Thursday 11th Dec NUSA DUA day
Its been one whole day without drinking coffee, for me this is a record as I have slowly become highly habitualised to my morning Americano in Cafe Gusto Bristol. It has also been one whole day constipated and feeling backed up with a stomach full of convenience store junk food..Looking for an internet/ cafe with a good fast internet connection has not been so easy in Kuta, everyone and their dog has a laptop and bandwidth is shared out amongst quite a few people and it is not that wide either.
Coffee addiction progress report;
COFFEE 1 – JASON 0
Coffee has won for the time being it, unfortunately it just happens that the fastest internet connections in Kuta, Bali happen to be in the chain store coffee shops where the aroma at the desk and the muffins are a hard test to overcome.. when the alternative is, well a hot chocolate. As a justification I seem to be able to map my position in the morning after a strong black coffee and a pan au chocolate and 15 mins later all inside digestive workings become regular once again like clockwork..
Today consisted of getting my blog up to speed and ready to go live and picking up my newly repaired surfboard. Great job just like new no evidence of any repairs all for about £8 unbelievable value, especially including a hand drawn map to a Surf Spot called;
NUSA DUA;
located on the south east coast of Bali, its approx. 40 minutes on a moped (20 minutes through traffic, 20 minutes open roads) The sun was shining bright today and factor 40 sun cream was the order of the day. the journey to Nusa Dua was an absolutely wonderful experience;
Firstly;
because I am going to be surfing as often as possible and will be in the water, the moped has nowhere to leave anything valuable except for a small space under the seat large enough for surf wax, a rash vest and a few small notes for parking and loose change for a snack on the way back. I have been warned that locals occasionally lift up seats of mopeds with surfboard racks parked at surf spots knowing people may leave wallets and watches there.
In reality traveling from ones hotel to any surf spot means you are riding wearing only shorts and a vest. Todays journey was through unbelievable “free for all style” congestion and then along dual carriage-ways. Only reef slippers on, no possibility of shoes as there is no where to leave them when surfing in the water. This means wearing what amounts to almost nothing, one step up from barefoot traveling at 9okm/hr. Its going to be a fact of life from now on so each day this is going to be one hell of an experience..
I arrived at NUSA DUA late afternoon today and along the way I was blessed with first hand view of the marvels of Indonesian Architecture, Sculptures, Temples and Statues, I will definitely be taking my camera for an outing here to bring you some of the beauty I saw today. Nusa Dua consists of 3 small secluded beaches, beautiful palm trees and plants all around. Nusa Dua is host to a whole coastline of magnificent 5 star luxury hotels and the roadside plantations and gardens are like a landscape gardeners dream come true, no expense spared, spotlessly clean, wonderfully managed and authentic in their feel and established appearance. Wonderful gorgeous place to come and relax. Now the best part…
There were waves!! so pleased, two days in a row now…
Offshore wind, small to learn on and a beautiful backdrop to look at whilst bobbing about in the sea. There were about 15 local Indonesian boys in the sea and a Japanese and Australian surfer. Each local Indonesian knew exactly where each wave was coming from and where to be to catch it, they were all amazing surfers. Lots of smiles and laughter in the sea today, a great opportunity to meet some locals and experience their friendliness, we exchanged a few words with a japanese surfer on holiday, and I learnt Indonesian and Japanese for clouds, sea and cold but I’ve already forgotten.. Stood up quite a few times today but not as many as i would of liked, needed to win favor with local surfers as the waves were being shared out in rations today…and I plan on making this a regular spot this next month.
SHALLOW WATER
Nusa Dua, Bali, Beaches.. Google maps
NB;the water was very shallow today at Nusa Dua, about 4ft breaking over a razor sharp rocky sea bed with crystal clear blue sea, this felt ok today in small waves but I had the feeling that when the swell picks up this rocky seabed would hurt in a big way if you ever hit it falling off. I also noticed one of the local Indo surfers had scars all over his back, seems its almost a rite of passage here.
Mushrooms Nusa Dua, this is the name of the point break on the top of the image, and Nusa Dua Black Rocks is the right hand break at the bottom of the headlands
After the ride back to Kuta, there was an absolute downpour of rain in a matter of minutes, looks like the weather had turned again not unlike the UK but its warm rain! I am feeling a warm glow in my spirit, as warm rain hits me in the face at 90km/hr wearing swim shorts and a vest.. Not in England and I havent seen a speed camera in sight!
AFFORDABLE local cuisine,
I have not yet managed to eat well since arriving, so this evening i was speaking to some locals whose faces have become familiar in the street I now am staying in. I asked one of them if he knew where I could get cheap Indonesian food where the locals eat. He said he would show me. I let him ride my moped with me on the back and he took me to a small restaurant where we had 3 types of spicy Indonesian fish, seasoned vegetables and rice, two bottles of water and the total price 40,000 rupees (£2.35 for two people) It was well worth doing this as the food was wonderfully tasty, nutritious and it seems the Indonesians shop owners do not treat you like a tourist when you are with a local. This local’s name was Ivan and on first impressions he seems like a good guy, he understands I want to live here a while and make the rupees go as far as possible, I found a great super affordable place to eat from now on and he got some dinner.
The difference;
This is great new level of human behavior and interaction that never seems to happen in my world in the UK. Just meeting friendly faces compared to all the miserable ones in the UK is so refreshing, he didnt say he wanted something in return I just offered to pay for his food, even if he had expected something in return thats cool by me. From my experience many (not all) people in the UK all want something to in exchange for anything they do and even when they have don eit and received due rewards they are still too pissed off to even smile.
“Half Bullemia”
What have I learnt, I guess that as a human being just surviving in the world the difference between appreciating getting a meal in your stomach and being well and truly “FED UP” , is the differene between a lean strong fit body or a fat old belly full of junk food sat in front of the TV…
I have not seen many fat Indonesians, unlike the UK.
This reminds me of an Interesting Quote from my gymnast friend Sally Miller
“Jason” she said “I can not believe how many people I know with half an eating disorder”
“what do you mean by half an eating disorder Sally” I asked
she then replied,
“well its obvious, take a look they are all half bullemic”
“what do you mean by half bullemic Sally?” I asked
“well” she said “they obviously have no problem stuffing their faces but never get around to ever throwing up!”
“Oh Sally “I replied you can’t say that
“why not its true, how can someone let themselves get so fat its not right”
So there you go my friend Sally Miller’s take on English eating habits, well the Indonesian locals do not seem to be suffering from”half bullemia” which as a result makes nearly all the Indonesian women appear very attractive as they are all slim with all their facial bone structures on display..
Anyway friendship doesn’t happen overnight so I will see what happens there.. watch this space..
Great day today, the stuff dreams are made of, and all the bits I had not even imagined!
