Solo tripping & Surfin’ in Bali
Hello all! This is an account of my recent solo trip I undertook in June to Bali. I have covered my surfing experience in the first half of my article, with the second half covering my experience of travelling around Bali. Happy Reading!
“Ready to go, brother ?”, my instructor asked.
“Absolutely”
“Any questions?”
“Nopes. All clear”
“You seem very excited brother”
“Oh, you bet. Shouldn’t I be?”
My instructor grinned.
With these last words, we paddled out into the Indian Ocean to catch our first waves for the morning. It was 8.30am and had been less than 12 hours since I landed in Bali.
I didn’t have much of a sleep the night before. I couldn’t wait to see what Bali’s beaches had to offer. My hotel was just 2kms from the Batu Bolong beach and I could see the ocean from the terrace restaurant of my hotel. My first morning view of Bali was a rainbow right across the skies originating somewhere within the oceans…
The dilemma of choosing between Vietnam and Bali for my first post-Covid trip was a tough one. Vietnam had been on my mind for the past 2–3 years. So when overseas travel finally reopened, I was all set to fly to Ho Chi Minh City and visit the famed Ha Long Bay. However, I finally made the call with Bali since June wasn’t the best month to tour Vietnam due to the weather and mainly, Bali had much better waves. After a month long planning and reading endless travel blogs on “Do’s and Dont’s in Bali’, I was finally here…
I walked down to the beach and was a greeted by a magnificent although intimidating view. There were hundreds of heads bobbing up and down in the ocean. I had never a surfing spot this crowded. It sure seemed like a surfers paradise.
But that was also intimidating. I had flown a 1000 miles by myself to do something that I was a beginner L2 at best (somewhere b/w a beginner and an intermediate). And this was THE place where surfers from across the world came to practice their chops. Who was I amongst all these surfers?
I reached the beachside shack of a surfing school I had enrolled in and was greeted by my friendly Indonesian instructor.
A few of my friends have often remarked and shown surprise that I’d still need an instructor considering that I have done surfing a few times now. I’d say that instructors are definitely not necessary to learn surfing as a sport. There are countless people living on beaches who took up surfing as kids by navigating waves on nothing but wooden boards. But as someone taking up surfing as an adult, having an instructor is always a good idea. I know of even experienced surfers who had been surfing continously for six months to an year, still going out with a instructor because 1. There’s always much to learn in surfing and 2. The type of surf break, its countours and how the waves behave are best known to the locals.Therefore, its always good to have a local instructor to start until one becomes really comfortable with surfing in different locations.
Learning
After a quick warm up and the initial instructions, I was ready to paddle out and into the ocean. Except that I was totally unprepared mentally for what lay ahead. My last surfing trip was in Chennai where I had just started to catch some green waves (unbroken waves) by myself. That fuelled me enough to tell my instructor that I was an ‘intermediate’. I knew that was a risk but I was willing to go for it because I wanted to learn fast.
Catching waves in Chennai in December (not a typical surf period, low-pressure swells hence much smaller waves) was a lot different than surfing in Bali in June (good surf period, moderate swells hence much higher waves). In short, the Indian Ocean produced a lot bigger waves in June than in December.
Paddling out here in Bali, proved to be a much bigger task than I had anticipated. Waves usually come in sets of 4 followed by a lull. The lull felt too short that morning and the waves seemed incessant. I had never paddled out in big waves before. And for the sake of comparison, these weren’t very big waves but big enough to push you far back if not dodged well.
Early in the session, I was knocked off my surfboard a couple of times. On one particular occassion, as I swam frantically towards my surboard, an incoming wave shoved me over and kept me underwater as it passed over me. Those few seconds of being drowned and pushed down by that wave-set felt like an eternity. The price of being slow to get on a surfboard was zero in Chennai. It was much higher here. My instructor thought I would know all of this. After all, I had branded myself as an ‘intermediate’. Though I was kept down only for a few seconds, it was horrifying to experience it in the first 20 minutes of paddling out.
As the waves passed and I came up gasping, I scrambled over to my surfboard and shouted to my instructor a few feet away from me, “too big for me… let’s go back for some time.” He saw my fear and asked me to calm down. I felt much better after hearing that this was indeed very common & happened to everyone. This was nothing new and not a big deal. He had seen me struggling with the waves but not was the least bit worried. This was part of the learning curve.
Our mind acts irrationally in fear. All the while I was swimming towards my surfboard struggling to reach it, when in fact I could have just pulled it towards myself by pulling the leash on my leg (a surfboard is attached to your leg via a ‘leash’). The key is to stay calm.
Exhausted, I paddled into the beach and decided to take a bit of a breather. As I sat on the beach sipping water, I reflected on the past 20–30 mins and watched other surfers prepare to paddle out into the water. Yes, I was a bit shaken but I was also strangely emphatic. I was in a place where the ‘big boys(and girls)’ of surfing lived for the sport. If this is what it took to be a better surfer, I was glad for the experience. I now knew what I was up against. Isn’t this why I had called myself an ‘intermediate’? To get these types of tough experiences as early as possible and accelerate my learning?
We went back into the ocean. Not that I wasn’t knocked off this time. I still had to perfect my technique. But I was much calmer. Catching a wave here meant paddling out 60–70m into the sea and constantly changing directions, hence required a significant bit more effort than anytime I had done before. I tried to catch a few waves but wasn’t very successful. Wipeouts were game… I knew nothing was gonna come easy on this surfing trip.
For most people (and as it was for me), big gigantic waves are always a thing to admire. People romanticize them, admire them, talk about nature’s strength and its fury. But until one actually goes into the water and faces the waves, one never knows. That night, as I came back to my hotel room, the sound of the pounding waves still hounded me. I read a number of articles by fellow surfers who had taken up surfing in similar situations like mine — starting off as an adult, not always having access to a beach so squeezing time in holidays to surf, being drowned out for the first time in big waves(it was more common than I thought), but had now become confident and skilled enough to able to surf in truly big-wave conditions. That gave me a good boost.
Over the next 4 days, I went out every day for a surf session (except for 1 day when I had sprained my left bicep). I learned so much each day as I experienced different aspects of surfing. Things I had only read in books and blogs, I was now applying in practice.
Picking the right spot and time to paddle out to not expend energy before reaching the line-up. Not fighting with the waves (most important). Observing surfing etiquette — I experienced this first-hand when my instructor would ask me to forego waves as someone else sitting further out had already caught them first and had the ‘right of way’.
As the days went on, I became much more adept and comfortable with paddling out into the ocean waves and riding them. The water started feeling a little less saltier, my body started feeling more balanced on the board and I was being pushed lesser by the waves and was able to paddle out with lesser energy. I caught plenty of waves, both big and small, though not as many as I’d have liked.
One of the particularly good rides that I remember was on a big wave. I caught that wave and rode it right till the end and took a turn . Since this was a big wave, it had good acceleration — making for a thrilling ride. As soon as it ended, I turned back to notice another nice wave coming in right behind me. I knew I could get that. I positioned myself to time the wave and paddled hard. I caught another one consecutively and rode it through till the end. I had ridden two waves in a row. I could see my instructor, who was far out, holding up the shaka 🤙, surfing version of thumbs-up.
The vibes
Since Bali had surfers from across the world, there was no dearth of interesting stories. There was this Swedish surfer who had been training under a instructor to improve his skill of ‘reading’ the waves and catching the right ones. Another surfer was a Thai-Canadian guy who had been surfing for the past 6 months in Thailand and had come to Bali to experience some bigger waves and improve his surfing. For the first time, I was interacting with people who were serious about the sport and wanted to push themselves to conquer bigger waves.
And most of all, you couldn’t miss the sheer passion and joy which Indonesians had for surfing and the waves that had become their way of life. My instructor’s eyes would light up when he would say a big peeling wave coming right at us. In a state of excitement and anticipation, he would say “THAT’S a big nice wave, brother. Let’s catch this one”. These people actually got a thrill when a big white wave threw itself at them. They loved the sea. I started to mimic their enthusiasm as the days went on.
Amidst all this, Bintang beer deserves a special mention. Bintang beer is a brand of beer native to Indonesia. One evening in the water, as I sat on the surfboard enjoying the orange sky of the evening and the music from the beach bars, my instructor suggested that I definitely consider having a cold Bintang right after I finish my surfing session. I had heard a lot about Bintang in travel blogs while I was researching for my trip but I wasn’t really sure about it. I took his advice and took a Bintang from a bar at the beach. It was by far the smoothest beer I had had in a very long time! I only had one bottle during my stay there but I cherished every sip of it.
During my off days from surfing, when I decided to my give sore muscles some rest, I travelled and interacted with folks around Bali and explored the wonderful area of Canggu- where I was staying, along with Ubud and Uluwatu.
Travel, Food and everything else in Bali
Canggu
I had heard a lot about Canggu before coming to Bali. Pre-covid, Kuta and Seminyak were main the tourist hubs. Post-covid, that position was being slowly taken over by Canggu. The locals lamented that though development had brought in jobs and much needed income after covid, it had robbed Canggu of its quiet and natural beauty of 3–4 years ago.
Today, Canggu is a hip place to stay in Bali full of beautiful cafes serving cuisines from across the world and a place truly catering to expats.
While in Canggu, I never had to have one meal from the same restaurant/cafe twice. I tried a bunch of cuisines (Indonesian, Australian, Greek, Mexican etc.) thanks to the proximity of the cafes to my hotel.
Apart from being famous for its cafes, hi-end designer shops and being a haven for expats, Canggu boasts of a beautiful tourist site in Tanah Lot.
Tanah Lot is located on a rock formation slightly off the coast, and is amongst the most famous temples in Bali. One can traverse the waters on foot and enter the temple during low tides. For some reason, seeing the Tanah Lot gave me the feels of a Harry Potter scene- a majestic structure at sea perched atop a natural rock formation.
My trip also coincided with one of the widely celebrated Balinese festivals known as Galungan. Galungan is celebrated amongst families for the victory of ‘dharma’ over ‘adharma’ and marks the arrival of their ancestors. It is celebrated by hanging Penjor outside homes and shops. Most shops were shut for the day as people travelled to meet their families on this festival. Since Bali has a predominantly Hindu population, there is some similarity to the stories behind the festivals they celebrate and the Gods they worship.
(People in Bali also follow the Ramayana, and worship Ganesha, Hanuman just as in India)
I even discovered the game of Padel (a mix of tennis and squash) while in Canggu, totally by chance. I had first seen Padel in a Youtube video and had wanted to play it ever since.
Padel, surprisingly, was a very popular sport in Canggu since it acts as a good joint sports activity for a number of expats from across the world. In fact in the 2 matches that I played, I met people from 7 different nationalities (none of them tourists, all were expats). Statistically speaking, that is nothing much to infer from yet it speaks of how large the expat community is in Bali today,(and growing fast!)
Ubud
Ubud is located in the central region and is considered to be the cultural heart of island. It boasts of a number of temple and palaces but post-covid many of these were out of bounds for tourists. Apart from temples and palaces, it has many other interesting places to visit from the Monkey Forest to Tengenungan waterfall to the rice fields. Monkey Forest was surprisingly a highly visited place and a top rated one at that. Now for many tourists, watching monkey steal glasses, bottles, bananas, or anything in your hand might be amusing, for me it obviously wasn’t interesting. One could just go to Old Delhi and get a feel of the Monkey Forest.
So I decided to spend more time in the most famous rice fields in Bali — the Tegalalang rice fields.
With all the winding routes, the rice fields offered an opportunity for a good trek. I visited this at 11am hence was drenched with sweat during my visit. However, as my driver suggested, the place becomes a lot more beautiful (and crowded) during sunsets. I was surprised to that many local tour operators offered ‘Instagram tours’ wherein they took tourists to places offering the most Insta-worthy views. The rice fields are a common occurence in those trips.
Uluwatu
I visited Uluwatu on the last day of my stay in Bali and was by far the most scenic of all locations I visited in Bali. I hired a private taxi with a wonderful Indonesian driver who showed me all the spots I could cover in 6–7 hours in Uluwatu (If you wish to connect with driver in case you visit Bali, feel free to DM me for his contact).
Uluwatu is famous amongst surfing circles for its big waves and is advisable only for intermediate-expert surfers. Seeing the waves in Uluwatu reminded of the dreams that I often had of long peeling waves, slowly curling upwards as they approached the shore and break as a barrel roll with a thunderous noise(dreams induced by reading some powerful imagery & prose of Will Finnigan’s ‘Barbarian Days: A surfing life’).
The main attraction of Uluwatu was the Uluwatu Temple perched upon a cliff, offering spectacular views during the sunset. The temple is more famous for its Kecak dance which is a dramatic representation of the Ramayana in the Balinese style. Since I had some time to pass, I decided to sit at the Single Fin restaurant which was overlooking the Uluwatu surf break and offered a great view of some expert surfers battling it out in the big waves. It was a sight to watch. Till this time, I had only seen this kind of big surfing on Youtube videos or documentaries. But to see them live was a whole other feeling. One guy broke his surfboard in half after a nasty wipeout. He wasn’ the least bit frantic about it. He waved his broken board towards the coast and started paddling into the shore with the other half.
Reflections
The trip offered me an opportunity to step out of my comfort zone every step of the way. For most of my life, when it came to sports I feel I had always played within my comfort zone picking up most of the racquet sports with relative ease quickly. Surfing pushed me far beyond my comfort zone in my attempt to learn something from level zero. Something in which I had no background; something in which I was not naturally proficient at. The travails of my surfing trip this time, has made me much more confident and mentally prepared for my next surfing trip & what it will take to improve further.
When we are at home, we often fall into the rhythm of doing and thinking things in a certain way. In a lot of cases, our thinking is unknowingly influenced by our circle, by the people we meet every day and the ‘image’ that we have formed of ourself amongst our knowns. Travelling to a new location allows one to get out of the mould. To be free. It felt wonderful to know that no one in Bali actually knew me. I was totally on my own.
In the end, I am grateful to have finally gotten a chance to explore foreign lands and continue at a skill which seemed so alien to me just 2 years back. As my time in Bali drew to an end, I realised how fortunate I was to get such chances of surfing. A thousand things could have gone wrong in this trip. I could have injured myself on the very first day, or on the fourth day; thunderstorms & rains(which weather reports had predicted but never happened) could have played spoilsport, or for that matter any other thing.
Being grateful makes you realise that such moments are rare. And I will want to make the most of each one I get in the future :).
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Since I had heard a lot about the difficulty about navigating Bali, I made sure I did my research before reaching the island. I spent a lot choosing which areas to visit, how to book transport etc. Below are some of the links that I found the most useful for planning my trip:
- https://www.sunchasingtravelers.com/indonesia/bali-4-weeks-route-guide/
- https://www.jonesaroundtheworld.com/bali-itinerary/
- https://www.torntackies.com/bali-itinerary/
- https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rhYAoxSZmOFb68o3hwMQ1JJ9mwgJuJgt8wUoxDBw1Io/edit?usp=sharing- A doc I prepared for my trip listing the cafes to try out and the top spots to visit in each place
- For booking cabs and private taxis, try out Klook. I used Klook twice to book my cabs and they were right on time with not much hassles.
P.S. Bali is not that difficult as it is made out to be. Anyone who has lived in Mumbai or Delhi is experienced with crowds and keeping an eye on their wallets. With respect to navigation, I had a wonderful experience with ride-hailing apps, Grab and Gojek and was able to travel super-cheap in and around Canggu.(Gojek more so due to the higher availability of Gojek scooters)
P.P.S. While researching for my trip to Bali, I came across this wonderful non-profit, Surfaid, which allows you to donate for the underprivileged living along the coasts of Indonesia and abroad. Do have a look at their website if this seems interesting.
