Blogs from Canggu, Bali, Indonesia, Asia - page 2

I left Balangan after the rain had let up and drove myself back towards Canggu. I stopped for a luxurious breakfast at "Chocolate Cafe" because no one can resist a cafe by that name. Then it was a brief stop for more surf wax and then all the way down the now familiar roads to Surfing Dorms. I dropped my stuff off, said hello to Zach and Dan who were both still there, and hit the water. It wasn't a great session but there were only three of us in the water most of the time, me, Buck from Montanta, and another American who had just arrived in Bali. I surfed for a couple of hours and then ran back to the dorms to change and get ready for my riding lesson, which was wonderful as ... read more

On Monday I hopped onto my scooter, which was loaded down with my surfboard, my giant backpack on my back and my little backpack on my front and drove off for Canggu. Now might be the time to say a little something about driving in Bali. It is MADNESS. Like most of Southeast Asia the majority of people get around on scooters. There are limited traffic signs and everyone in the pack of scooters is bobbing and weaving and jockeying for position. The traffic in Kuta is also notoriously bad. While at first glance it seems like total chaos driving in Bali eventually resolves itself into nothing that resembles order but becomes at least manageable. What is really shocking is how few people wear helmets. I don't even mean the locals although it terrifies me each ... read more

After what was a thrilling and easy 2 weeks with everything being organised for me, I was released into the big wide world.. well almost. Lynn, Betsy, Bella and I all shared a taxi to southern Bali and Lynn, Bella and I went shopping, then for lunch and to the local beach near where Lynn was staying, before I jumped in a taxi for Echoland Hostel near echo beach in Canggu. This place was exactly what I needed; it was a quiet, modern hotel/hostel with friendly owners and close proximity to a beach with restaurants, surf and sand which wouldn't look out of place in a sandpit. My selected accomodation consisted of a 6 bed dorm room which was barely large enough to contain two 3 bed bunks and 6 lockers with a bathroom attached to ... read more

After a particularly busy time at work, and the weather in Auckland starting to cool down, I was very excited about my trip to Bali. A group of eight of us had booked a luxury villa in Canggu. It promised a pool, four large double bedrooms, a chef and a pool boy. It did not disappoint - heaven! It soon became very hard to leave Baraka Villa . Our flights were delayed two hours, and then arrived without my luggage, so we spent a further hour at the airport while I filled in forms and tried to get some sensible information. We bumped our way through the narrow lanes, navigating around the potholes on the truly dreadful road, and had countless calls to the villa trying to find the house, so when we finally arrived at ... read more

The Pink View We have spent the last 5 days on and off wondering whether Bali needs rounding up. In many ways it doesn't - we didn't actually see that much after all. For all of that, there is much to be said of Bali but I just don't quite know where to start. Gregg and I agree, I think, that much of our time in Bali falls into the stag category - 'what happens on the stag, stays on the stag' but not because we spent a month in alcoholic oblivion. Quite the opposite. Our memory of those thirty days puts us next door to paradise and round the corner from Eden. Sure, as with every other South-East Asian Country that we have visited, there were annoyances, cultural misunderstandings and copious amounts of bottled ... read more

New Years Day 2011 After a brilliant night last night, we both slept in until nine without and problem, arising in time to go to our morning Yoga class. There were no hangovers in sight, but that didn’t stop the Balinese continuing the party with further fireworks as we arrived a Desa Seni (as Lou has all ready told you) however I did start to wonder if they had indeed stopped at all, or if we just slept through them all night as they continued? One of the mysteries that will never be solved I suppose, like the tree falling over in the woods. Anyway we both felt rather virtuous being one of only a few to make it to the 10:15am morning Yoga, the first session of the New Year. The class was not ... read more