Canggu, Indonesia 8.6610°S, 115.1321°E
While we were staying at the surf camp, a few people told us they really loved the village of Canggu. Canggu is located on the southwest coast of Bali and is best known for great surfing. A lot of expats (mostly of the hipster variety) make it their home in Bali.
We decided to head to Canggu after Ubud. Sarah and I wanted to spend at least a few weeks in one place while in Bali, so we decided to stay a couple days at an Airbnb in Canggu to see if this would be the spot we’d settle in for the second half of March.
Like most towns in Bali, Canggu is lined with small cafes, restaurants, and local shops. It’s much smaller and less crowded than Kuta and Seminyak, the two resort areas to the south of Canggu that are the most popular coastal destinations in Bali. However, Canggu is rapidly being built up to accommodate tourism and we saw new hotels and construction sites everywhere.
Lots of new construction in Canggu
Many shops and restaurants in Canggu use broken surf boards for signs
There are dozens of board rental places along the beaches in Canggu
Katelyn spent her last two days in Bali with us in Canggu, and we had some great meals with her at the beachfront restaurants and places in town as well.
Fresh fish on the beach
Looking relaxed under a full moon
Finn’s Beach Club, Berawa Beach in Canggu
Outside Finn’s
Inside Finn’s
Sarah and Katelyn also took full advantage of the abundance of spa services offered around Bali. There are spas on every corner and in between, and are really inexpensive compared to back home. A typical 60-minute Balinese massage costs less than $10, and of course cheaper for the locals.
After one last Balinese massage and traditional Nasi Goreng (fried rice and egg) dinner, Katelyn headed for the airport and Sarah and I went back to our Airbnb to figure out where we’d stay for the rest of our time in Bali.
Bye Katelyn!
Canggu It Is…
We decided Canggu’s mix of cafes, local shops and proximity to great beaches would suit all of our (very minimal) needs for the next few weeks. We negotiated an extended stay rate with a small budget hotel, FRii Hotel at Echo Beach, and checked into our room the morning of St. Patrick’s Day.
Our home for two weeks
St. Paddy’s Day Save
I’ve had a pint of Guinness on every St. Patrick’s Day since 1997 (every now and then maybe more than one pint….). While I realized that finding a proper pint of the black stuff on the island of Bali would likely be a fruitless effort, I did want to make sure my March 17th tradition continued, at least in some capacity.
After scouring more than a few local shops and liquor stores I was able to find Guinness “Foreign Extra” in a bottle. Close enough. I purchased two and headed back to our room to celebrate with Sarah, but we realized after getting to the room there was no bottle opener. Fortunately, Sarah was quick to improvise.
Guinness “Foreign Extra”….tastes like shit.
The next day we decided to venture out from our area and rent a scooter to explore the island a bit more. We both have pretty limited scooter experience so after paying the $5 daily rental rate, I drove the scooter around a bit to get a feel for driving on Bali’s roads before circling back and picking up Sarah.
Watching the cows
How’s this work?
Everyone drives scooters here (including very young children), and it’s a very liberating and extremely cheap way to see the island. The locals have grown up with motorbikes as the main mode of transportation, and most of the cars you see on the road are either taxis for tourists or small trucks used for work projects. Everywhere you go you see parents driving with their children, and sometimes very young children driving even younger kids around (e.g., I saw at least a few kids driving toddlers around).
It’s mostly safe, but there are a lot of tourists that end up with “Bali burn” from toppling over and skidding along the pavement. The local police here are also pretty corrupt, and will often pull over tourists and demand payment to let you go on your way. To avoid much of this, we stayed away from the super congested areas.
Just like Ponch and Baker
Was that an earthquake?
So that’s pretty much everything exiting that happened our first week in Canggu. Oh wait, there was also the 6.5 magnitude earthquake we woke up to one morning. That was quite an experience as well! Fortunately no one was hurt.
While a little rattled, we shook off the earthquake experience knowing we still had two more weeks in Canggu!
