indo chapter 1

Now, how in the world am I going to share with you guys the emotions I am experiencing here in Bali?

A blog post is not enough. Not even for me. I badly need one of those Strange days devices. A waterproof one possibly.

Well, I don't have one. And I'm actually having dinner at a lovely restaurant with free WI-FI and the computer batter already down to 50%, so the usual photo based post will have to do it.

Sorry, the photos get uploaded in chronological order, so the first one you get is related to movie review (kinda of weird for the first Indo post, but whatever).
This French movie called Incendies is amazing. Best film I've watched on a plane, for sure.
BTW, Korean Air rocks. Not only it offers non-Hollywood movies, but the food and the service are great.
During the two long flights (9 and 6 hours) I also watched an italian movie called "L'estate di Martino" (Martino's summer), which I rank as a five and an american movice called "Unknown" which I rank as total BS.


Just landed in Bali, went for a wee. Poor fish, not only they are prisoners in a bloody aquarium, but they are forced to watch the humans urinate... what a fucked up species we are.


For the first nights, I ended up staying in a place called Canggu. Plenty rice fields around. Small bumpy roads that I absolutely love driving on my scooter.
Let's open the scooter chapter.
The traffic in the town of Kuta is crazy and there's millions of scooters that zip all around you.
You guys have to know that I owned my first scooter at age 14 and I drove one in Naples since I left at 26. That not only gives my a huge advantage compared to the other tourists that come from civilized countries where people actually sticks to road rules, but it also brings me back some great youth memories.
God, I forgot how much fun it is to drive a scooter... loving it!


Inexplicably, I forgot to get an Indo Wave Finder. Fortunately at the airport I ran into my friend Steve Sadler who was on the same plane and let me borrow it. I took photos of each page.
Other Maui people going to Indo on the same plane: Elliot Leboe and Ian Gentil on a Billabong sponsored trip. Not too shabby for such a young kid (that'll be Ian).


What da?!?!?! God, I hope the swastika has a different meaning in the Balinese culture than the one the Nazis gave it.


The only drawback of the scooter is that it doesn't have a storage space big enough to hold my "big" camera. So I'm going to take most of the pics of this trip with my brand new Sony W570 that fits easily in my pocket (don't be deceived by the surfing shot, it's not waterproof).
This is one of the many reefs in the Canggu area.


It would be definitely nice if such a setup for buying and drinking a coffee would be available in Maui too...


After having surfed in the morning of the first day, I jumped on the bike and got completely lost in Kuta. Somehow I ended up on the road to Ulu Watu and I just went all the way. That place is amazing.
I'll spend a few more days in Canggu and then move there. Eventually, who knows.


This one gives a better idea of the size of those lines.


Back home in time for the sunset.


And that's the fish buffet of the restaurant where I'm posting from. You pick the fish, they put it on the grill. With beers and vegetables, less than 10 bucks.
The food is great, healthy and cheap. That's my kind of place.



Day two I surfed another reef in the Canggu aread called Echo beach. So much fun. Big, glassy and very mellow. In that one session, I threw more turns than in the whole week in Namotu, which was all about steep drops and racing down the line.
Don't get me wrong, I enjoy both kinds of surfing, but it's nice to have surfed already two days and not having touched the bottom yet. It took me 20 minutes at Cloudbreak to get slammed on the reef...
In the afternoon, I surfed a reef in Kuta called Airport left. Heaps of fun. Heaps.
Description below.



This is the surfline forecast I saved just before leaving. As you can see, my first surfable day (Saturday) was the first day of some size after a spell of small days. You think that was by chance? Rethink.


This is the updated forecast. No shortage of waves and a fairly big swell slotted for Tue/Wed. Where am I going to be? Ulu Watu, G-land, Sumbawa, Sumba... I haven't a bloody clue and that's what the best out of this vacation. No plans, no other persons' need to try to accomodate, I just go with the flow.
I admit that one or two surfing buddies would be nice (U&M, you would have loved Airport Lefts today!), but I'm just fine like this.
Computer battery down to 30%. Live band about to come back after the break. Time to say goodbye.