Bali: 1

Got in last night from Singapore (see Hong Kong) on an evening flight. Checked into a hotel. $4/night. Perfect. One fitted sheet and a pillow. That was the extent of the ‘linen’. Ha ha. No toilet paper, towels…not even a shower head, just a pipe coming out of the wall. Really, do I need a big fancy shower head….or anything but tap-temp water?
The dresser has doors that open. Inside is lots of writing. I wouldn’t call most of it graffiti; it’s more informative.
My favorites are the message about bed bugs. For those outside the ‘know’ with bed bugs, they’re real! I’ve heard wacky stories about itching for days after a good night of being bitten. It’s in all the travel books. Anyway, so the writings in the dresser report the presence of bedbugs (or not) and the year/month. Luckily, the bug problem was apparently mostly in 2005. Ha ha!
Got up this morning and ate the breakfast that comes with the room, a banana sandwich. Mmm. Warm, from a bread machine.
After pouring rain all night, the morning was sunny and HOT. Humidity has to be near 90%. It’s incredible.
Rented a scooter and drove all the long way to the famed surf break, Padang Padang. Almost flat, but the view was beautiful.
Drove back to town and rented a surfboard and hit the onshore beach break. Sloppy and chest-high. There was more trash in the water than anywhere I’ve ever seen. Dead fish even! The water is warm! 26 degrees…hardly refreshing! Had enough, so went over to the other side and on to an island where the wind would be offshore and the surf was said to be bigger. Yes!
I scored a serious left-hander about head high +. Surfed until dark. The sunset was amazing. The whole scene was breathtaking. About 15 miles away there’s a massive mountain peak from another island. The clouds had formed low around the island so it was impossible to see the base, but the peak just stood out above them. It was insanity! One of the most beautiful places to be in the water. Will be there tomorrow for dawn patrol and will take some pics…
Woo!
$1 lunch. $2 dinner (with a sweet live acoustic trio). $1 rash guard. $4 surfboard. $4 scooter. $5 hotel

This entry was posted on February 7, 2007 at 10:52 am and is filed under SE Asia. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.

| Print