Bali and Beyond

BALI[b]

joey and I at the tennis match in Bali

Motor bike wound.

Cool staute in Bali.

BEYOND BALI

Sleeping on the ferry.

Scar Reef posse.

Scar Reef on a bad day.

waiting in the jungle for a flat tire to be fixed.

Pre- pig hunt

sunset

So the last time I typed I was heading off for the unknown. We went to the island of Sumbawa and two ferries, overland in Lombok and about ten hours later we were at our central location, Scar Reef. We chose the area because of the waves and we weren’t disappointed. Sumbawa was amazing and the people were so hospitable. We stayed at the scar reef guest house which is run by three first generation surfers around the age of 25 and the place is usually always frequented by their friends who love to have a good time. The island of Sumbawa is about the size of Bali with way less people so it wasn’t as much of a hassle when it came to being hoarded for tourist driven dollars. Every island in Indonesia besides Bali is Muslim driven and that was a whole new culture to take in. we could constantly hear the chatter from the mosque over the hill and it was super active for we were there during Ramadan. We got a kick out of driving down the road because most sumbawanese people don’t know much more English that screaming “hello mister!” at every westerner they see. We were taken to a secret surf spot one of the days by the boys and were not left without an adventure when we got a flat tire in the middle of the jungle about an hour from the nearest town. Also another fun thing we did quite frequently was hunt pigs. I came up with the idea one day and it caught on like wild fire. Soon everyone was shaping spears from bamboo and all the locals got a kick out of watching us trek through the hills at night trying to kill pigs but to come up empty handed.

I was out of the water for a few days because my wound looked really bad. Much worse than the picture which was taken a week prior. It was a good time to reflect on my trip and I read 2 books in 2 days. We finally headed back to Bali after a week at scar reef and made a new addition to our traveling squad. We are now traveling with three frechies as we call them and are all having a blast.

NOW... gettin back to Bali was a whole nother story. the trip that should have taken 10 ended up being a 16 hour trip through the night into lombok and getting lost numerous times. The time passed easily with how much fun we were all having until our police episode started. To make a long story short we had to pay off the corrupt Indonesian police at the ferry because of the fact we didn’t have a proper license but if it wasn’t that it was something else. We were warned about this type of thing but when it happened it really hit home how much of a 3rd world corrupt gov’nt this is. We were set back about 35 dollars which didn’t compare to the frowns on our face as our trip turned sour. I am leaving for Australia. On Friday and meeting my good mate Brock. The plan is to buy a station wagon and cruise the coast for a month or so. Stay tuned...