Bali, a real kick in the pants.

We arrived in Bali in party mode: with my 23rd birthday half gone, and a reputed party scene to rival anywhere in SE Asia, we figured chuckles would quickly abound. Arriving into Kuta, the main tourist destination, it was instantly apparent that we would not be disappointed. The main drag was chocked with blonde bronzed australians - their equivalent of Cancun. We met up with a mutual friend who had other friends visiting from the states, and had a couple nights out which ended with sunrise. after two nights, the appeal of kuta was drained, and we decided to head out to the quieter coast for a surfing detox.

We rented motorbikes and surfboards for a week for about five dollars per day, and left town with the intention not to return until our flight to singapore. We rode south, towards the slew of beaches and reef breaks that make Bali a premier surf destination. Our first day was spent at a break called The Impossibles, which can be monstrously large, but wasn't. The sun was relentless, and the balmy ocean provided no relief. The waves were powerful and incredibly easy to catch. Bali was turning out to be quite a delight.

The day took a funny turn when we went back to the bikes. Ian's motorbike was refusing to respond to his pleas: the key had escaped a zippered pocket at some point in the day. Fretting over the potential theft of the bike seemed foolish, so we strapped both boards to my 125 cc honda and made for Kuta. Turns out that the spare key had been lost in similar circumstances some months ago, and a new one had to be cut. The next morning, we resumed our quest for exhaustion, humiliation, and sunburns.

We stayed at a little guest house at Uluwatu, one of the most famous surfspots in the world. Not quite understanding the reason for it's world classiness, we ran down to the cliff with our boards to catch a couples waves before sunset. oh boy, it is a good thing that you can see the waves before you get to the water - it would have been a most foolish waste of life. the waves were double overhead barrels, and a relentless current threatened to sweep away everyone returning to the beach. we enjoyed our beers and fried noodles. Over the next few days our skills increased markedly, as we visited Dreamland, Belangan, Pedand Pedang, and Froggy one. Stupendous.

We were also able to participate in the most relaxing festival in the world: Bali's Nyepi festival. To bring in the new year, the Balinese and all of the guests to their island do absolutely nothing for 24 hours. This is so all of the demons who haunt the island get bored and leave. Thus, from 5 am to 5 am, we were restricted to our hotel, with a prison sentance attached to any music, fire, attempts at escape, or rambunctiousnious. Fortunately, the Mama Jenny Smith's guest house is connected to the property of the director of Ripcurl (a very significant surf company), and we had access to his glorious swimming pool. And mama, as she requested we call her, awoke at 2 am to cook us our meals before the demons left. She is just terrific.

Bali, although poorly represented by Kuta, is a magical place. if we had had more time, we would have loved to have visited the north of the island. supposedly, that is where the best of bali is to be found, albeit without the fun water sports.

On to singapore.

whoa, so there is a big post on the way, with the usual stories, as well as some commentary on the trip on the whole. in the meantime, while we were in singapore for the last few days, we finally managed to upload some video! hopefully there will be a chance for more to come. oh, and an interesting fact: if you double click on any of the photos in the blog, they will open up full size. whee!

This first video is the panorama from the top of the cliff that towers over El Nido, in the Philippines. This is one of the top views of the trip.

The Second video is a representative point from one of the many fine games of ping-pong we have had on the trip so far. have a close look at the table(s) we are playing on. surprisingly, it doesn't affect the quality of the gameplay too much.

Yogyakarta

After a week surfing in Batukaras, our arms sore and nipples chafed, we took a few buses east to the "cultural and intellectual center" of Java, Yogyakarta (pronounced jog-jah-karta). Yogya is a huge town with a small-town feel. Its unusually quiet, with narrow meandering alleys and family owned shops at every turn. Nowhere are the towering hotels and supermalls of Jakarta and other asian cities of this size. The town is centered around the Kraton, a massive and somewhat gaudy palace that encompasses a few neighborhoods and a flimsy carnival. We explored much of the city by motorbike, meandering out of the city limits one day to the base of the nearby Mount Merapi for a short hike. Merapi is the most active volcano in the world- on a clear day, a dark ribbon of smoke can be seen perpetually rising from the peak. Much of Yogyakarta was damaged and 6000 people were killed by an earthquake in 2006, preceding a massive eruption from the volcano. Apparently Merapi erupts every two or three years, often wiping our entire farming villages each time. The earthquake also seriously damaged the two ancient temples that draw most of the tourists to Yogya: the Buddhist temple of Borobudur, and the nearby Hindu temple complex of Prambanan.

Our first attempt to visit the temples was canceled due to a slight oversight in planning. we decided to have a few beers the evening before, and go to bed early. unfortunately (semi), a triumverate of beautiful german women decided to join us, and it ended up being a rather longer night than intended. ian woke up in the morning, had a search high and low of the hostel, and gave up. he got on the bus, only to realize 2 minutes later that i have all the money and get off the bus again. he lost his card at the airport in jakarta. i woke up on the roof, around 8.30, and wandered downstairs with a thumping headache.


Both temples were stunning, our first major cultural sights of the trip. To get to Borobudur in time for sunrise, we were pulled out of bed at half past five and shoved onto a minibus with a few other very weary travelers. Unfathomably, this is prior to the first cup of the day. We arrived at the temples around six, two hours before the masses of students and other Indonesians arrive. The morning air had a pleasant nip, and the air was beautifully scented from the overnight rain. The temple itself must have been a real hassle to put together - no mortar to speak of, the gigantic, ornately carved stones supporting themselves. The architect employed a system of male and female grooves in each of the stones to prevent them from shifting. The temple has ten levels, and tremendous number of buddhas. around the periphery of the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th levels are intricate reliefs telling the story of buddha's life and reincarnation. the top three levels contain 72 stuppas, and the temple is topped by a gargantuan stuppa over 25 feet tall - the largest in the world.

Prambanan is a Hindu temple, and was very seriously damaged by the earthquake in 2006, rendering all but 2 of the 51 remaining temples inaccessable for safety reasons. There are three main candis, dedicated to Brahma the Creator, Vishnu the Keeper, and Shiva the Destroyer. They are very tall, and very beautiful. it breaks my brain trying to think about how they made them, and how on earth they have stayed vertical since the seventh century. We were guided by a guide-in-training, and tried to ensure that he got the most learning from the day possible. Questions included: How does the security react to climbing candis? For 1,000,000 rupiah, what can do we get? What am i thinking of right now? He did very well.

On the way to Bali, we stopped at Mt. Bromo. This turned out to be a rather poor decision, as it necessitated two very long days on busses rather than a 1 hour flight. none the less, it was a very cool way to start a birthday (My 23rd!). Again, awoken at an hour best approached only from the evening side, we stumbled bleary-eyed to our destination. This being 3.30 in the morning, it was understandably very dark. we were told that it would be impossible to miss the trail, there being a clear path and a set of stairs towards the top. well, we didn't see the trail, and we didn't see the stairs. by the time we figured out where we were supposed to be going, the sky was begining to glow. we reached the top just in time for sunrise, only to realize that we had climbed entirely the wrong volcano!! Mt. Bromo's neighboring peak is about twice as high, and much more difficult to get up. it was rather obvious, in hindsight, as bromo is constantly billowing huge amounts of smoke. after much discussion, we decided that the view is way better from our mountain anyways.


i won't go into details on the busride to bali, because nobody likes to hear a grown man whine. lest just say we didn't get in until an hour after my birthday ended. wtf, right?

Surfing Photos!

The Batukaras point break.

The beach at sunset.

Another sunset shot.

Carving away!

This guy rented us our boards. He was a great surfer, as well.

Taping the nipples to avoid chafing.

Having way too much fun.

Gaelen catching a sweet ride.

Stunner shades on...tubular!

West Java - Batukaras

Our surfing appetites whetted by our brief excursion in Zambales, Philippines (see previous entries), we decided on our next destination solely on its surfing criteria. A quick scan of Indonesian surfing chat forums lead us to Batukaras on the west coast of Java, a brutal 10 hour bus ride south of Jakarta. Upon arriving in the Jakarta bus station at 1:00 am, we were told to wait until 7:00am for the bus to arrive. We passed the bleary morning hours with some scrabble, guitar, and local sweetened clove cigarettes. I slept most of the busride, waking only to brush the resident cockroaches off my feet.
The small surf town of Batukaras exists only because of its close proximity to a perfect point break at the end of the beach. It has been popular with Australian and Japanese surfers, as well as local rippers (some of which can't be more than 5 or 6 years old). Gaelen and I rented some longboards for 6 bucks a day, practicing our takeoffs on the smaller, three-foot breakers near the point. On Thursday and Friday a swell arrived, bringing with it waves well over six feet as well as the local crazies. They were amazing to watch, carving huge swooping turns, weaving through other surfers all the way from the point to the far end of the beach. It wasn't long until we were doing the same, albeit less gracefully.
In the evenings the point would usually clear out save a few locals, and Gaelen and I would have the last few sets to ourselves. We were struck by the haunting call of the local minarets as the Java sun sank blood red, exhausted and satisfied by long hours of surfing.
We were lucky enough to meet some Australians with a DSLR camera- these photos are
courtesy of Tim, shot from the beach over the course of a day.

Dropping in on a massive 3-footer.

Gaelen, ripping the curl.


Ian catching a wave while locals look on.

Photos!

Below are some photos from various episodes along the way:
Gaelen was shot point-blank immediately after this photo was taken.

Getting a little cocky with the color-swap feature on the digicam. We island hopped around El Nido for a day, snorkling and lounging on several beaches.

We met two Americans on vacation from teaching English in a remote city in China. Cammie and Jackie, in the white and blue, respectively. Together we walked the monkey trail and toured the underground river.

An idyllic beach along the monkey trail in Sabang, Palawan.

A full moon rising over Sabang silhouettes a palm tree.

A Filipino high-roller getting a body massage at a cock-fight, just outside of Baguio City.

I was entrusted to care for this chicken during a short banca ride. The men here unconsciously and continuously pet the chickens and roosters while they hold them. It is soothing to watch.

The first of many found ping pong tables. This was also our first adventure fueled by the local Matador brandy, as evidenced by the spill in the backcourt.

The short jeepney ride from Puerto Galera to Sabang was our first experience riding outside of the jeepney.

Two proud young men displaying their tails, at a Igorot wedding.

Ginebra San Miguel, the prefered beverage of the small scale Cordilliera mining communities.

The lime tree outside of our nipa hut at Enca Organic farm. Also, the first successful use of digital macro photography on the trip.

On the way to an 8th birthday party with the Cosalans, our host family at Enca.

Shiosa, the delightful eight year old Cosalan. Slightly crazy, and often seeking sugar at bedtime.