tres chicos in bali 08

8.21.08 short something

2008-10-31T04:25:00.000-07:00

Seems to be little dining story to me:)

8.21.08

Yesterday I led my first solo zodiak session out to Airport Lefts, with Lars as my first mate. Although we had some minor difficulties mounting the outboard motor, prompting one guest to ask, "have you ever done this before?" we made it out no problem and anchored successfully on our second try.

Get the best seafood...go Jimbaran bay

Mr B showing off his baby

Afterwards, I tried to find Warung Nikmat driving, but got lost and parked in downtown Kuta Square, with the zodiak strapped to the roof.

I led the wandering group, asking directions from street vendors until I found the secret alley passageway to my favorite local restaurant. That afternoon I had only one guest and took him to Anatara rivermouth, which was too big and fast for him, but gave me some really fun rides out of the riptide.

Dawid

I took a two-hour post-session nap; yoga was cancelled, so Bartek and I decided to take everyone out to sushi. The previous evening, we all dined on the beach at Jimbaran Bay, Warung Nyoman - fresh fish, squid, prawns, and lobster . . . best of all, guides ate for free for bringing so many guests.

Get yourself a lobster loca!

Guess who's the boss?
Ollie, Joko, Don Trey

Bartowski y Lara

This night however was a national holiday, even the vast majority of "taksi" drivers weren't working, leaving the streets relatively empty, so we shouldn't have been suprised when the first two sushi restaurants we went to were both closed.

Balcony

Luckily, the second was right off of Poppies Lane, just down the street from Balcony, Rizal's restaurant.

Food was overpriced, service slow, they cooked the shit out of my "very rare" tuna medallion, but they did have cheap and strong house margaritas and the guests were enamored with all of the surf memorabilia, especially the wall-of-fame, full of signed photos of various pro surfers enjoying themselves in the restaurant.

Get yourself both cheap and good surfboard
poppies lane uno n duo

Because the meal took so long I missed my Skype dates with my mom and Paul Scarborough.

The last e-mail I got from P.S. let me know that some of our mutual good friends are now with child.

As it's a surf restaurant...celebrities were on the wall

I'm glad that they have gotten to see so much of the world this last year as dedicated travelers before beginning their family. I'm also very happy for them; I'm also very glad it's them and not me . . .

Threads from Trey's Journal: Another round, Part II

2008-09-29T15:34:00.000-07:00

On the way
Back left: Simon the boss, Bartek the man, Ollie the dud
Front left: Roland the king, Trey the jungle

We got back that afternoon and had just enough time for a movie and small nap before packing and jumping back in the Kijang with the rest of the guides to go camp at Balian for the night.

Happy ice-conny-cream
Cicrle K stopover aka get yourself either icecream or Bintang

Although the surf had been shit there today, Saturday was the full moon, so we were holding out hope for a freak swell jump. We loaded up on Bintangs and munchies at the Circle K and then hit the road.

trryfying ice-joko-cream

On the way, we passed a stray 2x4 in the middle of the road, which isn't too out of the ordinary, "hati-hati" are the words to literally live by when driving in Bali, but the locals on the motorbike behind us didn't see it in time and got pancaked on the pavement when they hit it.

Our beach-campground

We went back to make sure they were alright, which they seemed to be, more or less, though badly rattled.

"Georgetrey"

When we got to the beach, we set up our tents and lanterns, and Lars proceeded to roll joint after joint while Joko played guitar and the two of us sang louldly into the cloudy night sky, which would occassionally offer a bright, shining glimpse of the hidden moon.

Don Ollie

Once we decided to call it a night, Joko and Connie had a tent to themselves, and I had a huge four-man tent to myself.

Mesy-haircut Larsie

During the course of the night however, two separate showers passed through, and I was soon joined by Vialett and Lars, while the others did their best to stay dry by burying themselves as deep as possible into their boardbags.

Scary-eye Bartie

I woke at first light and the surf was far from motivating, so I went back to bed.

Joko Johnson

When I woke again, an hour or so later, the empty line-up was now clogged with thirty Japanese, with more stretching on the beach - back to bed.

I only left the comfort of my sleeping bag when forced by my bladder, but once up, I suited up and paddled out.

Say Aloha to all the Japs

It was lumpy and mushy, occassional head-high peak drops with soft shoulders; despite this, I managed a few good ones and even got a few shots with Joko behind the lens.

Bartek on the way for his banana pancake

Trey on the way for his omlette deluxe

We had a stellar breakfast at the same restaurant, and then made the journey home to prepare for the Green Room disco party that evening.

Banana pancake, high-fat.

Omlette Deluxe, higher-fat

Double omlette

On our drive back, as we were innocently cruising along, the other guide car whizzed by us and Connie doused Roland with a jug of water through his open window.

Indofanta
That's a shot from the series "only in indo"

We tried to get revenge three times only to be thwarted by locked doors and closed windows or the traffic itself. Every time we failed, the other car's crew laughed harder and harder at our efforts.

chomp on this

Jose in Rio

Let's go home

Only Kebab place on the island, just 1.20$

Hello, I'm in Indo

Threads from Trey's Journal: Another round, Part I

2008-09-23T23:36:00.000-07:00

8.17.08 - Indonesian Independence Day

This last Thursday Joko and I took a few guests up to Medewi, one of the world's longest lefts, up on the west coast of Bali. We left at 5am and got there a little after seven. We stayed at Agus' family's house; Agus was the head guide at Kima for five years before leaving to start his own surf camp called "Brown Sugar," which is still under construction. Upon arrival we were greeted with coffee, tea, and platters of sweet fried bananas. Joko was telling Agus about my fresh back tattoo compliments of the reef at Bingin, which prompted Agus to show me his personal shrine - to himself.

14 people Kijang...hell yeah

He had a huge poster of himself in the barrel at Bingin, and then six smaller action & lifestyle photos underneath a big graphic of his name . . . the real kicker was that the poster was signed. Here was a guys showing me a poster of himself, which he signed himself - a classic first impression. The point break of Medewi is right across the street from his house, so after a quick surf check that revealed a packed line-up with three foot sets, we opted to drive a little further up the coast to surf an empty beach break by ourselves. I surfed for about three hours, swapping boards with Joko and getting some fun waves in conditions that I normally wouldn't have even paddled in.

Mbargo

That afternoon was a pretty extreme low tide and Medewi wasn't working at all, so I took a nice nap after a few banana pancakes. When I woke up, I read some George Oppen, who inspired me to go sit on the side of the road and attmpt to capture pieces of the lives passing me by.

Trey chillin in Alam Kul Kul,
That they was almost that shitty as messy was previous night
For example Betina ended up with 20 stiches on her face, she is fine by now

The town only has on paved road, so it is relatively busy, and a white man with a notebook sitting in a chair on the road-side was quite an oddity for the villagers who were all amused with my presence, which illicted smiles, waves, and beeps from nearly all passers. After an hour or so, Joko and I went to go check out Agus' camp, which so far consists of four traditional Java-nese style two-story guest shacks, an office, and a restaurant building. Joko and I had varying opinions about the building plans and layout, but were both impressed that Agus had sacked up and gone into business for himself.

That evening Agus' mother, who we all called "Mama," prepared us a traditional dinner of fresh fish, chicken, rice, and curry soup. Because it is a Muslim household, we don't wear any shoes (even on the patio) and we ate dinner on the floor of the living room, sitting on rugs that they roll out especially for meals. Agus is one of nine brothers, a few of which are traditional fishermen, so the fish was very fresh and prepared deliciously with a blend of local spices and vegetables.

I guess we already mentioned that our street is famous for scary lady-boys
Some of them can look sexy after just few Bintangs...be careful

After cleaning my own plate, I finished off the leftover fish of a few skeptical guests until I was on the verge of a food coma. I was stretched out on the sofa nodding off, when the chanting from the nearby mosque woke me; they have chanted reading five times a day, and despite how small Medewi is, they have two mosques. Joko shared some great memories of his childhood growing up in Sumatra as well after dinner. The Dutch, in an effort to populate the thousands of uninhabited islands of Indonesia, created a kind of homesteading support system.

Bartek and his model Lara :)

They would give away a tract of land to a participating family, including a home, then provide equipment for clearing the land for three months, and financial support for one year. Because it was a government operation, usually only one house of each development was checked for meeting standard requirements, when that house passed inspection, the officials would pass the entire development.

George from the Jungle
The best shoots always in Balangan

Joko said that the homes were in such poor condition that half of the people who originally came to settle this town in Sumatra left the very same day they arrived. In his own home, there was a giant tree stump that was so obtrusive that his mother didn't think that there was even enough room for all of them to sleep. Joko's father signed on for the program because he would be able to retire ten years earlier. When they arrived, his mother begged for them to return to the city (Kuta), but since they had already sold all of their belongings to make the trip, his father refused. So Joko grew up in a village with one mud street with no electricity, where elephants and even tigers occassionally roamed through his yard.

Jiggy-jiggin

All the children would walk to school together with their mini-machetes, chopping snacks off of their neighbors trees. Joko said that they would always ask, even when no one was home. "We're going to take this pineapple, ok?" Silence. "Ok, thank you," and they would run off and share the spoils between themselves. After Joko's stories, I called it an early night, while Joko and a few guests made a bonfire down the beach, serenading the nearly full moon. The next morning we woke up determined to surf Medewi, regardless of conditions.

breath in breath out darlings

It's a cobblestone beach with small patches of fine, silty black sand. We paddled out beyond the point, in a small channel between larger boulders jutting menacingly out of the water. Conditions were glassy, but small, sets running 2-3 feet with an occassional head high set. The morning was overcast and it eventually showered for a while, but then the sun came out and the surf didn't get big, but it got consistent and fun.

Met an older guy named Ron from San Clemente, who did a similar soul-searching trip when he was my age in Costa Rica, and ended up buying land and meeting his first wife down there. He came up to and asked, "what's thats guy's problem?" after Joko droppped in on me, which gave me a good laugh. We chatted and traded waves for a while, and though at first it was nice to talk to another American, I was ready to be left alone after about twenty minutes; which in retrospect gives me some trepidations about returning home and being surrounded once again by my dear, ignorant countrymen.

Party Latina

I started to cook in my short-sleeve full wettie, so I peeled it down to my waist, got a few more fun ones, and decided to call it a day. Because Joko and all the guests all went in so much earlier than me, I didn't realize that you could practically paddle to shore in front of the Medewi Hotel until I saw Ron paddling there, shaking his head at me pinballing off the rocks directly inside the break. There was a gazebo full of locals and Aussies who got a good show watching me tenderfoot it back to the beach, getting knocked around by whitewater over barnacle-encrusted cobblestones and urchin minefields.

Drop in can be fun

By the time I made it in, both feet were bleeding and I had urchin spines in my left hand and foot, along with my first ding in Ms. Piggy, my 5'8" pink chub-stick. Back at Agus' place I got his girlfriend Anna's email because she lives at Ragland in New Zealand, so hopefully she can put me up when I'm passing through. On our way home we stopped at Balian, which is a rivermouth A-frame, but the wind was all over it.

Hi5 to our neighbours from tatoo shop

We had lunch at the restaurant at the end of the road, which had an outstanding young coconut milkshake. Joko told me that he had an opportunity in '98 to buy the parcel of land that the restaurant was on for two million rp ($2,000 approx.), which was now a thriving restaurant and surfer hotel. The real estate value alone had increased 300% in ten years, and I could see Joko mentally kicking himself in the ass.

The question is where is the Ding?
700 000Rupiah, Trey's reverse, Ding almost invisible and nonexisting
Thanks god...Ari Insurance

he loves it
check out more bart's at www.flickr.com/photos/szups

Just another day in Bali - Same same, but different...

2008-09-16T05:24:00.000-07:00

Finally we got a decent picture of our guide-friend Trey...

Oli is showing off his moves at the beach break and at the reef in Balangan...

He is a really nice guy, girls!!!

Chillin in paradise. This is Indo pure

Please give me a large Bintang!!!

Crazy locals rage the place in Balangan

Nothing to say about that... Bali is a dream...

Joko: it's warm and wet and cool, that's it...

Being a surfguide

2008-09-06T03:11:00.000-07:00

Being a surfguide is hard some times...

You live at remote beaches with no internet, no cell phone connection and barely even running water.

Some bungalows here dont even have light, your only form of orientation are candles...
Furthermore, some guests are just crazy and drop the better positioned guides:

Poor Simon on that one...

or they dont have their boards under control:) Greetings to the frenchies;)

But we stay stoked and only scream at people from time to time:)

And it's not hard to keep the spirit up, cause the waves we can surf are some of the best waves on the globe.

They are breaking every day and wait to be ridden and taken apart. We did a nice guides' only fotosession in Balangan at 6 in the morning and got some awesome shots!

Check Simon

Bartek

and the beautiful Felix;)

Before surfing, you have to get to the surfspot without getting injured on the crazy roads of Bali. Check Bartek's driving experience...

This cost only 1.3 Mio Rupiah, which equals 100 Euros. Crazy, ha???
And we all love Ari Insurance

Once you have realized how to enjoy your time the most in Bali, it's easy to find new friends

and have the time of your life!!!!!!!!

Threads from Trey's Journal: Round Two the diary of george of the balinese jungle

2008-09-04T09:06:00.000-07:00

8.12.08

Today was my first non-Saturday day off. I slept in until 9:00am, then stayed in another hour, just enjoying the AC, being alone, and starting a new book called "Flow," which is a psycho-analytic study of happiness. Then I took a long shower and shaved for the first time in about a month; kept the beard, just cleaned it up a bit.

conny?

After breakfast, I borrowed Simon's scooter and went in search of Rizal Tanjing, the godfather of Indonesian surfing. I checked out his surf shop, which had a perfect barrel board for me, a 6'3" YU hand-shape for Rizal with a thumb-tail and leopard print airbrush . . . but the asking price was 5.5 million.

Bartek?
Bintang?
Arak?
big problemmmm...:) yes maaannn

I went across the alley to his restaurant, Balcony, where you can "dine with surf royalty" and his cell number from the hostess, after alot of failed attempts of communication in broken English.

beachie beachie:)

I sent him a text message explaining our mutual friends at Chemistry Surfboards in San Diego, Jeremy Heit and Jason Bennett, but did not hear back from him today. In the afternoon, I drove the scooter out to Bingin where Nate Zoller and Dan Shea have a loft room above a warung right in front of the break.

Always Balangan

They share a bed, but only pay $5/night and have one of the best views in Bali and a restaurant right below them.

Bartek's Padma...not working as always
At least camera working

We surfed it low tide with head high sets. I flailed the drop on my second wave and got caught inside with an approaching set. The incoming waves suck out nearly all the water off the reef, so duck-diving isn't even an available option.

Balcony restaurant...check it out n get a margharita

I was right in the impact zone, and after taking one right on the head, the wave flipped me, still lying on the board, nose over tail, and slapped me right onto the reef, sandwiching me between the reef and the board, gashing my left heel and serrating my left shoulder blade through my 1.5mm wetsuit top.

Ulu

After that, I pretty much surfed without abandon, knowing it couldn't get any worse. It did. I found myself in nearly identical situation about an hour later, except this time an inept Euro surfer came crashing down on top of me with the lip. Boards and bodies were in complete disarray.

Mr. Trey in Balangan

Remarkably, my body and my board survived relatively unscathed, only a bad charlie-horse from the initial impact of breaking his free-fall into the reef.

nice floater nach ulu

Our leasches were badly tangled . . . but he was wearing reef booties (=kook) and was able to stand up and avoid the incoming onslaught of whitewater that I was taking in the face because he was too busy apologizing to realize he needed to take off his leasch.

our neighbours are sooo sweat

The guy did have a sweet mustache though, and out of a respect for the 'stache alone, I smiled through the whole ordeal. It's impossible for me to get mad at any surfer with a mustache, mutual mustache respect.

Bartek fliping in Balangan

Besides those two incidents, it was a great session . . . some very fine barrels, even ended on a perfect 'lil in-and-out, the stoke of the last ride lingering for the rest of the day.

Sweet home Alabama...
uppppssss. Das ist eine Balangan
Es es un mi casa Balangan
To jest nasz dom w Balangan
C'est Balangan mon ami

PS what is happenin now is 1 am n we two are simply runnin out of Arak
so the mood is getiing quiet funny and more languages are coming to my hilarious mind...
said guesss who???

Met a young Aussie named Nick who is headed home to Burleigh Heads to sail to Tahiti with three of his mates in a 40-footer steel-hull. His friend bought the twenty-year old vessel and has been stealing from a hardware store for a year, fixing it up. None of them have any real sailing experience, but they have a "how-to" book and a pound of weed . . . I'm beyond jealous of their undertaking.

Balcony una vez mas

I also met Steve, another Laguna local, who spends about six months a year globe-trotting for surf. His love life and mine are in similar binds, and it was a relief to talk to someone with a similar burden on their heart. In the end, it boils down to: can you really make someone else happy, if you aren't happy? He seems to be set on his path; I feel like I'm just getting my footing on mine.

Balangan popppy

After a crazy rush-hour scooter ride home, where I learned the maxim that if you drive like you don't care about your life then people will give you your space, I attended an evening yoga session at Prana Spa, led by the lovely Aussie Mandi. Her sessions kick my ass every time and she does up to four sessions a day - amazing endurance. Along with Johnny, she will be leading the instructor course in October. Although I feel like I have alot of ground to cover from now until then, I'm looking forward to pushing my mind and body into new places.

Threads from Trey's Journal: Round Two the diary of george of the balinese jungle

2008-08-31T06:18:00.000-07:00

7.31.08

This last Sunday we made another day trip to Kedungu. The swell was sizable, 6-8 with occasional plus sets, but it wasn't wrapping into the point as good as I've seen it.

After the surf I had breakfast with an older Aussie named Nick who grew up in Burliegh Heads and was giving me the low-down on some local secret spots off the radar. I had a double breakfast: big bowl of noodles and then nasi campur ("champour"), which Nick taught me is rice with whatever else they have around in the kitchen. After breakfast, I went for a solo hike down to the point, where I climbed barefoot around and over massive, craggy boulders.

Every time I reached the crest of another rock, a hundred black little crabs would sense my large shadow and go scittering off into new, safer corners of darkness; sort of made me feel like Godzilla. Instead of walking all the way out to the point, I decided to scale a cliff-face that led to the rice-fields overlooking the beach.

Once in the rice-fields, where you have to walk along a tiny strip of raised dry land that is patterned in squares much like a maze, I stumbled by a young local couple making love in the bushes, who I passed in silence on my way to the point. From the point I got some great shots of empty sets rolling in with the rice patties in the foreground.

Denpasar something

I also had a distant view of Tanah Lot, a temple that can only be entered at low tide, one of Bali's most famous. I decided to march through the rice fields rather than attempt to climb down the cliff; going down is always harder than coming up.

Lara Larita

Within the patti maze I stumbled upon a patch of watermelon, a few startled cows in a makeshift stable, and one very strange, snaggle-toothed old man sitting under a lean-to who's gesticulations were primal and cannibalistic; the rice fields suddenly became a scary place after my run-in with him.

I didn't exactly find a proper path back down to the beach, but rather a workable mudslide that I was able to descend by clinging to exposed roots and sliding on my heels, to the amazement of a wide-eyed Hindu man squatting in a ditch, his sarong hoisted around his waist. All the guests were already packed up and ready to go, wondering where the hell I had been.

After Kedungu, we spent the rest of the day at Batu Balong, which had perfect conditions for the guests, peeling slightly overhead sets. After my fill of roundhouse cutbacks and rebounds off the whitewater, the lovely Sarah bought me a banana pancake, and then we had a temple photo shoot with Bart. That night, the guests talked me into joining them to go see Tom Curren play guitar at Hard Rock Cafe in Kuta Beach.

14 people in one kijang...no problemmm

The concert started at seven, but the other guides and I insisted on drinking two bottles of Arrak as a warm-up before leaving. Walking down the coast road, I kicked a raised section of sidewalk and split my big toe on my right foot wide open with my drunken swagger.

Sometimes in our pool neighbours are welcome

I had surfed reef breaks with no abandon and no booties for a month, and now my first injury to my feet happens walking down the street, thanks in no small part to Arrak. By the time we got to Hard Rock, the show was over; Curren must really be feeling his age to end a show before ten.

The Clash

From there, Ketut took us to another bar in downtown Kuta called Espresso, that had a band playing that not only took requests, but for 50,000 rp let you sing the song while the band played. I was wearing my pink and black leopard striped button-up and one of the guests, Francesca, bought me a matching pair of pink sunglasses on her walk to the bar.

With that outfit on, I couldn't refuse when a few guests put up the money for me to sing with the band. Bart & I pulled off a very punk-drunk rendition of The Clash's "Should I Stay or Should I Go," which the crowd loved. About a half-hour later, we did "Hotel California," with echoes of Polish and German accents from Bart and Ollie . . . the song fell so flat that the band wrapped it up early, to everyone's relief.

Moped...
U can fit on in whole family...
As that commercial been announced Bali became its-mopeds heaven
By the way...during last couple months been raining maybe 4 times

From hear the night becomes increasingly hazy, thanks to strangers buying me drinks after The Clash song. I spent some time with a very tall, very beautiful Aussie girl with amazing curly hair; she had a great business card on which she described herself as a "wandering philosopher." After she abandoned me, I befriended a random German guy who bought me shots and brought me to Bintang with him. I must've lost him pretty quick on the disco floor, because the next thing I remember is sitting at a table full of local prostitutes, the madame having taken me into her personal care, letting me drink her smoothie due to my apparent inebriated state.

We sat laughing and talking as security herded all the tourists out of the bar. Once we left, we just sat on a street-side stoop, as I marveled at my good fortune that this working girl was being so nice to me, allowing me to ask them questions bluntly and answering them frankly, the kind of cultural exchange you can only find in shady back-alleys, not in any brochure. I was soaking up the vernacular and interactions of the street life, in the tradition of McKay's "Banjo," at least those were my intentions. Time wore on, she offered me "services" of many of her friends, and as the dawn began to tint the night sky, the madame got me a taksi ride back to the Ruko.

Jungle

Once we arrived, and I offered the cabbie all the money I had left, about 8,000 rp, everyone's demeanor changed drastically. The taksi driver was pissed and the madame became furious, saying I owed her 50,000 for her time. I emptied my pockets and explained that she knew all along that I had no money left to the cabbie, which only served to infuriate the madame more. She snatched the camera from my hand, holding it ransom until I returned with money for her. Like a fool, I went to fetch her fee, and when I returned to the street, it was of course ominously empty.

Alles kaput man...from Bali to Babilon, one way...
Super Stephan inda hauz

Over the course of the evening, I lost over 200,000 rp, my hand-phone which was two days old, and my waterproof digital camera that had over 200 shots from my first month in Bali on it. I was furious and hungover when I woke up, stewing in an evil mood of disappointment and depression. As the day wore on, I was eventually able to laugh at my stupidity. I remembered a piece that my grandmother, Mary Beth, wrote after my aunt Molly's wedding, when the professional photographer's equipment malfunctioned and she was left with no photos.
The basic premise of the piece was that perhaps, in a way, it was for the best. Some memories are best treasured only in the mind and heart, not in a 8x10 glossy print . . . it questioned our need of physical memorabilia for emotional events, a very Buddhist notion that she would later go on to develop in her own spiritual wanderings. That following evening Bartek was talking about how his grandparents survived Auschwitz, and how his great-uncle, after surviving the Holocaust, died on his train ride home after the war. It really helped to put the loss of my material possessions into a proper perspective; after all, I was healthy and in paradise . . . what was there really to complain about?

Market Place..aka Bartek in hati hati Bazarre

2008-08-27T07:03:00.000-07:00

When u travel market is the place you should definitely see every where you go.

This is the place when you can really feel localism

and experience being the one among the crowd.

Smell the local exotic fruit, taste delicious penauts,

admire freshly cought seafood, be friendly,

talkative and express your friendly attitude

and desire of getting to know their market, place, town, country...

Once you follow this few steps you can really

experience something unusual and unforgetable.

So dud n chica pack ur cam

and get ready to rock the local market.

Please make sure before what time does it start

coz sometimes you can be surprised.

One morning I felt bored...no duties no waves etc...

9:00 am let's take a bicycle and check it out

9:15 am arrived at the destionation

9:20 am surprisement, market is finished

9:25 am photos with leftovers

9:45 am leaving

Couple hours later Joko informed me that market

here around midnight and finishes early morning...

Now I got to make the dream come true

so hopefully will find another halb stunden:) to give you more.

Jimbaran

2008-08-24T20:04:00.000-07:00

Jimbaran Bay is the best place to get some sea food straight from the sea

Beautiful seaview, tables on beach, todos BBQ...

I like

One night we organised serious fest in J bay for 40 people.

It was awsome.

We were ment to end up in Karaoke,

but the machine was broken so we were kindly hosted, as usual, by Green Room.

We had a mix which turned into mess very fast.

Every body was full...

For the main dish we were waiting 45 minutes so every body filled in bellies with nasi and absoulutely delicious sauces before fish was on the table...was good though

Ollie, Joko, Trey

sunset, thanks god for my fisheye

Golden female team n a me driver in heaven behind the wheel

Sometimes you can be lucky

Sometimes you can be unlucky

You can be lucky all the time

You can be unlucky all the time

...

Are you happy?

Bartek and Lara chica espanola...

He is happy speaking es:)

Joquito

That's the way you get the fish

That's the way you get the lobster

That's the way you get something else

PS if you wanna go for a date and there is full moon this is the most perfect place ever...

success guaranteed

Balangan

2008-08-24T06:01:00.000-07:00

ok...mr Bartek

u put the photos here...

now somebody got to write something

doin it was a mission for Mr. B...writing is to much

a lot of things happened since last post...

we got wifi back so will try to up to date the facts...

last two weeks there was no surf so a lot of nightlife bullshithatihati was on

Random mixture

2008-08-13T22:02:00.000-07:00

Hmmm...

What's going on?

Bartek was supposed to go Lembogan island...didn't go

Trey was not supposed to go Medewi (longest wave on the island)...is going

Simon was not supposed to go anywhere.. just had epic surf in Brava

And the winner of the loser contest is Mr. B

Morning session in Kedungu

Recently we did a day trip there.

It was

(Bart asking Trey "What is the one word to describe last day trip to Kedungu" simple Trey's answer "shit")

shit

Nunug...the sickest ass waiter ever and good man of course

We all love him

Nunug we love you

Ohhh yeah...we love u

Have fun for free go Contiki

Have fun not for free go jiggy-jigitki

Contiki

Contki

Dr. Christian aka monkey dance works

We met to super nice docs; Christian and Folke

It was great time here with u guys

Dr. Folke who did couple surgeries on Bartek's body

Father and two year old son ripping Brava

Brava

As I said before you guys gonna see who is Vincent famoso.

We had best parties with Dutchies.

As far as I remember that's one of the first onces.

From the left Stephan, Vincent, Trey and Bartek below

Kuta Beach...

Always overloaded with both beauties and whales

Balangan beach just beauties:)

A fourth chico joining our gang...

2008-08-13T21:49:00.000-07:00

Next to Simon, Trey and Bartek, Oli from Germany joined our gang and went on a crazy mission to Balangan Reef Break right away. Nice introduction, man!

He had been scared for a couple of days already by the time we left the camp, since Balangan was gonna be his first experience over the razer-blade reef. A truly excellent hollow first wave changed everything in his surfing life: Oli discovered the beauty of big reefwaves and experienced the real meaning of "flow"...

The story actually started when our head-guide Conny announced Oli's and Simon's day off on a sunday, where usually everybody in the camp heads to one spot. Our two friends (or heroes???) of this story decided to go somewhere completely different, though. A little shack with no walls on top of a cliff overlooking one of the best breaks in the world became their shelter for the night.

Oli's fear of the reef had to be compensated with 3 bottles of rum and some beer, guys night out:) When our two friends opened the first bottle of booze, they didn't know one side of Bali yet: 23 degrees and windy conditions can be very, very cold without a sleeping bag, matress or any other cover. The luck was on their side, though: Epic surf conditions, no one in the water yet, awaited the two with first daylight blinking through a partly cloudy sky.

The hazzle of getting there on one scooter, with two boards and three backpack, some kind of Bali belly from the local food and the cold night without a sleeping-bag were forgotten by that time. Our two heroes enjoyed the beauty of nature and had the greatest day of their stay in Bali so far...

Little mixtape from July

2008-08-11T19:46:00.000-07:00

Hola amigos y amigas,

Jigggy jig loco y loca

I recon we gonna make to more posts and ll be updated:) jupppi

Patric, Redz surfboards, Sanur MotoX Track

Sunset on East coast

Bartek sipping his take away coco juice

Ross, teach in school all over the world, travel and surf that's him

Joko, Energy Bomb

Bartek and Sarhita posing

Tati, We love you.

Happy birthday to little Tatiana

Trey, Lars, and Sonia y Claudia aka girls who were trying every day to go to Lombok.

Good luck

Where ever u go in Bali you are gonna have Warungs everywhere.

Every single one is special. Nasi goreng tastes always different. Cuisine is the best, atmosphere always friendly and cheap. Support Bali go Warung.

This shoot was taken in Kedungu beach in one of the Warungs.

The other way to eat good and cheap is street food. We love it. Especialy this place where all what our friend serves is meatball soup with special pasta and awsome sauces in it. By the way I am gonna go for it in few minutes.

As beavarages he serves just a coco juice which is the bomb.

For some people there not much in Balangan for us there is every thing we need and it is hard to get bored there...

Balangan

Loco Bartek

Balangan nicest Warung, remember the Kid, she is from here.

Green Room

And this is our place although we are not sleeping here.

Famous Ruko Room is just next door.

View from the rooms where we are not sleeping to the lounge.

Every party starts with Arak and ends up in the swimming pool

Bart loves his Tokina fish eye

This is our home beach

Threads from Trey's July Journal . . .

2008-08-08T22:53:00.000-07:00

That's how Trey's journal book looks like.

Pretty awsome.

7-1-08

I smashed my custom Merrick single-fin @ Sewers during my final Santa Cruz session, my only casualty after an entire winter of surfing it leash-less; and then my power-steering gave out when I took Jenna up to SF for her 22nd birthday. Then after my mad-dash to SD to store my material life, I left on the Amtrak a day earlier than my scheduled flight from LAX, forcing me to take a $60 cab ride from Union Station to Mick Kelleher's place in Venice Beach. The next day, we went to the NHSSA finals / X-Games shop team trials at Red Bull HQ, where we drank beer and hit on teenage girls all day. When I finally got to the airport, I was tired, drunk, and famished. All the airport employees were stoked on my trip, even the TSA agent was a knee-boarder who had gone to Uluwatu, "when I was your age . . ." On my way to my gate I stole a $9 sandwich, putting it in my Mexican cowboy hat and wearing it, as I walked away smirking at my cleverness.

Padang Padang

Flight route: LAX -->13hrs --> Taipei -->5hrs-->Kuala Lumpur -->3hrs-->Denpasar.

Despite the sheer length of the travel time, it was a very enjoyable trip. On-demand movies, TV, and music, great food w/ complimentary wine, comfortable chairs with adequate leg room - everything an American airline is not. When I got to Bali I changed $100 into 900,000rp and was picked up by one of the resort drivers, Ketut, who was waving the broken nose of a surfboard with my name on it. The car ride was hectic, motorbikes all over the road, immense new buildings towered over half-built or half-broke shanties, sacred Hindu figures commoditized lined the road-side, keeping a silent vigil over the bustling night.

I was taken to the guide house, which is a three story building on a busy street, surrounded by massage parlors, markets, bars & restaurants, etc., not the secluded ocean-front palapa I was expecting at all. we had a brief guide meeting, mostly formalities and introductions, and then I was finally able to take a much needed shower. It was hardly refreshing - a single stream of water that lost all pressure after just a few minutes, then putting forth a mere trickle, as if being peed upon. I went to bed feeling exhausted and a little misled . . .

7.9.08

Went out to dinner last night with all the guides to a ritzy Italian joint. A margherita pizza and two Heinekens cost me 34,000 or $3.50. Afterwards our bosses met us for dessert and drinks at Cafe Bali where we polished off a bottle of Jameson. From there, we went to a bonfire party at Balangan Beach where a bunch of German uni students were having a final blowout before heading home.

None of the girls wanted anything to do with me once they knew I was American so I started hitting the Arrak pretty hard. When we got home, Mathias & Johannes couldn't budge me, so I slept in the backseat of the Kijang jeep.

Our Kijang

I woke up still very drunk with my feet hanging out of the open back door. Had an amazing banana pancake at the Batu Balong warung after a very windy surf session and met an Aussie friend of Joko's who travels eleven months of the year, making all of his money trading stocks online.

Batu Bolong photoshooting

Trey

Bart

Sarah

7.16.08

This last Sunday I had my first great Indo session at a place called Kedungu, at about 5-8ft.

Kedungu sunraise

We surfed it empty and glassy from 6:30-9:30am. Once another group arrived, so did the wind, and I was happy to leave them the leftovers. Afterwards I ate noodles at a warung overlooking the break and then napped in the shade. That afternoon, the Dutchies took me to Kuta beach with a bottle of Glenlivet to pregame for the Sunday Chill Session at Ocean Beach Club.

Dutchies Golden team

Tim, Mr in the middle is not Dutchie Team member so lets go further, Stefan and Don Vincent is missing, however stay stoked coz he is gonna be here very soon.

We made a big "NO" sign drawn into the sand so we could just point when approached by the roaming vendors. It must've looked like we were having such a good time that two different groups of young Asian girls came over just to have their picture taken with us. Afterwards, we pounded down Big Macs and settled into pitchers of Long Islands at OCB where this Aussie entertainer played the guitar, a giant digeradoo, and beat-boxed simultaneously - very impressive. Almost immediately I began making eyes at a gorgeous pair of girls who happened to be Aussie sisters. The Dutchies were so pleased that I didn't even have to move, they took turns bringing me more drinks for a chance to get in on the action. After the beautiful Aussies left, the night got very hazy at Club Bounty . . .

7.22.08

Met 2007 Pipe Master Jamie O'Brien. I watched as a huge group of Japanese took turns taking their picture with him, one guy even taking his shirt off for the photo. He was a good sport throughout, throwing shakas and smiling for tons of photos, the plastic high school dance smile that fades with every flash. After giving him an appropriate amount of recovery time, I asked if he would mind if I took my shirt off for a photo with him . . . we shared a good laugh.

Padang Padang

7.25.08

This Friday I had my first Zodiac session to the airport reefs. We launched from German Beach, and had to time the sets to make it over the reef safely; we had to turn back on our initial attempt as a set started sucking the reef dry, leaving our outboard prop grinding into the reef. Once we made it outside, we could see that it was too big for our guests, so we took them to Tora Tora, further inside Jimbaran Bay from Airport Rights. We anchored among a mini-fleet of local fishermen who charge 40,000 a head for their water-taxi service. The wave was a steep, racing right wall that could be worked for a hundred yards easy, two hundred if you really wanted to milk it. The left was a steep, pitching barrel that shouldered quickly after the drop, where it flattened out into the channel where all the boats were anchored. We shared the break with about thirty Japanese and a few Aussies, but I got a ton of great waves, sets running about 8ft, and Joko was finally able to see me surf a real wave.

Padang Padang

To celebrate our session, Joko took us to a local's secret warung that serves amazing strawberry juice and we all got giant plates of local fare as well. I picked my dishes ignorantly, by looks alone, and ended up eating a healthy pile of spicy chicken livers & hearts - Joko would only tell me what it was after I finished eating it all. "Don't worry man, very good for your blood." That afternoon, Lars and I took a group to Dreamland, which is being into "new Kuta Beach," complete with golf courses and a huge resort on top of what was once a desolate and pristine cliff. Sets were an easy 10ft, way too much for any of the guests, so I went out alone. It was thumping - most power of anywhere I've surfed in Bali in so far, but a beautiful, picturesque wave. The second wave I caught was an amazing in-&-out left hander with a perfect view of Balangan cliff out of the tube. That wave was the high point of my trip so far and made the long week of punishing airport pick-ups all the more worth it. I took some brutal beatings, getting caught inside by sneaker sets, and on my last wave got a minor case of whip-lash when I tried to launch a floater on the close-out end section of a huge left that I had been racing down the face of . . . longest ride I saw anyone make the whole day, and luckily all my guests happened to see it on the beach as well, so I practically came in to a round of applause . . .

7.26.08

Had a great day off on Saturday. Bart, Simon, & I got up at 4:30am and drove to the east coast, a spot called Keramas. We got there before dawn and I took a nature dump; the mosquitoes feasted on my thighs while I was squatting and squeezing. The beach was very scenic and serene, with beautiful mountains that the sun rose over. Perfect glassy conditions, unfortunately just a lack of swell. We checked Sanur Reef on the way home and it seemed to be working quite well on the sets, although inconsistent. There was deep water off the beach, then a section of completely exposed reef in front of the break. The reef and our lack of sleep kept us unmotivated and dry. Later in the morning, Roland met us at the Green Room and we followed him to Impossibles. We followed him to a French owned resort at the edge of the cliff where his wife works as a fitness instructor. The resort was amazing, with an edge-less pool that had a perfect view of the break which was cranking, wrapping all the way around the cliff from Padang Padang to Bingin.

We hiked down a steep and narrow staircase that wound down the cliff-face and led into the beach-side warungs. It was a long paddle-out over very shallow reef and then against the current to get out to the peak, with sets running in the solid 10ft range. I took some great beatings, got clipped by the lip trying to pull in and then slapping the water so hard with my face I thought I was going to have a black eye. On another, very late take-off, I got swallowed by the foam ball and was sent flipping head over heels; I counted five full rotations before the wave was done thrashing me. The waves I made made it well worth it though, being able to throw five or six huge turns on a huge emerald canvas. Bart naturally hit the reef again and got sucked all the way down past Bingin before he was able to make it back in. After our session, we had lunch at Suzie's Warung right on the beach, where I feasted on a pile of spicy spaghetti and large Bintang. After lunch, we drove further down the point to Padang Padang, where the Rip Curl Cup had just finished the day before. The waves were pumping and the peak was packed, but I was suprised to see how many waves bodyboarders were getting, it was actually upsetting. The asian fishing boat was still perched precariously on the rocks just inside the break. The boat was found washed on to the reef with a missing crew and a payload full of fresh fish.

Padang Padang shipwreck from Taiwan

At the day that ship got stucked on the reef and before swell hit the coast shipwreck was in the middle of the break.

Couple days later swell arrived and ship landed on the cliff.

I recon it's gonna stay here for good.

Padang Padang

Padang beach

sweeet

lov it

After the locals ransacked everything that wasn't bolted down, they were having fish BBQ for days. On our way home, we stopped by Roland's wive's new restaurant near Balangan. It is a small warung with the main dining building still under construction, which will have an amazing ocean view. Roland's wife, the fitness instructor, is an absolute knockout; and her friend and business partner, Brita, is a very hot cougar as well. She seemed to be noticeably checking me out before she finally explained that she recognized me from the airport, and that her daughter had pointed me out to her, saying, "Look mom, it's George of the jungle!" Everyone got a good laugh out of that and "George" has become my new moniker.

History from Bartek's compact cam

2008-08-08T20:08:00.000-07:00

Here we have pics from very beginning of june.

Taken with his compact before he got his lenses and started making the dreams come true.

I wish we could publish the photos from Trey's cam unfortunately due to the reason that will be talked about later, maybe we are not able to do this...always crazy sunday:)

On the way to the only working volcano.

Didn't make it there due to the frequent inland rain and no roof on the mopeds.

If there is no land for sale there must be a rice field...

Went for surf to Brava.

Beach was packed with locals throwing ashes and some other staff to the sea due to fullmoon celebrations. There was even one chicken in the sea:)alive

It was kind of funeral. However, everybody was happy.

Conny been always doing it.

That was funny night. Cafe bali and Balangan beach party.

One Saturday we realy wanted to score epic surf. Woke up 4 o'clock and went to the East Coast.

We started with Kramas. No waves but great sunrise. Moving further and further...

Came back clean and dry:(

Full moon celebs

Simon, super nice kid Louis, loca Sarhita, Don Kichot Trey and senor Bartek

(pretty much always behind the camera)

On the way to Balangan and paradaise that u can admire on the next pic.

Jupppppi

Impossibles break

Jupppi

Chicken sate is the best way of cooking bali chicken.

Reasonable price and absolutly super tasty...every thing with peanut sauce.

They sell it pretty much everywhere.

Since Bart found this spot we are not gettin it anywhere else.

La Tapa

2008-08-05T06:19:00.000-07:00

So here the story begins.

we have little delay with starting the project.

this shot was taken during one of our first trips...

Sanur Reef, Bali East Coast