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Published: March 19th 2012
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Interesting to say the least......
Started out from Ubud at 730am with my driver, Kadek. I have met him on the street outside my hotel and am happy to see that he is the driver. Air conditioned vehicle, but oddly enough we don't really need it. The trip is about 2 hours and although it's really not far mileage wise it always is busy because the roads aren't really designed for the amount of traffic that there is....the pollution is deadly.......funny that all the pictures that you see of Bali are beautiful but the truth is, they have a huge garbage and pollution problem...I'll keep the mystical side of Bali to your imagination and not burst any bubbles with the "real" pictures.......
After quite an interesting ride, as it always is, we arrive at the surf camp about 1030. Turning up the winding road we run into Ena, Balinese married to the owner of the surf camp....she's riding a scooter outfitted with a rack for a surfboard........she yells that the group has already left, but I can catch the afternoon surf.
Ketut helps me carry my things into the camp and he's off in an instant.....text him with
my trusty $25 indonesian phone (which has become quite handy, btw) and he'll be there to fetch me on Saturday. I wonder the grounds in silence as there are no english speaking staff..lots of smiling and nodding.....when in doubt.......
The camp is back for lunch and after a quick introduction of 10+ of the gang we are ready to roll out surfing at Padang Padang beach......it's a short drive and about 150 stairs plus a cave walk to the beach. My instructor is Ganung...wirey 20 year old that now looks like he's been given the death sentence after finding out he will be my instructor......his english is limited but definitely 100% better than my Bahasa....lol......after a whopping 5 minute lesson on the beach out we go......'you paddle, you paddle", and paddle we did...probably about a football field length to get to the surf......
pardon the delay but I just got shit on by a gheko whilst sitting on my bed typing this!!!!!!!!!! Most definitely a first!
Anywho, back to my surfing adventure.....can anyone say "beginner"????? Big waves, big white wash, just big........he sets me up, I get smashed, he sets me up, I get smashed
and in between, you guessed it, lots of paddling for Mrs Barbara.......surfing always looked so cool and easy.......surely a good swimmer like me could crack this.......but believe me, when you get sucked under by a wave and 2 more are following, it's a bit nerve wracking and scarey...I manage to get my body erect, standing? you might call it that........instructor Ganung was hardly impressed.........."why you no stand up"?..........Fuck you was at the tip of my tongue, but alas, no swearing in Bali! Ya, you heard it right, haven't dropped an F bomb since Australia....lol....anyway the rest of the day and days to follow kinda went the same way.....very last day was a huge wind, so most of the experience folks didn't go, so I thought better of going as well.........
All in all, a great experience with some great people......perhaps I will persue this sport on a less daunting waterfront.......how's the surf in Port Bruce these days? Anyone catching any waves there?
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