Balangan

My first week of school is officially over and I am seriously infuriated and sad and disappointed with the sloppy and unprofessional bureaucracy of Indonesian Universities. I am in dire need of a time out, therefore I shall write for writing is my high.

When my mother finally decided to rent a car for a few days, I was absolutely ecstatic. Having a car means we could finally go to all the places I wanted to visit but couldn’t because a lot of places in Bali are agressively opposed to online transportation. After the first part of my orientation ended, I decided to blow off some steam by taking a little trip to the nearest Beach, Balangan Beach. We left around 5.30 PM and arrived half an hour short of sunset. We were greeted with at least 10 couples in the middle of a prewedding* photoshoot. Eclectically dressed photographers were taking pictures in uncomfortably abnormal positions, people were carrying big lights, makeup artists were busying themselves with making sure the bride-to-be looked ravishing, what I can only assume were stylists, kept running from behind the camera to strategically crease and fold the pearly white wedding dresses so as to make it look more rustic against the sunset. My immediate reaction was to viscerally scoff at the couples digitally preserving PDA for their future wedding guests to marvel at. But I remembered why I was there, to blow off some steam. I wiped my slate clean of any negativity and went down the steps with my friend as my mother trailed behind. Balangan Beach is one of those cliffside beaches, so there were quite a lot of stairs we needed to traverse before we actually get to the actual beach. I was surprised to see no presence of sand anywhere, instead I found a semi-soft, hollowed, rock-like surface. You’ll understand when you see the pictures. I was hesitant to take off my shoes seeing as they are rocks with a bunch of exoskeleton living in and on them, but because these rock-structures were so mossy they felt much softer and comfortable than I imagined. The hollowed out portion of the rocks were filled with water and Alhamdulillah the water was crystal clear so I could see all the little fishes, crabs and other little animals living there. I left my shoes in a dry spot and trailed the rocks with my friend, wetting our feet in cold water. We were both struck by how beautiful the afternoon was, the sunset gave the sky a warm orange that cascaded into a soft pink as the sky touched the water. The cliffs encircling the beach gave off a dark silhouette against the sky. I could see why there were so many couples here today at this particular hour, it’s hell of a prewedding backdrop. We stayed marvelling at Allah’s magic until the sky was completely dark and it was dangerous for us to stay any longer. After dropping off my friend at her apartment, we went home and slept soundly.