Blogs from Legian, Bali, Indonesia, Asia

Als ich heute aufwache und mich auf die Terasse setzte, spricht mich die balinesische Frau aus dem Zimmer gegenüber an: „did you feel de eathquick in night?“ Ich frage “what?“, sie wiederholt „did you feel eathquick?“ - ich schaue sie verständnislos an.... „de eathquick at 3... you not wake up?“. Langsam dämmert es mir... „eathquick“ heißt „earthquake“ - ich kann es kaum glauben, aber sie insistiert, sagt aber auch, dass auch ihr „boyfriend“ geschlafen habe. Da weder Emma noch Tyrone in der Nacht bei uns auf der Matte standen bin ich mir sicher, dass auch sie nichts mitbekommen haben. Ich Google also Erdbeben Bali 11.10.2018 und finde sofort mehrere Meldungen. Ein Beben der Stärke 6 hat um 3 Uhr Nachts Bali und Java erschüttert. In Denpasar (wo wir uns befinden) gab es 3 Tote. Und wir? ... read more

Getting over to Bali from Java was quite the ordeal (it always seems to be). I won't really go into detail but the transport involved twelve hours, three buses, two minibuses, a boat, and some live farm animals. For all of my efforts it cost me around $IDR55,000 and I ended up saving about $5USD. Here's to budget travel. Once I finally made it to Denpasar (the capitol of the island) I was surrounded by the taxi mafia all doing their best to rip me off and I finally lost it. A few choice four letter words later I just walked off into the night without any idea of how to get to where I wanted to go. Lucky for me an honest ojek (mototaxi) driver pulled alongside me and gave me a fair price for ... read more

Over a few Pinot Gris' one Friday night in October 2014, the FND girls decided that we were well overdue for a little sojourn without the boys to a warm, tropical destination where we can shop, eat, drink and be merry for cheap. A few places were mooted and debated; Sydney, Melbourne, Gold Coast, Noosa, Bali??? Hmmmm, Bali sounded promising!!? We all agreed Bali would meet all the requirements and when an AMAZING deal came up for a week at the 5* Pullman Hotel in Legian, we were in! The deal was so good that there were a few non regular FND's very keen to make the journey with us too. As the saying goes, "the more the merrier" and with even numbers to make room sharing easy, twelve of us were off to Bali sans ... read more

Today I bought a new board. I had a conversation with my girlfriend about my power and purpose in life. I charged into my future and breathed the spirituality of the waves and energy. I was able to scratch into an 8 foot monster wave and ride it to the beach. It was my biggest wave of the trip so far. Hahaha. The previous blogs have been about me always moving and life on the go but here i feel like i am home. Bali is the center of a peaceful place in the world that many energies converge with. The moon shines brighter; the winds flow softer. The doves coo and as much as has changed since my last visits this is still a magical mystical land. Kuta has been built up to the point ... read more

Ah crazy Kuta, a place in the South of Bali which is possibly the least authentic Balinese place you could visit. Similar to parts of Koh Samui in Thailand or Boracay in the Philippines, Kuta is the place to come if you want to party, and being only a few hours away from Australia, that is exactly what Ozzies in Bintang vests (or no tops at all) come here to do, munching away on pizza, burgers, pies and other traditional Indonesian food and swigging beer at all hours... it’s not just Australian people (although the majority), Kuta was packed with plenty of English, Dutch, Swedish and French people all here for one reason – to party and enjoy the many clubs and bars lining the main street, something which we intended to do too. We would ... read more