Visiting Dreamland with expat Mike on the Bukit Bali

Sunday afternoon my friend Mike who lives up near Tampaksiring north of Ubud called me to see if I wanted to ride down to Dreamland with him and check out the full-moon.

His wife Priska and the 2 kids were in Denpasar taking care of family stuff and Mike said he likes to get to the beach when he has the chance.

The ride to the Uluwatu turn off from Kuta takes about 15-20 minutes depending on how much Manouvering you have to do to get to the actual Bypass. I made it to the ‘Tomy Suharto highway’ that leads to Dreamland in about 35 minutes. On previous visits the locals were manning a roadblock and charging people 5,000rp to pass. They were handing out tickets claiming to be dispossessed by evil Tomy, the son of dictator Suharto. The locals are gone and government security now look after the place. They are not supposed to charge a fee but I have heard they have been trying to on occasion. As I rode up to the security post one guy stepped out and gestured for me to stop but I just looked at him and hit the gas. His attempt was only half hearted anyway. Kasihan deh luh.

The dirt parking area at the headland overlooking Dreamland beach was scattered with cars and bikes. The access road is heavily rutted which is good for those of us who don’t want to see busloads of package tourists here. Motorbikes and cars can pass with no problems. There is a shack selling drinks and sometimes the locals there might try to pull the old ‘parking fee’ scam too. This time however I parked and strolled the 2 minutes down to the beach.

Dreamland is a sandy beach which is good for surfing. You can swim though be careful anytime there is big surf. I dropped down onto the beach and passed surfers and other people taking it easy under shades enjoying the last hour of sunlight. A 40 yard section of warungs on the right side of the beach is followed by an open section leading to the next beach and more warungs. I stopped at the first warung on the next beach and waited for Mike’s sms. Small Bintangs were going for 10,000rp so I ordered one and got comfortable, I could tell the vendors were happy to see me.

Mike arrived ( here in red shirt) and said he wanted to take a dip in the ocean. I declined this time as I didn’t want to be out after dark in wet clothing.

For beginning surfers who have tried Kuta Beach and want to step up to the next level Dreamland is the place. Mike is from LA and grew up surfing and told me this place was perfect for practicing with a mini-mal.

In the last hour of daylight the surf seemed to get bigger and more people entered the water, some guys getting great waves. On the horizon we could the long line of fishing boats getting ready for their workday.

Walking back up to the headland the full moon was like a floodlight in the clear sky. Mike and I rode back to Kuta and stopped in a little place on Jl. Benesari called Captain Haddocks which serves an interesting mixture of French, Thai, Italian and Indonesian food.

The world is definitely getting smaller and as we were getting ready to leave Mike ran into an old friend of his from Nevada City, California!