Indonesia 2011

After my (Nici) semester abroad in Australia we met again in Bali. After two days of surfing in Kuta, we escaped the mass tourism along the coast towards the northwest to Soka Beach near Belian. After an upgrade we enjoyed the luxury in the bungalow and rented a scooter to get to the black surf beach in Belian.

Since a longer taxi ride we arrived in Padang Bai to take the ferry to Lombok the next day. We had decided against the speedboat for reasons of cost and safety, which we regretted a bit having a Bali Belly in 5 hours of swell on the public ferry.

After we finally reached the port of Lembar we took a taxi to the southeast to Kuta, Lombok. We lived in a beautiful bungalow complex and drove with the scooter to the surf spot, which we recognized as such only at the second time. Starting from Gerupuk we had to go out to the bay with a boat (and its fisherman) to see the waves at all. The wave broke over an underwater seaweed bush (above the reef) and was thus in the middle of the bay. The wave was very big, but slower and gentler than other reef breaks.

A few days later we went on to the Gili Islands, more precisely to Gili Meno, the middle of the three islands, both in terms of size and noise level. But this does not mean a lot of traffic. Cars and scooters are not allowed to drive on the island, you have to explore the islands by horse-drawn carriage or by foot. Gili Trawangan, the biggest of the three islands, has meanwhile become a party island. Gili Air is the smallest and quietest of the islands. We liked Gili Meno very much: white beach, turquoise water and a lot of peace and relaxation.

Back on Bali again (this time we needed only three hours with little swell) we went directly to the cultural center of the island: Ubud. There we visited the Monkey Forrest and the Ubud Palace Temple (there we just saw construction work for a funeral ceremony of a member of the royal family), as well as the traditional market and watched the fire dance (Kecak Dance).

After so much relaxation and culture it was time for surfing again. We drove down the peninsula Uluwatu to Bingin, but we only watched the surfers, because the reef breaks are only for real experts.

The last days we spent in a northern part of Kuta, Legian, which was much calmer. Besides surfing we spent the time exploring the area by scooter. Both the rice fields, as well as the temple Tanah Lot on a cliff, pleased us particularly.

After four weeks in Indonesia I flew back to Australia to grab my stuff and Kai stayed another week before we both went back to Germany.