What happened to day 18 you may ask? A good question. It was one where I didn’t have time to blog because of ‘stuff’ (lots of stuff). That said, it was nice to be back in Ubud once more.

Now we’re on the last day here in Bali as we fly back to Jakarta early in the morning. Dawn head back to the UK and I head to Bangkok. As it was our last day much of it was spent soaking up the sun around the pool. The weather’s slowly improving here as we move out of the rainy season. In fact we’ve not seen a spot all day – which makes a change. Whilst Dee spent most of her day around the pool I broke away early afternoon in order to have a wander and say my goodbyes (or more realistically au revoir) to various friends I have here. Sadly, I didn’t get to see them all – on this trip, anyway.

Despite the fact I’ve not been here since 2017 I still feel very much at home here. Of course Bali’s changed but in some ways that’s been for the better. I’m fascinated to see how the tourist demographic has morphed. Nowadays there’s so many visitors from India, China, Japan and other ASEAN nations – some of which I can’t work out. Asian women with tattoo’s won’t be from Japan, but there’s quite few here, so where are they from? It’s not a question I can ask directly. I love sitting in a busy market to people watch, trying to guess nationalities. One of the things that amuses me is how Westerners are desperate to get a tan, whilst Asians are desperate to maintain a fair skin – hence looks like this.

The old market’s changed a bit. I remember when it was a collection of small shops and a proper ‘pasir malam’ (night market) of food stalls that were set up on muddy ground. Now there’s this.

Still, some things haven’t changed, like these old wagons which have been ferrying people and goods for decades. The beauty of them? They’re not monsters.

Tomorrow involves a lot of travelling, so my next blog may be a hybrid between Indonesia and Thailand. Plus, I’ll be travelling solo which means my blogs will be more illuminating as I’ll have more time to write. As plans (which are fluid) go – I’ll be back in Java around the 15th February, but there’s going to be a lot of ground covered before then.

See you tomorrow…

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

This morning we left Ubud for a couple of days on the coast, courtesy of my old friend Alison who was driving to Candidasa with a friend for a couple of nights and kindly offered to drop us off at Padangbai on the way. I’ve not been back here since 2003. It was a place I used to know well so I was curious to see how much it’s changed. The entire trip was a voyage of discovery for Dawn as it’s her first trip to the island.

The first thing I noticed en-route was just how many more vehicles are on the road nowadays. What makes it worse is they’ve all grown in size – even the scooters have been taking steriods. As for the SUVs – God help us. None of the bloody things are capable of navigating the narrow, winding roads, especially when they’re driven by tourists. Traffic is becoming a real problem on the island and public transport seems to have ceased to exist. The old Bemos and local buses I used in my youth were conspicuous by their absence.

Still, Alison’s been living over here for many years and is a relaxed driver. Giving way isn’t an issue even if the language from behind the wheel can be a bit fruity at times! Thanks to her co-pilot we found the place Dawn had booked without a problem. Villa Aryani is just outside the town towards the coast. It’s a new building commissioned by a Dane and his Balinese wife – and it’s gorgeous (as you can see from the link). It’s a 10 minute walk from the town and not far from the best beach in the area (more of that tomorrow). If you don’t fancy the beach there’s a fantastic swimming pool at the villa. Oh, and we made a friend. Here’s Hugo, their 12 week old puppy saying hello…

Having checked in and met our hosts we wandered into Padangbai itself. It’s changed a lot since I was last here. Now the town beach is rather dirty as the bay isn’t just a terminal for ferries to Lombok. Instead, there’s dozens of fast boats that will take you straight to the Gili Islands. They’ve started crowding out the local fishing boats, many of which have become truncated in order to fit into the space available. Plastic litters the place which is really sad as you know most of it will end up in the sea. But then, plastic has become an endemic problem in so many places I’ve travelled to over the past 40 odd years.

Despite that, there’s still some of the old Padangbai left. We called in for a bite to eat at the Ozone cafe, a place I’ve fond memories from back in the 1990s. It’s changed a bit, but the food’s still good – including the Balinese yellow curry.

Padangbai’s always been great for fresh fish and today was no exception. The old Warungs that I remember lining the back of the beach are long gone so we took a punt on a place at the back of the ferry terminal. We ended up in the Warung Bu Jero which had a selection of fresh fish on display outside. I opted for the Barracuda whilst Dawn went for the Red Snapper.

We weren’t disappointed as both were delicious. What was nice about the place was the mix of westerners and locals who frequented the place – plus the people running it – who were a delight. I’m not a fan of Karaoke (at all) but the staff had a little competition between themselves and the woman who was minding the cash had an excellent voice.

I always remember Padangbai for live music (oh, the old stories I could tell and pictures I could post if I had the time) so it was lovely to see such melange of nationalities enjoying themselves and smiling and laughing together.

Walking back to the hotel was so different to built up Ubud, instead of streets lined with shops and restaurants we were soon in the country with just the odd local warung. We could see stars aplenty whilst watching the lighting behind us heralding the arrival of the next rainstorm. Tomorrow the plan is to have some beach time. In the meantime, here’s a few pictures from today.

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312