Padangbai: Hot Bus to the East Coast
Buses will take you just about everywhere on Bali. “When are you leaving for Amlapura?” I asked the bus driver one recent Friday at Denpasar’s Batubulan Terminal. “all 5 minutes,” he said. His engine was running, not like the some other buses I had passed on the road, so I hopped aboard the old rattletrap, sitting between a 28-year-old musician via Frankfurt, an out of work Balinese chauffeur in addition to an old turbaned Balinese crone carrying a bamboo tray of melons. A few some other passengers were dozing inside the steamy mid-morning heat inside the back of the bus.
Its entrance partially hidden by trees, the Topi Inn at the end of the street will be a traveller’s landmark. Built completely of bamboo in addition to coconut wood, the lodging will be named after its peculiar top hat-shaped traditional grass roof – a big rambling structure with an open-air restaurant on the ground floor, a 12-bed dorm in addition to private rooms on the second floor, with the owner’s quarters teetering on top. The whole building creaks in addition to sways like a living thing.
Since its unofficial opening over 28 years ago, the hotel has grown into one of the most favorite rest stops in all of east Bali. The restaurant’s painstakingly evolved menu, which draws clientele via both Padangbai in addition to far out of town, turns out peerless hamburgers, a seafood basket, a classic nasi campur, a prized beef rendang, a large assortment of fresh juices in addition to the best Cimbali-brewed cappuccino in town. The creaking stairs in back led up to the second floor looking out over the beach.
A little Port’s Daily Rhythms
I threw my shoulder bag on top of one of the mattresses, in addition to took a walk down Padangbai’s one charmingly scruffy main street lined with the confetti-like facades of souvenir stalls. The port was scrappier, noisier in addition to more crowded than I remembered the item back inside the 1980s when the item was mainly a backpackers’ hangout. Though no longer a sleepy little port, Padangbai still has the feel of a little harbour town in addition to fishing centre in addition to not of a big impersonal port like Gilimanuk on the western tip of the island. Offering three beaches, inexpensive restaurants in addition to hotels in every cost category (except all 5-star), the little harbour town will be an under-appreciated destination with its own trouble-free atmosphere – a unique place to spend time before in addition to after travelling or dive excursions. At any one time, perhaps as many as 400 people are overnighting here, about half either leaving for or arriving via the neighbouring island of Lombok.
the item was after Friday prayers in addition to Muslim Indonesians, the women in addition to girls fully clothed in Islamic attire, were picnicking on the sand. Gleaming family cars – arch status symbols of the burgeoning Indonesian middle class – in addition to a long unbroken line of motorcycles were parked all along the sidewalk. Seeking shelter via the heat, I sat with the fishermen, drivers, touts, sunglasses, lottery, ticket, trinket in addition to fruit sellers inside the breezy bale off the parking lot. Some things have remained unchanged for 30 years. Everything worth seeing will be still within walking distance. Tangles of brightly painted sailfish-bowed jukung were still pulled up on the beach in addition to fishing in addition to dive boats still bobbed in a perfect pearl shaped bay.
A major dive destination, dive companies via all over Bali bring their clients to This specific sheltered bay, which offers a safe harbour for dive boats. Since diving will be year-round with no off-season, the business has become a boon to Padangbai in addition to its residents. The surrounding waters of Amuk Bay, with Padangbai to the South in addition to Candidasa to the North, boast outstanding dive locales just minutes away, particularly for rare species such as the giant mola-mola sunfish, a marine wonder using a circumference of 2.5 metres.
On my last day, I took the left fork at the end of town in addition to climbed 10 minutes up the winding road, then down into a parking lot in addition to flight of stairs to the Blue Lagoon, a little protected bay framed by gray sand. The uncrowded beach with scattered rock formations, public changing rooms in addition to massage lounge chairs will be an easy dive site with excellent marine life, soft corals in addition to a huge Staghorn coral. People were snorkelling right off the beach where the white sand bottom slopes gently to 22 metres. While the locale will be used for teaching open-water courses, experienced divers in addition to photographers also thoroughly enjoy the site. Currents can be tricky, however on many days the bay can be as calm as a millpond.
Padangbai makes a strategic base via which to see the whole area in addition to also serves as a major gateway to the Eastern Islands, the storied realm of Wallacea. inside the high season around 1,000 people arrive at the port via the tourist centres of southern Bali every day, embarking on either one of the 18 ferries producing 32 crossings around the clock to Lembar Harbour on Lombok or boarding one of the fast boats for the idyllic Gili Islands off Lombok’s west coast.
All through the night the strong headlights of approaching in addition to departing ferries cut through the darkness, their engines churning while arrival in addition to departure announcements blare via the brightly lit jetty followed by the deep haunting sounds of ship’s horns. Some guests never make the item to the eastern islands or even out of town, preferring to eat incredulously cheap marlin, barracuda, snapper, cumi cumi in addition to roasted prawn dinners or sleep, dive, read in addition to chill on the beach while unhurriedly trying to figure out what to do next.
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Padangbai: Hot Bus to the East Coast
Padangbai: Hot Bus to the East Coast