Bali In My Eyes, Perry Farrell

Bali Kuta Beach 016
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4-26-07 Bali, Indo

Aaaah, Bali. The word alone conjures visions of the exotic. Tall palm trees swaying against a pillow cloud filled bluer than blue sky, waves crashing against the glistening black sand beach, all with the slightly off tune Balinese xylophone playing from the Hindu temple in the background. Yep, doesn’t get more exotic than this. Three weeks I have to play in this paradise. Tough life mine huh?

But where to start? Hmmm – surfing has its lure in me so it’s off to Kuta Beach. Yikes! WAY too many touts, tourists and big waves for this sad excuse of a malibu rider. Nothing but the slop for me I’m afraid. Four days later and I want to escape into the nether regions, away from Starbucks and local women piercing my ears with ‘maaasOGE’ all day long on the beach. Time for a road trip. Look out pedestrians I’ve rented meself a screaming Tiger for the week. That’s right, for just $6 a day I get a wannabe superbike with 200cc of step-above-scooter power. But hey, it handles well and at least it had a clutch.

Bali Kuta Beach 028
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So where to? Ubud for some mountain scenery (so-many-rice-terraces) and local culture. Next it’s Tulumen on the East coast to dive the USS Liberty, a freighter the Japanese sunk (the bastaads). Very cool and colorful. Then it’s back to Ubud to retrieve the cell phone I left (had to happen eventually but at least I got it back). Same day it’s over the mountains (brrrr – in the rain) to Lovina for a couple of laid back days. After it’s Pemuteran for a very quiet local scene and diving Menjangen island (nice wall dives but where the heck are the sharks!?)

Bali Menjangan Clown
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All were fun but the truth is the best part was the bike. Riding these twisting mountain switch-back roads all week was some of the best fun I’ve had on this trip. Granted, a 40 pound pack strapped to me while maneuvering a curvy road in monsoon type rain was a bit unnerving at times and of course those Police bribery shakedowns are always fun, but on the whole it was a highlight I won’t forget. A motorcycle tour like this in Hawaii would cost a few grand. I did it for about a two hundred.

Bali Surf n Me 2
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So ten days to go still, what now? A new island I think. So it’s off to Lombok for a few days of diving and beach combing but first the Balinese gods have smiled on me. I get back to Kuta and the surf has mellowed. Perfect little rollers all morning long that I could actually catch and ride. Yeah, this place is definitely growing on me.

Next post when I find decent internet again. Probably not for another week.

Hang Ten Dude, Born to Be Wild, and any other bad surf or road cliché you can think of - Bill