Canggu – get there before no one else does

*No pictures this time, as someone has effectively picked my pocket...

Canggu (pronounced chan-goo) was my first taste of living by the Bali ocean and I was so happy to finally be doing it, I danced naked in my room for almost an hour.  After being in Ubud, which I still refer to as the “Williamsburg of Bali”, seeing those signs for the infamous Echo Beach were more than my little heart could handle.  And seeing a huge Deus Ex Machina was the cherry on top of my second chapter in Bali.  Although I’ve yet to be homesick, the casual, relaxed and open vibe of this part of country tastes very similar to my familiar Westside in LA.  Oftentimes it’s the absence of that which makes us love it more.  Canggu is still pretty suburban with one main road going through and very little English spoken.  It’s still mostly rice fields out here but construction is picking up and most people are sad to see it.  Throughout the day a nearby mosque broadcasts a man singing prayers, his voice carrying foreign prayers across the rice fields and into my room.  Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and he’s still singing.  It sounds like something out of a Moroccan movie. On the first day  I was so excited to get to the beach I forgot three VERY IMPORTANT things: water, my bathing suit and sunscreen.  It’s a little more than a mile to the beach and since this wasn’t a far distance and I’m still not ready to scoot around town, I decided to head out on foot – even more proof that I must be a long lost relative of Jane Austen (how confident of me, right?).  I’m just not the type of person to wait for life to happen to me, I must go out and get it (and while I’m out getting it, I’ll also pick up a sunburn and some massive dehydration, thank you very much.)

But I digress…

To stay in theme with my theory that everything happens perfectly and at the right time if you simply have faith and patience, there was a party thrown at Deus on the evening of the day of my arrival into the hood.  What fun!!  Ain’t no party like a Deus party…Even with their overpriced drinks, service charges, card usage fees, etc. my bill was still a meek $10 out the door and I made some amazing friends in the members of the band playing that night as well as a few special others.  One in particular was a hot little Aussie thing named Andre, or Andreas or Ande or something like that – we’ll call him Ande for this particular story.  Ande has fantastic white teeth, really blue eyes and some wild energy about him – like he really feels like anything can happen and it’s all a pretty great experience.  He quit school when he was 14, had success early on in real estate in Australia, started his own company and then opened a very successful Mexican Mecca restaurant with donkeys and chips and salsa – the whole thing.  It’s going so well he decided to do the same in Bali and he asked me to attend his soft opening on Friday.  Tempting me with Mexican food he claims I’ll love more than LA Mexican??  Boy must be crazy.  But I’ll do everything once.  He also gave me some amazing directional advice for my future.  While I still insist I’m not running from anything, but searching for something, Ande touched on that as well.  He also told me about some sort of snake blood a person can drink and it will cure eczema.  I’m hoping to hear from him if at least to get some good Mexican and the details about that blood…anything else is a bonus.  I was also extremely lucky to run into Sebastian, my Argentinean neighbor and travel guru.  Seb speaks Spanish, French, English, Portuguese and Indonesian and he is a surf photographer.  How friggin cool is all of that??  He showed me some really gorgeous parts of Canggu during low tide and he also provided me with a sense of security to be able to relax a little and let someone else take care of decisions, directions, plans, safety and lots of other things I have to think about every day while I’m here.  He told me how to travel cheap (book travel at night, thus saving on lodging) and he even offered to keep the bulk of my luggage at his place while I hop around Asia.  Seb provided me with a mental break as well as another great adventure.  He took me to Kuta and told me about the money exchanges, the petrol stations and how every newcomer to Bali gets cheated in one way or another; it’s like a rite of passage.  We also experienced traffic worse than I’ve ever seen ever in my entire life – including living in LA.  We were actually hit on both sides of our scooter at the exact same.  Somehow I came out of that experience physically unscathed, but you know those moments when you are so scared you’re holding your breath?  Like, really really holding your breath because there is nothing else you can do to react…I was doing that – inwardly panicking but keeping my cool on the outside.  What other options do you have, you know?  If you’re going to buy the ticket you better be ready to ride the ride.  I guess.  The great thing about Seb is that he drives very cautiously and we also wore helmets and mine actually almost fit this time.  He’s also good with comfortable silences which is nice.  Poor Truce would just talk talk talk talk talk.  We hopped all over Kuta running errands, going to the grocery store (a major highlight as I LOVE grocery stores), went on an unfruitful quest for that Oz sunscreen that looks like really bad makeup and finally ended up on Kuta Beach in the warm water.  He told me about the surf breaks on either side of the airport runway, aptly title “Airport left” and “Airport right”, the Bali prison where EVERYONE goes –from drug dealers and gang members (very rare)to kids who were at the wrong place at the wrong time and got caught smoking a joint.  They throw them all in there together.  I couldn’t imagine.  Seb and I ended our day with some tea at a popular spot in Seminyak called Ku De Ta.  It’s a favorite in the area to see and be scene while watching the sunset.  I had considered Seminyak as a possibility for my next location, but once I caught the essence of this little area I decided it wasn’t for me.  Seminyak is the Hollywood of Bali – been there, done that.  Meeting both of these amazing people made me realize that we all come into each others’ lives for a purpose.  Ande gave me the attention I was craving after being in Ubud and he also gave me some great professional direction.  Seb gave me amazing insight and companionship that I think people like us need while we’re on this road.  And for a guy who works with all men all the time, I think I was a nice break in the masculine monotony that comes with having his dream job.  Spending time with both of these guys makes me think of some of the relationships I could have had and how much they would have limited me in my growth.  A lot of people say they were able to grow along with their relationship, but I’d have to say, it just wouldn’t be the same.  I’m leaving this wonderful little underdeveloped sleepy town tomorrow morning and while it has done me no harm, I’m happy to go.  I’d come back here if I was staying with someone who could scoot me around (I’m especially hesitant of driving since yesterday’s chaos)but spending time in these little pockets has shown me what kind of energy and stimulation I like and don’t like and I know I need more at this time.  I was packing my suitcase today and a thought came to me: I felt happy about knowing I didn’t want to be where I was, but I had no idea where I was going.  I need more people around, more options, more action…I need a bit more of a city feel right now.  It turns out you can take the country out of the girl.  However if I ever come back to Bali it will be interesting to see what Canggu looks like and how much will have certainly changed, because that is the one thing you can be sure will happen. 

“A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving.” – Lao Tzu