Kuta, Lombok

So far we've been in Indonesia for 3 weeks and we've met heaps (as the Aussies and British people say) of people from France, England, Switzerland, Norway, Holland, Belgium, Australia, Sweden, Germany, New Zealand, and of course Indonesia, but only a handful of people from the US.  It gets kind of weird to hearing so many different accents and languages, but never any American accents.  We try and teach most of the people we meet how to say "ya'll" and they think it's hilarious.  Interestingly enough, the Aussies say "you's" in place of "ya'll" or "you guys".

We finally decided to escape the hustle and bustle of touristy Bali in search of a more laid back and real experience.  While Bali has a lot to offer, we've heard it's changed much over the years due to the explosive growth of the tourist industry.  Almost every place we've been in Bali has had locals that speak pretty good english, but it's probably due to the fact that we've stuck to the coastline where the best surfing has been and many people have gone before us. 

Armed with our Wavefinder Indonesia and Lonely Planet guidebooks, we left Bali and headed further east toward the string of islands known as Nusa Tenggara.  Our first stop, the small island of Lombok.  We negotiated transportation from Kuta, Bali to Kuta, Lombok which involved multiple bemo (local trucks/vans) rides and a 5 1/2 hour ferry crossing.  Finally arriving in Lembar which is a a small picturesque harbor surrounded by palm trees, white sandy beaches, turquoise tinted water, and small lean-tos, we hopped on another bemo to our next destination -- the small village of Kuta.

It's said that the island of Lombok is in some ways a flash-back to Bali in the 70's.  It is considerably less developed for tourism, which is exactly what Jed and I have been looking for.  We surfed on the first morning after our arrival near a small fishing village call Grupuk about 9 km north of where we are staying in Kuta.  Reaching each surf spot is an adventure in itself.  First, we bargained for a motorbike for a few days then drove to a few basic surf shops where we negotiated for our boards.  In Indonesia everything has been negotiable thus far.  Next, we hopped on our bikes (Jed opted for the pink scooter with purple flames while I chose the one with the flaming skulls and Hell's Angels artwork) with our boards and took off down the pock-marked back country Indonesian road.

The scenery is breathtaking.  Mount Rinjani (the 2nd highest in Indo) dominates the entire island.  The semi-arid landscape with aqua-marine tinted water makes for an unforgettable backdrop for our mini-excursions.  After dodging hundreds of potholes, huge water buffalo, and their massive dinner plate sized poos (the water buffalo have taken the place of Bali's traffic jams), we arrive at Grupuk Bay.  There we pay some locals to watch our stuff and hire a local fisherman to take us to the breaks by boat.  There are four different breaks in the bay called Outsides, Insides, Don-Don's, and Kids Point.  The swell has picked back up and Insides has been breaking pretty big in the head to head and 1/2 high range.  Insides is a nice right hander (finally!)  which peels down the coral reef pass opposite Perigi Island.  Our driver anchored us up and we paddled over to the main takeoff spot.  It was super crowded when we first got in.  We were thinking, "All of this work to get here and there are already 20 guys on it?"  Luckily as the tide came in, the waves picked up even more and many of the people left.  Apparently Insides is considered an intermediate level break, but when the swell hits, many of the beginners leave.

My fourth or fifth wave ended up being a death bomb (at least in my standards) -- a double overhead wave jacked up out of nowhere and I took off late on it.  Surprisingly, I landed the free fall drop, but got absolutely pummeled by the freight train of white water when I kooked it and lost my balance.  I was going so fast that I skipped across the face of a wave a few times before taking what i felt was the longest hold down of my life.  This might not have been the biggest wave I've ever surfed, but it was one of the most powerful. The best part of my beat down was that Jed was paddling back out and saw the whole thing so we had a good laugh.  I give much respect to the Indian Ocean and its massive waves.  After my lashing, I saw a pretty good New Zealander do the same thing twice in a row so I didn't feel as bad.  Many more fun rights were had that day and at the end of the day we hopped back in the boat with "King", our boat driver. King's job is to drop people off at the breaks and he gets to surf while waiting on his customers.  I'm sure it doesn't pay much, but it sounds like a pretty fun job -- at least it beats untangling fishing nets.

After surfing Jed and I explored on our motorbikes and checked out various single-track dirt roads leading to different bays.  Enough cannot be said about the sheer God-given beauty of this place.  Since I'm not the greatest writer, I'll try to emphasize my point with a good description from Lonely Planet: "Lombok is languid, empty and stunningly gorgeous, with white-sand bays that lick chiselled cliffs and rugged hills, and world class surf."  If only it weren't a +25 hour flight, a 5 hour drive, and a 5 hour ferry ride away.

On one of our motorbike adventures we turned off an already desolate road onto another smaller dirt trail engulfed on both sides by thick shubbery.  We flew down the trail until coming across another massive water buffalo in the brush, which scared the previous night's Bintang out of us.  Jed dared me to drive around it so I did and he followed with no problems.  Apparently they are pretty mild-mannered, but they can be pretty intimidating if you're right next to them.  After continuing on, we were yelled at by some smiling kids in a tree house they built.  We were surprised to see them since we were out in the middle of nowhere.  We stopped and tried talking for a awhile and just hung out.  It was awesome talking to them because of how shy and interested they were.  We took a few pictures of them and showed them what they looked like on camera and they thought it was hilarious. 

Later we stopped by another group of people herding water buffalo and tried talking to them.  They spoke little to no english, but the one thing the girls did know was "Hey babies," after which they just giggled and ran away.  One major difference between Bali and Lombok is the difference in religion.  Bali is mostly Hindu while Lombok is mostly Muslim. 

We are in the Gili Islands now and I'm getting behind on my posts.  There are many many more stories to come so if I get time I'll post some stories about the Aussies we hung with for a few days and my invitation to an Indonesian wedding that actually turned out to be a circumcision ceremony.  I should also mention something about the time I flew off my bike when heading to a remote surf break, breaking my board and borrowing a local's prehistoric board to surf some of the biggest and best waves of my life.  I also just uploaded more pictures under the "Pictures" section so make sure to take a look.  Thanks for reading.
 

Bali Lately

During our past few days in Bali we spent most of our time in the south near Kuta continuing to surf and check out the local scenery. On our first day back from Medewi, we surfed Kuta's beach break which is a horrendous smack down closeout.  I went home with more sand in my butt crack than on my feet that day.  On our second day, we hired a boat to take us to Kuta Reef which is a break right out near the airport so you can see the planes coming and going.  Basically you pay the driver $3 or $4 and he drops you off at the reef and comes back 3 hours later.  3 hours later for us was around sunset so it was getting kinda dark.  It's a little unerving being dropped off in the middle of the ocean (not really, but it's about 1/4 to 1/2 miles out or in other words, a long lonnng paddle back) and trusting that your driver will come back and get you.  Jed and I surfed some decent fun waves in the chest to head range with not too many other people.  Pretty fun until Jed's leash broke and he lost his board.  Luckily it was one of the last waves and I caught one in to grab Jed's board. 

When the swell dropped, Jed and I decided it was time to get cultural since we are such fine connoisseurs of history and the arts.  We went to see a big temple at Uluwatu that overlooked the ocean up high on limestone cliffs covered in some nice foliage.  At the temple we had to wear sarongs to cover our knees and we, being the ultra-masculine men that we are, decided on purple -- well, actually it was the 100 year old looking toothless man that decided for us.   

The temple had hundreds of cheeky kleptomaniac monkeys around that weren't the least bit shy.  One guy got his prescription eyeglasses stolen and was screaming, "I can't drive, I can't drive now," in with an Italian accent.  The "monkey men" (guides with long sticks and fruit) had to bribe the monkey with fruit to give them back.  The monkey was not having it though...he knew these were expensive prescription glasses and that it was a long trek back to Jakarta for new ones.  Finally after multiple failing attempts to bribe him with fruit, he settled on a bag of chips and returned the glasses.  Most of the monkeys are friendly and only want you to give them food, but if you try and pull on them like they pull on you, you will get the "death face", which is when he shows his 4" fangs.  The monkeys put the fear of God into us even though we had our ultra-manly sarongs on.

Later we checked out the fabled Uluwatu surf break with the cave entrance.  To get to the break at high tide, you have to walk down a long flight of stairs (what used to be a bamboo ladder) and jump into this cave sloshing with breaking waves and water.  You then scramble to paddle your way out of the cave and into the current that sucks you out to the right.  It's a hard paddle from there to the north where a super hollow freight train barrel awaits.  Coming back in can be even worse if you miss the cave entrance, but sitting in the lineup and looking back, you're surrounded by a humbling view of the huge limestone cliffs, which is said to make you forget your possible impending doom.  Since Jed and I were exploring our artistic side that day, we didn't bring our boards so we opted to surf Uluwatu later in the week.  Before continuing our cultural expedition, we also checked out the world famous Padang Padang break, but there weren't many waves since the swell was down. 

The next day we hired a driver to take us to Ubud, which is the cultural center of Bali.  This is where many of the artists, sculptors, and woodworkers hone their skills to create some of the most ornate pieces of artwork I've ever seen -- and for insanely cheap prices.  Too bad we don't really care that much about art, but they had another monkey temple so that was a big draw for us.  This monkey temple was more or less the same than the last, but the monkeys may have been even a little more cheeky at this temple.  Free to roam around, you might be walking in a narrow alleyway and be surprised by one on a ledge, where he'd attempt to steal your sunglasses or water bottle. 

The next day we balled up our manhood and decided to surf Uluwatu.  Since the swell was down, the crowd had thinned out and we figured we could survive without getting an ars kicking from the wave and reef.  Since it was low tide, we didn't have to paddle out through the cave and we were able to walk out of the cave onto the reef (with booties of course...locals are far more manly and do it barefoot) and hop in.  Uluwatu is one of the most famous breaks in Indonesia and probably the most well known in Bali.  It's a heavy, hollow freight train left  breaking over shallow and sharp reef.  The paddle out wasn't bad, but we were a little worried about the reef since it was low tide.  To make matters better and worse, the water was ultra-clear so you could easily see the reef.  It was beautiful, but this also meant you could easily see the steak knives waiting to greet you at the bottom.  Luckily for us the waves were around head high and not quite lethal, but they were some of the most powerful waves I've ever been on.  Taking off here meant a quick drop and turn with a race to the finish to avoid the tomahawk to the back of the head.  Catching a wave here was quite remarkable since you can see the reef flying underneath you as you're riding.  Along with the clear water came the sheer beauty of the place.  Huge limestone cliffs and some of the most post-card looking views I've ever seen.  On top of the scenery, we saw all kinds of sea life including at least 10 stingrays, a whale-like looking animal (but not a dolphin), and a small shark.  I saw a guy today that got a nice skinning from the reef at Uluwatu.  Luckily we escaped unscathed.  Here's a link to a video of the entrance...luckily we avoided this and went at low tide to take our chances with the reef.     Cave Entrance Video



After surfing we decided to go out for another night on the town in Kuta with some more Swedes we met.  For a country with less than 9 million people, they dwarf us in numbers here.  They are very friendly and ask us to join them for dinner.  We learned 2 Swedish words, which I've since forgotten that they said could easily carry us through any conversation with another Swede.  One of them wasn't actually a word, but if you suck in air hard like you would through a straw it means, "no shit".  Interesting... 



We are actually pretty tired of Kuta and are looking for something more laid back.  We've booked transport to Lombok which is a smaller more remote island east of Bali.  We've read that is has great surf, post-card picturesque beaches, and some amazing diving on the Gili Islands which are just north of Lombok. 


As I'm finishing this post, we are going on our second night in Lombok and there are a lot more interesting stories to come from our first day here.  Since it is more remote, internet is expensive and slower so it may be awhile before I can upload more pictures.  Stay tuned.

Balling in Bali - June 12th -

We left Singapore for Bali on June 12th and arrived late that night.  Bali is probably the world's biggest surf mecca with some of the best surf in the world.  Ranging from mellow beach breaks to kamikaze suicidal reef breaks, it has waves for everyone.  We hope to score some good waves without losing any limbs or taking any lashings on the reef.

We stayed in Kuta for our first two nights in Bali, which is a bustling network of narrow lanes and alleys lined with losmen (no not overly promiscuous men, but cheap hotels) and vendors hawking all kinds of souvenirs. Everything is pretty cheap and decent rooms near the beach are around $10/night.  It's even cheaper the further away you venture from Kuta.  

Walking the streets in Kuta makes you fear for your life at times as there are hundreds of people flying past you down the narrow alleys on scooters.  Your best friend often times becomes the alley wall as you end up hugging it to avoid being run over by a wreckless balinesian.  Scooters are the main form of transportation and I've seen some interesting combinations of people and animals riding together.  I've seen as many as 4 people on a scooter, but have heard as many as 5 can fit on one together.  I even saw 3 people and a lab sized dog riding together.  It's truely amazing the balancing acts they can pull off. 

Kuta was our basecamp for a few days until we figured out the best way to make it to the surf breaks.  As I am writing this, I have heard the same Indonesian Idol song over 4 times and the music is pretty terrible.  Very slow and depressing.  Anyway, while we were in Kuta we met a Swedish guy named Petter who has been in Bali for a little over a month.  He was looking to split a bemo (local transport) up to a small town with a left-handed point break called Medewi since none of nearby breaks were working.

Jed and I thought about renting scooters and driving up to Medewi, but were happy on our decision to hire a driver when we saw an Indonesian that had been killed in a scooter accident.  Sad and scary.  

We've spent the past few days in Medewi, which has been much more laid back and even cheaper than Kuta.  Medewi is easily the longest left I've ever seen with rides over 600 yards.  I timed one guy who had a 50 second ride.  No joke!  Waves are a pretty good size, around head and a half and are expected to get up to double over head tomorrow.  It's a pretty mellow break, but can get crowded.  It's sharp rocky bottom required us to buy booties to walk out to the point.  We figure this will be a good investment since almost all of the breaks are on sharp reef.  

So far, Bali has been great.  The Balinese are very friendly, helpful, and always smiling.  Best of all, the scenery is amazing and the cost of living is ridiculously cheap.  Yesterday I ate 3 great meals, had a few beers, and a 1 hour massage for a grand total of $13.  Our room is probably the nicest in the area and is right on the beach for $7/night.  

Of all the languages in southeast Asia, Indonesian is supposed to be the easiest so we've attempted to learn what we can while we're here.  Most of the Balinese in the surf or touristy areas speak pretty good English so that has made things easier.  

One thing I forgot to mention is a story about Jed when we were back in Kuta.  One night after watching the US vs. England football game, we were walking back to our room and Jed was accosted by an ugly woman with a large adam's apple and big hands, AKA, a lady-boy.  Jed being the gentleman that he is politely declined the lady-boy's offers for "her" services.  But, when the lady-boy upped her sales pitch by petting Jed (in a way that our parents warned us about as children), he ran away with the highest pitched scream I've ever heard from a male, which made me wonder who the true lady-boy was that night. 

We are planning to spend the next day or so in Medewi and will probably head back to Kuta when the swell drops.  I will try and upload pictures when I back to Kuta because the uploads take too long. 

Sweating in Singapore - 6/9/10 - 6/12/10

My flight to southeast Asia took me from Denver to LA, where I met my traveling buddy John Edward, hereafter known as Jed, Jedi, or Jedburg.  Jed will be with me for the next 5 weeks through Singapore and Indonesia and I'm very glad I have him to travel with. After LA we had an 11 hour flight to Tokyo where we hopped on another 6 1/2 hour flight to Singapore.  Total travel time from Denver to Singapore was around 22 hours, which was kind of brutal, but worthwhile.

On my long flight to Tokyo I sat next to a Buddhist monk from Thailand, which made for an interesting 11 hours.  He was dressed in an all orange monk costume and even though he told me his name 11,000 times, I still can't begin to pronounce it.  I'll guess at the spelling and say his name was Tiktateetahyawsah.  He had been living in Tucson, Arizona for the last 10 years and was going back to Bangkok for a year.  In broken, but decent English, he quizzed me on my job, age, marital status, and whether or not I still lived with my family ,which is the norm for someone my age in many parts of southeast Asia.  Tiktatee asked me what percent Christian I was as if there is an answer different than 0 or 100 percent.  Maybe I understood him wrong, but I told him 100 percent and he seemed confused.  He later offered me what he called a "sweet" that he had made earlier.  It was a ball of sticky rice mixed with coconut milk, dried beans, and sugar, wrapped in banana leaves.  I asked him where he got the banana leaves since I couldn't think of any stores where you could buy the leaves.  He looked at me with monk-like sincerity and said "They come from banana tree," which made me feel like an idiot.  Oh well...we both got a laugh out of it.


Our flight from Tokyo arrived in Singapore around midnight and we took a cab to a part of Singapore called Little India.  Disorderly and pungent (but in a good way), Little India could be another country in itself.  Getting dropped off in Little India at 1AM was a little unnerving as we never heard back from our hostel on whether or not our room was confirmed.  After walking around several dark streets and asking various helpful Indians for directions, we finally found our place, Alie's Nest. 

We spent the next day walking around Singapore, which I'm convinced is one of the hottest places on earth.  I come from an area that's known for it's high temps and high humidity, but Charleston has nothing on Singapore.  It's a clean, ultra-urban city, but the air feels like you could swim in it.  Most of our time was spent walking around Singapore and exploring the British history there.  Where we stayed in Little India was really interesting and we were definitely the only American tourists.


Here are some of the high and lowlights from our time in Singapore:

Highs

-Great food (we even tried goat heart one night in Little India which ended up being quite tasty)
-Cheap and easy public transportation on the MRT (underground high speed train).  $2 will take you halfway across the Island.
-Interesting mix of culture including Chinese, Indian, and Malay.   Singapore is a melting pot like the US.
-Super clean and well developed.
-Low crime and tough laws make it safe.  Jed spit his gum out on the street on a dare and was in handcuffs within 5 minutes.
-Jed being called gay by a prostitute when he wouldn't take her up on her offer.
-Over air-conditioned shopping malls.

Lows

-1 million degrees in the sun; 1/2 million degrees in the shade.
-$10 beers and everything is generally expensive.
-Not a whole lot to do, but spend lots of money on tours.

And So it Begins

I never thought I'd be writing a blog, but after traveling several times and trying to keep in contact with family and friends, I find it easier to update friends on a blog rather than sending multiple emails.  Hopefully this method will be a good way to keep in contact with everyone and let people know what I'm up to.  If you feel like leaving comments, go ahead.  Just make sure it's funny or you'll be banned from the site.  I'm still new to this and will probably learn as I go so bear with me.  Also to all the grammar freaks out there, relax and let me not worry about gramar/spelling/puncutation for a little while.  You know who you are.  I'm on a mancation.

The past few weeks have been hectic to say the least. Finishing up projects at work and covering all my "to do's" at home have kept me busier than I've ever been. What I've done (quit a great job) and what I'm about to do (venture somewhere as far and as different from home as possible) hasn't really hit me yet. Getting to this point has been a journey in itself. I've worked hard for this opportunity. I've planned, and saved, and scrimped. I've been called various names referring to my "cheapness" over the past few years, but I can't blame those people.  I've had a different set of priorities.  One of those being this trip and I think the sacrifices have and will be worth it.  I've had my mind set on long-term travel for the past 5 years and all those years of eating those damn turkey sandwiches has finally paid off.  Pardon my language if it offends anyone.  This will most likely be a PG-13 rated blog, but I may throw a few random PG-18 comments in from time to time.

So I just realized the title of this blog seems off.  I'm heading west in order to reach my destination, yet the title of this blog is "Eastward Bound".  Apparently the world is round.  Go figure.   Tomorrow I leave for Colorado for a few days and Kailey and I are heading up to Steamboat to camp, fish, and do Coloradoian stuff (I use the term "camp" loosely as I'll be roughing it for the next 4 months...we will most likely be staying in a friend's condo.).  One of the things we have planned is something called the Alpine Slide.  It sounds like it's about the equivalent of an olympic luge, only it happens during the summer and on a concrete track.  I'll admit that after watching this year's olympics, flying down a hill at mach 12 on a thin sheet of wood and 4 rusty wheels sounds a little dodgey.  Because really, who wants to die before they leave for a vacation?

Tonight as I was trying to finish my last minute packing, my dad grabbed me and said, "Son, it's time to do the family toast."  "Family toast?", I thought.  I'm not sure our family has been around long enough to have a designated toast, but I went along with it anyway.  So my dad breaks out the family traditional Wild Turkey of course (I admit we are rednecks, but are of the classy sort).  My friends who know my dad well won't be surprised and I wasn't too surprised either.  So my dad commences pouring shots of luke-warm Wild Turkey into our glasses and our mom, not to be outdone steps up to the plate as well.  This is the stuff that either puts more hair on your chest or makes you hide in the corner and beg for mercy.  Apparently my mom is a true Keels because she took a small, yet burly sip along with us and a great toast it was.  So it's probably time I wrap this up because either 1.) you're eyes are glazed over or 2.) you need to get back to work.  Thanks for reading so far and I'll try to keep this as entertaining a blog as possible.  I'm thinking of coming up with dares that may earn me money along the way. For example, you could bet me $15 that I won't eat dog meat in Vietnam.  This is probably not a good bet for you though because I once ate wet catfood for less.

By the way, the other pictures are of what I'm taking and my backpack.  I just got tired of typing.