Black Beaches; Mercury Retrograde

I’m sitting in a little restaurant in Seminyak. The air is heavy and it’s been raining for the past couple of hours. There are 2 guys at the table beside me. Not sure their nationality but they’re having a lovely conversation in English. They’re talking about a 3rd guy whom they’re both unsure of-he gives them a hostile vibe. I’ll never tire of listening to stranger’s conversations. Their interaction is lively and loud. They’re both speaking in pseudo American accents.

There is an audible hum from the mopeds streaming by outside and of course the incessant horn blowing. You almost don’t hear it after a while. Similarly, you almost don’t hear the roosters in the morning anymore-which, trust me, can only be a good thing.

Leaving Lombok was stressful. The boats aren’t air conditioned, so you end up sticking to the seat after a while. You don’t want to know about the toilet situation, unfortunately it’s pretty unavoidable when you’re on a 3 hour crossing. By the end of it you would happily just jump off the boat and into the ocean-sweating is an understatement. You’re saturated. As if you’ve just stepped out of the shower. Just before the crossing, we got some rice wrapped in Palm leaves and satay sauce an interesting local delicacy.

Rice wrapped in Palm leaves

We decided to venture down south to our friend Noelle’s house. Being from the states and living solely with Italians, she seemed to be delighted to have people to talk with in English. Our first night with the gang, we went to a local Italian restaurant-full of Italians; run by Italians and genuinely some of the best Italian food I’ve ever eaten (and I’ve been to Italy several times-the food in this place was off the chain).

The next day, we caved and ended up renting a moped. It really is the only way to get around. But this meant we could go south to Uluwattu and spend the day on the beach. Down south was full of ex-pats and tourists-mainly for the massive surfing culture down there. We went to the very top to watch the sunset, where Noelle joined us for a tequila. Another insanely beautiful sunset which really cannot be verbalised. Noelle got the selfie stick out and we had a large amount of laughs.

Uluwattu sunset

Noelle and I

That evening, we went back to the house and cooked a huge meal for Noelle’s last night, as she was heading back home the following day after a 7 month travelling stint. The Italians got involved too and the noise in the kitchen was comical. Shouting, singing, boiling, sizzling and the interaction across language barriers consisted of a lot of hand gesturing along with food being passed around to taste for the seal of approval from contrasting cultures. It was a great evening which ended up in us all basically rolling around in fits of laughter. As I found myself falling into bed somewhat drunkenly at 1:30am, I was only enthralled to hear the roosters greeting the neighbourhood with the succession of cocadoodledoo which I was treated to that morning. At 5 am.

The next day, we dropped Noelle off at the airport and continued up north toward Canggu. Just as our taxi pulled up outside the hotel and we prepared to get out, a moped crashed into the side of the car. The poor dud on it fell to the ground and was clutching his arm. The taxi man got out instantly and tried to reconcile with him. An argument ensued. We tentatively got out of the car and gave the taxi driver his money-which he dutifully headed straight over to the injured moped driver. We asked him to open the boot of the car to get our luggage. This is when things got really ridiculous. The taxi man, already faced with a pretty shit situation having to hand over the cash from an hour long taxi fare, he realised he had locked the keys inside the car. Luggage still inside the car, we had to wait an hour before one of his comrades could come to the rescue with a spare key. Somehow, taxi man saw the funny side to all of this, not sure how. I would have been fucking raging. It was also about 34degrees I might add.

That evening, after finally getting our luggage we went down to the famous potato head beach club, which was not what we were expecting. It was like being in a 5 star luxury resort overlooking the ocean, an extensive cocktail menu and some of the best service I have ever received. It’s where people with a few dollars come to enjoy the views and pretend they’re not in Bali, but somewhere far more western. We had a few drinks and Ollie fell asleep on one of the massive beds. On waking, he came and found me; ‘I think I fell asleep’ really yeah? He was out for a good hour at least.

The next day, we met up with Clara and Ben, the newly weds on their mini-moon for a few days. We motorbiked out to their beautiful villa in the middle of the picturesque outskirts of Canggu. Made friends with some local kids who reckoned they were pretty gangsta en route. They had scoped the area and found an abandoned temple on the coast of a black sand beach-sand mixed with volcanic ash. The black sand would burn to touch unless in the shade and it was weighty, unlike normal sand. The whole place was eerie and magical. One loan kitten guarded the place and although there were offerings on every surface, the place looked like it hadn’t been visited in many years. The whole temple was surrounded by ancient hardened lava. The entire structure was black, the black sand glittered vibrantly the way real carbon does. Down by the shore hundreds of little crabs flung themselves from rock to rock, almost like a little dance in and out of the water.

Dragon fruit

The day after tomorrow I shall adventure on to Thailand. Who knows what shall birth itself over the next few weeks. For now, The moon is full in Leo, God speed to those of you working in the hospitality industry.

Adios, till next time my friends ✌️