at 20,000rp.

We walked to the end of the beach and hiked over a small hill to Blue Lagoon Beach whch is quiet and pleasant. The water was decently clean, better than the main beach by far. I took a swim them chatted with a Japanese tourist from Tokyo who is here for a week.

While I admired the view the thought crossed my mind that this would be nice location for a house if I could buy the warungs and knock them down. It definitely would be a great site however for me it wouldn’t work for 2 opposing reasons: 1. I wouldn’t want groups of tourists splashing around on my private beach and 2. I wouldn’t want to block anyone from using the beach. don’t kow if that makes sense but I want privacy while not being a hog. I guess a choice beach front isn’t where I’ll end up.

At around 3.30 pm we drove past Candi Dasa and on to Amlapura and Tirtagangga. Amlapura is the largest town in east Bali and was called Karangasem until the eruption of Gunung Agung in 1963. It is possible to get a bemo bus from Denpasar to Amlapura from the Sanglah terminal via Kereneng, Batubulan and the places I mentioned we went through. From Kuta you can leave from Tegal terminal and connect with Kereneng terminal. I must say though that bemo’s are a pain in the ass, for passengers and other drivers. They creap along looking for customers and slow traffic. For passengers you are crammed in and will have a very indirect and start’-stop journey.

Vincent and Akari’s place is past the water palace and we stopped in there for an hour to look around. I saw the same faces hanging out there, the Parkirman in the front lot, the fruit ladies, the reflexology man.

Some of the pools have an algae right now and I think that’s partially due to the season. The location is lovely and the place is an interesting spot for a quick visit, great for swimmming too.

Moving on to the house we were arriving early but were both a bit tired. Wayan the gardner (female) and Wayan and Komang the 2 male chefs/cleaners were on hand. The house is spread out and has 2 guest room and 1 master bedroom.

Akari loves her Japanese snacks and quickly served us some green soy beans and salty crackers. This together with a large Bintang hit the spot for me.

After Vincent returned from Amlapura we got acquainted and chatted till Wayan served the soup, which was followed by a lovely salad and vegetable dish. Vincent told me that the highland areas now are producing salad items in small gardens and he gets them from Amlapura market. Large hotels buy up a lot of this produce but it also means you can get great salad items in Bali. The feta and olive oil he gets in one of Seminyak’s delis.

We cracked open the 2 bottles of Chilean wine I brought and the evening moved along well. This is such a lovely spot. The house overlooks a valley in between Gunung Seraya and Gunung Agung. In this photo you can see the corner of the house poking out from the cliff.

Vincent promised us an early ‘rise and shine’ so we retired at 10.30pm, Andrea in the bedroom with the twin beds, myself in the bedroom with the double bed.