Seminyak
Today I wandered from Canggu to Seminyak and back again. It takes about an hour and a half and for some reason people think that's crazy. I stopped several times for food obviously and planned my route around vegan restaurants also obviously.
Roads here are narrow and fairly busy so not super fun to walk down. Sometimes it seems like it's about to come to a choice between being hit by a van and being up to my knees in rice paddy mud. Fortunately I didn't have to make that choice yet. Here's the route.
I had a breakfast burrito and juice (and later coffee) at Peloton, a vegan cafe not far from Canggu, and stayed there to work for a few hours. I walked to Seminyak partly by way of the beach, and visited Seminyak Square and a market. Not really much of interest. I enjoyed the air conditioning in a mall for a while. Seminyak seems to be mostly fancy villas and tourist shops. It feels a bit less chill than Canggu even, though more going on. Didn't feel bursting with exciting vegan food like Canggu is! Maybe more upmarket, less hippie.
I read about and pinpointed on Google Maps a tofu-specialist cafe. I didn't find it, but around the corner was a street cart selling tofu, so that seemed close enough. I chatted with the vendor as he fried tofu, liberally applied a pile of beansprouts and coated the whole thing in a huge layer of peanut sauce with some chopped chillis and a drizzle of soya sauce. It was super tasty, and 20k IDR. I ate it on the roadside, and while I was doing so, his friend came along with a cart of brightly coloured liquids in jars. They looked sugary, and neither of them were able to explain to me what it was apart from "ice" so I declined. But then I watched someone else get served - he spooned some of each jar into one cup - and my interest was piqued that this was more than just syrupy drinks. It turned out to be es daluman, a cincau grass jelly, coconut milk, and coconut sugar syrup dessert which is on the whole pretty nutritious. A cup was 10k, and very refreshing if a bit sweet. And so far the thing that has reminded me most of Malaysia!
I wrapped up my day with tempeh tacos and iced coconut milk mocha at the Spicy Coconut, another vegan cafe. Totally delicious.
I walked back in time for a yin yoga class at Serenity, and during the class a giant rainstorm hit. The yoga studio is on a third floor, and the sides are fairly open, and the roof is metal. So the noise was so great that we couldn't hear the teacher for most of the class, and leaves and rain were sweeping in. I enjoyed it. It had subsided by the time the class was over, and I sat in the pool for a while.
Now it's bedtime and the cockerals are going fucking mental for some reason. It's not even light! Shut uuuupppp!