SERIRIT
The time is 12:30. I had just got out of the small Isuzu bemo that had taken me from Lovina to Seririt. After doing some streching excercises (ahh...my legs and back got pretty stiff during that bemo ride!) I first stood looking around for a short while to absorb the first impressions of this old market town. I didn't know exactly what to expect here for I could find only little information about this third (?) town of Bali, except that it is locally known as a market town.
The bemo terminus of Seririt is situated close to an intersection of fairly broad streets. Everything I saw looked rather old and littery: buildings with stained façades, its paint peeling off. Littery streets and sidewalks.
Seririt reminded me a little bit of Singaraja, the old former Dutch capital of Bali which lies roughly 20 kilometer back to the east. However contrary to Singaraja Seririt appeared to be less hot and stuffy. Also this town is not as well-known among tourists as Singaraja and this showed. As far as I could see I seemed to be the only 'orang kulit puti' (person with a white skin) around.
As soon as my blood was streaming normal again I moved off to explore the town. I turned down a street on the left near the bemo terminus. Along the left side of this street there was a long line of stalls, mainly selling food. Like in most places these stalls were built of simple materials. In general they consisted of wooden tabels with benches at the side of the footway. Most stalls also had canvas roofs to protect the guests from the heath of the sun.
On the tables of the foodstalls bottles of water and softdrinks were neatly lined in rows. The other side of the table was the domain of the owner. At that side the plates and dishes and simple kitchen-utensils were stored. Generally next to these stalls you will find a small pitch-black greasy barbecue with sticks of sateh on it. At a nearby stall I could see a cook waving oxigen into the charcoal of his barbecue with a piece of cardboard, at the same time causing small wreaths of blue smoke disappear into the warm air.
The other side of the street was mainly full with parked cars and small trucks. The footway over there was most crowded as it was in the shadow at this time of the day. I mingled in the crowd and while I shuffled ahead on the footway along the open shops colourful merchandise opened on my view and many scents tickled my nose: fragrances of spices, refuse, incense and grilled food succeeded each other while I moved on.
I stopped for a short while to take a picture of a shop selling all possible kinds of spices that were stored in large baskets. Like most shops this one too had offerings of flowers on a piece of bananaleaf on the footway in front and a small shrine draped with fabric in the holy yellow colour inside. The purpose of these is to please and honour the Gods, for protection and for good luck in business. Take care you do not to step on these offerings on the footway for that is considered to be very rude and insulting.
Everytime I stopped somewhere or made eye-contact I was addressed and almost everytime the conversation started with asking where I came from and where I was going to (just strolling a bit):
"Halo! Di mana?"
"Saya dari Belanda"
"Oh, Belanda. Ke mana?"
"Jalan-jalan saja"
When I finally reached the end of the street I turned to the right. About halfway this street on the left there was a multistorey white building with a hugh statue in a niche of the façade. I was curious what this building was so I crossed the street and climbed the stairs that led to the main entrance. I went inside and at the stairs in the hall a uniformed guard was sitting. The building appeared to be a modern shopping mall with several departments selling a wide range of goods, from cosmetics through clothes, unknown brands as well as well-known brands. The staff was very friendly and helpfull. One of them personally accompanied me all the way through the store, assisting me in finding the things I was interested in. And at every department we visited I stood talking for a while with the selling staff and finally I left with a pair of jeans and a few shirts, as a surprise for Sri.
At the way back I stopped for lunch at one of the foodstalls near the bemo terminus. Nearly opposite this stall across the street I could see a statue in some sort of small park. I put my bag with purchases next to me on the wooden bench and ordered a portion sateh with peanut sauce and a bottle of iced tea which cost me Rp. 6,000 in total. After finishing my meal I took leave of the owner and returned to the bemo terminus.
While I was walking back to the bemo terminus, two kids on bikes approached me asking me to take their picture. After I had taken some picures the eldest of the two asked me for some money, which I gladly gave. I paid them a few thousand rupiah each.
to be continued
I have now collected all the stories on my website and I have started to add pictures to it.
Check out my site to read the story together with the pictures that I took while I was there in Seririt.
Pictures for the other stories, where available, will be added in the next updates.
http://www.wonderfulbali.com