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Published: February 5th 2008
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Canggu sunset
Echo Beach, Canggu, where all the cool surfers hang out. Food is good and very cheap! The best sunsets in Bali. Bali
Being in Bali is somewhat like being in Northern Canada, there's some parts I love dearly, other parts I'm not so crazy about. Like both countries, it all depends on the time of year.
Smart snow birds leave Canada in winter. Not so smart snow birds to go Bali in winter. It's unbelievably hot and muggy here in the wet season. Even the locals sweat and complain about the heat, until we tell them Canada is colder than their freezers.
We're typical tourists, surviving the tropics in our air conditioned villa, dodging the gecko pooh, which likes to land on our dinner and scrabble game. Not intentionally of course, they were here first. I love the gecko, although it takes a little getting used to them crawling around the walls and ceiling. They're much preferable to the Balinese Cockroach though! Which you could easily mistake for a mouse. We usually get visited by the nasty little vermin in the evening, around bed time. There seems to be no keeping them out, they don't build airtight homes here like in Canada, where you could die from lack on oxygen if you don't crack a window. No kidding, they're 3-4” long. The first night I saw one, I screamed and woke Harreson out of his sleep, whereupon he became my hero and tracked the poor guy down, smashed him with his shoe, not a pretty sight.
The geckos like to make their presence known while we watch back market DVDs on our laptop, which took some tech support from the local computer dude, Bogey, sweet 19 year old Balinese dude who came to our Villa to help us install their infamous copied software. Their DVDs are hit and miss, one movie will be pretty clear, the next will be so full of choppiness and static, that its unwatchable. Some we keep, some we throw away. If you haven't seen “The Bucket List” with Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freemen, watch it, excellent dialogue and acting, sweet story. Same life lesson we're all learning; If you haven't joy in your life, go find some.
I'm currently writing at The Beach House Restaurant in Canggu, pronounced Changoo, up the west side of Bali, away from the craziness of its largest city Denpasar, but still modern enough to have the much needed Internet. We love Canggu. Jasen turned us onto this area, loved by all surfers for its fine waves and cheap food. The local warungs (restaurants) cater to the surfer crowd, providing showers for them to wash the ocean salt off their bodies when they're done their day of blissful surfing. The Beach House has the only public wireless Internet connection the area, so all the snow birds and Aussies sit around here with their laptops, typing away.
The food here is excellent, albeit somewhat expensive. When we're done breakfast here we'll pay the equivalent of about $5.00 US. But yesterday we had lunch for two for $1.20! But that lunch place wasn't on the beach with Internet!
One of the local cafes here in Canggu is Dian Cafe, next to the Beach House, run by the sweetest couple, Wayan and Made, pronounced Wayen and Maday. Both very common names in Bali. Wayan helped us find the Villa we're staying in by telling out number one contact here in Bali about it; Putu. Putu is Jasen's friend, pronounced Pootoo, another very popular name in Bali.
The names are mostly based on your birthplace in the family, if you're first born then you're named Putu, second born Made, I think! Hard to keep track of this. Wayen and Putu have both been teaching us the local Bahasa language, which can be Indonesian OR Balinese version, so lots to learn. Our favorite word is Bagus, pronounced Bagoose, ha, means cool or good or OK. When they ask “Apa kabar?” or How are You? We say “Bagus” and they smile, we feel pretty cool.
Learning a little Bahasa makes a huge difference in traveling around Bali, they immediately treat us differently if we speak Bahasa.
The Balinese are aggressive marketers, to put it nicely. When they chase us down to sell us their goodies, they keep at us if we say no, but when we say Tidak, they leave us alone right away, they know if we're speaking Bahasa that we've been here a while and can't be sold easily.
I'll leave the experience of shopping in Kuta or any of the more touristed areas for another time.
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