Canggu, Bali, Indonesia
The ride from The Grand Harvest Resort up in the mountains to Canguu was a long one. It took us about an hour to get from lofty heights of our resort to the ferry terminal in Banyuwangi. Yet again the police were very cool with us and we had a good laugh with them at the checkpoint on the Bali side after crossing the small distance from Java.
With the crossing complete and the bike filled up with petrol we hit the one long road that runs all the way down the West coast of Bali.
It wasn’t the must scenic or entertaining ride either. For some reason I had it in my head that this road would be fairly quiet but that couldn’t have been further from the truth. All the trucks that move between Denpasar, the capitol of Bali and Java use this road so it was pretty similar riding to what we experienced in Java for the past few weeks. Huge trucks and buses trying to muscle us out of the way, mixed in with a good portion of pot holes.
I got my head down and cracked on though and around 6 hours later just after sunset we rolled down a small alley in Canggu to our digs at Pluto Homestay. Aptly named due to the fact the owners have four dogs. We love Homestay’s with dogs.
Once checked in and with our bags dropped off we headed straight out for food. I struggled to get my bearings in Canggu. We have stayed in Canggu a couple of times now. On our last trip a few years ago and also on a trip about 6 years ago. We enjoyed that area both times previously but for some reason I couldn’t get my head round where I was until we came across a liquor store that we have used in the past and then everything suddenly fell into place. Canggu has changed so much in the last few years. Like an unbelievable amount.
The first time we were here six years ago the area was mostly rice fields with the occasional Warung and bar dotted about and Echo beach, popular for it’s great reef not far off shore for surfing was a nice chilled affair with just a few surf shops, bars and Warung’s dotted about the main road to the beach.
Now the entire area is massively built up. Occasionally you will glimpse a small patch of green where there is still a rice field but the rate of development round here is staggering. The road to the beach is now completely developed and jam packed with tourists, shops and trendy bars. All of the surrounding smaller streets which used to be small paths between the rice fields are more of the same.
Since I first came to Bali 17 years ago Kuta has been constantly growing North up the coast. I remember back then that Kuta and Legian were still separate villages with a small space of greenery between them then eventually Kuta swallowed up the nearby village. Next it swallowed up Seminyak and now it has swallowed up Canggu. Crazy to see in such a short space of time.
Speaking with other travelers at our Homestay Canggu is still more relaxed and chilled than Seminyak and Kuta but to us it was far too busy and developed now. We felt a little disappointed but we only planned on staying there for two nights so it would be fine for a change considering we have been mostly in places well away from other tourists for a few weeks now. The Rugby World Cup Final was on the next day so it would be good to be in area with plenty of bars and a bit of night life. With some food sorted and a cheeky bottle of vodka purchased we headed back and chilled out for the rest of the night after a long days ride.
The following morning we were up fairly early and looking forward to some nice food somewhere, the Rugby final and then a bit of a night out in Canggu after the match. We haven’t really had a night out as such since arriving in Indonesia and the Rugby final seemed like a decent excuse to have one. I’m not even a huge Rugby fan but like many others I like to see my country do well in any sport and we haven’t exactly had a lot to cheer about with football for a few decades now so we were looking forward to it.
We deliberately avoided breakfast so that we could save the money from that and spend it on a nice dinner somewhere with a pint while we watched the final. We had a bar in mind and as usual I found the place on Google maps and popped my ear bud headphone in for sat-nav.
At times the GPS signal has lagged a little in Indonesia. We hit a junction and as I didn’t hear any instructions to turn we continued across the junction and down the next street. About 50 yards down the street the sat-nav beeped and said to turn around. We should have hung a left at the junction. Damn gadgets.
I pulled into the side of the road and sat watching the traffic both ways waiting for a gap. The oncoming traffic was quite busy but I spotted a gap just behind a cement mixer truck. As the gap neared I took another look behind and there was nothing for a good 100-120 yards. As the cement mixer passed I swung out into the road to do a U-turn into the gap.
The next second or two was surreal, like something out of a film. Once we were at 90 degrees, perpendicular to the curb I saw a blurred flash out of my right eye of a bike. It flashed briefly once maybe 20 yards away, then another blurr what looked about 5 yards away, then bang.
I felt the impact but no pain. I knew we had been hit but everything seemed calm. No concept of which direction we were moving, or of noise, nothing. Just the knowledge that we had been hit. I don’t think I passed out at this point but there is a definite gap between the blur of this other bike, the impact then someone dragging me up onto my feet.
I looked down to see the two bikes on the ground, smashed plastic all over and a local guy laid out on his back looking up with no helmet on clutching his chest and side. “Please mister, take care…please” he said looking up at me. I looked around stunned, searching for Dani and then spotted her off to my left wandering towards an open shop front. Her helmet still on and her hand covering her mouth. Blood was pouring from her face through her fingers.
I stumbled over and grabbed her hand away from her face. Petrified of what I may see. Her face looked intact. The blood was pouring from her mouth. I held her mouth open and checked. Her tongue was still there and all her teeth were in place. Her lip had burst open with a huge tear but that was all. I checked she was focused and if she had any other pain. Checked her body over, all her limbs. Everything seemed fine.
At this point someone had dragged the local lad into the shop and he was lying with his back against the wall, wheezing and still clutching his side. I checked him. No blood anywhere other than a small amount on his left leg. I asked “are you ok? are you ok?”. “Yes mister, yes, are you? your hand?”
I looked down at my hands. There was a flap of skin hanging off the back of my right hand. It was deep and there was a lot of blood but it didn’t seem deep enough to have damaged any tendons inside. It didn’t hurt at all, I felt no pain there. I did notice pain in my right leg and arm though so pulled my shorts up to check. Again there was blood and some gouges but not too deep. I had a tyre imprint on the outside of my lower leg and my right arm was also bleeding.
I had taken the full force of this guys bike on my right hand side. His wheel into my leg and his handlebars into my arm. This guy must have been going 60-70 mph down this relatively small urban street. He maybe managed to slow the bike down to 40-50 mph before the impact and we took the full force of that while at 90 degrees to him like a sitting duck.
All three of us sat, stunned on the floor of this shop for quite some time. Constantly asking each other if they were ok. Some locals had already moved our bikes out of the way and picked up all the smashed plastic off the road. I checked and the guy said he had been wearing a helmet. One of the locals from the shop must have removed our helmets straight after the crash to check for head injuries. I don’t recall this at all. A lad from the shop appeared after a while with a fresh new pack of cotton wool and some alcohol. I doused my wounds and made sure they were as clean as I could get them. Dani held ream after ream of tissue against her lip until the bleeding eventually stopped.
After what felt like a long time of just sitting their stunned things started to close in around me. The all too familiar grey fuzzy edges slowly taking over and closing like a camera lens, that sensation you have when your about to pass out. But it didn’t feel like I passed out. I felt like I went into a very peaceful sleep for a while. The sounds around me drifting in and out of my dream. It was nice and relaxing. The dream suddenly ended and Dani was shaking me to wake me up. Frantically shouting my name. I think it was just the shock, I didn’t seem to have any kind of head injury.
By now some friends of the other lad had arrived and ordered us a taxi to a hospital. We all headed off on what seemed like an impossibly long drive to A&E. Once there the local lad was put on a stretcher and rushed inside. We were so concerned for him. We both knew each of us were ok with no major injuries but it was frightening to see this other lad struggling to breathe at times. They took him straight in for an x-ray and after a doctor checking him over and looking at his x-ray he was given the all clear. I think he was also in shock as well similar too myself as when he was given the all clear he perked up quite a lot. I think at times the fear of the unknown and not knowing how bad your injuries are can make a situation seem a lot worse than it is. Thankfully this guy was ok.
We filled out our registration forms at the hospital before we could be seen and it didn’t take long for someone to come along and stitch my hand up as well as Dani’s lip. With everything sorted and all of us patched up we paid our bill up and shared a taxi back with the other lad. We exchanged numbers and said we would be in touch the next day about the bikes. We were both in a lot of pain and it was getting late now. Maybe 10 pm at night, the accident happened around 4:30 pm but time just seemed to disappear. There wasn’t anything we could do about the bikes tonight so we made sure they were locked up the best we could and headed back to our Homestay for some well earned rest and some food. Unfortunately we didn’t get any food as everywhere was shut. A horrible, draining, painful day and we hadn’t eaten a single thing. We drifted off to sleep thankful we were all ok, things could have been so much worse than they were.
What started out as 2 days in Canggu ended up being a week. As you might expect we didn’t do much at all for that week other than rest up. Two days after the crash my pain was at it’s worst. I struggled to walk at times, especially after laying down for a while. Putting pressure back on my right leg was almost unbearable. My right arm was and still is exceptionally painful. I cant put any pressure on it but I’m sure everything will return to normal eventually. We are both ok and that is the main thing.
The guy at our Homestay was a great help to us. A couple of days after the crash he took me along to the bike and helped me take it to a nearby Honda mechanic. Having this guy with us helped make sure that we paid the genuine price for the repair work and not some crazy inflated tourist price. We have also paid for the other lads bike to be repaired as well. He is currently off work and not earning so we figured it’s the least we can do to help him out.
We have also had additional aftercare bills as well for getting dressings changed and stitches removed etc. It’s been a very very expensive week for us and not what we needed given that our travel funds were already looking stretched, but again just thankful we are both alive and well. That’s the main thing and given how bad the crash was everything could easily have been so much worse.
It’s been a shame having to spend a full week recovering in Canggu, but such is life. Our bike is repaired now so we can make our way back over to Sanur and try to make the best of the time we have left in Indonesia.
