Day of surprises

In Germany, we were looking forward to this day. We wanted to go to Lovina to visit Aina and Aans. We got to know the two during our last stay. Aina was the cook in our house, and Aans had a stand at the Balinese street food. But let's start from the beginning.

At 8:45 am, Ngurah (Kadek's cousin) picked us up from the hotel. We drove along the coast for about 2.5 hours until we reached Lovina. In Siririt, a district of Lovina, we stayed during our last stay in Bali. Aina worked there with another lady. Both were responsible for the house and our physical well-being. At that time, we cooked together with them and had a lot of fun. Once, Rainer even went shopping with Aina on a scooter. It looked so funny, the giant and the dwarf on a scooter. Rainer was the attraction at the market at that time. Now we wanted to surprise Aina. As I had regular contact with her in Germany, I knew that she no longer worked in the house but had started her own warung. She was laid off at that time because of Corona. At that time, flights to Bali had been stopped and the airport closed. Only ships brought rice and some other ingredients here. Back to Aina. Her warung was located on a main road next to a fire department. A very good location, as we later found out.

We arrived at her place around 11:30 am. But we had to ask twice where the fire department was. When we got out of the car, the joy was immense. We jumped into each other's arms and jumped for joy. Aina immediately told me that she had forgotten her English because no tourists had come to the island anymore. Thank goodness we had Ngurah with us. He translated everything. However, he didn't need to translate much because joy is a universal language spoken around the world. Everyone understands it. After we had calmed down a bit and I greeted her daughter, we ordered 3 portions of bakso. Bakso is a traditional clear soup with ingredients. The ingredients are usually a boiled egg, rice dumplings, bones with meat, and sometimes, if you want, chicken feet. But we didn't order the chicken feet. There are also some vegetables and Indonesian noodles. You season it yourself with kecap manis. Delicious stuff🤣. Aina's bakso was really delicious. Very tasty and not too spicy. We all drank non-alcoholic ginger beer with a straw. However, this was only for hygienic reasons, not because it is usually drunk that way. We had a lot of fun together during the meal. Suddenly, her husband and son were in the warung. Aina had called them and told them that we had come. They were also very happy. We knew her husband from our last stay in Bali. He worked in the beach bar where we were often as drivers. We spoke to him in English, and Ngurah translated for Aina. It was really great. In the meantime, many customers came and bought the soup to eat at home. One portion of bakso costs 0.60€. We stayed for about 1 hour and then continued to Aans. But before that, we wanted to pay for the food. Aina wanted 50,000 IDR, which is equivalent to 3€. Of course, we didn't agree with that and gave her an appropriate amount. We said goodbye over and over again until we actually left.

Aina had told Ngurah in Indonesian where the street food market in Lovina is. He brought us to the market quite confidently. As if he had always known it. Soma's husband told us that it was a night market and that it is closed now. But we knew better. Aans was almost alone on the market back then. Only his two neighbors were there. Today, Aans was praying in the church. He and his family are Muslims, and since today was Friday, he prayed. His wife was very surprised when we told her who we were. We showed her a photo from earlier days and she squealed with joy. She called her daughter, who, in turn, went to the church to look for her father and tell him that friends had come to the market. The Muslim neighbor, who made fresh smoothies, told us in the beginning that it would take about 1.5 hours for him to come. But it didn't take that long. He arrived after about 30 minutes on his scooter and also squealed when he saw us. He couldn't believe it, he recognized us immediately. He kept saying "I can not believe it". It is so beautiful to bring such joy to other people just by showing up. He constantly hugged us and told us that on his way to the street food, he always wondered which friends could have come. Of course, he never thought of us, as we live in Germany. We took many photos and videos, and after exchanging phone numbers, I sent them all to him.

Since we have already had culinary experiences here, there is now one of the highlights. Chicken satay, homemade. Both skewered and the peanut sauce. A poem, the best in the world. Rainer said that even Tim Melzer would reach his limits there. We ate a total of 64 skewers, although a skewer was more like a skewer. We ate the skewers with both chicken and lamb. Personally, I liked chicken better. The whole thing, including 4 small bottles of water, cost us 6.90€. By now, it had become known that Aans had visitors from Germany. You have to know that the street food market is actually only visited by locals. Foreigners are a rarity there 🤣. We also spent 1-1.5 hours there and then drove back towards Amed. Aans brought us to the car. I had the feeling that he wanted to come along.

Both surprises were such a success. It was unique. 🙏🏽🤩🥰🙏🏽