Amed, a quiet fishing town on the north east coast of Bali. Ideal for diving, snorkeling and a quiet holiday, this coastal town is connected to the province of Cucik, with villages called Jemeluk, Onutan, Lipah, Selang, Banyuning, but mostly these coastal areas are called Amed.. The phone call came to these parts of Bali only in 2003, and the bridge to the road that was flooded during the rainy season was built in 2007.. With the increase in diving tourism in recent years, the people who make a living from farming, corn cultivation and fishing, hotel management and guest houses have also become another source of income.. There is no ATM in the town, the closest ATM is in Cucik, 14 km away
This small fishing town is pretty shabby. Traditional village life is experienced rather than luxury and modernity.. There are dozens of small grocery stores and restaurants on the road that runs parallel to the sea.. The majority of the people work for low wages in homestays or hotels on the road or nearby that serve guests who have come to this area to dive or snorkel and explore the colorfulness of the sea.. Again, some families obtain salt from sea water and sell it on the way.. Children sell a pinch of salt in small handmade boxes for 2-3 TL.
We had our breakfast with pancakes prepared with pineapple and fruit in their own bar and restaurant right in front of our hotel.. I love Bali this way. It is possible to have a nice breakfast with pancakes and omelette prepared with banana, honey and different fruits, and breakfast is included in the room price.
The shuttle service of our diving course named Jukung Diving picked us up from where we left off.. We bought our PADI coursebooks and started watching DVDs prepared for training.. I was their first customer from Turkey, so they don’t have a Turkish PADI book and I bought the English one.. After watching DVDs for a few hours and browsing the books, after lunch, we took our diving equipment that we chose from yesterday and went to the pool and tested the theoretical knowledge we learned here.. When I needed to stay steady at a certain level, what I did was struggle more and try to balance myself.. This seems like it will take some time.
We went to Amed Cafe right across from our diving school with my fellow Dutchman Farid, who had finished the daily training and was hungry, by the evening.. Internet connection at the beachside cafe was terribly bad. Imagine sharing the dial-up connection you know with a lot of people! That was something. The speed of internet connection is not very good in Bali anyway.
A Danish traveler joined us while we were having a drink and listening to live music from our hotel bar before moving to our hotel.. Mathias, who studied philosophy in Denmark, spent his semester breaks mostly in Asia, in Hindu and Buddhist schools and temples.. A young 24-year-old with academic knowledge of the teachings of yoga, meditation, Buddhism, and Hinduism. We were supposed to go to the hotel to sleep early after the tiredness of the day, but we only slept at midnight after chatting with Mathias for 2-3 hours.
We told the hotel staff to clean our room, but they were not interested.. Insects that died after spraying the room yesterday. Such a nice and comfortable room gets nasty by the service and the bugs. We stay in one of the 3 rooms located at the back of our hotel, which is 20 meters from the sea, and the construction of the other 2 rooms is in progress.. Since the back side is surrounded by the forest, it is normal to have this many insects, but it is comfort and pleasure.. On the other hand, I do not intend to spoil my mood with small things, the dead insect is not a nuisance, but its living creatures can be a nuisance.. After spraying the fly and insect protection spray all over my body, I slept.
Day 353: Indonesia:10 Amed, Bali, 22 July 2011
