Dear friends and fam-damily,
There are few times when we’d gladly cancel future plans to stay somewhere a little longer, but Canggu (in Bali, Indonesia) is one of those places. We read when researching Bali that Canggu was something of an ex-pat paradise located just outside of the main Bali resort areas of Kuta and Seminyak – and we have to agree. It is paradise.
We actually stayed closer to Pererenan, a little slice of countryside and rice fields, just walking distance from the beach and a bit further of a walk from Canggu.
Sunshine, rice harvests, horses, even some dairy cattle… we felt right at home.
If we hadn’t already committed to a non-refundable hotel reservation in Singapore, we would have easily extended our stay in Canggu for another week month.
Perry’s Travel Diary
The Art of Doing Nothing
After so many weeks of nonstop travel, we fell right into Canggu’s ex-pat paradise and proceeded to do nothing for the week.
And by nothing, I mean that our days looked something like this:
- Wake up
- Pete makes breakfast
- I, lured by the smell of coffee, decide to move
- Sit in the common area and write for the rest of the morning
- Take an afternoon walk to the beach for sunset
- Order fantastically delicious and cheap western food for dinner
It. Was. The. Best.
And those sunset walks?
Glorious.
Just as glorious as the sunset walks were our walks past the rice fields. It was harvest time, so we watched as the farmers cut, bundled, and stacked the rice.
Their work continued late into the night, when they’d drive up their truck to collect the bundles.
Economic Segregation
The proliferation of modern condominiums and western food restaurants in Canggu certainly draws in the expatriates, but nestled among the high-rise construction we noticed a number of plywood structures.
Sometimes these structures are very small warungs, or convenience shops, located along the side of a main road. They sell snacks and sundry items.
Sometimes they were a house in the middle of a rice field.
And the rest of the time, they were a work camp for the construction workers. One plywood shack was something resembling a bunkhouse, but with no bunks – just mats on the floor. One was clearly a cafeteria that got quite busy at the end of the day. I had half a mind to go and ask to buy a bowl of soup, but there was very much a “this is not for you” vibe.
Some workers didn’t have a plywood shack. They slept in the unfinished garages of the condos they were building.
We walked over the footpath bridges at night, on our way home after enjoying a nice meal in a restaurant that we thought was cheap, and we would encounter Indonesian men fishing over the bridge, obviously not for purely recreational purposes.
The contrast between poverty and wealth was stunning. It felt like economic segregation. It was economic segregation.
Canggu, as much as we loved it, was a very weird income inequality bubble.
I am left wanting to know much more about the stories of the Indonesian farmers and tradesmen than I learned during our trip.
Hell’s Honeymooners, Part 2
Were you expecting a part two to the Hell’s Honeymooners story?
No, neither were we. Yet there we were, sitting in the common area of our hotel, when we noticed that a new French couple had checked into the room next door.
I could tell when I saw them together that they were speaking rather brusquely to each other. But sometimes French just sounds that way, so I didn’t pay much attention.
Two days later, as we settled down to go to sleep, we again heard shouting in the room next door to ours.
Thanks to the language barrier, we don’t know exactly what they were yelling about, but there’s a certain four-letter f-word that transcends both languages and drywall. (And no, we don’t think they were talking about the NSFW French word for seals.)
So here’s our takeaway: if you think Bali’s island paradise will fix your bad relationship, it won’t. It will somehow throw you into a pressure cooker and make things much, much worse.
Please stay home instead. And if your romantic partner has invited you to Bali, you might want to double-check their reasons.
Pete’s Travel Diary
Tick-tick?
[This next section is about ticks – yes, the insect kind. If you aren’t big on bugs and/or disease, scroll on down!]
Being one of the more peacefully romantic areas in Bali, I advise you to bring along a date (just not one you’re about to break up with!), as you’ll need to be checking yourself or one another for ticks. (See Perry’s above advice when choosing partners.) Ticks are an arachnid that can be found just about anywhere there is land and blood. They don’t discriminate against food sources and can be found and carried by rodents, birds, lizards, snakes, horses, dogs, cats, humans, etc.
While visiting with a fellow traveler who was adventuring with their dog, I discovered three ticks the dog had picked up wandering the rice fields and exploring. We came up with a game plan and then set about removing said ticks. (The dog was not appreciative but the owner was.) There are lots of farm dogs and cattle in the area, and ticks love moist weather. Bali is as much a paradise for us as it is for ticks.
While not every tick spreads disease, it is well worth checking yourself after an adventure as they can be found darn near everywhere around the world. Lyme disease, Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, and tick-borne Encephalitis can all be found in Southeast Asian ticks. These sneaky parasites prefer armpits, the groin, and other areas of skin that are dark, warm, and often moist. However, they’ll attach anywhere they can if they have to. Even belly buttons are on the list for dining locales.
On dogs, I usually find them in floppy ears, but these ticks were all on the left shoulder on his back – conveniently where he couldn’t easily reach or as easily scratch. The third tick had fallen off before we could remove it, and was then later found climbing a wall. They often feel like a scab or fleck of mud, so if you pet a dog or cat and feel a scab, I typically investigate further (but that’s just how I roll).
I find a steady hand and a pair of tweezers gets the job done. Be sure you get the whole tick; you don’t want to leave parts of the mouth or head attached if you can help it.
Converse with a medical professional on how to best prevent an infection after cleaning any wounds left behind by ticks. You will likely be advised to monitor for specific symptoms for the next few months. Check out the CDC website for additional tricks for ticks as well as this PDF on post-tick care.
Itinerary
Hotel
Bali Harmony Retreat ( Booking.com link ) ($31/night) – We could have spent another month here! It’s surrounded by luscious rice fields and is just a short walk from the beach. The hotel was recently constructed, so our room was very modern with A/C, a fan, and a lovely shower in the bathroom.
There is a quiet pool and a full guest kitchen, so you can cook your own breakfast or other meals. A morning yoga class is included for all guests, but with an 8:00 AM start time, we confess that we never made it. They also offer massages on-site. We felt very at home here.
Food
Did I mention that Canggu made it so, so easy to fall into a cheap western food trap?
In Pererenan:
- Nate’s Bar – A beachside bar with outdoor seating and Indonesian eats. We enjoyed the nasi goreng (fried rice), fried noodles, spring rolls, and coconuts to drink. They sometimes have live entertainment; we stumbled into a woman performing traditional Balinese dance one night, followed by a great local band.
- Papa sauce Pererenan – Solid comfort food with Russian origins. No, I wasn’t expecting to write that sentence about food in Bali, but trust us that this place was good.
- Baked – Bougie brunch spot. We took the sourdough bread home with us to make bruschetta along with scrambled eggs for our breakfasts.
- Monsieur Spoon – We had a couple of good sandwiches delivered via Grab. They also have a Canggu location.
- Wasabi Restaurant – If you really need sushi, it’s fine but not great. (We were hungry, it was late, we didn’t have other plans, and it ate.)
In Canggu:
- Shady Shack – Amazing vegetarian food that actually filled us up! Also delivered via Grab.
- Santorini Greek Restaurant – Our final Grab delivery restaurant. This hit the spot for a random Mediterranean craving.
- Garden Canggu – A variety of western food and pizza. I had a fantastic piece of salmon here. It was properly cooked, moist, and well-seasoned, which shockingly few restaurants know how to do.
Transportation
We walked for most of the week. Grab works here, but be aware of the taxi mafia and “no Grab” zones in Canggu proper. We used our hotel’s private driver to get back to the airport.
Currency
As noted in our first installment on Bali, we highly recommend getting all the cash you need for the week at Denpasar Airport upon arrival.
We did have success at this ATM in Canggu.
On the other hand, this other ATM was inside a shop and had a person hanging around it who seemed inordinately interested in the fact that we needed an ATM… so we noped right out of that one. (A common traveler’s safety tip is to avoid ATMs in strange locations and/or that are being monitored by sketchy people.) Avoid.
Beaches
Our hotel was closest to Babadan Beach. From there, we’d walk through the water to Pererenan Beach and Canggu Beach. The latter two are connected by boardwalks and bridges. All three are the most beautiful black sand beaches I have ever seen.
Babadan was the calmest with few tourists. Locals fly kites on this beach in the evenings, which is fun to watch. We enjoyed sunsets here.
Pererenan and Canggu have lifeguards and are popular with surfers. You’ll find surfboard rentals and surfing lessons all along the beach along with Instagram-worthy beach clubs. The tide is strong, so be careful even when wading.
Other: Laundry
In Bali, having your laundry sent out is very affordable. We paid around 40,000 IDR (~$2.60) per kilo of laundry. An entire load never cost us more than 160,000 IDR ($10), and it was usually less.
Bali Harmony Resort offers laundry services and includes a well-labeled hamper in each room. Our clothes were even returned pressed – frankly, our clothes have never seen an iron prior to this point (and no, I’m not just talking about during our travels), so that was a joy.
Perry’s Travel Tip of the Week
Ziploc Bags
No matter what your trip is, remember to pack a few Ziploc bags!
There are so many uses for Ziplocs: containing wet swimsuits, holding small items, barf bags – the list goes on and on.
In addition to the regular-old disposable kind, I like to carry these waterproof Ziploc-style bags that came with our snorkel masks (an item you might want to have with you in Bali!). They work as a dry bag for your phone and cash when you’re at the Bali beaches, but they can also work for any other sandwich-bag purpose. Just, you know, wash and dry in between uses.
If you enjoyed this newsletter, we’d love it if you would share us with your friends.
All our love,
Pete and Perry