Back Home: Bali Indonesia

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The plane ride itself was a bit longer than I expected but I flew over some amazing islands south of Japan between there and Malaysia. Almost 9 hours later and I was at Kuala Lumpur International. Then what I thought would be a quick hop was another 3 hours and I was in Denpasar, Bali. When I got to my hotel room I was energized though. I watched a bit of the world cup soccer match and crashed slept well.

I woke to the cooing of a pidgeon; my favorite sound from Hawaii. The smell of burning incense. The thick heavy humid air. All the smells and sounds feel like home to me and I realize it is because I lived here as a baby boy. I was a Bagus Bali Baby.

Wayan : The firstborn in Indonesian. I had cloth diapers and ran around being held by beautiful Balinese women and showered with love. Me and my mom and dad all lived in Ubud, Bali because my dad was an avid world traveler and he met my mom in Kathmandu where I was conceived and later born. They lived in the mountains of Bali while my father was practicing medicine and helping the Balinese.

The first day on this Bali trip I got sorted with a scooter, a surfboard and met up with my redheaded Australian friend, Bluey. We went out to Balangan which is an hour south and had a fun sunset surf session. The waves were very fun and I tried my new board and it worked well considering I haven't surfed strong reef waves since Hawaii, last April.

The water here is even warmer than Hawaii water. It feels like home to be in hot water and blazing sun and solid powerful reef waves. I didn't put sunscreen on my back the first day and was out in the water for 4 or 5 hours. Fingers like prunes. The riding of the scooter is amazing because the streets are so congested and crazy and I love the rush of being in the craziness and being outside and living like a local.

In Australia they have a night out like a bachelor party and its called Bucks Night. It worked out that I am here surfing at the same time that Bluey the legend Aussie is getting married. We went out, me and 5 partier Aussies,for the night out in Kuta. Super crazy and fun night where we went up to the DJ booth and ended up at some random nightclub with a stripper pole and Bluey was dancing on it. Then I wandered home around 5 am and slept and Bluey came in after 6 - the buck was the last man standing.

The next day we had a beer just to take the edge off and it turned into two or three or five or six. Then I grabbed my surfboard and headed to surf. I got stopped by Bluey on the way and he got me another beer before I finally went for a drunk surf which wasn't as fun as it sounds.

After surfing instead of water I decided beer is better and I met another group of Aussies at the hotel and kept partying and drinking and I had no idea what was going on waking up today at 11.30 am. I went back to sleep for 2 hours and woke up to surf another spot on the reef that I took a small little boat to get to.

Today was the best surf day yet. I caught so many fun waves, it felt like I was on a fun skate ramp and going ballistic and fast. It was solid 6-8 feet (Hawaiian size) and light offshore winds. I got slammed too because the swell was very consistent and powerful. I came in after 3 or 4 hours with my new friend Sam the sponger and we were in a daze of bliss after the great workout and excellent wave action. I got on my scooter a happy Bali Baby.

Hangover gone. Tired now. Very groovy.

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Photos

Uluwatu wave
A screaming lefthand barrel pictured here at about 20 foot faces

Reef Sunset
Balangan Beach

Blue Buck
huh?

Uluwatu Cave
Sunlight good