So I just finished my 3 days of hanging out and surfing in Bali. The surf was great (even though I was told it was the worst in 3 weeks, it was fine for a beginner), although the place was quite touristy.

I arrived somewhat late in the afternoon, so my first night there, I was pretty tired so I pretty much just had dinner, did some reading and went to bed. The next morning, I met a guy named Phil having breakfast. He's here for 2 months on about 400 pounds and spends just over $8 CDN a day - crazy. Anyway, he asked me if I wanted to go out surfing in the afternoon. Sure, so I went and rented my board for the day for about $3.50 and headed out to try surfing.

Apparently the surf was pretty bad (probably the same as we had in Ko Pha Ngan) but it was fine for learning. He had been doing it for a while, so he showed me a couple pointers, mainly that you want to catch the wave a little before it's breaking, not as it's breaking like I was doing before. (If you catch it as it's breaking, you get slammed into the water, not so much fun...) After about a couple hours of this, we headed out for a little food.

That night, one of the girls he had met, was having a get together, he invited me to come along. I ended up spending most of the night chatting with an Indonesian guy named IW (pronounce "E" "Weigh"). Really cool guy, he's an artist (IW is how he signs his paintings) and moved from place to place every 6 months setting up new gallaries. Then, he lives off the money he makes from selling his paintings for 5 or so months and then starts up again. Kinda nomadic, but he likes it...

Went out after to a club called M-Bar-Go. They let foreigners in for free, but charge all the locals, we argued with the bouncers for a while, and then one girl who did a photo shoot there a couple days ago talked to the manager and he let all the locals with us in. Decent place, beers were expensive in Indonesian terms but cheap compared to local terms...all in all a pretty fun night...

Next day did some more surfing, waves were a little better, maybe 4 feet or so?? not too sure, got a little sunburnt on my face, and a little more tanned. Note to those who are learning to surf, not only does a shirt help you not sunburn you back, but the wax on your board is not too pleasent after about an hour of rubbing against your chest. Luckily I found this out the first day, and reacted accordingly the second.

Just finished my 24 hour bus ride to Jakarta, sans valium. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, they fed me and I managed periodic sleep during the night and one and a half John Grisham books and my newly purchased best of "Guns & Roses" and "Dire Straits" albums kept me occupied the rest of the time. Heading out to Abu Dhabi today, the airline messed up, so I need to spend a night there (at their expense) before flying to Cairo. It may not be such a bad thing, cause this will probably be by far the nicest place I will stay in during my whole trip. Hot shower and large clean bed here I come.

Talk to you again from Africa....

Cheers,
Drew