Visiting saphir bali at Seraya Shores in Ujung Bali

Sunday morning I set my alarm for 6am.

I wanted to ride out to Karangasem to see an important lady and didn’t want to get going late. As luck would have it a mosquito in my net got me up at 4.30am and I ended up leaving my house at 5.30am heading out to the Bypass in the pitch black with my long pants, long sleeves and sarong wrapped around my neck.

There is traffic at that time of the morning and one strange thing I noticed was that on the Bypass is Sanur it seems to be the local sport to run along the Bypass at daybreak barefoot. I passed a lot of locals doing this.

I really enjoy watching the dawn over Bali especially heading out east and a while later I hit a breakfast place in Candi Dasa for the good old American breakfast (eggs, bacon, toast, fruit salad, coffee ) for 25,000rp. There are a bunch of places along the main street in Candi Dasa, none of which are doing much business.

My destination today was Seraya Shores, a guest house in Ujung owned by saphir bali from Australia. I’ve stayed here before and was always impressed by the food, the friendly staff and the location, which for many visitors feels like their image of ‘the real Bali’.

Arriving at around 8.45am I found one of the staff, Sasa in the kitchen with saphir bali still sleeping. Actually no one knew I was coming and I was dropping off some paperwork. While chatting to Sasa he pointed out a turtle that was bobbing its head in the surf. He said they like to eat the sea grass on the rocks.

Seraya Shores has a great beach front location and one of the things I like is the large bale overlooking the rocky shore. The guest house has 5 rooms which rent for 250,000rp per person, 3 meals and all soft drinks / juices included. Let me tell you if you are looking for a place to relax this is it. The proximity to the shores affords an amazing feeling of the waves crashing right outside your bedroom window. The sea breeze keeps the mosquitoes away which is great too.

I made myself comfortable and when saphir bali finally woke we were served a pancake and fruit by Sasa, while we talked about the guest house and about living in Bali.

saphir bali has built Seraya Shoes bit by bit and is now working on a new bale overlooking the ocean. I reckon it will be awesome. When she first acquired the land over 5 years ago she built a single bale and stayed in it, viewing the scene and checking out the sunrise, sunset and thinking about how best to arrange the rooms for the guests.

She told me that the people who enjoy the guest house the most are people looking to relax and who are self motivated people who don’t need a ton of activities. Of course you can do yoga, paint, hike, swim and explore, its just not set up as adventure holiday though.

Sitting under the bale eating saphir bali said living in Bali gets her in touch with some kind of basic natural roots. The Balinese are all about living close to the earth with family and kids in close proximity. saphir bali told me that while there can be frustrating times where people don’t learn as quickly as would be desirable, there are other things that more than make up for it. For example when she was sick she had staff and villagers coming round to serve her food and make sure she was okay. Another guest had Wayan one of the staff, sleep at the bottom of her bed every night when she was sick, that’s the Balinese way, looking after your friends and relatives.

There will also be a long communal dining table coming shortly overlooking the ocean. This place is getting better and better and thank goodness there is no tv. saphir bali showed me her 2 cats which were originally named Seraya and Ujung. Recently a French couple renamed Seraya ‘Martine’ so that’s how the cats have started to get westernized.

I told saphir bali I had to get back to Kuta and after saying goodbye to Sasa I mounted my trusty Supra and sped home. Lovely sunny weather and good riding conditions saw me back in Kuta in no time.

• saphir bali relaxes under a bale at Seraya Shores in East Bali
• Checking into Seraya Shores in Karangasem Bali
• Seraya Shores is a tropical dream guest house in East Bali
• Sunday morning at Seraya Shores in Karangasem Bali
• Friday's adventures

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