New Years in Seminyak Bali

Walking around Seminyak this morning I stolled along Jl. Dhyana Pura and also Jl. Arjuna, the beach at the end of Jl. Double Six. Preparations are being made for New Years after a wet night. The staff at Double Six nightclub were putting together some plywood contraption, probably to support some kind of sign for later. Down the street, staff at the new DeJaVu were hosing down the patio area. DeJaVu relocated to the place next door, meaning a slightly larger venue. It never ceases to amaze me how place that are doing good business, suddenly close, due to lease problems. Today Blue Ocean beach looked more like ‘post hurricane beach’ with the remnants of last night’s storm strewn all over.

Last night I went over to Raja’s, located in Bintang supermarket parking lot. This upstairs restaurant is open air and afoord good views of Jl. Seminyak and everyone using the supermarket. If you needed to find somebody who lives in Seminyak, just hang out there for a few hours. My purpose for going to Raja’s was their big screen, showing Premiership football. Normally empty, when I have visited before, Raja’s was busy with large groups of Chinese Indonesians. It was a jolly scene and fun to watch them sharing drinks, laughing out loud and stuffing food. I was totally surrounded and Raja’s seems somehow to have got onto the Chinese Indonesian’s radar scopes. For me it was cool, to see how another section of the Indonesian community are at close quarters. Totally different vibe than from Balinese locals. Obviously these folks had money to through around, were loud and self confident and jolly.

My relatives are at my house today, so my New Years might consists of eating Indonesian food and sitting around. No worries though, I have a new book to read, about the importance of enjoying the moment (now there’s a dicotemy, to learn how to enjoy the moment, or to put the book down and enjoy the moment).