The Beach

The first few days in Bali were great, just relaxing and surfing. The latter of which I have never done in my life but I picked up quite fast, I couldn’t stand up for more than a nano-second but I was able to catch a wave and keep my balance.

The place on the beach we went to was where my friend goes all the time and he has been coming to Bali for many years so know the sellers on the beach. Usually they are not a problem, they will just show you their stuff and if you don’t want to buy then ok, they just talk to you while they look for passing business. This time they were a very big problem, constantly hassling you to buy things from them, Sunglasses, Watches, and Souvenirs etc. I did buy some things from them as I wanted to and I also thought that if I did they would stop being a problem. WRONG, or at least for some of them, the watch seller – Charlie Brown, I did ask where Snoopy was, Sold me a watch, A fake Breitling with both analogue and digital. Very nice and only cost 100,000. It broke the next day so I took it back and he changed the battery which made it work again and has since worked fine.

 I bought a present for my girlfriend from the souvenir guy. I negotiated down from 300,000 to 50,000. A word of advice keep your own price and don’t fall for overpriced things, you can easily go elsewhere as almost everyone has the same souvenirs and you can always say the guy down the road offered it for xxx can you beat that? 95/100 times that works! And the drinks guy Buda – very nice person who would always offer you a drink when you came out of the water.

The only exception to these people was Harry, Affectionately known as ‘Dirty Harry’. He sells sunglasses and as I was in a good mood I bought 5 pairs of different styles. Pair for the beach, pair for driving, pair for walking around town etc. I got a good deal negotiating to pay just 150,000.

The next day I went back to the beach, everyone was there and were saying hello and asking what I have been doing etc when Dirty Harry walked over and asked if I wanted to buy some more sunglasses as I he had some new models. I told him I had just bought 5 pairs from him the day before and I didn’t need anymore! But he kept hassling me all the time, the big thing they say is ‘for my good luck’, Every day when I went back Harry would come and try and get me to buy some more.

This was also due to Ashur being over charged for beer. On Christmas day we headed over to the beach and spent some time there surfing, relaxing generally having a good time. During this period of enjoyment Ashur, being Australian consumed 31 bottles of Bintang beer, the shop price of this is 13,000. Bar price 15,000, club price 20,000. He didn’t ask the price beforehand as they are friends and he thought that the price would be the same as the bar price. So 31 beers at 15,000 each according to my calculator is 315,000, the price they charged was 540,000. My friend was outraged and he had also bought a beer for the sellers on the beach as they were friends. I am pretty sure now they are not friends, they didn’t say thank you or be grateful. We have never been back there since.

So apart from the beach what other things can you do in Kuta? Kuta is the tourist/clubbing area of Bali and as such there is everything there to satisfy a tourist, restaurants, bars, shops, souvenir shops, massage spa’s, chill-out bars etc. Bali is renowned as being paradise and the number one place to go for relaxation and as such I decided to take a massage, there are many places to choose from on Jl. Legian or Jl. Benesari, I mean every 4^th shop is a massage spa. The prices vary and you can usually negotiate a cheaper price if you think they are expensive. The cheapest I could find was 40,000 for 1 hour. This became a regular habit of mine going for a massage everyday as the price was just so cheap and you come out feeling relaxed and rejuvenated. What I started to do is have a massage after going to the beach and incorporate that into getting my hair washed too as the sea makes my hair, what’s left of it, very dry and matted. The wash costs 5,000 and includes a little head massage.

Next I want to talk about food. Being deprived of western food for the past 8 months has been a little hard. I enjoy Asian food but sometimes you crave a certain thing and it is just not available, there are times when you can get some western food but it is rare with exception to McDonalds and KFC which are everywhere and even provide delivery service.

Before going to Bali I knew of a British run joint called Alleycats and I actually stumbled upon it without looking. It was less than a 15 minute walk from my Hotel. The food there was AMAZING, all my favourite British fare that I have missed, including Chip Butties, Sausage + beans  + mash and the very special Sunday roast, that was what I have missed the most. It was a reservation only for Sunday 6pm. I took it and it was perfect, Roast chicken, vegetables, 2 types of potato and real English gravy. The best part was it only cost 45,000.

Other restaurants such provided a western dining experience but they were run by Indonesians and as such could not understand the true style of how to prepare and cook proper western food. Although some came close.

Another great place to check out is Chasers which is a pizza and pasta restaurant, Any pizza 29,000 and I think it was about 10’’, they also have any cocktail for 19,000 and any double shot – on the rocks or with a mixer for 10,000. That turned into a very drunk evening. The pizza there is also thin base and very crispy, I will be there again for sure on my next trip to Bali.

I did not get out of Kuta as much as I would have liked as everything is in Kuta that you need. And my motivation was low as all I wanted was the beach which Kuta has. We did go out of Kuta after Christmas; we went to Dreamland which is being marketed as the ‘New Kuta’ the beach is even called New Kuta Beach on road signs. If you see Kuta you see a nice beach but the sea is a little polluted with empty plastic cups and bags. Dreamland is different the sand is pure white and the sea is perfect blue! It is gorgeous, the only let down for me is the fact the water has rocks in it which can be dangerous as there are sometimes so big waves that easily sweep your feet from under you. These can be avoided by swimming in front of the life guard tower as there were no rocks there, Just be careful also as the water is shallow then leads to a big drop, so step carefully. Also you might want to take food with you as the only restaurant there was very over-priced, Cheap if you have come on holiday but overpriced if you live here and know the true price. My example is easy to see; Nasi Goreng ala Dreamland aka Nasi Goreng Special – this is fried rice with chicken, beef, shrimp etc Jakarta price = 15,000 – 20,000 --- Dreamland price 40,000. Need I say more?

• dreamland
• bali
• Indonesia
• rice
• beach
• watch
• sunglasses
• presents
• negotiate
• Surfing
• Swimming
• relaxing