A Morning at the Beach (and an Awesome Tekor Bali Breakfast!)

We woke up bright and early on our second morning in Bali, excited to swim in the sea!

Before 8 in the morning, we were already out and about, ready for our little morning walk to the beach. Jalan Werdukara (where Puri Damai is on) is quite lovely, empty and quiet, in the early morning. No motorbikes & taxis squeezing into the narrow street, and not even the stores were open yet.

empty & quiet Jalan Werdukara in the early morning

And it was the same eerie, quiet scene when we took the turn on Jalan Arjuna or Jalan 66 (named after the popular disco on the corner). So that made for a nice early morning walk on this usually busy street without having to contend with the motorbikes and other tourists or vendors for sidewalk space. On the way to the beach, we just enjoyed watching the locals setting up shop and beginning to put out their daily offerings (canangs) on their storefront, praying for good luck and good business for the day!

Jalan Arjuna / Double Six

Before long (I think it took us less than 10-15 minutes from Puri Damai before we hit Blue Ocean Road), we started to get a whiff of the sea and we excitedly ran across the street to enter the gates to Legian Beach.

upon entering the gates to Legian Beach

(First a sidenote, living in the Philippines, we are spoiled with beautiful beaches! So travelling through Asia & visiting some of the other beach towns in our neighbouring countries, we've learned to appreciate the fact that not all beaches can have Palawan or Boracay's powdery white sands. To us beach babies though, where there is sand, sea & sun is beautiful, no matter what.)

So on to Legian Beach! Just miles and miles of shoreline to both my left and right.

Legian Beach

watching the local fisherman on Legian Beach

At 8 in the morning, people were just getting a headstart on their day...

setting up beach beds & drinks for the tourists

other people on their morning beach walks

fishing on the beach

a local surfer looking for waves

Just seeing the local life on the beach and walking on the sand and inhaling the salty air made me want to jump into the waves right away! But first, breakfast.

So after taking a few more shots of the local surfers & a few more breaths of salt-filled ocean air, we head back across the street to Tekor Bali.

Tekor Bali on Blue Ocean Road

Tekor Bali is a popular spot for expats & tourists looking for a beachside breakfast. And while it's not beachfront (as we Filipinos define the term with places that are literally built on the beach) since the cafe is actually across the street from the beach, you do still get a great view of the sea from here!

inside Tekor Bali

I decided to go local and ordered the Indonesian Breakfast Set which included a small glass of fresh fruit juice (I ordered Banana!), a pot (yes, a pot!!) of tea or coffee, a fruit salad, and a choice between the mie goreng or nasi goreng with chicken & egg (i went for the latter). All that for just Rp26,500 (that's about Php135 or $3). That's a steal! And a delicious one, too!

my Nasi Goreng

a starter of Fresh Fruits & Shredded Coconut,
a small glass of fresh Banana Juice & a pot of Bali coffee

The Mister went for the Tekor Special set which included fresh fruit juice (he went for Mango), his own pot of tea or coffee (we both got coffee, the caffeine addicts that we are), his own plate of fruit salad, Balinese salmon, cheese, grilled tomatoes, two eggs any style, potatoes, sauteed mushrooms, choice of bread, butter and jam or honey. This big breakfast went for just Rp36,500 (Php186 / $4)! Not bad at all! And those sauteed mushrooms were just awesome!!!

The Mister's Tekor Special Breakfast Set

And for the Little Boy, we played safe (and very backpacker! :p) and ordered Banana Pancakes! And what a big pancake it was, stuffed with plenty of banana slices! Yum!

Yummy Banana Pancakes for the Little Boy

All that food plus the sea breeze and the view of the beach from our table made this hands down, our best breakfast in Bali!

Look at all that food!

the view of the blue sea from our breakfast table at Tekor Bali

After the hearty breakfast, we walked back to Legian Beach & looked for a nice spot to plop on. Rows & rows of sun beds & umbrellas were arranged on the beachfront but the local surfer dudes were renting them out for Rp50,000/day for a pair! After much haggling though, we were able to convince one of the dudes to rent it out to us for only Rp20,000 since we were going to be there for just a couple of hours and only needed one sun bed.

sunbeds on Legian Beach

[A sidestory: As soon as we settled into our sunbed, we were joined by a small family of a boy about our Little Boy's age, his mother and his grandmother on the next sunbed. We chitchatted a bit before the mom strips off her clothes (down to just her bikini bottom) and started doing yoga right there (a sunbed away from us!), doing half-naked downdogs & cobras in nothing but her tiny bikini bottom! And there were the little boys, just a few feet away, completely oblivious to everything but their sandcastles & the waves! It surely made for one of the most interesting experiences we've ever had anywhere.]

A tip: Legian Beach has got some strong undercurrents so it's best to stick to the designated swimming areas (usually marked by flags). As for us though, we stuck to the shoreline just playing in the waves with the Little Boy. The Mister & I would sometimes take turns to sneak a short swim out to the deeper parts (super refreshing since the water was so cold!!!) but would quickly swim back again since playing in the big waves was just a lot more fun!

chasing waves

Now, the sand on Legian Beach was a dark shade of gray and a bit grainy, but still perfect for building sandcastles with the little boy! So we spent the rest of the morning building sandcastles, chasing waves, watching surfers and the latter part just running after the Little Boy to get him back in his clothes (he was NOT happy about leaving the beach!) to get back to Puri Damai for one last quick dip in the pool before we check out & continue on with the rest of our Bali adventure.

playing in the waves
and watching the surfers on Legian Beach