Jane's Birthday...

Woke up feeling a little dusty this morning, its been a bit of a theme this week....Jumped straight in the pool and feel 100% better! We decide that today we are going to get a driver to take us to Balangan Beach, which is the next beach north of Dreamlands, on the Bukit Peninnsular. Apparently it is beautiful!....
With the room at The Island, a basic breakfast is included, and its probably my favorite meal of the day. You get hot Bali coffee, fresh fruit salad, and a basket of bread with various spreads, and i add a sweet pineapple juice. Kurt is in the reception area and he has a couple of things to do in Seminyak, so we decide to jump on the motorbikes and head off on a mission. Firstly we head down to Poppys Lane to pick up my suits! Plus Kurt wants to check the quality, and if it's ok, he will order one too. I open up the bag and try on the while linen one, its awesome! The mustard 3 piece is great as well. Kurt likes what he sees and orders a white linen one as well, plus two more basic suits and waistcoats...


Its amazing that the quality is so good, and the price so cheap. It makes me wonder the conditions of the workers who sew these things together. I reassure myself that I'm injecting money into the economy, and the price i paid could feed a family for a week......but don't quite convince myself.
After getting propositioned by a bunch of hookers, (you want service?), we tear off up the road that runs along the beach from Kuta to Seminyak. We get to Seminyak and cant find what Kurt needs, so we wind our way through the back streets of Legian, and back to the hotel. When we arrive our driver is here to take us down to Belangan. The driver is a small Balinese guy with a new looking, small, red, Suzuki 4 wheel drive. All seven of us squeeze into the car and head down the tiny back lanes that lead to the hotel. Scary....


There is a fair amount of traffic on the road, so it takes us a little over an hour to get there. We park up the top of a hill and start walking down a steep set of concrete stairs that lead down to the beach. About halfway down we meet a Frenchman and his son heading up. I ask him if he would mind taking a photo of us. He say yes, but in a typically French, "if i must" kind of way.....


The beach i beautiful. Its low tide and the reef is exposed by 100 meters. The surf looks good but its crowded out there. We make our way across the sand to a line if warungs and scattered beach umbrellas that sit below the cliffs at the south end. The sand is coarse and you sink deeper with each step, it's a tough walk so we change tack and march along the reef itself till we get to the huts...



I'm starving so we order a round of BinTangs for everyone (except Anna), and our food. I get chicken satay sticks and a veggie nasi goreng. The beers are cold and taste amazing on a hot day at the beach. The food arrives and its excellent. My first nasi in Indonesia and it doesn't disappoint. Everybody's food looks really good, and we eat and drink and drink and laugh. After lunch the owner brings out a thick banana pancake surrounded by frangipani flowers, a candle, and a nuttela "30" written in the center. We sing happy birthday to Jane twice, then tuck into some delicious birthday pancake!


On the way back along the beach to the stairs, i walk out to the edge of the exposed reef. The waves look much bigger out here, and you can see they are breaking over ankle deep water onto jagged rocks. Only for the brave.
The drive home from the Balangan to the hotel takes a long time. The traffic is heavy and at one point our driver stops in the middle of if, jumps out of the car, runs across the road and goes to the toilet. Cars behind us are going nuts when the traffic starts moving, and he gets back in the car in the nick of time. Get back to the hotel and jump straight in the pool. We are booked into warung Sobat for Jane's birthday dinner. Nev recons it's great seafood place and cheap as chips. Dan McCaffery has arrived from Australia so he and i, Kurt and Leah, and Jane and Anna jump in a couple of cabs and head off to dinner. My food was pretty good, but not everyone had a great meal, but the drinks were cold and the company great.


We decide to finish up and head back to the hotel to watch the soccer. Jane, Anna and i get the second taxi and are heading back. I suggest we stop for a nightcap and we redirect the driver and go to Ku De Ta.
Ku De Ta is a world famous restaurant and bar right on the beach in Seminyak. You expect to see European Models and their billionaire boyfriends in flowing white robes sauntering across the lawn, and most times you do! We have a couple of cocktails and head home at midnight. Tomorrow is Anna's birthday so i head straight to bed, looking forward to a good nights sleep and a fun day tomorrow.....just before i drift away i open my computer to find Jane has left her facebook open and logged in. I change her status to, "message me now! I'm covered in hot custard". I laugh out loud, but know i will feel guilty in the morning. Sorry Jane, love you....