Scribbles Abroad

Our trip back from Lovina was an easy 4 hour mini bus ride that weaved through the center of Bali. We headed up into the mountains and then dropped down through Ubud finally landing us back in Seminyak. We spent the last couple of days in Bali involved taking a quick trip to Medewi, hanging out with new friends, meeting up with some old ones from Hawaii, and of course surfing.

Louise and I hopped onto our moto and trekked about 3 hours up to Medewi where we were lucky enough to score some fun waves. It’s a long left that peels over cobblestones and some big rocks as well. Its not the typical Bali wave that pitches and barrels but rather rolls along the point and has some fun rippable sections that you have to be patient for in order for them to set up. We made friends with the locals, especially one named Hadi. I hooked him up with my tunes onto his new ipod. Hope he likes my music.

While we were there we checked out the tree that a road goes through.  In Bali, certain trees are sacred.  This one was so sacred that they built the road to go through it rather than cut it down.  We also got to try soto ayam for the first time.  This cheap dish is a delicious soup made up of mysterious meatball, noodles, chicken, and rice chunks.  Try it when you get to Indo.

When we got back to Seminyak we moved back into our mansion after spending one night at Jacopos. This place was unreal and the price we were paying was even better. I will not disclose it here but lets just say you spend more going to Kozo Sushi to buy lunch. It’s a 2 bedroom place with a giant foyer, full kitchen, big bathroom, and great living room.

To celebrate our return, we had a surf out at Coup De Ta and then went out to dinner with John and Shinya.  We met John in Bingin and he ended up being a solid bloke.  John’s got an import business sending textiles to Cali, but he’s getting into the biz of importing jiu-jitsu guis (the outfits they wear).  Wishing him luck on his endeavor, and soaking in the entrepreneurial juices flowing from his mind, its quite inspiring.  But I don’t think sweat harbinging jackets and pants are Louise and my dig.  Jacopo had a leather bag deal, and countless others were living the life exporting goods and drinking Bintangs on the beach.

John had us over to his house which he rents for extremely cheap on a two year basis.  His pet monkey is an extremely jealous girl.  She loves guys but girls are forbidden.  Another girl that was at his house had a scar on her arm from the monkeys bite and when Louise tried to pet it the thing attacked.  It was hilarious and gnarly at the same time.  Louise was just out of reach since the monkey was on a leash so glad to say she is ok!

We found out that our friends Leeanne and Kimberly from Hawaii were in town so we arranged to meet up with them. They’re sisters on their way to a wedding of a family member in Thailand. A stop in Bali was in their itinerary and we were stoked to show them around a bit. We had them meet up with us at Uluwatus in Warung Salin. They relaxed, had a bite to eat, then went snorkeling at the beach while we surfed.

That evening I picked the two of them up on my moto and zipped through Kuta back to our place for a beer. We then met up with Jacopo and had another great meal at Zanzibars.  Jacopo drove them home as I had a few too many Bintangs.

The next day we did some shopping, tried to teach them the ropes of bargaining without angering their mother for knocking over rice bowls. There’s a saying here that goes, “don’t go knocking over anyone’s ricebowls”. In other words don’t bargain the pants off the locals, they need to eat, and need the money a hell of a lot more than we do. We’ve been keeping that in mind but we did manage to get some sarongs for $1.70 each!” After all that shopping I was able to fit Louise, Kimberly, Leeanne, and myself onto my moto and we headed for sunset drinks at the O-Ce-N. It was quite a scene. I had three beautiful women on my bike and including me, that set a personal record, 4 people!

Mosquito’s are a never ending problem in Indonesia and one way to feel some retribution was to swat them with the electric tennis rackets.  We were both taking Doxicycline while out of Bali, but I stopped while in Bali.  Louise is a mosquito magnet and they follow her everywhere.  She’ll get bit 10 times a night and I’ll get bit only once if at all.

On our last evening in Bali we went to three different restaurants.  We started at Rumours (appetizer), then went to Sasas (main course), and ended at Cafe Bali (desert).  They’re all awesome restaurants and we highly recommend them.

We left the next day, off to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. We were headed to stay with a complete stranger named Ditesh from our couchsurfing network.

Puppies in the village Jacopo lived in.

New shakeface!

Jacopos entrance to the Shakeface!

Bought this new camera at the end of the Bali trip (yeah yeah, great timing I know), hopefully will get some photos for you! Waterproof!, but I’ve heard that before.

This guys outfit is awesome.

This is a temple in a convienience store parking lot.  Bali is truly the land of a million temples, they’re everywhere.

Canggu, fun peaky beachbreak

More Canggu

When we surfed Jacopos couch, this was it.  Not bad eh?

Coming up next…….Malaysia!