fifty seven steps

1405 steps:  Petitenget Beach.

On a morning such as this one, when, for whatever reason, I am still awake at dawn, I often wind up post-sunrise at Petitenget Beach.

As people from Bali know, Petitenget Beach is special.  Thankfully, my local beach lacks the tourists, hawkers, umbrellas, massages, pedicures, braids, etc, that Kuta, Legian and Double Six beaches are known for.  It has bigger, rougher waves and coarser, darker sand.  But even though all of the aforementioned characteristics add up to making Petitenget beach one of more appealing beaches in South Bali, the real reason Petitenget is so special, is because it is a sacred beach.

On entering the beach, you pass a large temple.  Pecalang guard the entrance with a tollbooth, dressed in their (surprisingly) authoritative uniforms of checkered skirts and leather vests.  While large fences and tall, dense trees hide the interior of the temple from street view, its tall gates and extensive stairways offer a glimpse of its size and beauty to those of us who aren't able to enter.  Even though I haven't been inside, I regard this temple as especially sacred, as do Balinese Hindus, because it is so close to the water.

Upon passing the temple entrance, and greeting the Pecalang, I wander through the large car park on the way to the beach.  It is normally packed full of motorscooters, as it services the beach, the temple and the police station.  However, this early in the morning, it is calm as it lacks the usual traffic.  Street food vendors finishing their night shifts congregate on their bikes near the beach entrance.  A footbridge crosses a stream of often dirty water that eventually meets the beach, and at the end of the footbridge, I am greeted with a sign; a polite reminder to all visitors that Petitenget beach is sacred, and that swimming and sunbathing in this area is forbidden.

A small but varied collection of creatures can be found on the sands of Petitenget beach just after sunrise. Contemplative types seeking clarity (probably after a few too many) crouch on the sand staring out at the waves.  Sporty types that get up first thing  for a jog on the sand (eternally youthful locals run comfortably barefoot, while the leathery old bules run faster, but less affectively, in their expensive sneakers).  Bali dogs gather in groups to play and fight and hump.  Hindu couples offer flowers, coins and candy to the gods of their sacred waters.  I can fall into any number of these "types", depending on the night I've just enjoyed or endured.

510 steps:  Warung Sulawesi.  

Another lunch date with the gang, but this time at a new location, Warung Sulawesi. This warung is hidden away down a gang off Jl. Petitenget, but it was by no means quiet, with a steady stream of people lining up for a seat.  

Sanita had told me that this warung was popular for its Sulawesi cuisine, which wasn't so common in the warungs we had visited.  She described the Sulawesi flavour as being particularly strong, perhaps due to excessive use of oil and MSG.  The counter was packed with a great selection of meat, fish and vegetable dishes, with separate cabinets for gorengan and desserts.  Despite asking for itty-bitties of each, my plate was piled high with each of my selections.  I chose a well-rounded meal of red rice, poached fish, shrimp, greens and okra with tomato-ey/chilli sauces, and tempeh in an extra sweet "manis" sauce.  All yummy (thanks, MSG!), with the anticipated heady flavours.

Despite Sanita's criticism of the MSG laden lunch fare, she held Warung Sulawesi's desserts in high regard, in particular, the Palu Butung.  Even though I have been in Indonesia for months now, I am still taken back by the vivid colours of some foods, having eaten "clean" for so many years - unnatural colouring is as far from "clean" food as you can find.  However, on second glance, I saw a delicately thin egg pancake hiding banana sweetened with palm sugar, all swimming in a rose hued soup of coconut milk and delicious sago.  Obviously, I dug right in.

1743 steps:  Warung Jepang.  

Sanita has attempted to take me for lunch at Warung Jepang twice now, and each time we have arrived too late, with the day's noms all sold out.  So, when we arrived  for lunch today (just after 12), to a cabinet full of mouthwatering homestyle Japanese dishes, I was very happy that I made the effort to wake up early! 

As with most cheap lunch time warungs, dishes are displayed in a glass cabinet, for you to pick and choose as you wish.  First, you select your rice (brown or white, full or half serve), then your dishes.  As a bule, it is in my nature to want to try everything available.  I guess for us Westerners, somehow cheap lunch equates to all-you-can-eat, and I have heard Sanita laugh in amusement at the site of bules with plates piled so high with food that they can hardly carry them.  So, I tried to exercise restraint today, even though I skipped breakfast, just for the occasion.

I chose a half serve of brown rice (which was massive anyway), with a tofu "hambung" (hamburger?), tofu "pork" ball (vego), mixed veg with tofu, and simmered pumpkin with redbean.  All were delicious, with subtle, earthy flavours and light, delicate textures.  It was great to eat a healthy, wholesome lunch, a change I'm sure my body welcomed after all the arak (local booze), premix coffee, wafer biscuits and gorengan (fried everything) that I've consumed this week.  If you don't feel like lunch, Sanita rates the green tea and apricot seed ice creams very highly, and now that I've experienced the lunch time mains, I'll be saving some room for ice cream next time. 

The location and setting of Warung Jepang is a reason to visit in itself.  While Jalan Merta Agung is just off the main road near the prison, the warung is peaceful and serene, overlooking a rice field.  It has an open air, garden setting, with traditional style Japanese tables under thatched rotundas.  A lovely place to sit in peace, away from the hustle and bustle of Kerobokan's busy roads, street stalls and markets.

Warung Jepang is definitely worth of a 3486 step round trip.  In fact, I'll be walking those steps again, very, very soon.

165 Steps: Afla Express Minimart

A task that is necessary most days is a trip to the minimart for water.  In Bali (and Indonesia in general), it is not really advisable to drink the water.  I'm not as fussy as some travellers, I use tap water to brush my teeth and wash my dishes, as I think that the intake of a small amount of bacteria is probably useful to help build up my immunity against tummy troubles (I also believe in the "5 second rule" for this reason too, but only when at home, 2 seconds on the floor wouldn't be safe in for anybody's belly here!).  But for drinking, cooking, rinsing fruit and kettle boiling I rely on 1.5L bottles of Aqua from the minimart.

Generally, I buy 3 or 4 of these bottles each day.   Sounds like it an expensive necessity, but, unlike home, water is priced reasonably here. The price of a 1.5L bottle equates to less than 40c. It also must seem like I drink a lot of water, but I think that I drink more tea than I probably should...and premix ginseng coffee, I drink that too.  

When at the minimart, it is easy to be tempted by the many aisles of cheap goodies.  Beer is located next to water, so that is the first obvious distraction.  Opposite the beer is the biscuit aisle.  I have a great deal of trouble avoiding buying biscuits at the minimart.  My favourite is the Loacker Gardenia hazelnut wafer slab coated in chocolate.  When melty, this is probably the most delicious store bought processed treat you will ever taste.  I hate it when it finishes so much that I scrape the wrapper with a knife so I don't miss any.  The other obvious choice in this aisle is Pocky!  The selection of pocky at my minimart is a little small though, so I normally save pocky purchases for the supermarket where I can find the incredible Bitter Almond Chocolate Pocky and Choc Banana Pocky.  The prices of imported treats such as chocolate and biscuits are a bit rippy though, so unless I have absolutely no self control (actually, that is most of the time), I don't buy any biscuits.

Next up is the coffee section.  The coffee selection is largely made up of premix coffee packs.  The range is pretty large, loads of different brands and different flavours.  There is the trusty 3-in-1 regular milk and sugar coffee, flavoured coffee like mocaccino and of course, typically Indo premixes such as ginseng coffee.  At home, I wouldn't go near these things.  I don't think I have bought premix hot drink sachets in about 5 or 6 years before coming here.  But for some reason, despite the often soaring heat, and my knowledge of this stuff being calorie laden, cancer causing rubbish, I quite enjoy drinking them here.  You can buy big packs for home, or go to the drinks station and select your sachet, rip it open and fill your cup with water from the urn.  The latter normally happens at the minimart on Poppies 2 after a late night on the arak.  But on my last trip to my local, I bought some ginseng coffee satchels just because I like the taste.  

Another special section of the minimart aisles is the dedicated to MSG.  On one visit, I was looking for salt (garam) and had a lot of trouble finding it, because its sold in clear plastic bags here, and looks just like MSG.  Indonesians love their MSG and you can find it in pretty much all packets of chips and noodles.  And you can probably taste it in a lot of cheap warung food too...thats why it is often so delicious even when it looks kinda plain.  

Something that I really like about minimarts in Indonesia is that you can buy a wide selection of drugs that at home, are only available over the counter of a chemist, such as cold and flu tablets.  This is super handy when its late at night and you feel yourself coming down with something.  They also sell handy single packs of vitamins, asprin, etc.

When you have selected blindly from the wide selection of rubbish foods (my usual choice is either a Loacker wafer or a little pack of those delicious chocolate filled wafer rolls which cost the equivalent of 7c for a pack of 6), your items are packed in way too much plastic and then its time to walk the 165 steps back home.  

142 Steps: Omde Cell.

When you live in Indonesia, it doesn't take long before you become sick of the word "pulsa".  

Pulsa is phone credit, and you learn very quickly once you have a local number that everyone is always out of it.  Because, everyone is always on their phone.  At dinner, with friends, at the minimart, on their motorbikes...

To top up your pulsa, all you have to do is wander down the street (pretty much any street), and before long you'll reach a roadside stall with a sign that says  "JUAL PULSA".  Literally, that translates to "SELL PULSA".  So, you wander to the counter,  tell the girl or guy behind it your number, and they transfer credit from their phone's account onto yours.  Sometimes the counter can be found in a regular shopfront.  But most of the time, the counter is a roadside stall with a pre-pubescent guy in an SID t-shirt playing songs off his mobile phone.  Once the formalities of obtaining your number are out of the way, he can go back to singing along to Green Day.  

In professional operations, such as the one I visit regularly, you can buy anything from 10 000 to 100 000 rupiah of pulsa (but, no one ever buys 100k worth, which is why everyone is always out).  Dodgy operators, on the other hand, often turn up their nose at anything above 50k.  Which is another reason why everyone is always out of pulsa.  In today's post, I feature Omde Cell, the super swish cell phone and pusla shop.  In addition to having a nice, fancy, new, clean, shiny shopfront, Omde Cell also keep records!  Here, you write your number and value of pulsa purchase in an exercise book.  And, depending on the time of day, the girl at the counter may or may not add on a "service fee"...I think that it depends on whether her boss is around and will see her pop 2k in her pocket.  

Sixty-five steps:  Cahuya Laundry.  

Home life in Bali is pretty simple.  My room has a very basic kitchen, with just a gas burner and fridge.  I've added a kettle and blender for tea and smoothies, but many of my friends don't even have a gas burner.  So, eating out for almost every meal is a common part of every day life.  But more on that later.

Having a laundry is uncommon unless you have a nice big house.  Which is cool, because it means that you don't have to do washing or ironing!  There is at least one laundry on pretty much every street, to service the locals nearby.  I am lucky, my local laundry, Cahaya Laundry, is only 57 steps away, making it the closest anything to my house, because there are vacant lots on either side.

Cahaya is new, and clean, and operated by two funny and lovely girls, Feny and Dona. Whenever they see me walk past their shopfront (which is around 3 times a day), they yell "Hello Miss Natalie!", and after my most recent trip to Jakarta, they told me that they missed me when I went to pick up my washing.  That made me feel all warm and fuzzy!

There are loads of things I love about living in Bali - the water, the people, the food, the colour, the smells, the ancient ritual that still exists in the daily life of the Balinese. But the thing I love most is living locally. Everything that is necessary to exist is within walking distance from home. Living within and actively participating in a community is an aspect of life that has been lost back home, but is still alive and well in Bali. And I believe, we are happier and healthier because of it.

In Bali, every day is a pleasure, because it is filled with small adventures all around my neighbourhood in Petitenget, Bali. Daily routine is no longer about solitude. Here, my daily routine involves lots of different people and places that all add up to making my life better. And, best of all, I can reach everything I need to be healthy and happy by foot.

So, starting today, I will be sharing my experience of local island life with you. I will feature a place I go to regularly, and will count the steps it takes for me to get there from my front gate.