 |
| Ladra and Frances heading out |
This is Frances's last day of surfing but she's feeling a bit under the weather with a touch of 'Bali Belly'. I decided to join her today and hired a boogie board when we arrived at Canggu Beach.
 |
| These waves don't look too big! |
The waves looked quite good and there is a channel to the right of the best surf to paddle out to catch the waves. Unfortunately it's quite a long way out, and paddling a boogie board for a long distance is pretty hard.
I finally managed to catch a couple of waves, but their behavior is different to what I'm used to and got dumped pretty heavily when I got caught in the white after catching a pretty big wave.
I decided that was enough for me, and headed to the shore to take some photos of Frances. She managed to have a couple of good rides, but was too weak to really make the best of the surf, so we packed up before midday and headed back to the villa.
 |
| Inside Dian Cafe |
We though we'd have lunch at a beach today, and drove out to Canggu for something to eat. After looking around at the choices, we settled on another Dian Cafe (Number 2) as everyone, except me, had enjoyed the meal at the other Dian Cafe the previous night.
So, another round of Bintang and Balinese dishes and back to the villa for a plunge in the pool - sounding familiar?
 |
| Is there shopping in Tanah Lot? |
In the afternoon we went to
Tanah Lot,
about a 30 minute drive away - mainly due to the traffic, not distance. Tanah
Lot is a rock formation on the coast and is the site of a pilgrimage
temple, the Pura Tanah Lot, and a popular tourist and
cultural icon for photography, particularly sunsets. It also has good
surfing, although dangerous because of the rocky coastline and lack of a
beach, suitable only for experienced surfers.
 |
A Muslim tourist - not quite
the same as in the Middle East |
Being a major tourist magnet, it is also full of souvenir shops and hawkers who are quite persistent. Western tourists were actually in the minority, as most visitors were Indonesians, with a particularly large numbers of Muslims.
The rock formations are quite spectacular and the temple comprises small shrines on the headlands - closed most of the time and only opened for ceremonial purposes. We explored for a while and then settled with the hundreds of other tourists to watch the sunset - which was pretty spectacular. Something which we didn't expect at all was that, just after sunset, hundreds of small bats (approximately 20cm wingspan) streamed out of a cave in the cliff and headed off to feed. Because of the fading light it was very difficult to photograph - I hope to add short video I made later.
 |
My Padang meal on a plate back at the
villa |
 |
The Sumatran restaurant serving
Padang food |
Frances was still feeling unwell so Tamar John and I decided to get take-away and eat back at the villa. For a change we thought we'd try
Padang food from West Sumatra. Padang food is famous for its rich taste, using coconut milk, spicy chili and not a little oil! Rather than have meals made to order, the food is all pre-cooked and you select what you want.
 |
| Stuffed baby squid |
The meal is made by spooning boiled rice into a sheet of paper lined with some banana leaf and you just select the pieces you want which is added to the pile - it's then folded up and that's it. My selection included roast chicken, mixed vegetables, Asian eggplant with chilli (lots), a spicy potato cake and a stuffed baby squid (stuffed I think with minced chicken). It was all pretty spicy, and the flavours were pretty similar (or complementary if you like), but overall, delicious, although probably not something I'd like to eat every day.
