Indonesia! Balancing on a board and bowels.

Internet connectivity in Indonesia can be a little spotty. In fact I'm writing from New Zealand (actually back in the states) about Indo and I'll have to write a separate section on NZ. Also I'm recovering from a nasty case of Dengue fever but more on that later. Onto the good stuff!
We arrived in Bali from Phuket Thailand after a relatively shortish 4 hour plane ride. Bali is kind of the Cancun for the Aussies as most of them from the west side of Oz are only a few hours away. Straight away we noticed two things. First the language is a bit easier as the writing in Indonesia uses English characters so we can sort of pronounce things. Second the exchange rate is pretty extreme. One U.S. dollar equals about ten thousand Indonesian Rupiahs so everything is hard to convert at first but still relatively cheap.
Our main plan was to stay in Kuta for a day. It's a crazy bustling party town so we wanted to find more serene settings. I needed a board quick as we were close to some legendary waves. I was able to rent one at the local surf shop in Kuta. After Kuta we headed north to Canggu where it was a lot more laid back and the waves are better.

Bali much like Thailand is in a development gold rush. There is so much construction going on that there is a stark contrast between the crowded surf towns and the more remote serene beaches. If and when we do go back, it won't look the same. It's like seeing several worlds after only a few minutes drive. It is amazing to see how westernized it's becoming. A taxi driver said most Australians have Indo as their second home. We our lucky as we have seen much of Indo unspoiled.

Once we made it to Canggu which is about an hour north, we made it our home base for a while. We literally stumbled onto a B&b style villa that was owned by a Guy from France who told me he came to Bali a decade ago. He's a surfer and told me we were in the right spot. We stayed in his place which is pretty unreal. It's the closest thing we've come to a mansion without paying a kings ransom. The other gusts were cool. A young family from Switzerland and a couple from Belgium who I had some great talks about Boonen and Gilbert's future. The main way we explored was by walking around the beach and renting a scooter to get around town. There really isn't much of a town but more of a few little shops and places to eat. Enough for us.

The surfing is pretty insane. Warm water, strong rip currents and pretty good locals in the water. It's intimidating at first. I'm on an unfamiliar board in an unfamiliar place. It took me a while to study the ocean and watching the other guys get in the water but I did eventually get the hang of it. I ended up surfing about five different breaks in Bali. The best part was getting there. If I didn't head straight out, I got everything on the rented pink scooter and headed to some other surf spots.

 There were some pretty cool places to check out other than surf. There is this place called Deus which is kind of a retro motorcycle, bicycle, surf and art shop that has a great pool table and better food. We ate there about three times. There is also a location in Sydney and Venice beach but the location of ours was great. Nestled in the rice fields, with a halfpipe in the back and all of the Bali surf scene checking this place out. When we were there we were able to check out live music as well. The most exciting part of the time was when Kristen accidentally ate a Thai chili. She burst into tears and started to panic. When we got home we looked it up. It's registered 50,000-100,000 heat units on the heat scale so naturally a few days later, I had to try it for myself. The waitress tried to stop me but I did it anyway and it's on you tube!

After we hung out and pretty much relaxed in Canggu we headed more inland to another town called Ubud. It's a hippies paradise. It's filled with temples, mediation places, shops that sell obnoxious trinkets but caters to the traveling hippie and of course a monkey sanctuary. Kristen and I were able to take in a local show of dancing, music that showcased some of the more traditional side of Bali. The show was great except a lady kept standing up right in front of Kristen about 5 times. I'm proud of Kristen for asking her to sit down which she did but didn't dare look back behind her. In Ubud people are tying to sell you stuff all the time and in the art of bargaining, the expression "good price for good luck" was uttered all the time. I haggled with a guy on a Hugo Boss-ish wallet. He started at about 50 bucks but the lowest he would go was 20. I didn't get the wallet.

We also visited a monkey sanctuary. It's basically a park filled to the brim with monkeys doing everything imaginable. They are used to people being around them and they aren't shy. Kristen loved it but for whatever reason, I was not a fan.

We only spent a day in Ubud but after we headed straight for the east part of the island to check out a smaller island called Nusa Lombongan. It's a tiny island but known for it's surfing as well as scuba and snorkling. The paddle outs are long so you can either do it yourself or hire someone to get you out to the break. I chose to paddle which took a while as there are some pretty strong rips there.
We ended up staying at another villa style place where a young lady runs and owns it. There were three little bungalows and we came up close and personal with nature. There are roosters in the morning, frogs in the evening and everything else in between. We even had a nice encounter with a large size lizard that makes quite the noise as we were trying to sleep. Going to the bathroom is fun because it is outside. The goal is to not let anything inside your mosquito netted bed as you sleep but one got in.

The tide changes at Nusa Lombongan is pretty extreme. Where one could surf and scuba during the day, towards evening you could walk out to those reefs. Boats are dry and left there only for the tide to fill in and lift it back up. It became quite the sight.

The only way of transportation around the island is to walk or rent a scooter. Since we were a bit inland, we rented a scooter. You pay up front. You have to buy gas as the tank is empty, no helmets are available and not even mirrors. I'm glad I had Kristen on the back telling me if I was being overtaken by someone. In fact everywhere we went, we noticed all the scooters had the keys left in them. Where would people go with them?

It goes without saying that this part of the world is remote and the island that we were on is as remote as it gets. We were able to chat with our lady who ran the Bungalows. She had her son who was about nine help her with cleaning the rooms. We met him and his two younger siblings about six and one and half. All cute. She introduced us to her three children and then said something that has stuck with me. "I'm rich". By the way the average Indonesian makes about two dollars a day. The young family we met were not big spenders. She didn't have to say anymore. We got it. She was rich. She had three happy healthy kids. She wasn't being sarcastic or ironic. She meant those words. It was kind of shameful on my part to automatically think she wasn't and then do a brain double take. It's a stark contrast how American's define richness.




Towards the last days on Nusa, we hired a boat to take us out and do some snorkling. The views were amazing and I felt like I was in my own gigantic aquarium. Kristen loved it. I have never seen water that clear and sea life so alive. It was quite an experience.

I had no idea that the next twenty four hours or so would be absolute hell. The morning we had to leave our Bungalow and go back to the mainland, I had some pretty serious mosquito bites. Around three in the morning Kristen woke up and shined a light on my body. The bites were the size of quarters and all over my torso. I've been bitten tons before but not like this. In the morning I could not eat or get out of bed. I tried to get up but got really tired. On the ferry ride back, I though I was going to throw up. On the bus I had to lay down. Kristen said that I was getting warm. When we checked in to the hotel, all I wanted to do was sleep. I had a pretty bad temp and I hadn't gone to the bathroom in a long while which is never a good sign.
Kristen decided to take me to the nearest clinic and I did not object. I was too tired to do anything. The clinic is not much more than a room, a bed and a few medical instruments. The doc looked about 15 and her English was not so good but she did take a look at me. We told her the symptoms and she immediately tested me for Dengue Fever. It's a type of fever that is caused by mosquito bites which involves fever, headache, extreme diarrhea. If untreated you could die. She took my temp and it was 102. She tied off my bicep for a while and then shined a light on the skin. It did have red bumps which is an indicator for dengue. The nurse gave me a shot (no gloves) and right before the needle went in, she asked if I was allergic to any meds. Thankfully I said no. After a few prescriptions I was out of there and while I was in the clinic I also got two more mosquito bites as a bonus.
That evening I got no sleep as I was up the entire night running to the bathroom. My insides would rumble and then I would sit on the toilet. Easily one of the most painful nights. I quickly became dehydrated but was thankful for the Skratch single serves that I brought. Slowly the fever went down but the diarrhea stayed with me for a few more days. So no excursions were to be had. Kristen did a great job taking care of me and at the time I seriously thought about getting on a plane straight back home.

After a few nights in the west coast town of Jimburan which was oh so close to one of the best surf breaks Uluwatu. We were getting ready to leave Indonesia for New Zealand.
Indo is a place most people can come to and feel right at home. The irony is that there is so much to this place I will never know. The customs, the prayers, stiff laws (death penalty for drugs) the traffic. It all flows together seemlessly. By far the most dangerous thing to do is drive a scooter. We saw so many foreigners with bandages and heard stories of people getting hit by something or being hit by something. I don't know how I survived. People use horns to communicate and there is no road rage. When you drive you are up close and personal to people. You can see the whites of there eyes and the smiles on their faces. My only rule was don't stop, just flow. That's how people exist in this part of the world. They flow, they move around and they are happy. We saw no homeless people, no beggars or vagrants. People take care of their own. It may be one of the richest countries I've been to. New Zealand has a lot to live up to and did not disappoint.