Weslington

I left Labuan Bajo and headed east out to Bajawa. After the ferry ride from hell I opted to pay the extra $7 and get a seat on a shuttle bus instead of the public option. I must be getting old. Although the road is pretty well paved, it still takes a while to get around Flores. The topography of the island is like a bunched up blanket with steep ridges and valleys going every which way with the odd volcano popping its head up here and there. The island (as much as I have seen) is gorgeous lush rainforest. Some of the valleys are so steep that historical contact between groups was incredibly limited. There are 6 separate languages within Flores and as many as 30 dialects. There are tribal stories from both Flores and ... read more

After our Hindu expedition through Bali, Muslim Lombok and Sumbawa have been fasting away. We hid snacks on the bus as not to offend and we tried to eat only one or two (or 3) meals during daylight hours as to sympathize. Already pretty rare, alcohol consumption was down to almost nothing (outside the surf compounds). People would come practice their English on us and tell us about the secret snacks they had that day while hiding a cigarette from view of the main road. Some are more devout than others I suppose. After a quick and terribly shallow but small session at Supersuck, we went south further to another surf break called Yo-Yo's. Our ever-wrong guide book said we would probably be able to arrange motorbike hire from our hotel but just about everyone ... read more

Made it back from Singapore unharmed and cleaner than I've been in a while. First things first, I headed to Immigration for a 60 day visa. They have a saying in Indo, "NO". They say it a lot. Most of the time its because they don't know something, for example, airport immigration officials that don't know their own immigration laws. I asked enough people to figure out where the office was and what I could do for a longer stay, and after a few circles around the airport on motorbike I found the office. It only costs $25 for a visa extension but it takes 10 days. So our hopes of leaving for Lombok and some different waves were quashed. I arrived a few days before Eric returned from Thailand to some of the bigger surf ... read more

2 days in a row away from the surf this time. The surf on the rest of the island (mostly) was still small and after our glut in Balian we were ready to see the other parts. A little more on Bali: Indonesia is a massive country. It is the largest Muslim country in the world and the 4th largest by population. Bali is a tiny Hindu island in this archipelago (with other religious minorities) and they are fiercely proud of their heritage and culture. For hundreds (thousands) of years Chinese, Indian, and Malay traders came to these islands for their ever valuable spices (cloves and nutmeg). The original spice islands that kicked off the European rush to Colonialism are part of Indo. Hinduism and Buddhism came early but Islamic invaders sought to change that. It ... read more

After a full full day of flights, delays and airport sitting we made it to Bali. We flew past immigration which didn't ask us for our non-existent 'proof of onward travel' and hopped in a cab to a hotel where Trevor, SF friend, had booked us a room in a hotel. This was pretty crucial as it was high season and many hotels were full up for weeks. We took an hour nap and got up to watch the World Cup final. I swear to god if that thing went to penalty shots I would've killed myself. Thankfully it ended at a leisurely 5am and we got some sleep for a few hours before surf fever drove us onwards. Our task was clear: surfing. Before this could be done we had to check the surf, ... read more