Mount Agung over Serangan Harbour
The dinghy dock, a mum and child getting cool in the afternoon and a pooch to take it all in
Warung Pak Jalan
To get ashore from the Picton Castle out at moorings at Serangan, Bali, we run the skiff the half-mile to a set of floating docks that reach out into the bay from the beach. At the head of this somewhat ramshackle affair crowded with boats of every description – sunk boats, floating boats, rubber inflatables, rubber once-upon-a-time inflatables, old wooden craft with water slopping in the bilges, narrow canoes with outriggers each side, small harbour ferryboats and an odd assortment of curious maybe home-made craft. The floating docks themselves are a crazy quilt of flat things that float somehow. Logs, big planks, pieces of yachts, salvaged planks, all leading up to a perfectly engineered and built steel gangway. We walk ashore on them without fear. Half the floats ground out at low tide, but at the sea end there is always water enough for our skiff. As packed as this tie-up is, the local fellows all graciously help push boats out of the way when they see us coming so the skiff can nose her way in like a pushy puppy. At the head of the wharf is “our” warung.
A warung is defined a place to get meals to eat. But that is like saying a pub is a place to get beer. A warung, our warung, is much more than that. Warung Pak Jalan, built of scrap lumber out over the beach, seems to have the same construction motif as the floating docks – and therein lies much of its charm. A view over the moored or beached boats, the anchorage crowded with strange craft, locals coming and going, clove cigarette smoke in the air and excellent nasi goreng and mei goreng, a fish dish so hot even Donald avoids it (and warns others away!) and plenty of cold drinks in these hot days; Tebotel and Bintang Beer, quite good and in the words of our publican, bloody cold. But more important are the proprietors, Sujana and Sulasih, a lovely young couple with a two small kids. Delightful and accommodating, warm and generous are these folks. It has been a pleasure to get to know them a little.
Ketut inspects moorings, provides local knowledge, and his younger brother as a driver has helped Dirk with local knowledge and translation to get supplies for the ship.
The land, a beach really, under the building is government owned, with a lease agreement and strict termination terms in place. The government is planning to redevelop the waterfront in Serangan at some point. And thus the charm may ebb away.
Always ready to help, from here we have gotten laundry done nicely, gotten rides to Kuta and Ubud and Denpasar. While not obvious from the road it is on Google somehow and is there to be found. The shore front road has many a fine warung, but this one is ours.
Sujana and Sulasih, friendly publicans and proprietors of our warung