In Reply to: Filo Please help posted by ruthrat on Wednesday, 12. October 2005 at 07:23 Bali Time:
Hi ruthrat, and thank you for the kind words, I'm happy that I was of some help.
As Kura-kura says (post below) the Balihai is on the western shore of the island and therefore has special sun sets - BUT - the sun also rises there!
Its not as spectacularly in-your-face as some of the dawns can be on the east side but it is also something special. Dawn is perhaps a little later in the west and it seems to creep up on you slowly, softly, gently, sometimes through sea mist and always filtered through the palm fronds along the shore. Sunrises on the west are female, those on the east are male and often from Mars.
Just as on the east shore if you're there to see the rise in the west, you'll also see the island come alive to face the new day. Dogs that have spent the night in a shallow hole in the warm sand wake and shake, the fishing folk come down to the water to quietly bathe and pray, the birds take wing and the little bubbler crabs on the beach skurry around for a last feed, tracing their radial tracks across the sand that always leave me wondering how they decide which way to go first.
From the Balihai there is a short walk to the south, along a man-despoiled shore past the Patra, through a fishing camp in a small patch of scrub nearer the airport and across some rocks until you are stopped by the runway extension.
To the north its a different thing. Depending on your endurance (and if you're carrying breakfast) you can walk and walk. Through Kuta, Legian, around or through some shallow creek out-falls at Seminyak, on past Kerobokan and Canggu if you're serious. If you're super serious you could continue on, detour around the temple at Tanah Lot if the tide is in and all the way to Gilimanuk near Java if you have your sleeping bag and tucker box, and your swimmers as the creeks up that way turn into pretty deep rivers you'll have to swim across.
It is the best time of the day and a clearing house for the mind; a time when its easy to be at peace with yourself and your world.
One thing is certain, you will find the company of like-minded individuals along the way if you want to socialise and at various villages along the way you'll find a driver who will bring you home if you're too close to your limits to start on the way back.
Enjoy!