This is how i do!

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Yup!
I am total shit at this whole blog thing.
I think it may be best if i am just upfront with everyone...including myself. Low expectations will result in great excitement should a new blog appear bi-yearly. So before I tell you tales of pow days, little Australia and the few pieces i remember from Christmas eve, i should probably give everyone some kind of closure as far as Indonesia goes. Due to the fact that my lack of motivation has now left me with over a month of summary to do in one blog i will shorten my adventures in order to give you a brief but accurate depiction of what has gone on thus far.
I take you back to my arrival on Gili Air, the island...with the palm trees, beaches and my local entourage. I met up with Scotty and Trist and spent 3 days doing absolutely nothing. From what I can remember and from the tales my pictures tell, we spent alot of time sleeping, lounging in the hammock, watching the sunset, and then sleeping some more. Our last night resulted in some heavy beachside partying at the good old Zipp Bar on the otherside of the island. Trist managed to make friends with another little local boy who joined in on the entourage. high fives go out to tristan on her game! we decided that from the crazy Gili Islands we would make the trek down Lombok to the mellow surf town of Kuta..not to be confused with the the crazy party city of Kuta, Bali. Kuta, Lombok couldn't have been more different. The drive was your typical Indonesian scenery with the exception of the livestock. Where you would find cows in Bali, Lombok provided us with water buffalo instead. i was much more enamoured by the buffalo and spent the next 2 weeks trying to capture a good photo...which i never did. i suggest googling a photo of one instead since i came up short as trip photographer. Anyways, we did manage to stop at Sasak village, where we seemed to have an exceptionally good time and make life long friends who spoke very little english but promised us a place to stay in one of their little huts should we want to come by again. After a feast of local coffee, rice cake and a palm tree leaf rooled lombok tobacco cigarette, we were tempted to just drop our bags there for the night. But we resisted, said our goodbyes and promised we'd be back (which i'm sure we will be...one day). Our ten day stay in Kuta is actually quite easily summed up, mostly due to the fact that we made ourselves at home and delved into somewhat of a rountine. We dropped anchor at a homestay on the corner right down on the waterfront strip. Ketapang is a locally run homestay, restaurant, book shop and internet cafe. Our host, Jaya was amazing. For 30,000 rupiah a night we got our room and breakfast and the best people watching spot in town right on the busy corner. We met an awesome crew of people and within a day totally fit right in. Their was Micheal the Brit who was an honourary Whistler ski bum for the past 5 years, Cary, the token big buff and tan aussie surfer, Brent, a fellow Canadian..and Calgarian at that who somehow became surf god even after an upbringing in the foothills of Alberta, and the usual following of local boys provoked by maneater Tristan Bembrick. Not long after our arrival we invested in the local mode of transportation..no no...not cidomo pony cart...legit scooters, which thanks to Trist I can now almost safely drive one. Ok, well not safely, but i can get by without running anything over, lucky for me i make alot of noise and the locals jump out of the way long before i get to close. And i could always hear someone yelling at me off in the background ''Hati! Hati!'', Indonesian for CAREFUL!! Our morning were taken up by the scooter rider over to Gerupak Bay, where we hired a boat to take us to Inside Gerupak break. It provided for many near drownings and plenty of entertainment for our little boat drivers who were never over 15 years old and always surfed with us..and usually tried to help us out and give us tips so we didn't look like such punters. Despite all their efforts we still sucked and continued to punt around.
Scotty had had enough of us girls and headed off on an adventure of his own mid way through, but Trist and I were in love with Kuta and stuck it out nearly until the end of our days. When I wasn't surfing I was running on the beach, working on my tan, and exploring the seaside cliffs and beaches by scooter. It really is the most amazing undiscovered place we visited. Its lack of tourists and friendly locals made our time there unforgetable. Our last night was spent at a going away bonfire held down at the beach for Trist and I. The Bintang flowed freely and everyone had a great time. We were sad to go and I have a feeling even if I do make it back...it may never bethe same. Our local friend who called himself I Shot, hooked us up with a ride to the ferry terminal in Lembar and from there we said goodbye and waited for another ferry boat ride from hell.

TBC

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Comments

[Jess]

fun blogs!
Hey Talia! Your blogs are super fun to read, I read them all today, I was addicted! haha! Well it sounds like you are having an awesome time, it makes me want to go to Indonesia pretty badly! Well I hope you're well, good luck in Japan! Talk to you later! Jess