Bali 2024 - Day 2 (March 14)

 This day started with both of us up early. Someone had called my phone about 11:30 (a.m. in US, p.m. here) which woke me. I was awake until about 2:00 or so, then managed to sleep until about 6:30.

Morning is one of my favorite times in Bali. The birds start doing their thing as the sun rises - roosters are crowing, doves are cooing, ricefield birds are screaming (if you happen to be near a ricefield), geckos are laughing, and sometimes the tokays start sounding off. They start with a series of deep chirps, then sound like some kind of squeeze toy saying GECK-o (if I can capture this sound, I'll post it later).

We haven't been to the store yet to get the things we need like tea bags and snacks so we wait until the family is up and finished with morning offerings to get our breakfast. Today was banana pancakes with honey, fruit salad, and hot tea with susu manis (sweetened condensed milk). While we ate, Kadek explained to us that bananas are in short supply and are expensive right now. That explains the "no bananas" from last night.

After a leisurely breakfast, we set out to get oriented to our new location. We had planned to go out this morning to get sim cards for our phones, but we have discovered that we have travel credits on our new phone plan, so this is not necessary. This leaves us with no real plan for the day, but I'm thinking that I know where we are based on finding the restaurant last night. We ask Kadek and Made if I'm correct and they both say yes.

When you get to the restaurant go this way (motioning to the right). When you get to the restaurant, the path is across the street. When you get to the banjar go that way. I had in the past only approached Cafe Vespa from the direction I was trying to go, so I wasn't quite sure and neither of us was clear on the directions we received.

So, off we went. At the crossroad where the restaurant sits, we turned left (across the street) and walked down until we could go no further. Back to the crossroad, turn left. This doesn't look right. Turn around and go back, turn left again. This has to be it because we've been down all the other directions. Still doesn't look right. But that's because the narrow jungle path we were used to is now basically a road through the jungle. So many new homes, shops, and hotels along the way. We really only knew for sure that we were on the right track when we got to this sign. We have been photographing it since 1995.

A little bit further down, we decided to stop for a rest and a refreshing iced lemon tea at Lala Lili. The rest was refreshing, unfortunately the tea was not. It tasted like it was either from a bottle or over-brewed and it left an aftertaste that was not pleasant. 44,000 for two teas ($2.87).

The path finally brought us out to Ibu Putu's Warung at the top of the Penestanan steps. It was so sad to see it closed and empty. We had been eating there since 1995 when it was dark and dingy, with 4 wooden tables and benches. We always look forward to eating there - chicken with tomatoes and onion, iced lemon tea, carrot salad, and satay ayam were our favorites.

Lumpia

We continued down the path we knew so well, checked in to see the bungalows where we used to stay (there's a pool there now!), and walked on to finally emerge onto Jl Penestanan. The traffic was unbelievable, but we made our way down to Wikan Shop to look at clothes and say hi to friends, then backtracked a bit to Sari Bamboo for lunch. We started with chicken and vegetable lumpia with peanut sauce. They were brought to the table so hot that it was a few minutes before I could pick one up. Main dishes were Koloke, a sweet and sour chicken dish with rice, and Chicken Franchaise, a crispy breaded cutlet with spaghetti in a light lemon and herb sauce. Iced lemon tea and soda water to drink. 180,000 for the meal ($11.73).

With our tummies sufficiently full, we set off towards town. Walking is a bit more nerve-wracking these days, but we made it down the hill to main road, and up the next hill into town without getting run over. It really is kind of amazing how everyone cooperates on the roads here. Cars, trucks, motorbikes (LOTS of motorbikes), and pedestrians all moving together to get where they need to go. I don't think I've ever seen an accident here and road rage is non-existent.

We don't usually shop along the main road because they are all tourist shops and the prices tend to be higher. You can still bargain in most places, but the starting prices are higher, so bargaining is more difficult. But we stopped in at several shops along the way just to see what was available. At some point, I realized that I had left home without putting any sunscreen on and I was beginning to feel my skin baking, so we turned around and headed back out of town towards the supermarket.

We got a few groceries - seltzer, limes, tea and milk - then called Made to pick us up. Once back at the villa, I took a quick dip in our private pool, then we rested for a while. Ibu was asleep by 7:00 and I stayed up working until midnight, took another dip, then headed to bed.