What does it mean to travel like a local? To eat local? To see the real side of a place, non-touristy and authentic?
These are pretentious words, to some, and perhaps even a bit insulting. We are all tourists, aren’t we? What makes us better than others who come this way?
We’re not, of course. But that doesn’t stop us from wanting to eat locally, see local sights that others might not have the time or inclination to, or interact with local people. For us, this means staying in a little borough called Karobokan (you’ve never heard of it) and eating at joints like this, Warung Mertua.
This was our second dining experience in Bali, and we were the only westerners here. We’re using our phones to translate menu items, because this early in, we’re still learning about Balinese dishes aside from nasi goreng (fried rice) or mie goreng (fried noodles). This little warung (a small, family owned restaurant) is typical for Bali, and there were many in Kerobokan to choose from. Just a ten minute walk from our villa, it was a cheap, good place to experience homemade Balinese food.
Good food, perhaps not great, but not (as it might have been) crappy. I think the only crappy places around here would be the odd one that catered to specifically to tourists, and there aren’t that many in these parts. A few expatriates, for sure, but not many of our ilk.
As Anthony Bourdain often said, in order to have a chance to experience the outstanding, you have ot put yourself out there and be willing to put up with the mediocre. Sometimes the downright awful. We can say we had some outstanding meals, first class, in Bali, and none that were truly awful.
I think it’s because we choose places like this with lots of locals. And if that’s pretentious,then so be it.
We have so far travelled…
- 14 094 km Air (674km YYC-YVR, 9610km YVR-TPE, 3820km TPE-DPS)
- 22.8 km driving
- 18.3 km walking
This is a 163 part Blog series, chronicling my family’s Le Grand Voyage II, through Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan, Hong Kong, Jordan, Cyprus, and Greece. A 163 post reflection on our trip, highlighting some touristy and distinctly no-touristy photography, a sampling of the 20 000 photos I snapped on three cameras.
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