21 MARCH: Monday Mornings at Mertasari are always quiet, after the deluge of Sunday beach-combers . This morning the pondok merana, my local coffee shop, is closed and i have ended up at Siska's Siomay stall with pak basir and the Banyuwangi tradesmen from the spa project rising illicitly on the sandbar . Its a fresh morning and there is a whiff of the surreal in the air. Schools of teri fish are splashing in the rising tide ; an unusual spanish couple arrives and orders a young coconut in perfect Indonesian. Pak Basir nibbles on fried yam. Siska screams "omaygod" a lot