Friday. 17 July, 2026.
It’s Friday and it’s the weekend. Being July there is a lot going on, and the weather continues to be amazing, with blue skies every day. We welcome all the thousands of tourists arriving to Bali every week and all those people living here from all parts of the world. Actually, we welcome you all to The Beat magazine.
Last Friday we had the fortune of attending a fashionable evening at KUDETA with an exceptional fashion show from Erica Pena and an entourage of models and local fashionistas. The Rio Collection was presented with samba dancers and rhythms of Brazil. I’m told there will be another fashion evening a week before the White Party in August.
Photos Above. Fashion shows are always fun. Last Friday at Ku De Ta we enjoyed a very stylish evening with Erica Pena’s creations and her Rio Collection.
I was thinking recently, there’s nothing better than having a full tank of fuel in my motorbike. I feel strong and free, it’s almost liberating feeling the power flowing through the system, ready for anything that these roads can serve up. It’s like having a full tank of happiness, but of course the main reason I enjoy it is that I don’t have to find a pump bensin to fill it up. A petrol station without dozens of motorbikes lined up trying to fill theirs, anyway. It’s becoming unbearable. I do a lot of kms here and there, but I find it most frustrating when I see the tank is nearing empty and once again I am looking, hoping, praying, to find an empty gas station. There never is one, even late at night, or early in the morning. Always a line of bikes waiting and waiting. Obviously, there is a need for more petrol stations in this town, but for some reason there aren’t. Wait a minute, what about all the Perta-mini kiosks, or the old-fashioned, rack em up, Absolut bottle warungs? There are plenty of them! But, don’t they mix it with water or something? Well, maybe yes, maybe no, but that is most probably an old wives tale. Those bottles are double the price of the pump bensin. It is a drama trying to find fuel in this place some times and now that Pertamax costs about the same as any other neighbouring country it becomes even more pertinent.
Photos Above. Yes, the traffic in Kerobokan hasn’t got any better. What is next? Other pics down the beach and enjoying some wonderful Italian dining in the 66 area.
Another road drama (sorry about that) is the continually worse state of the new traffic loop through Kerobokan. How long is that going to be left to create chaos? I noticed yesterday that the footpaths, which are mainly used by bikes, are now starting to disintegrate. It’s only a matter of time till they give way. The bottle neck used to be Jalan Kerobokan but now it’s just moved to Jl Mertanadi, Jl Pengubengan Kauh and in front of the jail. I’m not sure it changes anything besides making the people living on those streets pull their hair out. Man, there is just too much traffic around those areas going north, south, east and west and right in the middle you do not want to be. As I have been saying for years, they need new roads to spread the traffic out. Nothing else will work, bring in the bulldozers.
Have a good weekend friends.
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