Surfing and chilling out in Kuta Lombok {Cath}


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Asia » Indonesia » Lombok
November 7th 2008
Published: January 15th 2009
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Rested, recovered and eager to test our surfing legs on the surf spots in Lombok, we packed our ever expanding backpacks and jumped onto the ferry from Gili Meno to the mainland port of Bangsal. Although it's about a km from Bangsal to the bemo (local taxi van) 'terminal' we decided to spare the legs and hop on a horse taxi instead 😊 That has to be one of my favourite things about Lombok, the horse carriages... What a great means of transportation!

Anyway, we'd been hoping to take local transport, and save on the marked up tourist shuttles down to the south coast, but found ourselves in a similar situation to Kawah Ijen & coffee plantations {Darrell} where, while waiting for a van to full up, a driver who already had 2 passengers approached us and asked if we wanted a lift. The thing was, was that we were really keen to make our way down using public transport... so we said, "no thanks". Only the driver was more eager to have us on board and eventually gave the us lift for practically nothing. So there we were, in the air con luxury of a van, bouncing along to the Rusta rhythm of Bob
Cooling offCooling offCooling off

It's hot in Indo
Marley, headed direct to Kuta.

Our road wound up one side and back down the other of the lush jungle mountain range and then proceeded through the cities and small towns directly to Kuta. Half way, our ever attentive driver made a stop at a convenience store so that we could pop in and get some drinks... which we did. When we returned to the van there was a police officer standing in a khaki uniform standing at our drivers window. We'd been illegally parked and had been given a fine. Our driver, rather embarrassed, explained the situation to us, and apologetically asked if we'd mind giving him some money. Fearing the worst, we pulled out our wallets, when he showed us the fine. It was for Rp 1000... less than R0.80 ( a 10th of a US$!). Darrell handed him the money, and we waited until we were away from the officer before we had a good laugh about the whole thing.

Eventually, we popped out at the coast. The whole place seemed completely deserted. It was really wierd, I'd imagined (rather ignorantly) something like Kuta Bali and here we were on a long stretch of beach with a handful of beach side resorts and a few curio stores. This is Kuta. And it was wonderful! The mountain enclosed white sandy beach stretch for miles, and it looked like we had the place to ourselves. We booked ourselves into one of the smaller guest houses and went to go and find out about hiring surfboards.

Beautiful as the beach is, we soon found out why it looks so deserted... the minute you step out of your hotel, you're swamped by groups of little kiddies thrusting boards of bracelets up your nose and begging you to buy from them. Women appear out of no where carrying a pile of sarongs and T-shirts and screeching at you to buy from them (how can you buy from the children and not from me... but we don't want a sarong... but how can you buy from the children...) Buying doesn't seem to help either... if you buy one, they ask you to get 2, and then their friend comes up and askes for you to buy from them too, just one more... it's exhausting. I think they're the most persistent salespeople we've come across so far.

The surf



The best waves, well the break that was recommended by Kimen Surf, the surfshop we hired our board and motorbike from, was at a place called "Gerupuk", about 7km west along the coast... thus the need for the bike 😊

So off we went, first thing the following morning, put-putting down the small village roads to Gerupuk. We met up with a surfing pro, Jerry, who said he'd take us out on the boat (you need a boat to get to the break) and, seeing as we were both significantly less talented that him (he's sponsored and lands 360 degree jumps on the waves! Nuts, really) he promised to give us a few pointers. 😊

We were taken to some of the 'smaller' waves and off loaded into the warm water. As we were paddling out, the waves started looking bigger and bigger than the did from the shore and boat... terrifying really... Darrell disappeared off, and seeing as it was only my 2nd time surfing, Jerry took me under his wing and set me up in the right spot. And then came the dreaded, "GO CATHY! GO CATHY! GO CATHY! PADDLE PADDLE PADDLE!" 'AAAAHHH!' - that was what I was saying on the inside! But against all my better istincts, I did what he said and I paddled for all it was worth. The wave came up and, mistake, I looked back.... It was the hugest wave I'd ever seen! oh dear but I clung on, up, and up, and the wave caught my board, more powerful than I could have imagined... and then aaaah the board tipped over the crest of the wave and I was flying down the front, clinging on for dear life (I think my eyes were closed) until the board started leveling out and to try and save face, I popped up pshew-ie and surfed like a pro all the way in, until the board was going too slowly to carry me any more and I toppled over. 😊

In the awesomeness of longboards, this was a long way in! And that means, a long paddle back... Boy oh boy this was tough. I'd caught the first wave of the set and ridden it in for all it was worth, probably about 100m from where I'd started. Now, I'm not quite strong or heavy enough to push a 7,5 foot longboard under the waves, so, for the next 5 waves in the set, I was swept up, tumbled over and washing-machined out. I managed to right myself, get on top of the board again, and make a few feeble paddles towards the edge of the break before the next wave came roaring over me again! It was tough work, but I did it. 😊

When I got back Jerry told me that for the next wave, I needed to stand up sooner! That's maddness! at the scariest point where the board tips and your eyes close...you need to open them and fling yourself up onto your feet, and freefall down the wave like the pros do and then it will be fun. uh huh. The next couple of waves weren't as much fun... but I got one or 2 right - It was absolutely terrifying! ... And a little bit fun... although I think with a bit more practice, this will be because of the actual surfing and not purely the exhiliration one feels after realising you didn't kill yourself 😊 All in all it was a good time.

So good, in fact, that we went again the next day and even hired the boards and bike for the 3rd day too. However, on the evening of our 2nd day surfing, we celebrated our surfing survival with a prawn noodle dish that ended up upsetting us both... barely a week after the Everything's slow in Gili Meno {Darrell} experience with the dodgy chicken sandwhich. This time though, it was Darrell that got the worst of the food poisoning... he was pretty seriously sick for about 24hours, and we were both pretty pooped (so to speak) for next few days, all we could do was spend the time reclining on deck chairs, reading books, and writing post cards just outside our room... there are worse places to be when you're sick 😊




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