My One Wonderful Weekend

It wasn’t like we went crazy and wild and loud and rocking rolling the whole time. But more we did it the simple way. Maybe it is why it was so great.

We left the town at 1 pm, on Saturday. Just 6 of us, with 4 scooters, with great excitement of going back to the road, convoying. Our first was Blue Lagoon, for snorkeling. It took us an hour ride to get there. By the time we were on the parking lot, we saw how calm the sea beneath us, we freaked out, and wanted to run our ways toward it, but the stairs didn’t allow us.

We went down to our regular warung where we usually eat, drink and put our stuffs while we go swimming and got shower there as well. After few minutes break and had coca cola with ice we went down to the sea. And……..floating on the water while looking at the beautiful fishes in the water. I almost forgot how good it is to enjoy the beauty of the life under water.

Meanwhile, Leni , Ronald, and Annie had gone further, and Fitri still took her time chilling out at the beach, with Abi.

We stayed there for about 3 hours, snorkeled, chilled out, snorkeled, eat, took pictures, then we moved to second beach.

Bias Tugel beach is the name of the hidden white sand beach behind the hill next to Padang Bai harbor. While I and Fitri tried to get an accommodation for us, as we planned to stay over at the area; Ronald and the rest went to Bias Tugel.

We found Topi Inn after 3 hotels in front of the beach we stopped and asked for the prices. The colors of the inn are bright and attractive. The price met our budget and we went up to their second floor to check the room. It is a very nice building. The walls made of wood and bamboo, the roof made of dried grasses. They have some cozy chairs to relax and watch the sea, and it is an open hall. We were going to rent 3 rooms, but when we saw some mattresses laying neat on the floor in the hall, and the guy said that they are also for rent. Our eyes turned bright, “we can do that too, it would be niiiceee, sleeping in open space” . So 4 mattresses in the hall for the girls, and the room for the boys. 40k Idr for each mattress, 130K for the room for 3 boys. After all settled, we went catching up with the rest at the beach.

I was a bummer for not bringing my swimming suit there, while the sea was sooo calm and swimmable just like Blue Lagoon.

When I was there, everybody was ready to be taken pictures on the black lava rocks which made such a loud wooosh when the water go underneath them and spray back out hard. While fitri chose to just chill out on the beach we went exploring the rocks. Leni, Ronald and Ramon (who joined us only for the swim) made a jump into the sea, after seeing a guy did it. Realized that it was safe to do so, and it’s kinda cool. Later then we kept walking on the black rocks to the end where we can see cliff curve which is very nice spot to snorkel and swim as well.

When we got there, I regretted even more for not taking my swim suit with me as I would love to do a jump into that green crystal clear water, so I tried to be happy enough taking pictures while Ronald and Ramon made the jumps and Leni joined them swimming in.

As the sun setting down behind us, we decided to go back to the white beach, and took pictures before leaving. We did lots of jumping pictures.

Everybody was so excited looking at the accommodation we found, it is indeed really simple and nice. After shower, we walked to go to a restaurant for dinner. The dinner was nice beside the fact that David and Annie had to pay a glass of regular boiled water for the mineral water in the bottle price.

Afterward, we decided to take a stroll to the harbor, but not the big one as we have to pay for the entrance for it. So we ended up at the small harbor for the fast boats and found many people fishing there in the dark. We hang out there a bit, and suddenly I wanted ice cream. We left the harbor and found a little shop on the way back to the hotel, and got our self ice cream.

Taking a stroll on the quite road next to the sea where the lights of the boat reflect nice gleams and nice not so quite restaurants and hotels are at the other side of the road, while eating ice cream with good friends and joking around, surprisingly felt sooo wonderful. Somehow thinking that there at the other side of the island, the loud crowd might have reached their top. The drunken folks might have controlled the road, probably the same old drama have found their bigger stage. It’s Saturday night, that part of the world are theirs. And here we are, away from those familiar scene. I felt surprisingly content, by our simple walk, when the night allows us to hear nothing but the lullaby of the sea.

When we reached back at the hotel, we hang out a bit on the café’s seat outside. It was David who came out with drinking Arak idea, and we said no. Still, he asked the waiter to bring a pitcher of cocktail upstairs with small nice glasses. So we sat chatting facing dark sea while raising our glasses for such wonderful day.