Injury in Krui (Nov 30 - Dec 12)

Nov 30 Journey to Krui

    Left Village Vibes Lombok at 7am, 1hr flight to Jakarta, couple hours layover, 1 hour flight to Bandar Lampung, Sumatra. Get picked up by Adi, my driver that will take me the 6 hour drive to Kumbana Bungalows in Krui. By the time we leave the Lampung airport it is 3pm, there is going to be nighttime driving here. I open the trunk of the hatchback to put the boards in the car but he insists that they go on the roof. If they can fit in the car I'd prefer that they go in but he is adamant about them going up top. He straps them down with an elastic rubber bungee cord, going through the car and then out above and wraps them around 8 times. No real straps but I guess it’s fine.

    Adi drives really fast, dodging potholes, almost a bit reckless but he’s laughing at literally everything. Anything I say he’s throwing up double shakas, fist bumps to the high pitched techno bangers on the speakers, pulls out his phone to record instagram stories and facetime calls. He’s super active while driving, this guy is kinda gnarly, but I’m not too worried yet.

    Then the rain starts. He does not slow down. As it comes down harder and harder, water drips in with increasing frequency from all the points where the rubber band (the straps holding the boards) enters the car through the doors. On my left shoulder water drops continue and soon most of my left leg and upper body are wet, and same thing on Adi’s right side. The back seats of the car soak as well, only the trunk is dry. Now wet, I put on my hoodie so as to not catch a cold from the shitty AC blowing. He thinks it’s hilarious of course and I’m starting to get a little frustrated because I am going to be wet and a little cold for the remaining 4 hours of road trip when all of this could’ve been avoided had we put the boards in the car. I get some music on the bluetooth and we rock out to ASAP rocky, he loves it.

    Around 6pm we stop for food at a warung. We both order nasi goreng but there are many different types. I look at the menu and can’t make out really a single word and I can’t really translate any of the words, no one speaks english. I guess I’m feeling adventurous and just pick one, the one with lampalang, the woman happily takes my order. My rice comes out with fried chicken gizzard pellets, oh boy! I forced myself to swallow one down but it was a battle, thank god I had a delicious mango juice to wash it away. That is nasty stuff. The rest of my rice was gizzardy, Adi saw I had leftover gizzard and popped them all in his mouth happily. A light dinner of mainly rice, some noodles and hot sauce, not a lot of protein for me. The car is totally soaked, inside and out.

    We get to the jungle in the dark and the road becomes windy and full of potholes with poor visibility. He still drives fast. He manages to dodge like half the potholes but slams into many, around one particular turn the tires skid out on the wet road. Every pothole hit I flinch and cringe while he looks at me a giggles. He drives close to the center of the road so that he can swerve around fallen trees and branches. He tells me to go to sleep, that I can adjust the seat back and take a nap. No way man, how am I supposed to sleep while you drive on this road while I’m still getting dripped on and soaking wet! By this point it’s been raining for hours. I’m not taking my eyes off the road, it crosses my mind that this guy could kill us in a jungle crash. This guy drives like a madman. He begins to rub his face and yawn. “Don’t you get tired! I need you focused!” I tell him to put on his music so that maybe it would refresh him and perk him up for this jungle drive. He plays the most dogshit techno, the kind that has the girly baby voice in the beginning, that sings shit like, “let's get lost tonight” or “you and me forever” as the beat drops. Literal horrendous techno music, I’ve entered the drive from hell. What have I done? I picture us flipped over on the side of the road, rainy and dark, everything is broken, we’re all dead in the car, but the radio is still on in the smoking car, something out of a horror movie.

    At last we make it out of the jungle and onto the coastal road. No longer windy, still rainy, but at least a straight shot to Krui, hallelujah! I turn off his techno and switch it to my stuff. For some reason I decided to play Vallenatos for this last hour of our journey and Adi frickin loved it. He’s screaming what he thinks are spanish lyrics, gibberish and noises and hoots that he hears in the songs while I sing along as well. It is hilarious. Big “Ayyy Mamaaaas!” He tells me that this last portion of the drive will go by very fast, that we are going to have so much fun. This is one of those surreal/bizarre moments that you only get when traveling and I take it all in. Here I am wet inside a car from a million individual drops of water, Chinese water torture style, flying up the southern Sumatran coastline, blasting Colombian vallenatos while a local man scream laughs at me the lyrics he thinks he’s hearing.

    Started with ridiculous driving, then cranky boy that could not sleep, then a wild culinary experience, then death curves in the rainy jungle, to Colombian coastline party. I am so happy when we arrive at Krui and my bedroom at Kambuna Bungalows at 10pm. I will have the best sleep tonight.

 

Dec 1

    Can already tell I’m going to love it here. Kumbana Bungalows is a sick compound, a bunch of shacks lined up around a well kept green garden with trees and plants all around. I have such a comfy bed (slept so well last night) in a big cabin by myself with private outdoor shower and small front porch with two chairs, probably the best room I’ve had on this trip. Across the garden is the kitchen and little dining area with coffee and tea always available and the friendly staff always ready to help you out with anything. In front of the kitchen is the beach on the other side of a small fence, fishing boats anchored in the shallows just offshore, and 100 yards out to sea is the Krui Peak, a slabbing A-frame barrel. Eating my toast and omelet breakfast I watch knee high a-frames break one after another, oh man this place rules, when there’s swell this place will be incredible. I am the one of two guests at the hotel, the other is a French dude Thomas. Off/Late season Krui is really empty! Pretty idyllic.

    Drive down Mandiri beach, a world class beach break 30 minutes south. When the swell is down, like today, this place is a good bet as it is a total swell magnet, can easily get too big. I take my time and enjoy the drive, make stops to look at the ocean and different potential spots. It’s a warm muggy day, the sky and ocean are the same gray color, not a breath of wind. Glassy conditions. Mandiri just as advertised is chest to head high, glassy peaks, some rolly, some fast, lefts and rights. Super fun! A couple tubes I didn’t make out of, with a little more size this place for sure goes nuts. So great to get fun waves after the lackluster surf in Lombok, loosened up nicely on the short board.

    After lunch, I cruised into the town of Krui. Small place, not too exciting, a few shops and warungs, but I am the only gringo around, no tourists in December haha. Locals everywhere enjoying the sunset vibes on a fun boardwalk and pier at the beach. Kids play soccer in the sand while older kids play a more organized game in the field just across the road, as the call to prayer chants sound. Everyone is so nice, even adults wave at me and say “Hi mister!” as I pass by on foot or scooter. Some kids take selfies with me. I sat in front of the Krui Left, an empty peeling knee high left reef break, back home we would’ve totally surfed but not here, it’s pretty shallow. With more swell the place can be like Bingin. Common theme in Indo, with more swell so many of these reefs light up and become amazing waves to surf, and so many close by. Ujung Boccur, Honey Smacks, Mandiri, Krui Peak, Krui left and right, and more! With the way the coast bends, no matter the wind, somewhere will have good conditions.

Dec 2

    Wake up early, nice breakfast, swell still hasn’t filled in, make it to Mandiri and it is twice the size as yesterday. Overhead sets, it is so fun. Sticking to the lefts, not barreling, but going for turns and enjoying the hell out of this session. Feeling really strong and confident on my shortboard. Wow if this is what it’s like on a down day, imagine how crazy it gets when actually good! Come home for lunch and chill all day, chat with Thomas who can’t surf for a few more days due to a motorcycle burn he sustained on his right calf.

    Head out Mandiri again for an evening surf around 4:30. Halfway there, my scooter hits a bumpy patch of gravel, my back tire goes airborne for a sec, when I land I skid sideways and get flung off the bike. Didn’t hit the ground too hard but jammed my foot on the ground and scraped up the right side of my body. Oh noo, this sucks! My adrenaline is pumping so I can’t tell if it’s bad or not. Some people appear almost out of nowhere and help me up. Kids approach me all stoked looking to high five me and then their faces turn to horror as they see the blood running down my hand and arm. The tail of my surfboard is cracked and there are other dings on the rails too, overall we both came out of this fairly unscathed. I try taking a couple steps and my foot hurts like fuck. No surfing today for sure. Hop back on the scooter and hobble my way back to Kambuna.

    The caretakers are all smiles and shakas when I arrive but immediately start helping out and find a first aid kit with some alcohol and bandages when they see I’m hurt. I get carried over to the dining kitchen zone. I pour alcohol on the wounds and it burns as I clean them. My right big toe and top part of my foot begins to swell, it looks fucked, I ice it. We communicate through google translate and get everything as sorted out as possible. “Do you want me to massage your foot?” “No thanks!” An American expat from two properties down, Zander, been living in Krui for like 10 years, happens to come over and starts giving me advice and stories about injuries in Indo etc. The kind of guy that doesn’t stop talking once he gets started. A big belly slightly hanging over his front waistband, scruffy gray beard, and a small fedora with a feather in it. He asks me if I want him to pull my crack my toe out and reset it. The type of character I’d love to chat with under normal circumstances but right now I want him far away from me. I’m cringing in pain and this fool wont shut up.

    I’m carried to my room and decide to take the worst shower of my life. I can’t walk anymore, so I hop on my left foot to the bathroom, and very carefully lower myself down the one step into the loose cobblestone basin of the outdoor shower. Nervously, get my towel all wet and soapy as I maintain balance on one foot on the uneven floor. Take a deep breath and begin scrubbing all the open wounds, peppered with black roadrash and dirt, as hard as I can. These are moments of agony, but necessary. I’ve heard a million times to thoroughly clean out cuts and scrapes here in Indo, wounds are quick to infect and don’t want to open that possibility.

    I decide to wait to go see a doctor, it’s already night. Maybe this just goes away in the morning and I can surf the swell that arrives in the next couple days. This is kinda my last stop on this Indo tour and I specifically came here to chase this swell that arrives on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, to take a stab at big, proper Ujung Boccur, and hopefully get barreled around Krui. Last chance for barrels and now I’m hurt. Feels bad. I need to rest and let this thing heal. Now it’s feeling like my last stop is gonna be all about rehab and healing. Fucked up Day 2, yikes.

Dec 3

    Can’t do anything, don’t do anything, just sit and rest. Cuts look good, the cleaning went well and nothing looks like it’s infected. Gotta keep an eye on them though. My foot is less swollen than yesterday, probably because I’ve been icing it so much. Cannot put any pressure on the foot, cannot walk. Meals are brought to my patio as I RICE my foot. Rest, Ice, Compress, Elevate.

Dec 4

    Today Sidik takes me to the doctor/hospital. The two days I’ve been here thus far, I’ve only driven along the coast to and from Mandiri. Today we went 20 minutes outside of Krui, away from the beach into the interior of Sumatra through a beautiful jungle drive on the scooter I crashed with. Lush as hell, little huts with papaya and banana plantations pass by. Now that there’s been some rain it is green green green as far as the eye can see. Great change of scene, I’m happy to get out of the house.

    He helps me off the scooter and I enter the small hospital and get checked in. The whole place is way more developed than I thought it would be, this place services Krui and the surrounding villages for many miles around, it’s a legit hospital. Sidik becomes my guardian angel. He talks to the nurses and doctors on my behalf and deals with all the paperwork. They have an x ray machine but we have to wait a bit while the machine warms up and the technician arrives to take the images. “How much is this gonna cost me?” “Like 200 is that ok?”

    A nurse enters my stall and begins cleaning my wounds and I stop him and explain that I already cleaned it two days ago, this isn’t a fresh injury, I’m here for x-rays on my right foot and toe. Sitting on my bed waiting, there’s a couple other people in the hospital, everyones looking at me. A few men come over and take selfies with me and ask what’s wrong with my foot. I kind of act out the scene with the scooter. They kind of mime and ask if I want them to massage my foot. “No thanks!” Literally everyone has asked me this. From the doctors in hospital and staff in Kambuna, to people hanging around the hospital (patient’s visitors.) These massages must be cultural but I want no one touching my foot. Everyone is kinda shocked when I respectfully decline every time but sorry we have family trauma when it comes to this subject haha. In my family we have the story of my great grandma sobando, massaging that poor man's foot and left him destroyed. They gave me a donut.

    Sidik wheels me (I got a wheelchair) down to the radiology lab now that the xray machine has warmed up. The technician is super nice, is probably mid twenties, he and Sidik know each other from school so they’re all homies. He gets me set up and positioned under the machine and after a few clicks the power goes out. Sidik comes in and helps me back onto the wheelchair and we wait a half hour to take the shots again.

    Back to the waiting room to wait for the arrival of the x ray images. I’m taking out my cash to pay and I ask the guy, “So what are the results of the x rays? Is my foot/toe broken?” “There’s no radiologist/ x ray specialist here today. He comes in Wednesday, come back then and he’ll give you full answers.” Okay cool, looks like I get another field trip on Wednesday and hopefully then I’ll know what’s really going on in there. The technician says from his perspective the foot looks fine and that I just need to rest. I’m feeling pretty optimistic that my foot isn’t destroyed based on the color. If my toe isn't broken it’s probably just 2-3 week healing time and if it is broken it's probably 6-8 weeks, yikes. Either way, no surfing anytime soon. The whole outing lasts 3 hours, most of it spent waiting for people to see me, going to the correct room then waiting there, waiting for power to come back, etc. It costs me a total of 415k = 27USD for the images and check in fee. I gladly pay it.

    Sidik has been my translator the whole time and my main source of help back at the hotel. We struggle to communicate and often he apologizes for his bad English, to which of course I remind him how good his English is. We go back and forth on google translate, the messages coming through in blips of service on my phone. He carries his little notebook with his English studies everywhere he goes. He is 28 years old, soft spoken and extremely friendly. He recently got married and his wife is pregnant with his first child. He is beyond excited and prays for a cute baby girl. This man is a godsend.
    
    On the way back we stop in town for some groceries, the food I’ll be eating during my stay. We enter Krui from the back, the jungle route. I've only seen town by the beach, this part is where the locals really are and shop. The market is full of people and produce under stalls with tarps above providing shade. Chilis everywhere. Every stop we make I remain on the back of the scooter, it hurts to move and hobble off. Everyone’s looking at me and asking Sidik, “what’s he doing here?”

    Make it back to the hotel, sit my ass down in a hammock, and begin reading Dostoyevsky’s Brothers Karamazov. I’ll have plenty of time on my hands here. Can’t really do much more than that. There are worse places to recover from an injury. Overall all feel accomplished today, made progress with the foot. Took a look at the x rays and can clearly see a fracture on my right big toe. Hoping that’s all it is.

Dec 5

    RICE on the foot, watched the Krui Peak all day long as the swell began to fill in. The swell that I journeyed here for. It’s not quite a perfect A frame, the right is better, but it is a slabbing, incredibly hollow wave that got bigger and bigger throughout the day. It would’ve been a real challenge for me, especially on my backside, taking off on something that just throws super hard, no time to set up, just an automatic barrel. But it’s a challenge I would’ve loved the opportunity to try. Perfect conditions, glassy all day long, gray and beautiful, barrel after barrel after barrel. Watched two surfers kind of struggle to get in the tube and it did really make the wave look like it would be hard to surf. Again, I’d rather know from my own experience.

    There are some workers fixing up a fishing boat on the sand right out front, I strike up a conversation with one of them, Alex. His English is pretty good and he is excited to put his skills to use. They come to our dining area for lunch and pull out a small feast. One of their wives, an excellent chef I’m told, made food for all the workers. Alex serves me up a plate of local yumminess. Fried sardines, some veggies, this amazing green sambal on the side. A half potato half yuca type dish that is more dense than a potato but still has the same softness somehow, it is covered in a spicy red curry sauce, kind of bitter. Alex tells me it's called heart of tiger. I’m watching the waves and they teach me a new word, Penang??asdf?asdf?, to want. They’re all, “you want, you want!” pointing to the waves. “Yes I do want ahahha” “You’re horny for the wave” says Alex. He’s right. It sounds like torture to just sit in front of empty spitting barrels and not go out but it’s not so bad.

    Thomas returns from his surf session, I ask him where he went, how the surf was. He said he drove to Ujung Boccur and it was huge, maybe 3 meters tall. Big waves, no one out and he didn’t want to be out there alone. “Damnit, I would’ve been out there with you in a heartbeat!” That’s kinda the whole reason I’m here. Obviously I’m staying in front of the Krui Peak right now but on swell day I would totally be at Ujung Boccur. Krui’s premier lined up left reef break similar to Uluwatu or Money Trees at G-Land, for big drawn out lines and barrel sections. Ugh! Thomas said the wind was good too down there but the paddle out would’ve been tough.

Dec 6

    Back to the hospital to see the results of the X rays with the radiologist. Sidik takes me on a different route through the jungle, beautiful as always. Sat in the radiologists office for an hour or more waiting for him to arrive. Chilling with the technicians cracking jokes whatever. Got the confirmation of what I already knew, my right big toe is broken. I guess I was just hoping for a miracle that maybe it’d be sprained or bruised or something but now I know for sure, I’m going to be crippled for like 8 weeks. Damn.

    I left the hospital still with questions due to the language barrier. To what degree was my toe broken? Was it set correctly? Do I need surgery? Can I put pressure on it, when can I start putting pressure on it? I’d pose a question through google translate and then wait for a blip of service to come in so that the translator would work. He’d see the question and then respond, again we’d wait for service for his answer in English. Sidik did the best he could of course and I tried to act out my questions but there’s only so much this gets you when it comes to medical clarity. Head back to the hotel a little sad.

    This dream run was coming to an end. It hit on the drive back. I really began processing that my toe was broken and that this dream come true type of trip had run its course. I really thought I’d have to go to LA to see a foot specialist sooner rather than later. All the amazing waves I surfed, the amazing places I visited, and amazing people and surfers I met all flood my mind in a corny end of a movie montage. It’s all coming to an end. It’s pretty emotional, sad it had to end this way. A weird 20 minute reflection of the whole trip on the back of the scooter, the one I got injured on no less, as Sidik drives through the jungle.

    Back at Kambuna empty spitting barrels continue one after another as Day 2 of the swell is underway. I send shitty photos I took of the x-rays to my mom and she sends them to doctors in LA and my aunt Alicia. “I think you should come home and see a specialist.” My mom is grilling me with similar questions that I wanted the answers to earlier but didn’t have adequate answers. She wants me to come home.

    Later, over whatsapp, Sidik and I got some clarity with the radiologist. Yes, my toe was broken. Yes, it was set correctly. No, I didn't need surgery. No, don't put any pressure at least for 4 weeks. He said that I need to keep on resting and be a good boy, there’s pretty much nothing I could do. No cast, no nothing.

    So what was I going back to LA for? If all I had to do was sit around and do nothing, better to do it at a tropical beach setting in board shorts, where I’m getting incredible care, 3 meals a day prepared for me plus snacks, instead of winter LA on the couch. Morale increased after a pep talk with my dad, where he implored me to get crutches. “Just cus your toe is broken doesn’t mean you can’t have adventures, you just can’t have the type of surf adventures you originally wanted to.” He says I should hang at my hotel for a bit longer while I’m freshly injured and then head with my crutches to Phuket, Thailand and kick it on the beach all day and go visit his friend Bruno on his yacht. Wow, true! Ended the day feeling much better than how it started.

 

Dec 8

    The quest for crutches began with a message from Sidik to the homie x-ray technician back at the hospital. “No crutches here, sorry.” 0 for 1. Sidik takes me to town to hit every pharmacy in Krui till we find a pair. First stop, no crutches. 0 for 2. Second stop they have one crutch, not a pair, and the tallest size is 5'2" so it’s way too small. Probably good for a child or small adult. It’s better than nothing but we can do better. 0 for 3. Third stop, no crutches but there's a cane! 0 for 4. We hit the market for some groceries, the food I’ll be eating for the rest of my stay. Nice to be around people again. Now we’re a few hours into the crutches quest. Approaching the fourth stop, I see a pair leaning on a wall. Hell yeah this is the one! Unfortunately the pharmacist has a sprained ankle and the crutches I spied are his. Of course he needs them too and I’m not going to buy them off of him. He tells us he bought them back at 2nd stop. 0 for 5. The fifth stop was a small hospital, not the one I went to but more of a children’s clinic closer to town. They didn’t have a pair either and their advice was to go to the 2nd stop. 0 for 6. At least now we know which store would have them, maybe we can ask them to order crutches for me.

    Sidik has a better idea. His brother is a taxi driver in Bandar Lampung, the city I flew into 7 hours away. He comes to Krui twice a week to spend time with his wife and kids. Sidik believes he could find a pair of crutches in the big city and deliver them to me. After a few calls big brother finds a pair and is coming with them tomorrow. Now it’s time to chill here for like 5 more days, build some strength, heal the toe a bit more, and crutch myself somewhere cool.

    Huge, huge thank you to Sidik, Sintia, and the rest of the Kambuna Bungalows staff. Without their help I could have never made it through these hard times of the early stages of healing. I could not have been better cared for and accommodated these two weeks. Sidik became my confidant and trusted helper over and I really grew to enjoy his presence as I got to know him more and more. Sintia made me three delicious, healthy, fresh meals a day and always checked in on me to make sure I was alright. These two specifically were my guardian angels and I am forever grateful for their work and company. I will definitely see them when the time comes for me to return to Krui as I have unfinished business with these surf breaks. A warm hug to both.