Long Time No See!

I have been in Indonesia now for just under a month with less than 5 weeks till flying back to the homeland.

I arrived in Kuta, Bali on the 20th of June after saying goodbye to Amelia for the second time :-( How met me at the airport and took me back to the hotel in Kuta. The two of us with my day sack, big backpack and two surfboards all balanced on one 125cc scooter. How has been hanging with Maaike, who we met in NZ, for the month before i arrived. Maaike is now hanging out with us for the rest of the trip in indo. The intial heat was quite intense but i soon acclimatized and now actually get a bit chilly when the sun goes down which is a good thing.

In Bali i got my surf fix, surfing most days two or three times. Surfed Uluwatu, which is one of the best waves in the world, Bingin, Balangan, Legian and Caangu. The water here is warm enough to just surf in boardshorts. To get around we have hired 125cc scooters for 2 pound a day. Everybody drives like a madman over here but you soon get use to it and drive with eyes in the back of your head and thumb ready on horn at all times!

Mark and Luke have come out to Indonesia for three weeks. It was nice to see a familiar face from home. We hit "The Bounty", the main club in Kuta, several times but avoided the Arak (Rice Wine) as the clubs have began to put methylated spirits in it which surprisingly killed some holiday makers. We decided to go on a 3 day road trip to see some of the real Bali, Paddy Fields, Volcanoes, Lakes etc. How and Maaike did not come as they wanted to surf as they had been ill with a fever for a couple of days so they had not surfed for a while. We drove to Ubud, the cultural town of Bali, and spent a day and night there. We went to a 1000 year old Hindu cave as well as being taken to a large waterfall by a friendly local. Several times over the 3 days, freindly locals showed us to villages and attractions just becuase they thought it was a nice thing to do. They viewed it as if they were nice to a traveller then if they ever go travelling they will have good luck and meet friendly people. It all made sense. After Ubud we drove North to try and find a little village called Penebel that had a hot spring there. We eventually found it and it was beautiful and warm. A locals spot which rarely gets visited by tourists tucked away in the hills among rice paddy fields. From Penebel we drove another hour to Bedegul which is a picturesque mountain village next to a lake. It was definetly cooler and fresher up there than down south. We drove past a little shop with "Big Snake" written on a sign. We checked it out and it turned out this guy had an 8ft and 6ft python, 2 bats, an iguana and several mongooses. For one pound we could pick them up and hold them around our necks. A Kodak moment for sure. When driving back to Kuta we drove through a swarm of bees. I got stung on my chest and i pointed out to mark he had several bees crawling over his vest. We quickly ditched our bikes on the side of the road and ran around like nutters trying to get rid of the bees.

Back in Bali i decided to go on my own to Nusa Lembongan. An island an hour SE of Bali which is no bigger than Crawley. How and Maaike have already been here and there was only surfing or relaxing to do so Mark and Luke weren't too keen. I was there for two days and scored some of the best waves of the trip. Solid overhead right handers. You have to get a fishermans boat to the reef break which is 400 metres from the beach. The water here was soo clean. At high tide you can surf then at low tide there are no waves but u can snorkel. The coral was surprisingly abundant with tropical fish of all shapes and sizes.

After Lembongan i spent a couple more days in Bali then got a ferry to Lombok. The next major island east of Bali. Mark and Luke got a ferry to the Gili Islands and How and Maaike stayed in Kuta for several days as How needed to extend his visa. The ferry takes 5 hours so i took some sea sick pills which knocked me out for the whole journey. Once i got to Lombok i had to try and get a lift to Kuta (same name different island) which was 2 hours away. I was bartering with the drivers but one by on ethey began to leave. There were only 2 mini buses left out of 10 so i had to stop bartering over a pound and jump on the bus. Kuta, Lombok is alot more chilled out than Bali. I have had some bad luck over the last couple of days. I was surfing and bumped into another surfer, his leash wrapped around my arm and squeezed it. My arm was rather bruised and week but i rekon ill be able to surf in a couple of days time, so all good. I also lost my scooter key in the surf which set me back 25 pounds. i knew i got ripped off but i could not do nothin about it as the locals were getting rather angry and at the end of the day i was bartering over 10 pounds.

How and Maaike arrvied in town yesterday. We have planned the remaining month ahead. We have hired scooters for the coming month and are going to do a road/surf trip to Sumbawa, a large island east of Lombok, and then to Sumba, an island 7 hours south of Sumbawa. Sumba has traditional tribes that apparently still are not use to tourists! Should be quality. There are also plenty of top notch waves to be ridden!

Exciting times! Seeya in a month and a bit :-)