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

Puri Damai: A Lovely Boutique Losmen (a hotel review of sorts…)

a stone statue welcoming us to Puri Damai

We’ve never liked staying at big properties or often soul-less chain hotels whenever we travel. Every time we go anywhere, we really try to research and look for smaller properties, B&Bs or inns to stay at. On this trip to Bali, while looking for a place we could stay at in the Legian/Seminyak area (while we really wanted to stay at Ubud for most of our stay, we decided to spend atleast a night near the beach so we could take the little boy for a swim on our first day!), we were lucky enough to be guided (by a kind soul on ever-so-dependable Tripadvisor.com) to one of the most charming boutique properties we’ve ever stayed at anywhere.

Puri Damai - a boutique losmen

Puri Damai claims to be a boutique losmen in Legian, Bali. A losmen is actually a traditional homestay where local Balinese people open their own homes & houses to travellers who need a room to stay at for a night. And while Puri Damai isn’t exactly a losmen in that sense since it’s really more like an apartment complex built for tourists, I guess what makes it still a losmen is how it’s run by its owners so there’s still that personal touch & home-away-from-home feel!

Puri Damai's small courtyard

Puri Damai is basically made up of a few 1-Bedroom and 2-Bedroom Apartments surrounding a pretty little garden courtyard. I fell in love with the place as soon as we stepped into their small reception area where we were met by the lovely Ayu Giri. I wasn’t the only one smitten by the place, too. While the Mister & I were checking in, the little boy noticed the window overlooking the super cute tiny pool they had right next to the reception area so he immediately ran to the poolside to check it out. The pool was just about 14m long, really small but just perfect for swimming short laps and taking quick dips. Of course, our little boy was quick to find that the pool had an even tinier kiddie pool right beside it, complete with little stone fish fountains. So adorable! And while at first I was worried about how small the pool area was, I was surprised to find that we had the pool all to ourselves every time we took a quick dip. Needless to say, we had a hard time getting the little boy out of the pool every time so we ended up running late for most of our reservations and our planned itineraries because of that.

checking in at Puri Damai

a peek at the pool through a window
at the reception area

the tiny pool at Puri Damai

and an even tinier kiddie pool!

our only other companions at the pool

Our room at Puri Damai was just as lovely. We booked a downstairs Single Apartment. We had our own open-air living area with a nice big daybed (perfect for just curling up with a book); a small dining table for 4; a quaint little kitchen with everything we could possibly need to cook & prepare our own meals (a fridge, a stove, plates, glasses, utensils, a couple of pots & pans we used to reheat food we ordered from outside); a small siting area by the front; and a door that leads into a small cozy bedroom with a comfy queen-sized bed, a working desk/dresser, a cabinet, a safe, a ceiling fan, aircon, and even a small TV (yay for the little boy!). The bathroom had one of those ubiquitous shower in a tub, and was kept fairly clean. A small room but it had everything we needed and more! Plus points too for their small green initiatives: solar-heated water! Oh and did I mention free wi-fi?!

Apartment 4 - our own little apartment for the day

our dining & living area

the small cozy sitting area right by the door to the bedroom

our dining table & our favorite spot -- the daybed

our super comfy queen-sized bed

beautiful Balinese batik & pretty flowers on the bed

we even had a small working desk!

The only thing I guess I didn’t like about Puri Damai was the food. They didn’t have their own restaurant but since Puri Damai’s owned by the same people who own the legendary Made’s Warung, we had a huge photocopied menu of Made’s Warung that we can order from and they promised to deliver in 15 minutes.

So, we got pretty excited about the food since hey, this was Made’s Warung – one of the most popular, most established restaurants in Bali! And since we didn’t think we’d have time to make a stop at Made’s Warung later on in our visit, we decided to order some merienda while the little boy takes a quick dip in the pool so we could atleast try their food. Turned out to be a bad idea. :s we had to wait for more than half an hour for the food! And when it got there, the food was already cold & our lassies & fruit shakes weren’t even cold anymore. We ordered a plate of the ½ Nasi Campur ½ Gado Gado combo (Rp35,000/Php179/$3.75), a Tri-colored Ravioli (I know… Ravioli in Bali?! what were we thinking?!) (Rp43,000/Php216/$4.75), and a traditional Balinese Black Rice Pudding with Bananas which turned out to be the only thing we liked out of everything! We also ordered an Avocado Shake (Rp15,000/Php77/$1.75) & a Mango Lassie (Rp24,000/Php123/$2.75) – both actually tasted good but it was already warm when it got to us so it wasn’t as refreshing as it should’ve been. Our little boy still loved & finished his mango lassie though! We paid around Rp180,000 (around Php920/$20 including taxes) for a disappointing lunch and we ended up leaving half an hour late for our drive to Uluwatu because the food took so long so we weren’t too happy about that!

soggy Tri-Colored Ravioli from Made's Warung

Yummy Black Rice Pudding with Bananas & Shredded Coconut
and a glass of Fresh Avocado Juice

Service was hit & miss. After our disappointing meal, when we called the reception to send someone to take away the used plates to avoid unwelcome visitors scavenging at the leftovers, we were told that housekeeping hours were over so there'll be noone to clean up anymore. *sigh* It was all good though. Having to wash the dishes & cleaning up after ourselves gave it that 'living like a local' feel. :p When we got back from a late night out though, their staff were always so warm & welcoming and even helped out the Mister plan a small surprise for me (but that's another story!).

Over all though, Puri Damai provided us with a lovely, lovely place to stay at during our quick stop at Legian and we’re glad we decided to stay here! And for only $57.50 (or around P2,670 in pesos), we thought it was a steal and would definitely stay there again on our next trip to Bali!

the entrance to Puri Damai

the way up to the second floor apartments

(Sidenote: Being an avid Tripadvisor.com user, I also posted a review on Puri Damai here: http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g608487-d735701-Reviews-Puri_Damai-Legian_Bali.html.)