Surfing in Magical Bali

Had a great surf lesson today and was riding waves pretty quickly.  It's not as hard as I thought it'd be - which is not to say I'm any good but I can get up and ride the wave at least.  I'm leaving Kuta tomorrow but will probably dabble a little more with the surfboard when I come back here in 2 weeks.  It is really tiring though!  It certainly requires a lot of strength and stamina.  Now I know why all those surfer boys have such nice bodies...

I'm loving Bali.  Over dinner tonight I was chatting with Marina, one of the young girls who works at the reasturant/food stall.  She is from Jakarta and came to Bali on a whim two weeks ago to do something new.  We had a nice conversation for about an hour or so and I told her many things about America.  Her English was great and it turns out that she's a college graduate (business major) who quit her boring office job in search of something new.  I can relate to that.  I think one of the great joys of independent travel is the many conversations you have with various people.   Traveling alone, and being an Asian American, is something of a confusing oddity to the locals and tends to invite the countless interesting conversations I've had along the way.  It's these conversations that enrich the trip, making it more an immersive cultural experience rather than a mere vacation.  Last night I was talking over kreteks (Indonesian clove cigarette) with the guy working the front desk at the inn I'm staying at.  That smell brought back memories - I haven't had a kretek since college!  He kept trying to sell me one of the many prostitutes his boss has, and did seem notably less talkative once I signaled I wasn't particularly interested...

I have a pretty unreal itinerary here in Bali.  Tomorrow I'm going to Ubud for the Sacred Monkey Forest and Kecak Fire Dance and then touring some of the ancient Hindu temples.  Then hiking a volcano to watch the sunrise over lava flows, scuba diving a shipwreck encrusted in coral and packed with schools of fish, and then chillin out on the Gili Islands...

But then the trip winds down and I will be sad to go.  I saved the best for last.  Can't be sad yet though!  

alright im off.  goodnight folks.