Finally, I made it to Bali. Cowabunga!

This was where I stayed, Bunut Garden. It’s located smack in the middle of Kuta Central & is one of those hidden treasures that was suitable for my budget. Considering that it was the peak season, I got it for pretty cheap: Rp125,000 per night for bed & breakfast. The beach is less than 2 minutes walk, the Kuta Discovery shopping mall is right across the street, a lot of ceweks & convenient stores – this was a gem. It only has a fan & clean toilet/shower. The windy sea breeze made up for the lack of an air conditioner. Sometimes it gets pretty chilly at night.

The famous Kuta beach road. I instantly knew I should be just staying here for this first trip when I arrived. My flight landed the night before, so I woke up early the next morning & took a jog by the beach. It was a beautiful morning.

THE BEACH!!!

Cute, isn’t it? This was taken at a lounge area in Plaza Bali. I somehow ended up skating the streets of Kuta instead of renting a motorcycle. It’s a different experience. In fact, I get cheers from the people.

But, my wheels & bearings are fucked. Need to get new ones. Sigh…

Warung babi guling or the rolled over pork stall.

Majapahit road is kinda special to me. Along this road, I discovered an assortment of workshops run by locals, producing one-a-kind, handcrafted furniture, statues and also percussion instruments like drums & djembe, all made from solid wood. The road itself is long, so I took my time checking out different shops.

Bali bombing memorial. I couldn’t find flowers and was too cheapskate to buy one, so I decided to just draw one. Reminder: I have to scan the sketches that I’ve drawn while in Bali.

Found the Base skatepark office. The office was opened, but skatepark was closed for relocation. According to the owner, they plan to relocate just outside of Kuta by the end of the year or so.

Since I couldn’t skate the skatepark, I found this street park instead. It’s located in the middle of the road in Simpang Siur or Sinur. It’s skateable, but I just didn’t want to hurt myself too early in the trip.

On my first morning, I had the opportunity to observe a prayer ceremony performed by a nearby pura or temple on the beach. They were burning these tall, towering paper sculptures and they released the ashes into the sea. They also had these bowls containing flowers, leaves & other stuff I couldn’t recognised that were also released into the sea. The significant for the ceremony was to send their family spirits to rest & at peace.

That’s Mama Toki & Koshi-san, or more fondly nicknamed by locals, Tapioca-san.

Mama Toki runs one of the many nasi padang stalls on Kuta beach. Her sambal kicks ass. I eat my brunch & enjoy my morning tea here, every day after the morning jog.

Koshi-san is a former elementary school music teacher & has been to Bali 45 times so far in his lifetime. He’s a fucking cool dude. He’s always at Mama Toki’s stall, sipping his tea & spend the whole day at the same spot, lazying on the beach. He’s my morning chatter. It’s weird though, I always ended up meeting people who has background & passion in music.

Koshi-san asked me, “Why do you like the sea?”. Damn. I mean, is it that obvious?

My answer was, “I think it’s because of my father being a merchant ship captain & while I was growing up, I always ended up with something that’s related to the sea. Like while I was working in Langkawi in 1999. Worked in that island for a very long time”.

“It’s in my blood, I think”.

“Big reason, ah”, he said.

“Yup”.

Koshi-san also had a big reason to love the sea. He was born in one of the small islands in Japan. He said the house where he grew up was only about 50 meters away from the beach. I guess he heard the waves calling out his name.

I watched the sunset, like every day in Bali. Truly breathtaking. Bali was indeed a vacation from everything & everyone.

More photos on my Flickr page.

I’ll be back Bali, I will be back.