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Published: September 4th 2011
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Kuta surf
Big and rough surf at Kuta. Friday Aug 19
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Another early start. Riding the bike from Sanur to Kuta at 6 in the morning is very easy.
But by the time we are driving the van down to Jimbaran at 7, roads are already getting
very busy.
Today the surf was smaller and a bit cleaner than yesterday, making it a lot easier -
I got lots of waves, and some nice rides. (Got plenty of compliments from the
teachers and other students!)
Pro-surf school seems a good place to me. Everyone is very friendly. The place has
a great location, has a restaurant, good pool, rooms etc. I often stuck around and
had drinks and meals with the other students (most of whom were a good deal younger than
me!)
Saturday Aug 20
===============
I knew Kuta's surf would still be awful, so arranged to go on an excursion.
Four of us from the surf school (Monica from Canada, Greg from the US and Paul from
Holland) went in a van with driver. We were a bit late getting started and the
first hour was spent just getting past my hotel in Sanur - damn - if I'd known
that
they could have picked me up there.
All the way to Ubud the roads were slow and congested.
As we approached Ubud, we saw shop after shop with nice looking paintings - how do they
all make a living? - more about that later.
We stopped somewhere near Ubud and visited a monkey park with some nice looking
Hindu temples. These monkeys were a bit cheeky but not too bad. Monica said that
the monkeys at Uluwatu temple are attrocious - will grab and steal and chew everything
they can get their hands on.
We fought out way through more congestion out through Ubud, stopped at a village
with some pretty
neat rice terraces built up the sides of steep hills (forgotten the name!)
Around here, for mile after mile after mile the roads were lined with shops
either selling or making very nice wood carvings.
We started gaining altitude, and the shops of carvings finally ended, replaced by
groves of orange trees. I've never seen so many fruit on an individual orange tree.
We arrived at our major destination, 'Kintamini', with some fantastic views of
volcano 'Gunung Batur' and a lake 'Danau
Batur'. There were several other volcanos
in the distance, including the biggest one Gunung Agung.
We had a buffet lunch at a restaurant overlooking the lake. This was a bit more expensive
(about US$11)
than what I had been paying for meals, so I really made sure I got my money's worth.
After lunch we started back toward Ubud on a different road - stopped and tried
some Durian (the stinky fruit with an interesting flavour), and stopped at a coffee
plantation. One type of coffee they sell is the one which has passed through the digestive tract of
a local animal called a 'Lawak' something like a Civet. It's supposed to have
a fantastic flavour. Attracts a premium price.
They had lots of other
drinks and spices available for sampling.
Stopped at 2 other temples on way back: Tirta Empul and Goa Gajah.
-----------
In evening I went out and looked at some of the bars around my hotel. One was
filled with foreigners and had a loud rock band playing. Talked to a couple of
interesting characters there.
got home late with quite a bit of beer on
board (fortunately not expensive around
these parts).
Sunday 21/aug
==============
My last lesson at the surf school didn't start till 3PM, so I thought I'd do a little
trip on the motorbike.
According to my map a trip up to Canggu would be pretty easy - only a few major turns
to make. But once out on the road I found it impossible to follow the map, and I ended
up making tens of turns, and only arrived at a beach in the vicinity of Canggu by luck.
It was really windy and the wind was partly onshore, so surf didn't look great. Also
didn't see any surfboards for hire (but there probably would have been some
available).
I decided to head straight back to Kuta and have a surf before my lesson. That was
another very frustrating journey - very few signs, very hard to distinguish the
'main' road from side streets - took the wrong road 3 or 4 times, but once I
got to Seminyak's main road I was OK.
The surf at Kuta looked small and clean - good for an easy surf. I rented an
8'2" fibreglass board
Gunung Batur Volcano
Viewed from 'Kintamani' (shorter than the one I've been using in the surfschool),
- it was surprisingly easy to paddle, and not too difficult to catch waves.
Lesson was really enjoyable, it was generally very easy to catch waves, and I got
some great rides. Only negative points was wind was a bit strong, current was a bit
strong, and waves started getting a bit dumpy at the end. But don't want to complain,
I had a great time.
That evening I felt a bit crook - as if I was getting a cold. I went to bed early to
get a good sleep before the flight up to Phuket tomorrow.
----------------
I've enjoyed Bali - weather is lovely, people are very nice and very friendly, it's
quite cheap. But the traffic and congestion are a real bummer. If I was to come
back to Bali to surf, I would try to stay right near the beach where I plan to surf
to minimise the nuisance of the traffic. I also think that if I was to spend a long
period of time in Bali, the traffic and congestion would simply drive me nuts.
Another annoyance of
Bali is most restaurants add on 10% or 20% tax for a meal.
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