Surfing

i left my camera charger/uploader chord in Jakarta and will have to buy another one so I can upload pics, but ive got some good ones as soon as I do.

Funny story, i was gonna go out Friday night and all my friends from my hostel were cool but...I took a nap. Was supposed to be for an hour but i went to bed and 8:30pm and woke up at 2am. so i didnt go out, haha. Got u early and went exploring around Seminyak and Kuta, two neighboring towns which actually just run together. I tried to get lost so I would have to learn the roads a little better...mission accoplished, haha, i definitely got lost.

Got back, grabbed breakfast and got a little more acquainted with Bali by reading and then hopped on my scooter and rolled to Canggu to met Mirko at Tugu Beach. Mirko is a friend of a friend who teaches surf lessons here and was really cool and a great teacher. I was really rusty since 7 years ago in Costa Rica, but i shook it off pretty quickly and was up and surfing in no time. The water here is absolutely perfect and the waves were beautiful. Definitely got a good workout and a solid sunburn as well. I feel like i will try to turn this trip into a surf based deal now after talking with Mirko after surfing. He is 33 and has been surfing since he was 19. The guy literally has followed the waves around the world and just lives wherever is best for surfing and he can get a visa, haha. I was inspired and definitely made me doubt my ideas of a regular life. We talked about a lot of things and mainly really hit on the rest of my trip. I had been planning to just fly from Cairns to New Zealand as soon as I got there, but after talking to Mirko and hearing all he had to say about Australia and surfing and lifestyle, I think I will just go from Cairns all the way down the coast to Sydney. I am going to try(operative word) and turn this into a trip to make me a good surfer, which i am far from at the moment.

I feel like after talking to him and my buddy Oleg, this will make the trip focused around a hobby that Ive always loved but never been great at. A worthy endeavor I think.

After surfing I went to a place that Mirko suggested called Mojo's Burritos for a shrimp burrito to get refueled. I also bought the coolest damn blow dart gun i have ever seen! It looks like I should be living in an African tribe or something. It has a build in dart holder and is camouflaged because it is made of wood and stuff. Very solid purchase for 9 bucks. Then I road my scooter around Seminyak to get more in tune with the local digs and grabbed a beer at a ritzy bar on the beach called, Ku De Ta. It was a beautiful location and I will probably go back there.

I grabbed another massage when I finally got back to my neck of the woods in Legian. This massage wasnt so great though. The one the day before was actually better but both were cheap as dirt. In Thailand i could get an hour long massage for 5-8 bucks and these were 8 bucks each. Sweet prices and worth it after surfing.

When I got back to The Island, my hostel, I hung out and listened to stories from all of my bunk mates and made some great friends over a poolside beer. Chris and his group are from England, Two dutch guys, a Canadian guy,an asian swedish girl, british girl, aussie girl, and Oleg who was from New Zealand. We all got showered up and went to dinner at Blue Ocean. I had and amazing seafood dinner! I am still on NYC prices instead of traveling prices, so when I saw a seafood basket with swordfish, mahi mahi, snapper, calimari, shrimp and rice for 11 bucks I knew exactly what to get. It was amazing and really filled me up. We had great conversation over great food and drinks and I got to know my fellow Islanders much better. Then we paired down and went out. Oleg became a good buddy because he has worked in finance as well and was a cool dude doing kind of the same trip i was doing through thailand and everything. the girls and us went out to a couple of bars and then we ended up at the tourist hotsot...Sky Garden, haha. This is a 5 story party, untz untz, dance, drink, extravaganza filled with tourists. It was great actually although extremely trite and obvious. Had a great night and here I am today alive and well.

About to go try to get my camera chord, a day pack, a shirt and a snack. I love this place. After errands Im going to a surfing market at Deus Ex Machina to try to buy a used board and hang out with Mirko. I think they put a movie together and are throwing a party too, should be fun.