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Published: August 7th 2007
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I flew into Denpasar on Bali on the 18th of June and quickly got my first introduction into the "interesting" ways of business in Bali. I had to get my surfboards from the airline that shipped them which meant that I had to first walk over to the freight office for the airline and then a half mile down the road to the warehouse where they were stored because the airline didn't store the stuff they shipped. At the warehouse I had to pay to enter the place and then found out that I had to pay someone about $40US to fill out the customs forms which, somehow, could not be printed in English. This $40US was by far the most I payed for anything the whole time I was in Bali so I knew I was getting hosed but there was nothing I could do. After haggling over prices, waiting for forms to be filled out, and explaining surf wax to the customs people I was finally able to get my boards and head out.
For the whole time I was in Bali I stayed in the Kuta beach area which is the popular, touristy area of Bali and seems
a lot more like the US than Indonesia in a lot of ways. I was a short walk from Dunkin Donuts, McDonalds, and the Hard Rock Cafe and there are upscale surfshops and clothing stores everywhere. Even with all this there are still great little stores, restaurants, and places to hang out and the people of Bali are super friendly and fun to talk to. I stayed on a little alley called Poppies 1 which is right in the heart of Kuta. I was able to walk down to the surf at the beachbreak at Kuta beach where the waves were ok but lacking some size while I was there. Most of the days I spent surfing at the beachbreaks and hanging out at the beach just enjoying the sun.
Towards the end of my time in Bali I did finally find the will power to get off the beach and get out of Kuta. I booked a rafting trip one day so that I could get out to see some of the central area of Bali and to enjoy some whitewater rafting. Well, the rafting wasn't anything too special but the scenery was cool and we had a good
group of people. The start of the rafting was about an hour and a half away from Kuta towards the eastern central part of the island. On the ride up there we passed many small villages and lots of rice fields. The rafting was down a rather tame waterway that might pass for a large creek more than a river. We did again see some great scenery on the way down and stopped at a great little waterfall. The highlight of the rafting was a 6 ft drop that we made at the end which was kinda fun.
The surf finally picked up a couple days before I left and so I made a day trip out to Uluwatu to surf the famous break and to see the temple there. The surf break at Uluwatu has become somewhat of a zoo with shops, restaurants, and places to just relax on the cliffs above the break. There are constantly people selling shirts, drinks, massages, boards, board repair and what ever else you can think of and it gets to be a little too much so I was more than happy to get out into the water to get away from it
all. To get to the water you walk down this steep set of stairs and through a small beach area with rock walls all around you. From "the cave" you walk out onto the reef (bring your reef booties to get out) and out to the break. The waves were about 6'-8' on the face and very clean which brought out the crowds. I did manage to get several waves to myself and all of them were clean, fast, and lots of fun.
After surfing I went to the Hindu temple at Uluwatu. The temple has been around since the 10th century and is one of Bali's holiest and most important temples. There were a lot of monkeys running around the place and you had to watch your stuff or else they would run up and grab it and run away with it. The view out to sea from the temple sitting on the cliffs is really amazing and was a great way to end the day.
My last adventure outside of Kuta was another day trip to the town of Ubud. I did this as part of a tour too and our first stop on the tour was to
a cultural center where we saw a local dance program. The costumes and dance were very interesting and very Asian influenced. After the show we made a stop at one of the many temples on the way up to Ubud and walked around some. After that we headed up to Ubud which is known as a very artistic area and several European artists have lived here over the years. The locals produce some great silver jewelry, wood carvings, and artwork. Our first stop was to the Monkey Forest Sanctuary where we were able to walk around to see the Macaque monkeys and feed them bananas. You had to watch these guys too because they would really come after the bananas. After this we spent the rest of the time walking around the town checking out the central markets, art galleries, and great restaurants.
I flew out of Bali on the 27th and over to Jakarta on Java to visit an old friend of mine, Jon Brown. I've known Jon since I was about 4 or 5 years old and he has been over in Jakarta working for the US government for about a year. I spent a couple days hanging
out with him and seeing some of the sites of Jakarta. It was nice to spend some time with someone who knew the language and the area and it really gave me a chance to see how average Indonesian people lived. We saw the Monas Tower, the Blok M district, and Chinatown as well as some of the more local areas around where he lived. Jakarta is not what I would consider a tourist destination but it was an interesting place to spend a few days especially with someone who knew the town.
Jon and I both left Jakarta on the 30th of June. Jon had finished his time in Indonesia and was headed back to San Diego before heading off to his next assignment. He was nice enough to take my surfboards back to the states with him so that I wouldn't have to worry about paying more money to travel further with them (thanks again Jon!). I hope to have some stuff up from my my next stop, Borneo, soon.
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