Years ago in Australia I had a weird experience. Hitchhiking on the Sunshine Coast, my friend and I were picked up by a tour bus driver who had no customers. Instead he stopped by the mental health institute and picked up a dozen or so friends and relatives, who were all in some diminished state of capacity. Part of the trip back to Brisbane involved a detour to the Big Pineapple plantation (best bananas in the world!) so our afternoon was a little out of the ordinary. Another one of those weird experiences came along yesterday, because of an invite from Laura to join her on a trip to Candi Kuning, close to Bedugal.
Ika, Jevon & I waited at the corner of Jl. Padma and Jl. Legian for some kind of vehicle to show up. I wasn’t exactly sure if it was a Kijang, small white tourist van or jumbo tourist cruiser. A crowd had gathered and after about 20 minutes, along came the cruiser and we got in. Bali has many small travel message boards, get together clubs etc. who seem very active in communicating their travel plans to and in Bali. Many of the 12 or so people on the bus knew of each other by chatting online. I was a bit out of it, but recognized Laura’s relatives who came along. Her mother Doris loves visiting Bali and the whole crew wore t-shirts with some message about Doris (‘Don’t tell Doris’ ‘I’m telling Doris’ etc. ). You start to get the connection with Big Pineapple bus. First stop for us after heading towards Mengwi, was the Pacung Indah Hotel & Restaurant, owned by David from Crackers Bar. This hotel is located 9km south of Bedugal, before Pacung. The rooms offer great views of the surrounding scenery, with bungalows and suites, hot water / AC.
The main point of interest here for the bus party (now joined by a second bus), apart from the toilets, were the large birds and bat at the parking lot entrance. The large parrot-like creatures made sure they let a yellow calling card on anyone who was tempted to go for the Captain Hook pose with them. Back on board the bus we wound our way past lush green hills stopping at a place called the Ghost Palace. This place was somebody’s dream that never got finished, its 7 storeys sit lifeless at the side of the road. We paid 5,000rp to go in and check it out. Nothing special about the place at all, an example of a large project that stalled for reasons unknown.
Passing the market at Baturiti my thoughts went to Juliana, who moved to Australia. Her mother works in the market and her families house is a bit further around the bend in the road. Our stop was at the Candi Kuning market. From the road this looks like your typical Indonesia style local market, with everything spilling out into the street. Behind the mayhem is a parking lot and the entrance to Crackers Bar & Grill. Walking in past the spotless bathrooms I was thinking this was the weirdest place I’d ever found an Aussie bar. Seriously, if you were just driving by you would have no chance of knowing it was there.
The umbrella I bought in Singapore last week came in handy as the rain lashed down. Jevon loved playing with it and I found Crackers Bar & Grill to be kid friendly, as it has space for them to run around with no danger of running out into the street. The sweater I brought ended up being worn by Ika, with one of Laura’s female relos pinching a rugby shirt off the wall because she was cold.
Our ride home was made more interesting by the fact that after the ‘pub stop’ at Crackers, we had a 2 hour ride in a bus with no toilet. Laura’s husband Mickey gave the whole bus a running commentary of how his bladder felt, followed by a ‘play by play’ of him making use of an empty bottle (this was a cultural trip).
We made it home no worries and it was good to get out with friends again. Our bus tickets were 50,000rp a pop.
Pacung Indah Hotel & Restaurant
Pacung – Bedugal
Bali
(0368)21207
