Christmas Digs

I arrived the other day to the tiny island of Gili Trawangan. It is a few hours south of Bali and is part of the larger island of Lombok. There are three tiny islands that make up the Gilis; Gili Air, Gili Meno and Gili Trawangan. Gili Trawangan is considered the "party" island of the three and has the best restaurants and bars. BBQ, sushi, Indian, Italian, and of course Indonesian are all here. You can eat dinner like a king for $10. Diving and snorkeling are the main attractions here. There are no ATM's, no cars or scooters and best of all no cops. People still hassle you a bit to buy things but it's not as bad as Bali.

I was at the Irish Bar last night and met the owner. She spends six months in Ireland and six months here. One of her friends is a doctor who went to Ryerson so that was fun. They are having a Christmas dinner buffet with a secret santa gift exchange so I'll probably do that. I went on a snorkeling trip by glass bottom boat yesterday and met lots of Europeans. I was talking to this guy from France about surfing there. I think that will be my next trip. Maybe I'll start in Paris and see the French Open and then head to the coast for some surfing and of course some great food along the way. My seven week trip is fairly short compared with some people I've met. There are people a lot older than me that are going on trips for three to six months all over Asia. After three weeks I am just starting to get used to the idea that I don't really have to do anything if I don't want to.

I'm really enjoying my daily dose of banana pancakes and I'm often humming the Jack Johnson song as I eat them. I asked them for the recipe so I'm definitely making those when I get back. And the Lombok coffee I'm sipping right now is terrific.

My accommodations are pretty swank! Upon arrival I was driven around by taxi, a horse and carriage! Most places are between $10 to $15 per night. The place I'm at now is called Hari Puri and is about $25 a night but what a difference. This is the type of place I think about when I imagine Indonesia and one day if I could ever design and build my own house it would be something like this. At night it's very quiet with the sound of crickets and geckos. The property is right across the surf break but it is not that often that you can surf there. I'm staying here until new years although I'm going to have to go to Sengiggi in Lombok for the day to find an ATM!

Tomorrow I'm going to rent a bike and ride around the island. And today? Maybe surf? Definitely another nap. Maybe some writing? Maybe I'll swim? A nice late lunch at Scallywags? Maybe I'll read? That already sounds like too much! Sometimes taking advantage of your day is doing as little as possible. Like Karl, one of the former VRX photographers told me, "Why get caught up doing something when you can be doing nothing?"

Medewi

Normally when I travel it is very easy to slip into the crowd and be anonymous. Not so in Kuta. As I mentioned before, every five feet someone is calling you over to buy something, “hey Boss. Transport?” No. I don’t need a ride thanks. Once when I was driving by on my scooter a guy called out to me, “hey Boss. Transport?” Transport? Buddy, I’m driving a scooter.

Walking around Kuta at night is interesting. Hookers chase you on their scooters. “Girl? Need girl?” They get quite mad when you tell them no.

Every other day I got a massage. It works out to be about $5 for an hour! Good deal. I tried a new place close to my hotel. Near the end of the treatment the husky woman offered to give me a little extra. And this was one of the classy places!

I thought I would jot down the surfing spots that I have been to; Kuta, Legian, Balangan, Froggy 1 a “secret spot”, Tugu and two spots in Canguu. I also drove my scooter to Dreamland, Serangan, and Sanur but there were no waves. The winds were on-shore, the tide was too low and their were no swells.

I’m back in Kuta for the day. I just spent three days in Medewi. It’s three hours north of Kuta by scooter and not as easy to find as I thought. I caught a few waves but it’s very shallow and you have to be careful navigating your way around the boulders in the water. The hotel was empty in a “Shining” kind of way but some younger people showed up on the last night so that was great. Another massage. She was so brutal I think I need a massage after the massage.

I’m off to the Gili islands tomorrow and plan to stay there until at least Christmas. It’s a tiny white sand island with no cars and no people hassling you. There’s a spot for surfing and it’s know for its snorkeling, diving, restaurants, and bars. A surfer from Hawaii told me it’s also filled with Swedish girls. Sounds to me like a great place to spend Christmas. Happy holidays!

Dreamland

The surfing spots are harder to find than I expected. There used to be signs but the government took them all down. The other day I rented a scooter which I've never really driven before. It is automatic, they drive on the left and the traffic here is complete chaos. There is a surfboard rack on it for my eight-foot longboard. When I first got the scooter I followed the guy to the Petrol station. When I got there I accidentally dropped the bike. He came over and asked if my board was okay. He didn't care about the bike! After a day of riding it I got the hang of it.

I was trying to find Canguu ("Changoo"). I stopped at an intersection in the middle of nowhere and could not decide where to go. Some French dude pulled up on his scooter with a board on it so I followed him to a spot called Tugu. It's a local or "secret spot". We drove through rice fields, past temples, through a village, past roosters, cows and more rice fields. We cut through a jungle trail that was like something out of "Raiders of the Lost Ark." It was a great spot and I caught two very long rides all the way to shore and watched a firery red sunset. Not sure I could ever find that spot again.

The other day I was searching for a surf spot called Dreamland. There was a guy named Froggy sitting on a bench and he took me to it as well as Balangan which is nearby. Later he took me to his secret spots, Froggy 1 and Froggy 2. This took a few hours and I was taking notes on the back of the scooter as he was driving. By now I realized that it was going to cost me something. I offered him what I thought was fair and he was not too happy about it. He went on about his rheumatic fever in his leg and how he could not surf anymore. He wanted $30 for each "secret spot" plus the other places. I gave him $50. More than enough. Although I never would of found any of the spots unless I bumped into him, I have no sympathy for someone who tries to manipulate me because of some sort of injury, imaginary or not.

Last night I stayed at a Loseman at Balangan. It's a surfers shack right on the beach for only $7 a night. I had to hike down some stairs with my board in order to get to it. I stayed in the best room as it had a window that faced the surf. The cheaper rooms were $5. I had arrived later in the afternoon to try and get high tide. I did my best to surf it but it is a hollow and fast left-hander which is difficult on a longboard but it was great to be in the water. I fell asleep with the sound of the crashing surf which took a while as it was very loud.

Previously, before I got to the Loseman, I stopped at a Warung along the way. It's like a no frills restaurant serving basic food. I stopped because the smoke of the grill caught my attention. It took a while but lunch was fantastic! I had BBQ chicken and prawns cooked with a spicy garlic tomato sauce, three dipping sauces, yummy steamed spinach with garlic and lime, rice, and a water for less than $5. Fantastic. No need for dinner.

The next morning I had breakfast at the Loseman and headed over to nearby Dreamland. No surfable waves, only a nasty shore break but the blue green colour of the water was amazing. I did not feel like hanging out for several hours for the tide to change so I headed over to Froggy 1. The drive on the scooter there is just as enjoyable as the surfing and is half the adventure. I'm either brave or stupid as I went out surfing alone. I caught a few waves and headed in, satisfied that I surfed it but damaged my fins on some rocks. A local was kind enough to let me use his outdoor shower. No charge! This time I asked first.

Later I went to the beach to have a Bintang beer and watch the sunset. It turned out to be two beers and some locals invited me to sit with them as they passed me shots of Jimmy Beam and coke.

Tomorrow I might take a break from surfing. When I wake up my arms feel like bags of sand from all the paddling and my feet have numerous cuts from the reef. On second thought, my feet hurt only when I walk, not when I surf so I'll probably have a massage in the morning and head out to Canguu later on for high tide.

I met a nice tanned young blonde girl from Holland. It turns out she left for the airport five minutes after I chatted with her. Typical! No Americans and lots of Europeans here which is great.

I haven't decided where I'm going to spend Christmas yet. New Years in Kuta will be a nut house as it is already party centrak and everyone from Indonesia comes here at that time. Fireworks on the beach too.

Froggy I Secret Surf Spot

Ubud

The other day I went on a guided tour of Ubud. I was the only one on the tour. Ubud is considered the main cultural region of Bali and is not on the coast. It was a nice break from the maze and chaos of Kuta beach where every five feet, seriously, you get someone trying to sell you something, even their sister.

The first stop was in Tohpati so see some Batik Ikat weaving where they design and produce sarongs. After the display there is always a gift shop.

Next I saw the Barong and Kris Dance performance in Batubulan which was a traditional Indonesian dance depicting the struggle between good and evil with elaborate costumes and the best part was the orchestra or band or whatever you want to call it.

Then to Celuk to see "silver processing." Basically a five minute demo with another tour of a gift shop selling jewelry in US dollars.

It gets better. In Batuan I visited a pura desa, a Hindu village temple. I had to wear a sarong as I walked around the area. Not my best look. These beautiful temples are everywhere.

I saw woodcarving in Mas and Kemenuh with yet another gift shop but this one was truly increadible. They had these huge picture framed carvings that are made from one piece of wood. (fourth picture) I asked how long it took to carve something like that and he said it took at least eight months! Mind blowing work here but even the small pieces were expensive.

We stopped at another display, this one of painting. I toured the large galleries of paintings and literally had a guy following me the whole time asking me if I wanted to buy something.

The final stop was the Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary. Anyone who knows me knows I normally don't care much for monkeys. Must be all those terrible monkey movies from the 1970's like, "Any which way but loose" or "BJ and the Bear." What were they thinking? Anyways, I liked the Monkey Forest a lot. This Japanese girl was sitting beside one of the monkeys as her friend was taking a picture. The monkey jumped on top of her. I got a shot of that. The monkey stole some things from her bag and ran off with it.

The monkeys are so expressive. Their eyes. Their hands. It's like they are little people. It's beautiful and kind of creepy. The grounds were beautiful too with little creeks and long flowing vines.

Well, enough work for today. Off for a massage. At a really good place it only costs $10 for 1.5 hours!

Kuta Beach, Bali

Here are some images on my Flickr site. Enjoy.