The bus will take you everywhere on Bali. "When do you leave for Amlapura?" I asked the bus driver a recent Friday at Batubulan terminal in Denpasar. "Five minutes," he said. Its engine was running, not like the other bus, I had spent on the road, so I jumped on board the old jalopy, sitting between a musician of 28 years native of Frankfurt, a working Balinese output driver and a crone Balinese wearing a turban melon bamboo tray. Some other passengers were dozing in the scorching heat by mid morning on the back of the bus.
The entrance partially hidden by the trees Topi Inn at the end of the street is the emblem of a traveler. Built entirely of bamboo and coconut wood, the house is named after its top traditional grass roof in the shape of particular hat - a large rambling structure with an open-air restaurant on the ground floor, a dormitory 12 beds and private rooms on the second floor, with the owner's quarters teetering on top. The set creaks construction and undulates like a living thing.
Since its unofficial opening there over 28 years, the hotel has become one of the most popular rest stops in all of Bali. The carefully evolved from the restaurant menu, which attracts a clientele both Padangbai and away from the city, proves outstanding burgers, a basket of seafood nasi campur a classic, a beef rendang popular, a large assortment fresh fruit juices and the best cappuccino in town Cimbali brewed. The stairs creaking in the back led to the second floor overlooking the beach.
Daily Rhythms is a small port
I threw my shoulder bag on top of a mattress, and took a walk in a charming main street lined scruffy Padangbai confetti facades as souvenir shops. The port was scrappier, noisier and more crowded than I remembered back in the 1980s when it was mainly backpackers hangout. Although more than a sleepy little port, Padangbai always the feeling of a small town and not a large impersonal as Gilimanuk harbor on the western tip of the island seaport and fishing. Offering three beaches, cheap restaurants and hotels in all price categories (with the exception of five stars), the small port town is a destination underestimated with its own atmosphere without problems - a unique place to hang out before and after a trip or diving trips. At any time, possibly up to 400 people overnighting here, about half, leaving for or arriving from the neighboring island of Lombok.
This was after Friday prayers and Indonesian Muslims, women and girls all dressed in Islamic dress were a picnic on the sand. Gleaming family cars - symbols of Indonesia's middle class growing in the state of the arch - and a long unbroken line of motorcycles were parked along the sidewalk. Seeking shelter from the heat, I sat with fishermen, drivers, touts, sunglasses, lottery tickets, trinket sellers and fruit in Breezy ball out of parking. Some things have remained unchanged for 30 years. Everything you need to see is still within walking distance. Tangles pilgrim-waisted brightly colored jukung were still pulled up on the beach and fishing and dive boats Bobbed still in perfect pearl shaped bay.
An important destination for diving, diving companies around Bali bring their customers to this sheltered bay, which provides a safe harbor for dive boats. Since diving is the year without off-season, the company has become a boon for Padangbai and its inhabitants. The surrounding waters of Amuk Bay, with Padangbai in the south and Candidasa in the north, offer exceptional dive sites within minutes, especially for rare species such as the mola-mola sunfish giant, a marine marvel with a circumference of 2 5 meters.
on my last day, I took the left fork at the end of the city and climbed to 10 minutes until the winding road, then down in a parking lot and stairs to the blue lagoon, a small protected bay framed by gray sand. The deserted beach with rock formations scattered, public changing rooms and sun loungers massage is an easy dive site with excellent marine life, soft corals and a huge Staghorn coral. People were snorkeling just off the beach where the white sand bottom sloping to 22 meters. While the local is used for teaching open water courses, divers and experienced photographers also benefit site background. Currents can be difficult, but for several days the bay can be as calm as a pond.
Padangbai made a strategic base to see the whole region and serves as an important gateway to the eastern islands also, the legendary kingdom of Wallacea. In high season, about 1,000 people arrived at the port of tourist centers in southern Bali every day to get into one of 18 ferries making 32 crossings around the clock to Lembar Harbour on Lombok or a board of a fast boat to the idyllic Gili Islands off the west coast of Lombok.
throughout the night, strong lights for approach and departure ferry cut through the dark, churning engines then arrival and departure announcements blare of the brightly lit jetty followed by deep haunting sounds of ship horns. Some customers never make it to the eastern islands or even out of town, preferring to eat marlin, barracuda, snapper, cumi Cumi and grilled shrimp cheap incredulous dinners sleep, dive, read and relax on the beach while unhurriedly trying to figure out what to do next.
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