Surfing in Bali

Lara and I have definitely put in alot of beach time on this trip. She has been surfing pretty much every day, despite the fact that she is disappointed that there are basically no waves. The few waves that are there are tiny and they break really close to shore. The funny thing is, despite these conditions, there are about 500 people aout there at any given moment, trying to look like they know what they are doing. All of the "surfers" float on their boards really far back, where the waves aren't breaking, and they sort of ride over the swells and try to look cool. It is funny because almost everyone out there is new to surfing, except for a few Balinese people, so there is really no need to impress anyone.

Not that I should mock anyone...I tried surfing for one day and decided that I didn't want to deal with the kajillion other people out there, and then when I did catch waves, I was basically on the beach since the waves were breaking so close to shore. Not that there are any less people on the beach! Even when I am reading my book or have headphones on, I am approached every 3.5 seconds by someone trying to sell me something. They want to braid my hair, paint my nails, give me a massage, sell me a sarong, sell me a pillow for my head, peel me a mango, peel me a pineapple, sell me ice cream, and give me a fake tattoo. It is very irritating, but it is also a sad result of the desperation of the people living in a country with such a miserable economy. I have heard that Indonesia has one of the worst economies in the world.

I am sure all the above sounds very negative, but hey, I'm just "keepin' it real". Basically, Lara and I both really love hanging out at the beach, so we are enjoying Bali in that respect. We know we are staying in probably one of the more touristy parts of Bali, and other beaches are probably more idyllic but after having hoofed it around Hong Kong for the past 10 or 12 days, we just feel like relaxing and enjoying all of the restaurants and people we are meeting in Kuta.

When we aren't at the beach, we hang out at the pool that is part of our hotel. It is a very nice pool, with padded lounge chairs on the side and it is more calm than the beach. You can order food to be brought to you from the restaurant and so it is very nice. I met an older couple (you know, grandparent age) from Quebec by the pool, and they are quite amazing. They have travelled everywhere it seems like. They are doing a whole tour of southeast asia, and had just come from Malaysia and before that they had spent 3 months in India. The husband was telling me that he thought India was the most difficult place he had ever travelled, including the time he spent in China and Russia. Keep in mind, this older couple was staying at the same type of hotel that we were, which was nice enough, but not what you would think that older people would like. (There were definitely no frills, although there were some rooms with air conditioning and hot water.)




Lara at the Surf Shop