#nallyru

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.