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Eat...the great food, Pray...you don't get sick, Love...my friends, the people and the surfing
Pecatu, Indonesia
BALI BABY...what a great place, full of great people and great fun to be had in a million different ways!!!
I arrived on the 2nd of June into Bali and after negotiating the customs and death for drugs warnings, made my way into the ugliness that is Kuta beach...aka Tropical Penrith Panthers. It seems like everyone is Aussie, full of tattoes, with a fag in the mouth, wearing Bintang shirts (i've resisted the temptation so far) and arguing with a local over a difference of 10,000 rupees(about A$1) for a pair of rip-off Ray-Ban's, RipCurl shorts or set of knuckle dusters.
I settled into my accommodation at Wina Holidays Villa's, which for $25 a night was good value and then went to check out Kuta Beach, grab some dinner and try to avoid the offers of dvds, tshirts, "something for your honey", or happy ending massage, so got some large beers and went back to the hotel to wait for my mate Darren to arrive. He got in around 11pm and as we didn't have to be anywhere the next day until 2pm, we hit Legian St to check out the bars. The first place we stepped foot into was some atrocious club (we couldnt find anything that didnt resemble this) with doof-doof playing, local girls eyeing you off and wasted westerners. After 1 beer we hit the pavement again and within a few steps my reggae radar located "Apache Reggae Bar". Now to say I love reggae music is an understatment...so within a few moments I was in a form of heaven with 2 for 1 mojito's, a bob marley cover band...and an empty dance floor!!! Darren and I didn't let this stop us and within an hour the place was packed (incidently, I don't believe this had anything to do with Darren or my dancing ability, just a coincidence...). We stumbled out at about 4am and went back to the hotel for some much needed sleep.
Feeling a little worse for wear but not caring one iota, we downed the free brekky and went for surf to blow out the cobwebs. Given out state we both had a great surf and left feeling refreshed and happy and in the mood to check out more of Kuta. This mood lasted less than half an hour, when it was confirmed that there is really nothing to do or see in kuta if you dont want cheap copies of any product under the sun(I do I just can't fit another item in my bag) or want to be hassled to buy pseudo-epehdrine, mushrooms, or a scooter ride. So we retired to the sanctury of the hotel and lay by the pool until it was time to head to the airport to meet James and Ingrid(Jingrid) off their flight and head to our awaiting paradise of Villa Puri Purnama in Cucukan(pronounced cho-cho-can).
Puri Purnama is owned and run by an Australian woman Paula and her Balinese husband Isa. The place is truly amazing (and can be your's or something similar for about the same price as a 1 bedroom in Sydney...what are we doing people!!!) and has 6 staff that run the place and attend to your every want and desire. On the way we stopped at a HUGE Costco style supermaket and for A$30 a head we bought all the snack and drinks we needed for 4 days.
We soon arrived @ the villa and settled into our rooms and then hit the 20m infinity pool overlooking a black sand beach full of local kids playing soccer, adults collecting the small black pebbles(used in building I believe) and all overlooked by a mighty impressive volcano. We're not in Kuta anymore Toto!!!
Any stress (and there was a bit of it) quickly vanished and was replaced with a smile as big as the locals, and a sense of calm and happiness took over. Later that night Ben arrived and the group was complete! Our holiday had truly started...and started in STYLE!!!
The days quickly blurred into a pattern of eating(amazing meals made in house and at our choice...so good I ate both fish and beef and for a mainly fussy Vego, this is saying something), lying by and in the pool, walking along the beach, sleeping, drinking, and generally taking the piss out of each other as only good friends can. It wasn't all lazyness though as we managed a number of activites, the highlight of which was a day trip to Ubud to the moneky forest, followed by an amazing old temple ruins surrounded by rice paddy's and waterfalls. Truly stunning!!! Another day trip was back to Kuta to surf, as the waves at Cucukan were a fast reef break and way more advanced than any of our group were comfortable trying to get involved in.
After 4 days at Puri Purnama, it was time to again head back to the airport to get the transfer to our next accommodation @ Mick's Place in Bingin. I had heard about this place about 5 years ago and it had been mentioned on Aquabumps (sign up if u don't already get this daily dose of beachscapism) as a favourite place of Uge, so it was a no brainer to choose to stay here...and I wasn't wrong, I just hadn't expected it to be SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO amazing. Winding down a dirt track brought us to the unassuming entrance(no sign, only indicated by roughly painted signs along the way...gotta love it), where we were greeted by huge smiles of the staff and shown to our rooms. When I say rooms, I'm not talking your typical hotel room. These are the most simple, yet stylish and beautiful huts you will ever see. There are no walls, just bamboo blinds and it feels like nature and your bed are one and when that nature is atop a hundred meter cliff overlooking 3 of the worlds best surf breaks...Impossibles, Bingin and Dreamland, it is a truly magical feeling.
The views stretch out to the curve of the earth and below are set after set after set of the most perfect waves you will ever see. I almost wet myself with delight!!! The looks on thew faces of the group as we were driving to Mick's said "where are you taking us, we have just come from an amazing villa", but these were quickly replaced with smiles from ear to ear and high fives all around. I quickly proclaimed it to be the most amazing place I had ever seen or would ever see and that I was NOT leaving!!!
We settled into our rooms, got in the pool and just stared at the beauty before us...
We then went down the goat track to the bottom of the cliff(past the warungs where surfer tourists stay for about $10 a night, with one eye always on the waves) and down to a local restaurant where we sat at a table on the sand and had a great meal.
The Bali belly started the next day and after seeing the kitchen our great meal had been prepared in I was not left wondering why...not the most hygienic place I've seen...but they do make great food. C'est La Vie...
The next day we hired scooters and zipped around the local area to check out Uluwatu..another world famous surf spot, and the Uluwatu temple, where the local monkeys will steal anything not tied to you. Being a glasses wearer the whole palce was a bit of a blur as I couldn't wear them for the mentioned thieving simians. But I have it on good authority it was a stunning view...
The rest of the time was spent, lazying around, eating more, drinking more, massages, surfing and not much else...to say we were relaxed would be putting it midely. Were were practically comatose with serenity.
All good things come to and end though and yesterday we had to check out(I WILL BE BACK ASAP), and the group dispersed to various regions of the globe...Darren back to Sydney, Jingrid to Lombok for another week of 5 star bliss, Ben to Bhutan via Singapore, Delhi and Kathmandu, and I stayed here for another 3 days, where I write form Leggie's, a villa next to Mick's Place(couldn't be bothered packing my bags).
I depart on the 13th to the culture shock that will be Roma, where I have no idea what Im going to do and where Im going to stay...worried yep, excited yep, but bring it on!!!
Speak to you from Europa :)
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