Day 2. Reminiscing The Old Days

We started the day a bit late. Not so late that we didn’t have breakfast. No, not that late. We did have breakfast, and that was the time I knew the food in this hotel is also as good as the service.

Both of us had nasi goreng (fried rice – fly lice? No, it’s a Canadian joke), bakmi goreng (fried noodles), extra delicious fried bacon, chicken porridge, and smoked ham. Joe had danish and some other food I don’t remember. I had salad. He had coffee, and I had tea.

The second day in Bali, and practically the first morning I woke up in the Bali mist, nothing I wanted more than just reminiscing my old days in the island – reminiscing the streets I used to walk on, shops I used to shop in, stuffs I used to buy, restaurants I used to eat in, places I used to go to on weekends—and so, that was what we did.

Deciding to be a batik couple in Bali—we thought it would be a great idea, such a complexity: a Canadian and a Javanese in Bali, wearing batik, keeping Yens—we took a taxi to Kuta (of course the hotel provides a shuttle bus to Kuta, but of course we were late!) we decided just to stop somewhere in Kuta, perhaps the monument. But on our way there, we realized that we had been already starving again, and so we decided to just have lunch before anything else.

So, I thought of just stick to the plan, stop somewhere in Kuta and enter any restaurant, but, as the taxi passing Sunset Road, and I saw Jalan Kunti, I suddenly shouted to the driver, “Pak! Ke Jalan Kunti aja, deh, maaf.” And so the driver turned around his taxi and took us to Jalan Kunti, Seminyak, a narrow street where Bali Deli, Elysian Villa, and some restaurants and fashion boutiques are found. A nice area. I knew where we should eat.

I asked the taxi driver to drop us in front of Warung Italia. We were not going to have lunch there, no matter how much I wanted to. We walked passed the Italian restaurant, with its landmark, the Italian flag. Not going to see Antonio and his super delicious spaghetti carbonara this time.

And I found the restaurant. Cabe Rawit. Yanti told me to try this restaurant. So we seated. A series of lunch including appetizer: Lumpia Semarang, main course: sate campur (assorted satays): chicken, beef, mouton, and pork with lontong, Sundanese nasi timbel complete with sambal, lalap (raw vegetables) and ikan asin goreng (fried dried fish), snack: tempe mendoan, dessert: es campur. Green tea for me and beer for Joe.

We were so starving and so greedy that we had no idea of how big the dish would be. First, we ate lumpia. Before we cut the lumpias, I said to my sweetheart, “I can criticize if these lumpias aren’t good, I have the right to do it, because I’m from Semarang.” Lumpia Semarang is undeniably delicious.

The assorted satays were delicious, as well as the peanut sauce. And the lontong. And then nasi timbel, and es campur. Despite the “wrong” lumpia, the meal was good.

We decided to take a walk along Seminyak to Kuta. I knew it sounds crazy, as a matter of fact, I had known the idea might sound insane. But, I wanted to! Who wanted to take a taxi in a super crowded road, trapped in a macet a.k.a traffic jam (it was holiday!), and it was what exactly happened! We watched people trapped in their cars, taxis, motorbikes, and scooters while we walked freely. We felt sorry for them, despite the fact we were sweating.

The streets were the same, only I saw Jalan Nakula is now wider than it was on the last day I was in Bali. And traffic jam in Jalan Abimanyu, was I supposed to be surprise?

It was probably after 10 K walking before we finally reached the First Bali Bomb Monument. I told Joe to check if he knew one of the Canadian victims. Gladly, none of them he knew. Then we rested in Vi-Ai-Pi Bar, seated on its veranda on the second floor. After drink up a large bottle of Evian, Joe and I continued our walking to the beach before the sun set.

We sat on the sand, the sky was gloomy and the beach was full of holiday people. Kuta beach was dirty. Trashes were everywhere we could see along the beach. There were probably a beach storm swept out the fishes and seaweeds and everything you could find. Ladies offering for nail art, foot massage and clamshell necklaces came surround us, and eventhough we weren’t interested at all and just wanted to enjoy the beach and the sunset, they talked to us and told us jokes.

The beach I used to go to almost everyday, morning before work and evening after work, and on the weekends. The sand I used to sit on, watching the sun set in the west before finally disappeared in the ocean, while surfers would jump out of the water soon after. I came back, only that time I wasn’t alone. Not waiting for my housemate, Julie, coming out of the water bringing her surfboard. I was there with my sweetheart, as tourists, waited for none.

After the sky got dark we decided to walk, barefooted, along the beach to Discovery Shopping Mall, a mall by the beach. We did plan to jut walk barefooted, and would wash our feet in the toilet, so that was exactly we did. The first thing we looked for was the mall’s toilet. I was sure that it must have been behind the shoes section, and even if the shoes section had been moved, the toilet would surely not been moved! “It would be a pain in a** to move a toilet,” I told my Love. And so, it was still the same place like the last time I saw. Then, the next thing we said to each other was “See you in 15 minutes.” With an addition from me, “And if you’re thirsty while you’re waiting for me, you can have a cup of water,” pointing at a water dispenser in the corner of the ladies toilet’s door.

Obviously I spent time washing my dirty feet much longer than 15 minutes. And I surely had messed the toilet.

Back to the hotel after Joe shopped for “buy-one-get-one-free” shirt and short, we were as exhausted as anyone could say, and rain poured down that we decided to have a dinner at the hotel’s restaurant. A bowl of Tom Yum Goong and a plate of satay for Joe. We had to discuss how we could go to Ubud the next day.