Traffic madness

An impulsive decision (what other kind is there?) to go down to Canggu last week required the services of the sat nav. We have apologised to Sadie and reinstated her, despite the occasional lapse in directions. She is by far the best of a very bad English-speaking bunch. One day we will put the Indonesian directions on - that will be a challenge!

The road down passed through beautiful rice fields and through the regency and administrative town of Tabanan. As Sadie requires specific, rather than general, instructions, once we could see the water on her screen map we switched her off and took our chances. The first road took us through a beautiful village where we arrived just as the Pecalan were halting through traffic. Our reward was a large ceremonial procession which took several minutes to pass.

The beach at the end of this road was deserted. A small temple stood on an outcrop and the seas were turbulent. Spider crabs were washed up on to the temple walls and scurried back to the sand. It was overcast and a little ominous, but peaceful.

A further five kilometers or so to the south is Canggu proper. Narrow roads, many cars and scooters and villas galore. With many Muslims in this area (still an unusual sight in Ubud) we seemed to have struck a prayer time as most of the scooters and walkers seemed be coming from, or going to, the mosque. It is still Ramahdan (local spelling) and the big holiday of Idul Fitri to mark the end of the fasting month will be celebrated throughout Indonesia as public holidays on August 8 and 9.  Although Bali is a Hindu island, it is a province of Muslim Indonesia, and will also mark the occasion.

We gave up trying to get near a beach and turned around (not so easy) and headed back to find some food. The Canggu Deli was just that - nowhere to sit and eat - but somehow we found a parking spot and walked. Green Ginger looked nice, and I remembered that it had a very favourable mention in Lonely Planet. Tasty (very) vegetarian. No sooner had we sat down than the owner walked in and went straight to Eddie, greeting him like an old friend. My mystification was abated when they explained that this was Jonathon (another Aussie) who Eddie had met several times in Ubud when walking the ricefields. With cafes in Seminyak and Canggu, Jonathon has turned his attention to Ubud, and his newest venture will open soon only a short distance from where we stay. Looking forward to its opening, as the standard should be high if his Canggu place is an indication.

Green Ginger's coffee, cardamom & ginger cake with lemon icing

We needed to get back home as we had promised to pick up some friends at 6.30 for the Friday quiz. We should have just headed back the way we came, but Sadie had other ideas. It was obviously time to experience city driving as she led us back through Kerobokan (it's a village too as well as a prison) and the place we had been avoiding, Denpasar.

We'd heard it was bad, and I can confirm that we weren't lied to. Scooters passing on the left, on the right and coming straight ahead on the wrong side. Why stick to two marked lanes when four, or even five, would be better? Need to park? Just stop. And what can you do when you need to turn right than block all oncoming traffic. After a while we just went with the flow, keeping alert, jostling where necessary and remaining fearless. It was all so absurd that we ended up laughing, but it was a great relief to finally emerge onto the exit that would take us back up the hill to home. Now that we have done it and emerged unscathed we will go back down and explore the capital another time. We had feared we might not keep our appointment as quiz transporters but in the end there was even time to spare.

The language of the horn in the city is different from country driving, but in both places it is rare to hear it used aggressively. On country roads there is the 'I am about to overtake you so don't move into my path' beep; the 'just letting you know I am coming around this blind corner towards you' beep and the 'excuse me, dog, I need you to move from the middle of the road' beep, which may or may not be heeded. In the case of the latter, the driver is required to manouevre around the animal in any way possible. In the city none of these can possibly apply, so it's more of the 'there's not a lot of room in any direction between your vehicle and mine, so we'll just keep an eye out' beep. It's all very cordial and a great lesson in patience. It will feel odd to go back to driving in Australia with its endemic road rage, especially in the city.