Canggu: New expat’s landing pad

Canggu is the coastal area NW of Kuta Seminyak. Not on the tourist radar for very long, Canggu has been on the surfer’s radar for its beach breaks and in recent years, expat’s radar for its rice field views and access to the coast.

Canggu pronounced ‘Chang gu’ (a single ‘ng’ would be sound like the ‘n’ in monkey. Two g’s make it a hard g sound, ‘Chang gu’), is close enough to Kuta / Legian for expats who have to work there, that it can be a place to live. The main road, Jl. Raya Canggu that leads out of Kerobokan in a NW direction has recently been re-surfaced, much to the delight of anyone who rides a motorbike out there. Another cool aspect of Canggu is that there is a ‘back way’ from Seminyak. You simply take Jl. Petitenget straight to the beach and hang a right at the Bali Sani sign on the track where all the locals are going. Head past the Canggu Club after 20 minutes and you’ll be in Canggu Permai in no time. Why you’d want to be in Canggu Permai, I have no idea. A friend of mine has an office there so I know the place. Canggu Permai feels like a Java slum, complete with compact cement buildings, housing Javanese Muslims who have come to Bali in search of a better tomorrow. Outside of that immediate area its all sawah (rice fields).

One place that expats living in Canggu love is the Beach House. I visited for 30 minutes late this afternoon. The handful of customers got a treat watching surfers get into the very decent surf that was going on. My small Bintang was 11,000rp. The Beach House does a damn good Sunday evening bbq, Recommended! Located at the end of Echo Beach.

Looking at a map of the SW Bali area, you’ll see the road that goes from Tabanan to Tanah Lot. All the ‘bules‘ (expats) have their villas on the Seminyak side of that road, close enough for a quick run into town for whatever. Consequently land prices are high. Across that road land prices drop and one Balinese local living near Kediri told me “No ‘bules‘ living around here.”

As one savvy expat told me, ‘watch the Balinese and watch the other expats’. I think that’s about right.