Aqui está algumas imagens feitas por mim na Indonésia com a equipe de Surfistas profissionais da Mormaii.

Foram 30 dias de viagem. Tudo começou com dois dias de voo até Jakarta-Indonésia

Depois mais um voo de 2 horas até uma ilha chamada Padang

Depois mais 13 horas de balsa

Depois mais 2 horas de jet boat

E ufa, finalmente chegamos em E-Bay-Mentawaiss

Dia desses encontrei o trabalho genial de um cara chamado Jonathan Harris. O site é chamado número 27. Diz que tem esse nome porque é um número importante para a família.

O sujeito trabalho com projetos que ‘reimaginam’ o que as pessoas podem fazer com as máquinas e vice-versa. Mas o mais legal do site é a foto diária que ele publica. Gostei do formato e vou fazer aqui, devagar, com uma foto semanal, já que não tenho tanto tempo assim!

Essa foto foi tirada em um dia perfeito entre os 6o que fiquei na Indonésia, em 2000. A viagem uma janela mágica que se abriu entre dois empregos e que não deixei passar! Não há um dia desde então (sem exagero!) que eu não tenha alguma referência, alguma lembrança a essa aventura no outro lado do mundo.

Essa foto representa nas minhas memórias o que mais próximo se pode chegar perto da onda perfeita (lembrando que nunca existe a onda perfeita — ela é sempre a próxima!). Esse lugar fica na parte sul da ilha de Bali. Chama-se Padang-Padang. Quer dizer algo próximo à “grama” e tem a palavra repetida como em muitos vocábulos balineses. A foto foi tirada com uma lente de 300 mm a partir de um Warung — barracas típicas, construídas com madeira e palha que são onipresentes nas areias da do sudeste asiático. Fazem às vezes de bar e local de descanso. Desse Warung, em Padang-Padang, se pode pode ver uma das ondas mais perfeitas do mundo. Lembro desse dia, de tempo bom, água quente, excelentes ondas e cheio de amigos por perto. O que mais um surfista pode querer?

As often happens here I will casually meet a couple of girls who are new to the island,  their agenda has to include at some point a day trip to the south, or kintamani, or the north, or nusa lembongan, etc etc. Well who else is there better to play guide than an English man with inside knowledge?

On this particular trip The lucky people to receive this FREE tour were a Puerto Rican, another English guy and two flight attendants from Auss. First job rent a car. Suzuki APV from a place close to my office (Having burned 5 cds and making sure that the car had a cd player I find that it is broken and all we could listen to was an Indonesian karaoke CD!!! lucky we had a couple of iPods and some speakers) 12h for 350,000 + insurance, and 200,000 to fill the tank that is not too bad. Second planned route.

So I was thinking coffee somewhere on the way, and on to Dreamland’s (recently renamed NEW Kuta Beach by ‘you know who’!) then lunch overlooking ulu’s and on to Padang Padang for the afternoon, followed by the temple for sunset and the fire dance.

Dreamlands New Kuta Beach has changed dramatically in the last two years, gone are the shacks on the beach, replaced by a huge hotel right on the cliff! Didn’t go in but we had coffee on the beach, 12,000 for a nescafe is a bit on the steep side! We stayed at the beach until about 1pm. The surf on the far right of the beach breaks right onto the beach, leading to lots of people ending up ‘beached whale’.

Hunger was starting to kick in so we/I decided that a cheap lunch at one of the warungs overlooking Uluwatus surf was the place to go, although my driving was a little quicker than the others appreciated we eventually got there in one place, and strolled down to the higher levels of the hill side, where the surfers get changed and prepare to face one of the most notorious surf breaks in Bali. The food was seemingly a long time in coming, and when it arrived silence descended on the table as we plowed through the meal.

Stomachs filled and ready for a bit of a sleep we trudged back to the car and cruised on back to Padang Padang, (the other choice was balangan, but I couldn’t remember the way there!) the swimming at Padang’ is not so great because of all the rocks, but its calm enough to sit in the shallows and relax, there are still warungs on the beach there that sell nasi and a cold beer. Padang has become a bit of a ‘euro trash’ beach, you’ll be able to hear Portuguese, Spanish, french and Italian in almost every conversation. Reminds me a lot of Ibiza.

Now they wanted to go down to uluwatu etc, the fire dance at ulu’s temple starts at 6pm (be there about 5:30) and costs; 3,000 for a car to be parked, 3,000 to get in to the temple and then 50,000 for the actual fire show. (They left after 30 min! concrete was to uncomfortable, and the acting was slightly over the top!) Having been there before I would say that the fire dance is something to see, but only for the sake of being able to say that you have! Beware the monkeys. They managed to get my glasses from my head, fortunately there are local boys that (for a small fee) will chase the huge teeth’d monkeys until they give up their treasures.

In the parking lot there is a guy selling fresh roasted corn on the cob, probably the highlight of the night! On the way back I put on the karaoke cd and everyone had a laugh at some ridiculous ‘pop’ music and the videos that accompanied them.

All in all it was a great day, getting out of Kuta is well worth a little planning, if for no other reason than to remind oneself that there are still other people in the world except for drunken Aussies.

Mr. P

As this post goes online, I will already be just pulling up to the first surf on a boat for 2 weeks, in the middle of Western Sumatra, Indonesia. Hopefully the waves will be pumping. I am heading there with a handfull of friends and some strangers who I am sure will become friends. There will still be new posts on here while I am away, just timed and spread out. So keep checking back.

These are some photos from the last week in Bali, the end of the big swell, and a couple other randoms.

Click for

Monkey at the Padang Padang checking spot above Impossibles, which is in the background, peeling away.

Another shot of Padang.

And another…notice the guy that just got spit out of the tube into the channel on the wave in the foreground.

Padang Monkeys. Big and small.

Large Uluwatu. Towing in.

Obey, holding it down Bali, Indonesia style. Worldwide for sure.

The calm after the swell. Sunrise rainbow from the balcony of the villa.

Padang this morning before dawn break. 1 guy out. More to come soon from during the day.

Click for some more from early AM.

A praia que está presente em centenas (ou milhares) de vídeos de surf pode decepcionar àqueles que sempre quiseram conhecê-la. Padang Padang faz parte da região de Uluwatu e com dezenas de pousadas simples e baratas recebe muito brasileiros. O português é praticamente a segunda língua das moças que fazem o café da manhã nas pousadas, das vendedoras de sarong (cangas) e das massagistas na beira da praia.

As ondas não rolam todos os dias, nem mesmo todas as semanas. Nos vários dias em que estive em Bali grande parte do tempo fiquei hospedada bem em frente ao acesso de Padang Padang. E as ondas, hein? Não deram sinal enquanto fiquei lá. Ficou por conta da imaginação!

O visual de cima já é demais, mas descer os degraus em meio a rocha até o mar deixa tudo ainda mais interessante. A beira da praia é de uma areia confortável e o banho de mar é muito gostoso.

Dá pra negar um banho de mar?

As ondas parecem perfeitas, mas estão muito pequenas.

Sunday.. our day off from the camp so we decided to do a little tour! Since Dave is not feeling sick anymore we got Uncle to get us a car and left for Uluwatu! This is more or less the most famous surf beach here with the best waves. A village consisting only of a few warung and just a bit more homestays! Surfers paradise!

After a drink there and watching some surfers we went on to Padang Padang! This beach also has a really nice swell and is famous for it dangerous reef but great waves. Sleeping in the sun, taking some pictures and messing around in the water was more or less everything we did! Awesome, the perfect day off!

We had one more stop on our tour! Dreamland – the most beautiful beach down here with white sand and blue water! Body surfing was all we wanted to do down here and it was a lot of fun! The sunset down here was amazing! Couldn’t be any better!

So what to do after a great day on some of the most beautiful and most amazing beaches? Fresh seafood in jimbaran, dinner directly on the beach with our feet in the sand. Oysters, shrimp, calamari and lobster. Nothing was missing!

This is what we consider the bali lifestyle and an ideal sunday! But we all are already excited to go back to Seminyak and another day in the surfcamp – with the goal of being able to surf Uluwatu some day in our life!

Postei esse vídeo de Bali mesmo não tendo nada de diferente do que conhecemos, mas o louco é ver na descrição o tanto de ondas que tem no vídeo e só ESQUERDAS!!!

Realmente, Bali é a terra das esquerdas…

Bali has a great host of different surf spots. There’s Uluwatu, Padang Padang, Impossibles, Dreamland, Balangan, Green Ball, Medewi and so many other accessible great waves.

The “plan” to head up the west coast of Bali was aborted at the last minute and I decided to stick around and take a few easy days in the Kuta area. Of course this included one or two nights out on the town with the crew of the younger South African boys who at this point in time have left the island back to South Africa. Surf wise I only ventured out to “Middles” Kuta Reef and had a few fun sessions with good wave count that kept me satisfied.
I had been keeping an eye on wind guru for a few days and the forecasts were showing a solid pulse of swell. I was preparing to head to Lombok and try my luck at Desert Point, however as I was sitting on the beach watching the sun set over a flat ocean I could not get Padang Padang out of my mind. For a few hours I could not make my mind up, was it going to be a mission for Deserts or just stay on Bali and head to Padang Padang?
Eventually after a lot of thought on the pros and cons of both missions I decided to stay on Bali and try my luck at Padang Padang. I checked the forecast several times the day before the predicted swell and it looked like it was going to be solid. I set my alarm for 5am and as I drifted off to sleep I could not stop thinking about the possibility of good surf at Padang Padang. For those of you people who do not know about the surf here in Bali, Padang Padang is very fickle and also the premier left-hand barrelling wave on Bali the other wave at Desert Point on Lombok has often been described as one of the most perfect left barrels in the world and equally as fickle.
I eventually get up around 6:30am after hitting the snooze on the alarm clock several times. My brother and myself head down to get a quick session out at “Middles” after a very average session we head back to our home stay for a quick breakfast and load up our bikes with boards, camera gear, sun block and some cash.
The forecasts were showing an increase in swell throughout the day with it peaking at 3.6m sometime in the afternoon we took a real easy drive to the bukit and go checkout the waves from spot on the cliffs overlooking Padang Padang. To my surprise it is very small and only a few boogie boarders giving it a go. Where is the swell that was predicted? Was it still going to hit later in the afternoon? Is the swell hitting Deserts and missing here? All these questions.……I get over the disappointment quickly and go for a few waves at the Impossible reef with my brother.
I am now lying in bed wondering what tomorrow has planned for us as it seems that each decision out here is a roll of the dice from the drive on the indo roads to check the surf, the dodgy police pulling you over for a different reason every time or the swell forecast that did not live up to expectations.
Well let see what happens in the next week and ill give you the low down next time
Hope you all well and scoring some surf
Laters

Jerome

A couple Bintangs getting consumed with my brother and Dillon

Yes Desert Point is one of the most amazing left barrels in the world

Knowing that I would be missing out on the European summer months once again due to my annual pilgrimage down to Australia, I decided I needed to treat myself to some hot weather and surfing action. And what better place to visit than Bali for a surf trip of 2 weeks? So off we flew to Denpasar, where we were picked up by our driver, Komang, and whisked away from the hustle and bustle of the city to the idyllic rice paddies of Canggu. Here we were to stay with friends of ours, very close to the excellent Pererenan beach break.

For the next 10 days, our daily agenda consisted of surfing, checking the surf, eating, and resting. And boy did I need to rest, because 3 or more hours of surfing every day sure makes you tired.  For the first 4 days of our stay, we were blessed with small waves (well perfectly sized according to me) to get back into it after such a long break.

Weee look at me!

After that, Bali was getting hammered with massive waves, some of the biggest for the past 5 years. There was 1 day we couldn’t go out, it was just too big. Instead, we watched the cracks shredding wave after wave and the carnage of broken boards at the famous Padang Padang break down south.

Watching the action and carnage at Padang Padang

Surfing the big sets at sunset, Padang Padang

With new inspiration, it was back to our local break where all I cared about was getting a ride on a wave.

I wasn’t always successful.

But the hard work did pay off in the end.

Dropping in!

Front side turn at the Rivermouth

My surfing buddies Nyoman and Jake

Contributor: Tezza | Bali | May 2009

The Bukit Peninsula is that higher limestone plateau you see when looking south from the Tuban-Kuta-Legian-Seminyak beach strip. Long a haunt of surfers, the fact it has arguably the best beaches on mainland Bali and some spectacular cliff and coastal scenery means it’s becoming increasingly popular with both the backpacker set and midrange/high-end travellers.
Backpackers are taking advantage of cheap beach accommodation set up for surfers while a building boom has seen a growing number of flasher places for the fiscally enhanced.

Part of the Bukit coastline west from Dreamland North. Super busy Dreamland Main with its huge new hotel structure, deck chairs and beach umbrellas (see below) is just around that rock near-left. If you don’t like crowds, the beach in the foreground is a few steps away.
Bingin where I based myself is the collection of seaside buildings spreading up the cliff in the near background.
Right up the end of the peninsula is the famed surfing and Buddhist temple location of Uluwatu.
The neat little beach at Padang Padang is tucked in about half way between Ulu and Bingin.
The nicest beach of the lot, Balangan, is about 2km behind the camera.

Dreamland Main, pretty early and not yet crowded with daytrippers. This used to be the pick of the Bukit – a gorgeous beach behind which were lots of neat elcheapo losmen built for surfer-dudes to catch some shuteye plus some laid back warungs where you could sink a Bintang or 5 checking the surf. How things change – have a look at the shot on my main Bali page of the monster seaside residential-retail structure which has replaced them. BTW, this was unfinished in my latest May 09 visit, although some guests were swanking it out in the horizon pool overlooking the beach.
But if your thing is sun-lounges, beach-umbies and a host of beautiful people to spec out, this may be just the thing. Certainly the sand and water is way cleaner than the Kuta strip. There was a warung back of sand and I was impressed with just how modest its food and drink prices were for a place which has headed way upmarket.
The surf far right in the background (the image is a bit small, but that’s all Blogger gives) is the awesome Impossibles a few hundred meters north of Bingin. Hard core surfer dudes should enquire about Impossibles Surf Camp which is a Chocky’s type place half way down the cliff overlooking the break. I just tried Google – no luck. It certainly isn’t Padang Padang Surf Camp which looks more upmarket.
Note you can walk down between Bingin and Dreamland along the beach at low tide – at high water the headland tracks are not too hard to navigate.

Some of the places at Bingin have actually stepped up from the basic surfer digs. Actually some of the best views are from places out of sight built on the top of the cliff. Google for Kembang-Kuning Ocean View Bungalows (flash packer – note 300k was the price they gave me in May 09) and Mick’s Place (midrange) As you can see, the beach here is nothing to get excited about and with a pretty rocky entry to the water. Pretty nice swimming around in the relatively calm lagoon between the reef and the shore though.
If you can’t hack multiple steep steep steps, pick some other place.

CHOCKY’S , my digs at Bingin. Nice surfer hangout. That upstairs loft is the one basic double room. There are 3 singles behind a higher veranda partly obscured in this shot by the building to the right. The railed area above the posters is the front of the restaurant – pretty neat views from both here and the higher veranda area. Access to the loft room and basic singles’ balcony is by ladder. Below the restaurant are 2 family rooms, flash-packer level with their own bathrooms. The other rooms share a big bathroom area which was kept pretty clean on the restaurant level.
My basic single had just enough room, was super clean, the bed was comfy with a pretty thick foam matress, mozzie net in good condition, fan quiet. Electricity 24 hours. I paid 80K rupiah (about $us8 at the time) – current room pricing can be seen on the website.
At high tide the waves smack into the lower front of the building – actually wavelets because when the swell is big (often) the reef dissipates most of its size. Can sound pretty busy at night.
Chocky provides an airport pickup service which if you are coming in at night like I did is essential – Bingin is down some obscure side roads, which stop about 200m from the buildings – and finding the right lanes from there and the correct set of steps to descend would be impossible for newcomers. Chocky charged me 160K compared to an airport taxi to anywhere on the Bukit for 120K, but took me back to Kuta for no extra at the end of the stay.
If you are going to come up by hire-motorcycle from Kuta, check Google Earth first and draw yourself a map. But make sure it’s daylight, and watch out for cops checking for Indo or International Driving Licences endorsed for motorcycles.

For surfers, Chocky’s has one of the prime postions in Bingin because the reef break is directly out front. This is a super fast left hander breaking into about 15cm of water at low tide – plenty of coral-scraped bodies on show in this neck of the woods. If you expand this shot you will see some kamikaze merchant tucked into the edge of the white water on the shoulder to the right.
Chocky spent a lot of time with a huge-lens digital SLR propped over the railing, snapping pix. Late afternoon usually saw a lively bunch of surfer dudes from all over Bingin checking shots of themselves on his laptop, which he will burn onto disc for a suitable fee.
Restaurant food was pretty nice, prices a bit higher than average but supplies have to be hauled down those dang steps (and rubbish back up!). This is maybe why small bottles of Bintang (heavy in crates) was 20k v the more normal 15. Service was normally pretty good although brekka never kicked off before 0830. There are plenty of other restaurants in the area.

Padang Padang is a neat little beach cut into the plateau. Another very good reef-break out front, but for experienced surfers. There is no accommodation right on the beach but you can see one of the growing bunch of midrange/top end places which have appeared on the Bukit on the cliff top behind. There is also a bunch of budget and flash packer places on the coast road about 300m inland from the beach plus a bit of a small village shopping area.

Once again you are looking at a decent set of stairs to get up to road level, but not as challenging as Bingin. Some nice shade areas side and back of beach. I dunno about those life-saver flags.

Uluwatu. There’s a dozen or so warungs plus surf shops in the area of the camera with great views of this world famous big wave break – not so big in this shot, the swell having a rest-day.
You pay extra for your Bintang if you want to hang in the joint front left…..

…..but no extra if you are quick enough to grab this neat little platform.

There is a neat little beach at the foot of the cliff at Ulu – actually there isn’t too much sand left at high tide. This is where the surfers enter the water.

Ulu always had a good range of budget surfer losmen, but now has a selection of flasher places. Google Blue Point Bay Villas for top-end cliff top.

Roughly midway between Uluwatu and Padang Padang is this un-named beach (actually I’ve seen it referred to as Ulu-Padang) where Thomas Homestay has set up a neat little budget/flash packer place. This is part of the view from the restaurant, you can actually see about twice as much beach – the rooms’ balconies have a similar outlook. The place has a large really nice tiled floor room with a big-screen TV for 200k – the smaller more basic rooms were 100k.
This is where I’m staying next Bukit visit.
Apparently the surf works okay here when the swell is up, but a wax-head with the universal motorcycle and sidewinder board-rack can reach even the most distant Bukit break, Balangan, in less than 15 minutes. For those on foot I walked from Ulu in less than 20minutes and it took me just over 15 to then hoof it to Padang Padang.

Balangan – with the overdevelopment of Dreamland, probably the nicest beach on the Bukit AND mainland Bali (not as nice as Dream Beach on Nusa Lembongan though). A good selection of budget losmen and laid back warungs behind the beach. This seemed to be the beach attracting most backpacker types although Padang Padang had its share. If you are feeling flush google La Joya for a flash place back behind the beach.
Interestingly, on a day Bingin and Impossibles seemed to have lost swell, it was still quite good here. Once again a super-fast left hander. Goofy-footers’ paradise!
I walked across from Dreamland via the headland golf course – with a fat security turkey blowing his whistle at me. I just gave a cheesy and waved. You can walk around the inland side of the golf course – but check Google Earth and make yourself a map – the Bukit is criss-crossed with a confusing plethora of tracks, lanes, roads. At lowest tide you apparently can walk the water’s edge from Dreamland. Actually I read on a surfer site you can walk all the way from Uluwatu at low tide – but from what I saw I think this may be cofined to those twice monthly (full moon/no moon) lowest low tides.
Notice the area behind the beach is much lower than further west towards Bingin -Padang Padang – Uluwatu. The Bukit plateau is tilted upwards both towards the west and particularly the south. There are some awesome cliffs on the far southern side – and a few very upmarket hotels have perched themselves up top – google Bali Cliff Hotel.

The text and photos of this article remain the copyright of the Author (Tezza). Under no circumstances should the photos or text be used without the express written permission of the Author (Tezza). If you wish to use or publish photos or text from this article – please  Contact Tezza

A nossa mochileira favorita segue em Bali (tá bom aí, né Carol…) e mandou notícias depois de alguns dias… Detalhe na foto, a Carol com a camiseta branca que eu dei de birthday pra ela… o presente foi útil!!!

Bali
 
Transito: Andar por Bali deve ser a pior parte da cidade. Não me pergunte o porquê de existiram guardas de trânsito… ninguém respeita as leis, estaciona-se em qualquer lugar, anda-se na contra mão…. tem de tudo! Os balineses usam muito as motos, e não é raro você ver crianças de 10 anos dirigindo-as na cidade, levando os irmãos mais novos a tiracolo. O pior é que não tem muito como fugir dessa guerra!
As praias são longe do centro e mesmo que você resolva ficar em Nusa Dua, onde a praia é bonita e estão localizados os resorts bacanas, você vai precisar de carro para conhecer outras praias, ou ir a algum restaurante. Pense em ficar sem carro em Bali como ir para Floripa sem carro… é meio chato!

 
O aluguel de carro é ridiculamente barato. Temos um jipe Suzuki (na verdade um buggy com capota!) alugado a R$9/dia com seguro (digamos que o contrato tem um estilo “la garantia soy yo”… mas enfim… faz parte da cultura local)! Mas dirigi-lo é uma das piores tarefas do dia, o transito é um caos, os mapas são horríveis… e olha que eu adoro dirigir! Se você não quiser ter esse stress, alugue um carro por motorista: é mais caro, mas acho que pode ser que compense! A gente se vira com o GPS, mas mesmo assim, passamos sufoco com as ruas que mudaram de mão, e as que simplesmente não constam no mapa! Affff

 
Mas depois desse sofrimento, quando você chega na praia, esquece o trampo que foi chegar lá e aproveita!

 
O “golpe do estacionamento”: Aqui também tem os famosos flanelinhas nas principais praias e cidades turísticas. Eles estão longe de ser tão assustadores quanto os paulistas, e o preço cobrado é bem barato e R$2 a R$10)… mas eu me revolto com a idéia de ser enganada… como se o pagamento fosse uma obrigação!
Então, se, por qualquer razão, você queira contornar esse problema, não vai precisar de muita habilidade…
1. pare um pouco antes do ponto de cobrança deles: Em Ulu Watu e Padang Padang, paramos a 200m da praia e não tivemos que pagar o “ingresso” cobrados dos motoristas que paravam na rua a partir dos 100m
2. Seja cara de pau. Em Ubud, o moço chegou com o ticket estacionamento (sim, flanelinha aqui tem ticket estacionamento)… falamos “no, thank you” e o cara virou as costas

3. Pergunte no hotel onde é mais fácil parar: em Balangan, perguntamos para a dona de uma pousada local onde se estacionava, e ela falou para passar a cancela do estacionamento, localizada a uns 300m da praia, e parar mais para frente. Para convencer os locais a abrir a cancela (é muita cara de pau ter cancela para um estacionamento aparentemente irregular…) falamos que íamos ao hotel perto da praia… após alguns olhares desconfiados, passamos e paramos muito mais perto da praia, e de graça.
 
Vou ficar mais uns dias aqui….depois eu mando a seção praia, balada e lugares para ficar – você pode publicar junto ou dividir em duas partes… up to you!!!

 
Bjs para você e para o Dan!! Estou com saudades do casal! Beijos Carol

BALI GUIDE Continually Updated Insider Information About Bali

The island of Bali has an area of only 5,632 square kilometers (2,175 square miles) and measures just 55 miles (90 kilometers) along the north-south axis and less than about 90 miles (140 kilometers) from East to West. Because of this it’s no problem to explore the island on day tours. You can go wherever you want on the island and return to your hotel or villa in the evening.

Located only two kilometers east of Jawa, Bali’s climate, flora and fauna are quite similar to its much larger neighbour. The island is famous for its beautiful landscape. A chain of six volcanoes, between 1,350 meters and 3,014 meters high, stretches from west to east. There are lush tropical forests, pristine crater lakes, fast flowing rivers and deep ravines, picturesque rice terraces, and fertile vegetable and fruit gardens. The beaches in the South consist of white sand, beaches in other parts of the island are covered with gray or black volcanic sand.

You can expect pleasant day temperatures between 20 to 33 degrees Celsius or 68 to 93 degrees Fahrenheit year-round. From December to March, the West monsoon can bring heavy showers and high humidity, but usually days are sunny and the rains start during the night and pass quickly. From June to September the humidity is low, and it can be quite cool in the evenings. During this time of the year, you’ll have hardly any rain in the coastal areas.

Even when it rains in most parts of Bali you can often enjoy sunny days on the “Bukit”, the hill south of Jimbaran Beach. On the other hand, in Ubud and the mountains you must expect cloudy skies and showers throughout the year (this is why the international weather reports for “Denpasar” or “Bali” mention showers and rain storms during all times of the year). In higher regions such as in Bedugul or Kintamani you’ll also need either a sweater or jacket after the sun sets.

WHAT MAKES BALI SO SPECIAL:

There is the combination of the friendly people, the natural attractions, the great variety of things to see and do, the year-round pleasant climate, and the absence of security problems. And then there is Bali’s special “magic”, which is difficult to explain.

As soon as you step off the plane you might sense the difference. In the villages you’ll notice the quietness and wisdom in old people’s faces, and the interest and respect in the young’s. Old men sit at the road side caressing their fighting cocks. Beautifully dressed women walk proudly through rice fields and forests carrying offerings on their heads to the next temple. There is the smell of flowers, and in the distance you hear the sound of gamelan music.

Gods and spirits have been an important part of Bali’s daily life for hundreds of years. Gunung Agung – Bali’s holy mountain – is internationally regarded as one of the eight “Chakra” points of the world. This may be more than an coincident. Watch out, the moment you feel the magic of this island, you’re addicted for the rest of your life.

Surf Paradise Island, Kuta

Dream Land Beach BALI

Sunrise at Nusa Dua, Bali

Dez dias atrás, depois de um longo verão, consegui convencer meu principal brother de surfe em São Paulo, o Julio, a descer para a praia em busca do swell (ondulação) que estava previsto para encostar com força no litoral. O que para a maioria das pessoas se chama ressaca, para os surfistas é uma oportunidade de surfar altas ondas. A previsão no windguru.com era de 2,4m – tamanho suficiente para exigir preparo para entrar na água.

A noite anterior, como sempre acontece em dias que precedem surfe grande, foi de bastante expectativa. Certa vez li uma entrevista em que surfistas profissionais contavam que não dormiam quando sabiam que no dia seguinte enfrentariam ondas de 5, 6 até 7 metros (15 a 20 pés) em praias havaianas. Por mais que alguém goste disso, é sempre atemorizante saber que em um vacilo você pode ficar um bom tempo fora da água ou coisa pior.

Guardadas as devidas proporções, surfista de final de semana também tem suas aflições. Será que vou conseguir varar a arrebentação, entrar nas ondas ou ter coragem para descer as maiores? Em função da expectativa, não consegui dormir direito. Fui para cama à meia-noite e às 0h30 ainda tentando dormir. (Às 5h15 tocou o despertador. Cinco minutos depois eu estava em pé. Confesso que não é nada agradável acordar nesse horário, mas sei que a recompensa é matadora.)

Não era bem medo que eu sentia, era mais um certo receito das minhas condições e do que eu encontraria pela frente. Essa incógnita sobre o real tamanho das ondas e das condições do mar é um dos grandes chamarizes do surfe para mim. Nunca vai existir uma onda igual a outra. A onda perfeita está sempre por vir.

Medo eu já senti em Capão da Canoa, no mar marrrom, bravio e frio, a quase 500m da costa, com ondas de 2m. Já senti na Indonésia, com as séries entrando em Nungas (na ilha de Sumbawa), com 4m de altura. Já senti na Costa Rica, quando as ondas estavam crescendo no final da tarde e eu já não enxergava mais nada, esperando pela última do dia, que nunca vinha. Já senti na Califórnia, quando foi preciso entrar no mar pelas pedras para surfar em Steamer Lane, Santa Cruz, e dividir o outside (além da arrebentação) com leões marinhos defendendo seu território. Já senti também em Padang-Padang (Bali), quando minha prancha quebrou ao meio no dia de maior mar da temporada e o canal não me deixava chegar remando na praia. Já senti em El Barco, Punta San Jacinto, na Baja California, quando o furacão passou à margem da costa e trouxe ondas de 3m de altura. Já senti em Manzanillo, na Costa Rica, quando era preciso voar da onda antes que ela se esfarecelasse abruptamente na bancada de coral. Já senti em Yo-Yo’s (também em Sumbawa), no drop montanha-russa de 2m de altura em cima de um coral afiado, aparente através do mar translúcido. Já senti quando uma onda estourou na pedra e me jogou a três metros de distância, de costas numa rocha, em Camburizinho (São Paulo), num dia de muito amadorismo. Já senti quando não sabia a porta de saída da caverna de Uluwatu em dia de mar grande e muita corrente. E muitas outras vezes eu poderia contar aqui. Dentro e fora d’água, sempre em torno do surfe.

Mas e o que faz uma pessoa sentir medo assim, deliberadamente? Talvez a adrenalina, a vontade de superação que traz a sensação de vitória a reboque. Há um sentimento de estar vivo, que não se encontra em terra firme, não se encontra em uma baia corporativa, não se encontra num almoço em família, enfim, não se encontra no dia-a-dia. Sem desmerecer ou comparar. São simplesmente coisas diferentes. Sobre isso, separei aqui um trecho maravilhoso de “Fôlego”, de Tim Winton, que fala por si.

“A maioria das pessosa não gosta de sentir medo. Não dá exatamente para recriminá-las por isso. Alimentar-se do risco é algo perverso – a não ser que você esteja no mercado financeiro. Os empresários são corajosos, mas as pessoas que praticam BASE jumping são uns idiotas imprudentes. Pessoas que viajam sozinhas d ebarco são um desperdício dos recursos de resgate e os snowboarders que pulam de helicópteros são suicidas que gostam de aparecer. Os correspondentes de guerra, como todos sabemos, são gente bem esquisita. Alguns riscos, ao que parece, não merecem respeito. Enquanto isso, todos ficam aterrorizados com a ideia de que isso, o que quer que a vida tenha se tornado, é o que é e pronto. E o pior é que ela vai acabar logo. Com alguns medos – como dor de dente – é possível conviver. Bom, na maioria das vezes. “

Em geral, tenho até um pouco de medo até de acordar cedo e pegar a estrada para ir surfar. Um pouco de receio do que vou encontrar pela frente. Nada mais do que o saudável medo do desconhecido. Um medo que vai e volta, controlado pela razão. Nada que se justificasse. O mar estava ok. Ondas de no máximo 1,5 m na série (onde era possível surfar, porque havia lugares maiores, mas insurfáveis). Fiquei quase três horas no mar, coloquei minha prancha maior na água, surfei cinco ondas, fiz minha meditação e saí com leves coceiras da água poluída (não se pode ter tudo, certo?).

E reforcei minha coragem e certeza de que nessa vida se pode tudo, menos ficar parado.

My schedule in Bali is what dreams are made of.

Every morning I wake up at 6:30 and head to the beach for a early morning 2 hour surf.  After that its back to my losmen for a banana pancake and fruit salad breakfast.  I then do a few things in my room and head back to the beach around 10:00 where I sit on the sand and read until 12:30.  By then im crispy so I head up the beach for a huge lunch.  Once ive digested my feast its back to the water for 3 hours of afternoon surfing before coming in to watch the sunset over Kuta beach.  I end my day with a shower, a huge dinner, and then its back to my book to cap out the evening.

I bring this up because the main focus of my day revolves around the waves.  If they are good i’m stoked.  If they are bad (even when they are bad they are good in Indo) im bummed.

While the beaches and nightlife in Bali are a draw, its main raison d’etre is surfing.  Bali is home to world class surf breaks and as long as the waves keep rolling in Bali will remain on the tourist map.

Professionals, amateurs, locals, and beginners all flock to Bali’s golden shores for a chance to ride its perfect waves which roll in 24/7.

The break right outside my hotel

The set up at "Padang Padang" on Bali's Bukit Pennisula

Perfect (and empty) wave at Ulu Watu

Lines stretching to the horizon at "Impossibles"

The above break is called “impossibles” because the wave is not only extremely fast but it breaks over a super shallow reef.  The sheer force of the wave makes it difficult to ride this making it “impossible”

"Dreamland". With a name like that you know it has to be good.

The local legend in Bali is that the goddess of the sea is attracted to surfers who wear green.  While this may sound like a foolish local legend, more people drown in Indonesia wearing green than any other color.  This doesn’t bode well for me as both my board-shorts and surf board are green.  Oh well.

The best for last. If I never come home this is why.

Padang Padang, back in the days when, so long as you ate there, you could stay for free in the beach-side restaurant.

And then, in between naps and reading, you could keep an eye out for  moments when the crowds vanished and the waves kept rolling in…

…it’s all changed now, but there are still places like this if you look. So, if that’s your thing, my Christmas wish is that I hope you find one. And, if it’s not your thing, have a happy holiday, Christmas day, and new year all the same.

On Saturday the 25th, I had a friend took me to try this so called fish rice. So, I rented a motorcycle (I don’t have any driving license though, but don’t tell the police about it yeah?) and meet up with him at McDonald’s on Jimbaran. So after driving passed through Extreme Toys and just right next to a gas station on the way heading to Nusa Dua, we stopped at this warung called “Sari Mertha”. There wasn’t anything stand out from this warung, you might just passed it without knowing it was there. So, we had this rice with slices of mini eggplant, steamed fish wrapped in banana leaf, bakwan jagung (indonesian corn fritters), pieces of fish meat, and 2 sticks of fish satay accompanied with fish soup. I’ve to say the soup, rice, and satay in overall was great. Not many people know about this place, most of the visitors are local Balinese.

Fish Rice Set Fish Rice

After our tummy felt pretty good, knew it by some burping and belching, we headed to Padang-Padang beach. It’s located down the south from Dreamland beach. It’s still pretty secluded and not as commercial as Dreamland (yet). It wasn’t to wavy that day and met 2 surfers who left the beach because the waves weren’t too good. Padang-Padang beach is usually one of the surfer’s beach, just like Dreamland. To reach the beach from the street, we have to walk down the stairways between 2 cliffs because the beach is surrounded by cliffs.

The stairways Down to the Beach

And the beach just looks great…kinda dark on the first picture below…*cell phone quality pictures *

Padang-Padang Beach Padang-Padang Beach Padang-Padang Beach Cliff

Right when we were done there, we headed to Blue Point. You have to go across this bridge, Padang-Padang is located on the left side of the bridge and Blue Point is further up to the right.

Padang-Padang Bridge

Just went further down the road into a bumpy road where it says “private area” or something like that with someone guarding the way in, where obviously you had to pay entry fee, one thousand rupiah if I remembered it correctly. This beach is popular with surfers, foreign tourists, and also located down the cliff, much higher than Padang-Padang. Lots of warung already exist here and luckily there’s stairs available to go down to the beach.

Blue Point1 Blue Point2 Blue Point3 Blue Point4 Blue Point5 Blue Point6 Blue Point7

There’s this one big cliff where you can go to the top of the cliff (see the Blue Point6 pic on the left most side, there’s a staircase), on the l and the the background cliff at the back and the beach on the front. The stairways are quite scary…

Blue Point Blue Point

That’s the journey for that day UNTIL afternoon… As I’ve mentioned earlier in one of my post, lots of events took place on October in Bali this year (and the year to come). Last weekend on October was the end of Asian Beach Games and Kuta Karnival. After very exhausting trip until afternoon, it’s time to “fuel up” again…On the last 2 days of Kuta Karnival, there’s Food Festival from noon until evening. Went there with some of my colleagues and met a lot more inside the festival among hundreds or even thousands of other people. Here’s the crowd looks like:

Food Fest Crowd Food Fest Crowd

One of the busiest booth, ESC. One of their unique menu was Jack Daniels Baby Back Ribs.

ESC booth ESC Suckling Pig

One of the show in the Food Fest was Barongsai & Liong, which is a traditional Chinese dragon dance & performance.

Barongsai Liong

As for me, I had Chicken Biryani (Indian Style Fried Rice), which was unique in taste, from Queen’s Tandoor and Jumbo Hotdog from Bali Bakery. As for the drink, I had Blue Punch cocktail by Bali Moon.

Queens Tandoor Bali Bakery Booth Jumbo Hotdog Blue Punch Cocktail

Some of the prices were a little bit more expensive than the average price when you eat directly in the participant’s restaurant or cafe but the atmosphere were great and full of excitement and there was a stage full of performance. I was a little bit tipsy though because the Blue Punch cocktail appearently was pretty strong, it should be 2/3 full and I drank it by myself meanwhile my friend bought one and shared with other 2. No wonder I was feeling a little tipsy. Never been drunk before though, and luckily I was not that drunk eventhough I had to ask my friend to drive the motorcycle back home…

What do a young ex-British army captain, Cathay Pacific pilot and his two sons, honeymooning Londoners, a beautiful, bronze Spanish foursome, an Adidas regional salesman, and a twenty-six year-old, Serbian, Italian-raised cardiologist have in common with Nick and I?

Give up?

Surf Camp!

This motley crew was to be seen lazing about in hammocks, enjoying the morning’s banana pancakes, and trying our best not to drown at Padang Padang Surf Camp in Bali.

Staying at surf camp is a bit different from other vacations. It’s social, inclusive, and great fun. You won’t find big, fancy rooms, endless beach umbrellas, cheesy resort shows, or even TVs (or alarm clocks!) in your room.

You will find a comfortable, beautiful, relaxing compound, an close-knit community, and overwhelmingly kind and interesting people. The experience is wholesome, healthy, and, truly relaxing.

Our “schedule” at surf camp went something like this:

5-6 am (one day 4am!): Meet in the dining area for morning surf session, load up the boards, drive to the site
6:30-8:30ish: Surf as the sun comes up
8:30-9:30ish: come back, have breakfast together, prepared by the surf camp
9:30-1pmish: Lounge about the hammocks, sleeping mats, read, nap, sunbathe, swim
1pm ish: eat delicious, homemade lunch together, prepared by the surf camp
12-4 pm: leave for second surf session
4:30-6:30ish: Surf
7ish: camp owner drives to a restaurant, eat dinner together if you want to come
9-10ish: Hang out/go to sleep–there’s another early morning tomorrow!

You didn’t have to do any of this stuff. For example, it’s ok if you just wanted to surf in the morning or afternoon or go on your own for dinner or stay in your room all day. It was just chill, relaxed, and full of nice, beautiful people. What an awesome vacation!

Plus, it’s one of the only vacations where you actually loose weight/get fit/tone up. You surf hours a day, which is HARD WORK fighting the waves and paddling everywhere, eat small portions of homemade, healthy food, go to bed early, wake up early, walk a lot. Candlelit seafood on the beach at night, sipping from coconuts–ya know, your typical paradise.

The only bad thing is that we stayed for far too short of a time. Six days just wasn’t long enough!
Taiwan has never felt so crappy!

Next time, next year (hopefully!) longer and stronger.

I don’t want to let this get to long, so I’ll just leave you with some picture links.
Hope you enjoy, and as the Balinese say, Terima Kasih!

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Pictures (all links open in a new window):

The Surf Camp, Padang Padang, and Other Beaches

This is where we basically spent most of our time–our camp, our room, where we hung out/ate, etc. Also the walk from our warung to Padang Padang beach, where we usually surfed. Also general vacation pictures.

Uluwatu Monkey Temple

This cool temple is full of cheeky monkeys, ready to steal your stuff. One large male monkey actually ran up behind me, jumped on my shoulders, and ripped my elastic ponytail band out of my hair. Ouch! Oh monkeys!

Kecak Fire Dance at Monkey Temple

A very cool dance interpretation (involving fire!) of a story from the Ramayana. The pictures look a bit mental, but start from the beginning and you’ll get the whole story from beginning to end in the captions.

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ALSO:

Thanks to everyone for toe concern! Once we got to Bali, I un-bandaged that thing and dove right in–it has healed nicely! In retrospect, getting it ripped off was the right decision. Even if you read my story and were frightened about your own upcoming fun-filled terror fest, just remember that it really does help it heal quickly! And it doesn’t hurt afterwards for very long!

Now that mutant toething is gone, now I just have to worry about these gashes on my feet from surfing the reefs and rocks…

It’s a hard life, but someone’s gotta live it.

Histoire exclusive de notre envoyé Spécial Niko Papet à Bali, relayée par notre correspondant Charlosse Maury (le 79 du Sud des Landes).

A quelques heures du contest de surf WCT organisé par Rip Curl à Padang Padang, après 12 ans d’absence du Top 44 en Indonésie (dernière apparition à Grajagan), un événement marquant…

tawainese boat on Pagand Padang's reef

Un bateau Taiwanais vient démolir le reef et la vague. L’équipage a quitté le navire, ils étaient férocement recherchés par Greenpeace pour des méthodes de pêche plus que destructrices.
visiblement, le bateau avait disparu depuis le 13 Mai.
Comme on peut le voir sur les photos, le spot marche toujours avec une petite taille, mais les organisateurs s’interrogent sur le fonctionnement de la vague mythique avec un gros swell….

Le backwash pourrait pourrir la vague, le reef démoli pourrait affecter la physionomie de la vague…. Bref… ca doit gamberger sec chez Rip Curl à l’aube de la compétition si attendue.

Plus d’infos sur Surfer Mag, et regardez les photos du spot et la vue satellite sans le bateau… Ca fait tout drôle!