Change of tides

Two paths diverge in a an airport, I go one way, Laura and Kristen go the other. Which one is less travelled we can let Bobby Frost decide that but both are going to be adventurous. I am on my way back to Indo to catch a few more waves and the ladies are going to get their culture on in Thailand. I will be joining them again in about a months time. So new stories and adventures to come.

The last little while has been busy as per usual. We said good by to Kuta, Lombok and made our way to the Gili's. These are three islands just off of Lombok that are similar to the Corn Islands in Nicaragua. Small, no cars, and tons of snorkeling and scuba. We decided to go to Gili Air. It is not the loudest party island but not the quietest out of the three. Very peaceful place and James our travel buddy joined us for this length of the trip as well. There are a few waves on the islands but were not working when we were there. Our days were spent lounging ocean side and not doing much. We did a lot of reading, a little snorkeling and walked around the island. Three days felt like a month which was nice. From there we took the fast boat back to Kuta, Bali to wrap up the month in Indo.

Back in Kuta it was crazy as usual and we stayed at our same place Suka Beach Inn. Two surf sessions at the beach break and then the girls sold their boards. We packed our stuff and took off to Singapore.

Singapore is a nicer Hong Kong. It is quiet, clean, organized, efficient and beautiful. It is very modern, everything is in English. We only spent one full day together and did a good portion of the city. We spent the morning at the zoo. Wow is a good word to describe how cool it is.   Monkies swinging, polar bears swimming, tigers prowling and fish jumping.  You show your ticket and the first thing you see are these wicked looking monkeys that are not in an enclosure but hanging out in a tree. Lots of the exhibits have little to no cages or fences. The kangaroos, orangutangs and other monkeys were free to roam around. Being in a tropical environment we got to see some interesting stuff.

After the zoo we went downtown and being a few Saturdays before their 45^th anniversary there was a big celebration, military march, airshow and fireworks. They have a beautiful blend of colonial and modern buildings and everything is spotless. Very cool city and it would be a simple transition for any North American to move here.

So I am sitting in a hostel killing time until I can renew my visa for Indo. I head back tomorrow night and begin my new adventure, new board, new waves. Laura will be updating me with what her and Kristen are up to and it will all be blogged.

Two paths diverge and I took the one with barrels.

VIDEOS
Me at Medewi
Scootering Lombok 01
Scootering Lombok 02
Underwater in the Gili's

Gili Air

McDonalds Disaster

I managed to eat Big Mac, Fries, Laura's Fries, Coke, 6 nuggets and a cheese burger

Zoo 

Downtown

Random 

Missing photos

Medewi Surf

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dreamland

 

Ferry food to Lombok

Non-executive class ticket

 

 

Lombok Gas Station

 

Mawi Wowi

 

Small and Peaceful after Mawi

 

 

 Boat ride to surf Insides

 

Kuta Lombok Bay

 

More to come!

Cars, Boats, Scooters, Bribes and Lack of Internet

It's hard to type when you are having fun and the internet is either non-existent or crap. The last time I wrote we just got to Medewi surfing a fun, mellow left. That is old news. We are currently in Kuta Lombok, a different island to the east of Bali and loving it. A lot has happened from business going sour, to long ferry rides, bribes and new surf.

We ended up spending 10 nights in Medewi. The swell stayed consistently small for all the days except for the last day where the wave got big, long and overwhelming for the girls. I had my longest ride ever which felt more like snowboarding down a hill for 35 seconds. All the other days were small, clean and fun but the crowds stayed busy. Everyone got their waves and had a good time. We really liked the atmosphere of the area. I ventured by scooter to Balian a few times and to a beach break just up from Medewi and had some really good sessions.

The food was great. We ate at our homestay, Mia Malu and one other place called Chill's Warung every day. Chill's was cheap and by cheap I mean I would order 3 meals for breakfast (omelet, pancake and grilled cheese, also known as a jaffle) for under 3$. Dinner would be similar fashion (cheese burger “best in Bali”, chicken satay and pasta) for under 5$. Let's just say I didn't go hungry. The girls loved this veggie dish called Cah Kangkung which is sauteed water spinach with oyster sauce, tons of garlic and chilli's – yum.

Our departure got very complicated. We were deciding where to go next as the crowd factor was making the girls wave count low. We had decided on heading to Sumbawa to a surf camp but last minute we changed our minds after a conversation with a local about going to G-Land on Java. We stayed one extra night but after little debate, Laura and Kristen decided they did not want to go, but in the process created a mini crisis.

Lesson number one, never promise or hint a promise to do something with a Local. Lesson two, never think that one Local works with another local. Lesson three, I can't remember. So what happened was we said yes we would go to G-Land out of excitement (beers were involved). The next morning Kristen told another local “Monday G-Land” to his surprise because we never were going with him to G-Land. He tried to sell it to us before but we ended up going with another guy. This involved me having a conference with two guys about why we were not going to G-Land with them. Then we broke the news to our guy that we were not going at all. To compensate, I handsomely paid the guy for the pictures he had been taking of us in the water. I thought that would be ok but instead had to have my second conference of the day with him and his boss to sort everything out. Yadda Yadda Yadda, we gave the guy our business in transporting us to Kuta. Lessons learned.

Back in Kuta the gong show continued. I don't think the town sleeps. We stayed up that night to watch World Cup, in bed by 5 am and then attempted to get out of Kuta but failed. Instead James (our new companion) and I scootered to Dreamland where I managed to surf some awesome waves. I am still drooling over how great it was. Content, we went to see Padang Padang, one of the most advanced waves in Bali/the world. We sat on the beach while watching people get mangled by the barrels and pummelled onto the shallow, razor sharp reef. Smile on my face, back to town to pick up the girls and go for dinner. We scooter off to get some food which was three blocks away. Have a lovely meal and decide ice cream would be a great way to finish the night. In the process we got lost, end up on a busy street with no helmets and decide to just make our way back. Make the first right and to my surprise, two police officers are telling me to pull over. No international drivers license and no helmet, I have to follow them to the station. In the process we pass Jamie and Kristen who conveniently were trying to avoid the police which happened to be on the road to the station. Thus, they also got dragged along with us. Down to the outside of the station we had to discuss a lot about nothing and he told me 400K for my infractions and 200K for the other two. We told him no way and through little negotiation ended up paying 100K for each bike which is about 11$ Canadian each. The best part is we shake hands and then are told to bike against traffic “carefully” to make the right just down the street. Lesson learned.

Woke up 5:30am to make our way to Lombok. 1.5hour car ride to the ferry, 5 hour ferry and then 1.5hour car ride. What a day. We watched people getting so ripped off it was unbelievable. A group paid 800K for the fast boat, but ended up getting slow boat tickets. Through negotiation they paid more again to get on the fast boat and would be refunded. HA!

The journey was long but we made it. The worst part is the hassling once we arrived to Kuta Lombok. But with that out of the way we managed to find an awesome place to stay. We rented three scooters to get to the different beaches and have been exploring quite a bit. It is absolutely breathtaking here. Every bay is unique and the water is turquoise blue. The surf has been big and windy. We have found some options and I have been scoring the most. We have taken a boat trip a few times now to a couple breaks (Insides and Kids point). Both mellow waves when it is not a huge swell. Today we scootered an hour west to Mawi and another bay. Mawi was heavy and massive. I caught my one wave then tried for another and got my ass handed to me and called it a day for that spot. We moved to the next mellow bay and enjoyed the afternoon.

The food has been surprisingly great. We have been feasting on some local specialities and truly enjoying ourselves. We don't know our timing here but have to make our way back to Kuta Bali to get to Singapore on the 23^rd of July.

Sorry for the delay on blogging but we have been moving around quite a bit and internet is not fast or very accessible. I will be posting more pictures to this blog later.  

Medewi Livin'

We found a small slice of paradise for all of us out in Medewi.  We left Kuta after realizing we had spent 7 nights and needed to leave even though Laura managed to pick up another fever brought on by sun stroke.  3 hour drive west along the coast and we arrived in Medewi a small surf town based around one mellow wave.  It is a left point break over rounded rocks that can produce long smooth rides.  There are not many people out and only a few locals and beginners dropping in on me so my wave count is building.

It is back to the lifestyle that we all enjoy (at least I do), sleep, eat, surf, eat, surf, eat, sleep repeat.  Throw in a few coldies and some good conversation and that is the small slice of paradise.  The place we are staying is very clean, nice and bright so I think we might stay a while.  I can rent a scooter to venture out, which I have to Balian and will do again.



Not much else to report.  It is just nice to be close to the beach and surfing lots.

Kristen killin it

Me

More to come!