The gangs behind Jl. Seminyak Bali

My house sits down a small gang (alley) in Seminyak. Its the kind of place you would never know existed unless you’d been there. Although I feel I’m at the end of the alley, there are actually a few ways out to a main street. Its kind of cool and I can choose which way I get to the shops. One of the alleys comes out on Jl. Dhyana Pura, another right next to Bintang supermarket. When I take this route, I pass some virgin land. The locals have treated it as a rubbish dump, but it is cool to see trees and bushes one block behind, ‘cement central’ Jl. Seminyak.

The Tuban, Kuta, Legian, Seminyak area is full of small gangs, some only 2ft wide and exploring them can offer you short cuts and give you the feeling that you are becoming a local. Today while walking through another gang, that leads from Jl. Seminyak, to Jl. Drupadi, I saw a family temple, complete with grass roofed shrines. Lovely to step into the quiet traditional aspect of Seminyak, and away from the commercial side. Seeing banana trees and palm trees inside people’s yards and watching family activities take place over their wall, on a dirt floor, makes me think of how Seminyak must of been 20 years ago before, tourists started pouring in here.

On Jl. Drupadi, one guy (western) was having a moving sale. ‘Everything got to go’ said the sign. Spotting a westerner coming out of the front gate I asked if he was the owner. He said no, and I asked if there was any decent gear on sale. “He’s got a lot of artsy stuff, pretty overpriced.” he said. I thanked him and kept going.

Passing my old house, Jl. Drupadi 16X, I paused to snap a photo. Seems a long time ago indeed, that this was the place I used to hang my hat. Jl. Drupadi has a couple of places, Mahalini I & II, which are small groups of villas, sharing a common pool, with parking and security. There are actually better villas than these on Drupadi, and its not a bad place to live, close to Kuta, close to party street (Dhyana Pura) and close to Eat Street (Oberoi). The one negative would be the traffic from Dhyana Pura which funnels through there. One cool aspect of Jl. Drupadi is the number of locals living there. My neighbors, a Balinese family used to be outside, wearing just a sarong (male andd female) sweeping and picking flowers from a tree with a long pole. They had roosters, which I initially hated, but got used to.

A walk through the gangs of the Kuta area will give you a different view of life from the main street.