Jason Lunn.com/ Surfing and life in Indonesia

Back in Lombok having surfed in Bali with my English friend John Morgan aka Jonny Rad. We surfed at Balian for a week on brown mud filled waves as a result from heavy rain and overflow from Balian river. If you want toget ill surfing this is the place..

After staying a week here at Ayu’s accomodation we then took the ferry back to Lombok and have been surfing here the last 10 days. Good clean powerful Righthanded reef breaks every day. J Rad is good fun, today he let me shave off all his hair and give him a Mohawk! He is still a 10 year old inside a mans body.

Still feeling the pain from the exchange rate crash off the pound and to make it worse it has started going back up again today!! Life..

Basically we stayed in a really cool room overlooking the wave for a few days, it was a place called Pondok Pataya, about 200 000 rupiah per night between two people so about £7 each including breakfast. I think the accommodation and restaurant are owned by a western business man /surfer living his dream in Bali. I didnt really meet him except when he nearly run me over surfing like a kamikaze on his longboard on the back sets one day. Anyway the restaurant has great food reasonably priced, good viewing, great relaxed vibe,good mellow music and friendly staff. Also the owner has made lots of viewing platforms and comfortable seating for all who use the beach break to use including a shower to wash off the black sand this is most commendable and adds to the relaxed vibe at the beach. It also seems that a swimming pool and some extra rooms are being built as I type this which will only make the place more busy,. But hey its a soft wave and seems to attract more surfer girls in small bikinis than other breaks so that is all good to. As much as I like to spread my money around local businesses we returned to chill and eat here every day.. Pondok Pitaya is the name, and it most definitely has the location location factor..

Pondok Pitaya accommodation, this was a cool room with cool bits and pieces,

This room is in THE with a capital T prime location

Toilet roll holder

Ok whilst we had a great time staying here in order to set a bit of balance as a “whinging pom” as we are known worldwide, a few minor points that would have made our stay here perfect,

1.we had to move out of our first room which was great to another not so great room which cost the same money as a result we ended up finding cheaper and better value for money accomodation at AYU’s 100 meters up the road.

2.The restaurant did great porridge, great porridge is a luxury in Indonesia, having surfed for three hours the chefs served up half full bowls, this is annoying as hell because its not good to complain and its even worse to still be starving hungry having spent western prices on food. So when we ordered we had to ask for full bowls and then we got them, when we didnt ask they went back to half full which was bizzare.. Oliver Twist factor

3. They put the price up on the room from 200 000 rupiah to 300 000 rupiah in the 4 days we stayed there this wasnt cool so we moved out..

Other than that like I said, it is a great place, good pizza, tasty food, cold beer and friendly staff with a great view and location of the surf which could be shared by all present so all good really…

Balian Beach

Pondok Pitaya Location Location

Pondok Pitaya viewing point

Balian Sunset

Any given evening

Pondok Pitaya viewpoint

Pondok Pitaya Garden

Pondok Pitaya garden and surf checkout spot

Pondok Pitaya board rack

Pondok Pitaya Fresh Ruffage Salad worth a try

Pondok Pitaya and some Indo rainforest to eat from

Balian, waves, ambience, sights, and general everyday stuff if you were to visit including some of the sights along the way if you were to ride a moped from Kuta like we did…

The wave,..

Small waves attract the crowds,..

Balian Market

Truck stop

This dug out boat will float

Paddy fields everywhere

Paddy fields

Johnny Rad Paddy field poser

One of the many sights on the road to Balian

Roadside anatomy lesson, Balinese roadkill

I wasnt sure whether to post this dog splat picture however Idecided I want my blog to be as objective as possible. Seriously this sight made me feel pretty uneasy and also a reminder that I do not want to end up like the dog, driving on the road to Balian behind all the trucks heading for Java is certainly more dangerous than surfing the waves there..

Bacon sandwich?

Piggy in a basket

one of many rice paddy fields

Bali Petrol Station

Soka Beach on the way

A temple on the way

My friend from Bristol “Johny Rad” has arrived back in Bali and we are going on a small surf trip to a place called Balian, it picks up a bit of swell and has nice places to stay so it shoild be fun. John is a really good surfer and fun to surf with, he only has 10 days left in Indo so we are going in search of waves.. Below is Balian I have been here before but never actually surfed but this is what it looks like from the cows perspective

Balian Bali