Nasi Campur everywhere

Our first impression of Bali is chaos. The traffic is terrible. The streets are way too narrow to accommodate all the cars & motorbikes. Constructions are going on almost everywhere and there was little footpath to walk on. But this is expected when coming to a touristy beach holiday. And we are staying at one of the noisiest part of Bali – Seminyak.

After a long restful sleep, we had an early start to the day. This trip has been really disorganised as we were both busy preparing and packing the house for a kitchen and bathroom renovation. We had no idea where to go and what to eat.

Most of the shops were still closed and we just walked around aimlessly until we found a warung that had just opened for business. The stall is very typical of many that can be found around Bali. All the wares are displayed on the wall and it was quite nostalgic to find Sarsi sold here!

Warung Jawa

Nasi Campur simply means mixed rice. We ordered a plate of that to share. It came with a small serve of plain mee (noodle), tempeh, tumeric chicken, fried egg, potato cake and small spicy eggplant and a nice dose of sambal. This was a nice change from my usual bowl of cereal that I would have for breakfast. My favourite on that dish ist the eggplant. It was pretty spicy and packs a punch.  This was a lovely plate of food and we thought, a great start to the day. We were looking forward to enjoying similar foods like this.

Nasi Campur

There is no fancy coffee machines here. Instead we ordered a kopi susu. She grabbed a packet of pre-mix kopi, mixed it with condensed milk (susu) and voila - , brown sugar and condensed milk. Strong, robust and reminds me of the kopi back in Singapore’s hawker. I like it. I really do. I guess this is what I grew up with.

First glass of kopi susu

I had to get a few packets to have it in the room.

Pre-packed kopi

Mister and I walked back to our apartment and came to a conclusion that Nasi Campur is everywhere. That is what the people here will eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Small make shifts stalls can be found along the streets and little lanes. And even the beach warung serve mainly Nasi campur. The cheaper versions are the ones sold on the streets wrapped in banana leafs. I will make a mental note to try one before I leave.

Inside the hawker basket

The beach was the next stop. Without a map, we ended up taking a much longer way to the Seminyak beach. By the time, we found our spot and settled down, we were ready for our first drink and that was just 11am in the morning.  As many of you would know by now, I am not a beer drinker and may have bad consequences if I did but I did not really care at that point. I need something cold, something refreshing. And no water will not do.

First bintang

And lunch was of course, Nasi Campur! Not much different from the one we had in the morning. It suddenly dawned on us that we may be eating Nasi Campur for the rest of the trip! NO WAY! Where was the rest of the Balinese foods that I saw on Anthony Bourdian’s stunt on Bali? I mean it is nice. I like it but I can’t have this every single day. I need another beer.

Nasi Campur on the beach

After a long day at the beach, Mister and I did our skin much damage. I looked like a beetroot and had very odd tan lines because we walked under the hot sun for over an hour without sunblock lotion. Oh dear…..

And don’t worry, we did not end up having Nasi Campur for dinner. We have Chinese instead. I decided not to post it here as we may go back to try other dishes. So watch out for Bali Part 2

And check out more photos on my flickr album.

Your worse tan lines ever? What happened?